Archives: Leadership

Currently at the University of Utah, Melonie is the Director of the School of Dance and former College of Fine Arts Associate Dean. She holds a BFA in Ballet from Friends University, MFA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, and PhD in Dance from Texas Woman’s University. Melonie was instrumental in building the dance program at Colorado Mesa University and later served as the Ballet Program Coordinator and Director of Graduate Studies in the University of Utah’s School of Dance. Melonie’s research interests lie in exploring the continual evolution of dance as an academic discipline and, and while honoring the past, investigating dance and ballet through a critical theory lens. Her academic writing has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and she continues to explore the arts, dance, and ballet as scholarly pursuits. Topics of research have included a case study of ballet programs in American higher education, analyzing the commoditization of dancers in the advertising campaigns of American ballet companies, exploring notions of ballet as a form of cultural identity, and examining how gender is performed in early ballet training. Melonie is deeply committed to the arts in education and initiatives supporting equity and inclusion. Certified in American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum, Melonie has taught multiple genres of studio and academic courses at several universities. Professional affiliations include CORPS de Ballet International, Dance Studies Association, and the World Dance Alliance-Americas; Melonie has also served multiple times as an adjudicator for the American College Dance Association.

Diane Cahill Bedford serves as Clinical Associate Professor and Section Chair of Dance Science and Performing Arts at Texas A&M University. Her teaching interests focus on ballet, choreography, pedagogy, and history, and her research interests explore progressive pedagogical practices coupled with mental health and well-being. She holds an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography (2010) and a BFA in Dance and English Literature, Magna Cum Laude (2003) from Florida State University. She also earned her 200-hour Yoga Teaching Certification in 2021. Her choreography, which ranges from dance theater to contemporary ballet, has been accepted for performances in New York, Vermont, Florida, Wisconsin, Indiana, Nevada, and Texas. Diane has presented on various aspects of dance and pedagogy at conferences for the National Dance Educators Organization (NDEO), The International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS), CORPS de Ballet International, Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, National Dance Society (NDS), MOB Ballet Symposium, TAHPERD, The Transformational Teaching, and Learning Conference at TAMU, and San Jacinto College. Her publications include a preliminary edition of a dance appreciation textbook titled Dance in Many Forms and other journal articles for NDS. Diane previously taught dance and directed Outreach Programming for Fort Wayne Ballet and Charleston Ballet Theatre. Additionally, she served as Professor of Dance at San Jacinto College South where she directed the San Jac Dance PAC before joining the TAMU Dance Program. Diane has served as the Board Secretary for CORPS de Ballet International and the Faculty Advisor for the Aggie Ballet Company.

Kristin Marrs, MFA, M.AmSAT, is a choreographer, performer, and an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Iowa Department of Dance. Her research and teaching interests include the integration of somatic practices with ballet pedagogy. She has presented her research at CORPS, Dance Studies Association, and National Dance Education Organization, and published in the Journal of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Practice and Dance Chronicle. Marrs is a certified Alexander Technique teacher with the American Society for the Alexander Technique and a Functional Awareness® Movement Educator. She is a founding member of Alexander Technique Iowa (alexandertechniqueiowa.com), an online community of Alexander teachers and students in the Hawkeye State.

Marrs’s choreography explores the evolution of ballet as a technique, narrative form, and performance practice. She has collaborated with artists in diverse media, including paper and fiber artist Mary Merkel-Hess, composer Jacob Bancks, and filmmaker Alex Bush. In 2024, she is co-creating Chalk, an interdisciplinary dance-theater performance with Anne Marie Nest, and Qualia, an in-the-round excavation of ballet technique with violinist Sabrina Tabby and Atyls String Quartet.

Marrs trained at SUNY Purchase and London Studio Centre and holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Iowa. Prior to finding her home as a liberal arts educator, Marrs performed as a company member of Columbus Dance Theatre, Ballet Quad Cities, Northern Ballet Theatre, Arova Contemporary Ballet, Paradise Ballet Theatre, Opera Columbus, and Images of Dance (London).

Tyler Schnese (he/they) is currently an Assistant Professor in Ballet at Utah Valley University and an Associate Instructor in Gender Studies at the University of Utah. Raised in Appleton, WI, he studied with Jeanette Makaroff before receiving a BFA from SUNY Purchase and later, an MFA in Ballet and a Certificate in Gender Studies from the University of Utah. Tyler was a soloist with the Hessisches Staatsballet in Wiesbaden/Darmstadt and a member of Gibney Dance Company in New York City. He has performed works by Alexander Ekman, Crystal Pite, George Balanchine, Nicolo Fonte, Bill T. Jones, Richard Siegal, and Marcos Morau (La Veronal) among many others. He received a nomination for the German Stage Prize (Der Faust) in 2016 for his interpretation of the title role in Tim Plegge’s Kaspar Hauser. In addition to teaching at various institutions in the US and abroad, Tyler continues to work with Gibney as a Lead Actionist facilitating movement workshops for trauma survivors. As a choreographer, movement director, and dancer he has worked on short films and music videos for Steve Aoki, Sting, Damani Pompey, Naima Ramos-Chapman, and Emma Sophia Caymares. Tyler won Repertory Dance Theatre’s Regalia choreography competition and received a commission for their 22-23 season. Since 2022, he has served as the Assistant Director of the Utah Ballet Summer Intensive.

Statement to share with membership upon appointment
It is my distinct honor to serve as Secretary for CORPS de Ballet International. Over the past three years, I have had the pleasure of presenting at and attending CORPS’s Annual Conference. Continuously inspired and energized, I have personally observed the substantial contributions our members make to the field. I am eager to accept an expanded role and support CORPS de Ballet’s board, members, and mission.

Joselli Audain Deans, Associate Professor in the School of Dance, originally from Brooklyn, NY, is a first generation Haitian American. She joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) after receiving most of her training at the company’s school. During her career with DTH she danced numerous roles, including “the accused as a child” in Agnes de Mille’s Fall River Legend, the Bride in Geoffrey Holder’s Dougla, and demi-soloist roles in Swan Lake and George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. A scholar and an artist, she holds a Doctorate in Dance Education from Temple University. Her research primarily focuses on Black Dance, with a special emphasis in Black dancers in American ballet. She is also interested in the intersection of worship and dance.

She has taught dance technique at Philadanco, Freedom Theatre, and several academic institutions including Bryn Mawr College, Eastern University, and Temple University; presented her work at scholarly conferences and institutions, including the International Association of Blacks in Dance, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Corps de Ballet International, University of Georgia, Temple University, University of Utah, and Collegium for African Diaspora Dance (CADD). Her research is published on Arthur Mitchell’s archival collection on Columbia University’s library website and in (Re:) Claiming Ballet edited by Adesola Akinleye. She has served as a consultant for several institutions and projects including for DTH, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, School of American Ballet, Ailey/Fordham BFA Program, San Francisco Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, the Dance Oral History Project for NYPL, the documentary Black Ballerina, and was a design and facilitation team member for the Equity Project: Increasing the Presence of Blacks in ballet, that concluded in 2020. She is a Mellon-funded Transformative Intersectional Collective (TRIC) grant member housed in the School for Cultural & Social Transformation at the University of Utah that is funding for her current project, an anthology titled Arthur Mitchell’s Love Letter: Dance Theatre of Harlem and its Legacies, that she is co-editing with Thomas F. DeFrantz, Ph.D., and P. Kimberleigh Jordan Ph.D.

Ilana Goldman is a dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, educator, and Associate Professor of Dance and Undergraduate Program Director at Florida State University. She received her BFA in dance from The Juilliard School, where she was awarded the John Erskine Prize for artistic and academic excellence, and her MFA in dance from the University of Washington. Ilana performed professionally as a principal dancer with Oakland Ballet and Sacramento Ballet, as a member of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Trey McIntyre Project, and as a guest artist with Alonzo King LINES Ballet.

She has choreographed and taught classes for companies and schools across the country and her choreography was selected for performances at Brooklyn’s Dumbo Dance Festival and the Boston Contemporary Dance Festival. She served as Choreographer in Residence of Bowen McCauley Dance Company from 2018 to 2019 and was Artist-in-Residence at Glacier National Park in the summer of 2022.

She has served in the roles of director, choreographer, editor, and performer in six short dance films: Convergence, Fledgling, InterState, Threshold, Metaxu, and Discarded, which have screened and won awards at international film festivals in Mexico, Brazil, Greece, Italy, Sweden, France, Portugal, Ireland, Great Britain, Russia, and across the United States.

Ilana has presented her research on community engagement and ballet pedagogy at the annual conferences of CORPS de Ballet International, World Dance Alliance, and National Dance Education Organization. She co-authored, along with Paige Cunningham, a chapter in the anthology, Antiracism in Ballet Teaching.

Deborah Norris is a choreographer and doctoral candidate at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her research explores narrative works by women ballet choreographers using a feminist narratological lens. A graduate of Elmhurst Ballet School, Surrey, Deborah holds an MA in Dance Studies from De Montfort University, a BA (Hons) in Communications Studies – Dance from the University of Leeds and a Professional Performance Diploma from the José Limón Institute, New York. As a dance educator Deborah has taught internationally at conservatoires in Taiwan, Slovakia, and Lithuania. With a focus on Contemporary Ballet, Limón-based technique and Choreographic Practices, she has taught across the UK in both university and conservatoire settings including Edge Hill University, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and as programme manager for Rambert2. As a choreographer Deborah has presented works internationally in London, New York, and Barcelona, in both educational and professional settings. Her work has a narrative focus and is embedded in folk traditions and music from the British Isles. Combining contemporary ballet, folk dance and music to create theatrical works for non-traditional stages she works with multi-faceted artists to explore folklore. Her publications include writing for The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet (2021) and the Istanbul University Journal of Women’s Studies (2023) with a focus on the role of women as ballet choreographers and ballet choreography in education. She has presented at many international conferences including for the Royal Academy of Dance, CORPS de Ballet International, University of Limerick, and the Center for Ballet and the Arts on various aspects of dance performance and pedagogical/choreographic approaches.

Deborah is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and she currently serves as a committee member for Dance HE, as Vice-Chair of the British and International Federation of Festivals and as a board member for CORPS de Ballet International.

Yvonne Racz is the artistic director of Ballet Lubbock and on faculty at Texas Tech University School of Theatre and Dance. With her visionary leadership, Ballet Lubbock has flourished under her guidance, earning the position of resident artist organization in the prestigious Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences. Throughout her tenure, she has successfully quintupled the size of the school, nurturing a new generation of dancers who have gone on to perform and teach nationally and internationally.

Yvonne’s commitment to inclusive dance education has earned her recognition in the Texas Tech’s Institute of inclusive excellence and the National Dance Education Organization Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Independent Sector in 2022.

As a testament to her global impact, Yvonne recently completed a Fulbright Scholar Teaching Award at the Hungarian Dance University, and the Starry-Eyed Hungarian Folk Dance Ensemble, further enriching her extensive portfolio of international engagements.

Yvonne’s dedication to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in ballet is exemplified by her role as a School of American Ballet Visiting Fellow for their pioneering initiative. Additionally, she has completed her Functional Awareness® and Anatomy in Action certification, enhancing her understanding of the human body’s mechanics and becoming a certified FA®ME educator.

As a dance educator, Yvonne has presented in prominent platforms such as the Association of Theater Education (ATHE), Texas Educational Theatre Association (TETA), CORPS de Ballet International, MoBB (Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet), Dance Studies Association and Universities of Eger, Hungary. Her expertise and insights have been widely sought after, as she shares her knowledge and is constantly exploring new experiences to learn from fellow professionals and educators.

Yvonne earned a B.A. in Humanities at the University of Utah. She embarked on a prolific career as a professional dancer, with celebrated companies such as Maryland Ballet, Desrosiers Dance Theatre in Canada, Urban Ballet Theatre, Ballet Hispanico of N.Y., Arena Stage, and Cirque Du Soleil. She garnered attention in notable publications, including VOGUE, TIME, and Dance Magazine. She has toured across Canada, South America, and South Korea throughout her career.

Yvonne’s choreographic works include contemporary pieces, story ballet and musical theatre. She has forged powerful collaborations with renowned institutions such as the Texas Tech School of Music, the Lubbock Symphony, and composers Scott and Amy Faris, further solidifying her reputation as a versatile and multifaceted artist.

A passionate advocate for the transformative power of ballet, Yvonne has delivered a TEDx talk on the positive effects of ballet training on young individuals. She has been honored with awards, including The Arts Alliance Dynamic Force ACE award, YWCA’s Woman of Excellence in Culture, and the Louise Hopkins Underwood Arts Center’s “Performing Arts Award.”

Guest teaching includes Dallas Black Dance Theatre. Ballet Hispanico, School of American Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, Texas Christian University, Budapest Dance Theatre, Dance Now Mexico, and the University of Pécs. She will be presenting at the NDEO conference of 2025.

Anne Van Gelder (she/her/hers)
Faculty, Department of Theatre & Dance
Director of Dance
Artistic Director, University Dancers
University of Richmond, Richmond, VA

Anne Van Gelder is on the faculty of the Department of Theatre & Dance and Director of Dance at the University of Richmond. She is artistic director of University Dancers, the student company in the Department of Theatre & Dance. She holds a B.A. from Virginia Intermont College and an M.F.A. from the University of Utah, both in Choreography and Pedagogy. Ms. Van Gelder was a performer and ballet master in companies in Virginia and Utah. Ms. Van Gelder has worked with a variety of educators and choreographers including Li-Chou Cheng, Alun Jones, Conrad Ludlow, Richard Munro, Tom Pazik, and Stanley Zompakos. At the University of Richmond, Ms. Van Gelder has worked with choreographers Francesca Harper, Stefanie Batten Bland, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Alexandra Damiani, Kanji Segawa, Jacqulyn Buglisi, and Billy Siegenfeld, among others. Her choreography has been performed in collaboration with the Grammy-award winning sextet, Eighth Blackbird. She has taught all levels of ballet at the University of Richmond, the University of Utah, Virginia Intermont College, and the Willam F. Christensen Center for Dance. Ms. Van Gelder was dance instructor and choreographer for gymnasts who were members of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team. She created or re-staged choreography for the Saratov Academic Youth Theatre, W&L Repertory Dance Company, Theatre Bristol, Park City Shakespeare Festival, and the Ogden Symphony. Ms. Van Gelder has created works for Department of Theatre & Dance productions including the department’s dance concerts, The Tempest, Wings, Fiddler on the Roof, Funny Girl, and The Chairs and The Bald Soprano directed by Italian director and filmmaker, Paolo Landi. She has been invited to lecture on dance history at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and regularly teaches master classes at the American College Dance Association annual conference. Her study of dance is ongoing, including professional conferences in Italy, Boston, and New York City, where she enjoys studying historic dance. Ms. Van Gelder serves on the advisory board of Conflux Dance Theater, a professional contemporary dance company in Richmond, Va. She has been a member of CORPS de Ballet International since 2017 and is also a member of the Membership and Outreach committee.

Jennifer Weber holds an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow and was a recipient of the Caroline H. Newhouse Scholarship. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She has been on faculty at the College at Brockport SUNY, University of Utah, the University of Iowa, the University of Iowa Youth Ballet, and Burklyn Ballet Theater as the Intermediate Director. She danced professionally with Omaha Theater Company, Ballet Quad Cities, and Ballet Nebraska. Ms. Weber’s choreographic work has been presented internationally and nationally, spanning full length narratives, such as The Nutcracker to abstract contemporary works. She has presented her scholastic work at conferences including CORPS de Ballet International, World Dance Alliance Americas, Royal Academy of Dance, and the Evans Somatic Conference. Her research engages critical approaches to existing codified dance techniques to reimagine the ways in which the various training methods, practices, and genres of dance can be in conversation. The direct areas of application she investigates are dance pedagogy, creative process, the individual artist, and anti-racist practices. As full-time faculty at Utah Tech University, she teaches technique, theory, creative practices, and also works with the Dance Performance productions.