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Alumni
Recent Alumni News
Congratulations to UW Dance Alum Emily Schoen Branch (MFA, 2025) who has had her research article, “Financial Trends in American Concert Dance Festivals,” published in the American Journal of Arts Management! @emily_schoen_branch
Autumn 2025 Kawasaki Artists in Residence; Vikas Arun & Hilary Grumman & Alethea AlexanderAt the start of Autumn Quarter, the UW Department of Dance began the first of five years of exciting events made possible by a generous gift from the Glenn H. Kawasaki Foundation. The Kawasaki Artist in Residence (KAIR) fund supports local and national guest artists, with the goal of giving students greater access to immersive residencies and performance opportunities. Each guest artist residency…
Congratulations to UW Dance Alum, Jeremy Zihao Yuan (MFA, 2024) on the publication of his firstarticle as a dance researcher in the Journal of Dance Education! His paper "A Call for Advocacy and Empathy: A Study of Gay Men in Chinese Dance" (2025) also won the National Dance Education Organization 2024 Doug Risner Prize for Emerging Dance Researchers. Bio:Jeremy Zihao Yuan is a first-year PhD student in Dance Studies at The Ohio State University, pursuing a minor in…
Five UW Department of Dance alumni and current UW dance major students are starring in Village Theatre’s production of Brigadoon! Performing in Issaquah from September 16th- October 19th, then in Everett from October 25th to November 16th, Hill & Loewe’s Brigadoon is a romantic musical set in the Scottish highlands. The cast includes UW alumni Annalisa Brinchmann (‘19) as Swing, Jean understudy, Maggie understudy, Jordan King (‘19…
The UW Department of Dance was well represented at the 2023 National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) Conference in Denver, Colorado last month! Alums of the UW Dance MFA program Kelly Knox '03, Brian Lawson '19, Bruce McCormick '14, Adele Nickel '18, Jason Ohlberg '14, Barbi Powers '18 (pictured above) were reunited at the conference, as well as current MFA candidate Jeremy Yuan '24. The NDEO Conference grand opening keynote speaker was also an alumni, Yoav Kaddar '00!
The NDEO…
The UW Department of Dance is delighted to announce that Mr. Arthur Yorozu has created a new fellowship in the Department of Dance. The Helene Tsutsumoto Yorozu and Arthur S. Yorozu Endowed Fellowship in Dance will support graduate students who perform in the Chamber Dance Company. Helene Tsutsumoto Yorozu was an accomplished modern dancer, actress, and Japanese classical dancer. A 1955 graduate of the University of Washington, she served as the president of the Orchesis Dance…
Congratulations to UW Dance MFA alum and former part time-lecturer Paula J. Peters for winning the New York State Dance Education Association’s Outstanding Dance Education Researcher Award. This award recognizes an individual member who has made a unique contribution to the field of dance education through creative and/or scholarly research. The recipient of this award cultivates the importance of scholarly and creative research throughout the field of dance education. She will be honored…
There’s a new dance studio in town! Started by UW Dance MFA alum Christopher Grant-Montoya and his husband, Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Josh Grant-Montoya, Dance Conservatory Seattle (DCS) boasts an incredible 2,700 square foot dancing space and offers training of all levels and ages in ballet, modern, and jazz techniques. DCS will be hosting an open house on November 14th.
Read more about the Montoyas’ journey to open the studio in this article by Marcie Sillman, and…
To celebrate and to recognize that the contributions of Black Americans should be appreciated beyond the month of February, the Department of Dance is using its website and social media platforms to spotlight different Black dance artists in the greater Seattle area throughout the year of 202. Former features include: Kine Camara, Monica Rojas Stewart, Manimou Camara, Dani Tirrell, and Rujeko Dumbutshena.
In July we celebrate "Majinn" Mike O'Neal!
"Majinn"…
The inaugural invited residents of the Northwest Creator Residency Program include actor-writer-filmmaker Lauren Du Pree, multimedia journalist and dance artist Imana Gunawan ‘15, and designer Lex Marcos. Each creator will receive a $1,000 stipend residency to begin work on any new element of musical theatre to be developed in digital residence during the 2020-2021 season. Congratulations Imana!
Read more here.