Susan received her dance education from The Ohio State University Department of Dance, with a focus on Composition and Performance. After college, she was a principal dancer with the Valois Company of Dance, Detroit, MI. Her modern dance training continued with The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Ruth Solomon, Shawn Womack, and the famed Lyndon Branaugh (with the Graham Institute in London).
Susan composes and performs her original works for the Contemporary Dance Theater, Cincinnati Aronoff Center, and the School for Creative and Performing Arts.
She is the Founder, Owner, and Artistic Director of Tänze Performing Arts Studio-a performing arts school located in Fairfield OH., serving the community with multi-cultural/generational programs in dance, theater, and music.
She is also a former Resident Dance Artist with the Ohio Arts Council-Arts in Education Program, SpectraA+ Arts Integration in Education, Resident Artist with Schilling School for Gifted Education, and Fairfield City School District.
Professional affiliations and awards include The International Thespian Society, National Dance Association, Ohio Dance Association, 4C Childcare Recognition Award, and the NAACP President’s Community Service Award through the Hamilton Fairfield Chapter.
Susan is a Movement Specialist for Miami (OH) University Theater Department and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in the Acting and Opera Departments.
Now she is also a certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist of The Grief Recovery Institute.
Approach
The welcome diversity of the community is what drives Tänze Arts Studio.
Through specific movement methods, we engage everyone in new forms of communication.
By using empathy and movement to experience somebody else’s inner life, we gain an understanding of what someone else may feel by learning a new way of “reading” kinesthetic empathy.
I believe that every human being matters, and it is our birthright to tell our authentic story. Through my diverse experience, training, and choreography, my students and clients will quickly learn how to create a safe way to communicate, to see, and to hear legitimate needs, fears, feelings, hopes, dreams, and opinions.
Everyone is present, respected, understood, and heard. Movement is a universal language that everyone can “speak.”
Awards & Recognition
2007 – Friends of Education Award-Fairfield City Schools, Fairfield Ohio for creating early childhood movement programs, and for writing and teaching arts infusion in education curriculum for grades K-4.
2004 – President’s Community Service Award- Hamilton-Fairfield NAACP for supplying a home for the African American Theater Company of Butler County and for choreography in their productions.