Professor Evans holds a BA in English, a BA equivalent in ballet and an MFA in Modern Dance, all from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.  He is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) by the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies in New York City and a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst (CLMA) by the Integrated Movement Studies Program, through the University of Utah.  He has studied with such noted master teachers and choreographers as Willam Christensen, Karen Clippinger, Jack Cole, Kitty Daniels, Viola Farber, Leon Fokine, Sondra Fraleigh, Acia Gray, Peggy Hackney, Janet Hamburg, Stuart Hodes, Betty Jones, José Limón, Murray Louis, Matt Mattox, Donald McKayle, Daniel Nagrin, Alwin Nikolais, Ruth Page, Skip Randall, Anna Sokolow, Fred Strickler, Shirley Ririe, Diane Walker, John Wilson and Joan Woodbury.

Bill Evans has been a performer since childhood, making thousands of appearances with ballet, modern dance and tap companies and as a solo concert artist. He has danced with:

·      Repertory Dance Theatre of Utah (in which he was a leading dancer and major choreographer for seven years)

·       Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers (where he was artistic director/resident teacher/choreographer)

·        Bill Evans Dance Company (which he founded, directed, choreographed for and performed in, over 30 years)

·        Bill Evans Solo Dance Repertory (hundreds of performances in 16 different countries since 1970)

·      Bill Evans Rhythm Tap Ensemble (founded in 1992)

·        Utah Theatre Ballet/Utah Civic Ballet (now Ballet West)

·        Hakness Ballet apprentice dancers

·        Ruth Page Chicago Ballet/Lyric Opera of Chicago

·        Louisville Civic Ballet

·        Washington (D.C.) Ballet

·        Atlanta Ballet

·        Oleg Briansky Ballet

·     several other companies and performing groups as a guest artist

   Professor Evans' full-time teaching positions have included:

·        University of Utah Modern Dance Department (two years, assistant professor)

·        Dance Theatre Seattle/Bill Evans Dance Company School (eight years, director)

·        Indiana University Dance Program (two years, associate professor)

·        University of New Mexico Dance Program (1988 – 2004, full professor)

He has been a Visiting Artist/Educator at numerous professional schools of dance and such institutions of higher education as University of California at Los Angeles, Arizona State University, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, University of Washington, American University, George Washington University, the Five-College Dance Department in Massachusetts, Harvard University Summer Dance Center, American Dance Festival at Connecticut College and at Duke University, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Centre International de la Danse (Paris), Académie-Festival des Arcs (Savoie, France), the National Theatre School of Finland Dance Department (Helsinki), Turku School of Art and Communication (Finland), IALS (Rome, Italy), London (England) Contemporary Dance School, Norway Ballet College (Oslo), Ninasam Theatre Institute, Heggodu, India, Kala Chhaya Cultural Center, Pune, India, Universidad de las Amercas, Puebla, Mexico, School of Contemporary Dancers Professional Program, Winnipeg, Canada, and hundreds of others.

More than 200 of Bill Evans’ choreographic works have been performed by professional and pre-professional ballet, modern dance and tap companies throughout the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Europe and New Zealand.  These companies include his own professional companies, New Mexico Contemporary Dance Alliance, New Mexico Repertory Theatre, Repertory Dance Theatre of Utah, Ballet West, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Concert Dance Company of Boston, Chicago Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre at Jacob's Pillow, Berlin (Germany) Ballet, the Kahurangi Maori Dance Trust and many, many others. 

He has created or restaged numerous works for regional ballet companies and for college and high school performing dance groups throughout the United States.

For many years he was director of the University of New Mexico Contemporary Dance Ensemble, for which he created 23 works. He led that group to Kobe, Japan, when they were selected by the National Dance Association as the only group to represent the U.S. at the first International College Dance Festival in 1993.

Professor Evans’ administrative experiences include:

·        Artistic Director of the Bill Evans Dance Company, 1975 - 2004, and Executive Director, 1984 – 2004

·        Artistic Director of the Bill Evans Summer Dance Intensives since 1977, and Executive Director since 1984

·        Artistic Director of Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers and the School of Contemporary Dancers

·        Coordinator of Modern Dance at Indiana University

·        Head of Dance at the University of New Mexico

·        Director of Dance Theatre Seattle, 1976 – 1983—at that time the largest school of contemporary dance in the Pacific Northwest

·        Artistic and Executive Director of the Bill Evans Rhythm Tap Dance Ensemble, since 1992, and the annual New Mexico Tap Dance Festival and Tap Dance Jams, since 1999

·        Artistic and Executive Director of the New Mexico Contemporary Dance Alliance, sponsor of annual community festivals of dance, 1999 - 2004

·        Artistic Coordinator of Repertory Dance Theatre (resident professional modem dance company at the University of Utah, 1968 - 1974)

·        Artistic Advisor to the Concert Dance Company in Boston

·        Artistic Advisor to the Fairmount Dance Company in Cleveland

·        Coordinator of three Regional American College Dance Festivals

·        Planner and coordinator of the 5^th Annual Conference of the National Dance Education Organization

One of Mr. Evans’ foremost achievements has been the creation of a modern dance technique that has influenced hundreds of dancers and dance teachers throughout the world since 1976.  In the past decade, this systematic approach to the training of modern dancers has been profoundly influenced by Evans’ study of Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals.  This approach to teaching emphasizes total body-mind integration and allows dancers to establish:

·        balanced inner connectivity and outer expressivity

·        balanced stability and mobility

·        full three-dimensional access to the kinesphere

·        enhanced musicality and effective phrasing

·        healthful regenerative ways of moving that honor the body’s needs, prevent injuries and increase kinesthetic satisfaction and longevity

In 2003, Mr. Evans began a Certification Program for experienced teachers wishing to learn more about his methods, materials and philosophy.  This program occurs in conjunction with the annual Bill Evans Dance Intensives at the Centrum Foundation in Port Townsend, Washington.

Mr. Evans’ organizations have produced or co-produced several performance series in several cities, having presented such artists as Bill Evans (Jazz) Trio, Dan Wagoner Dance Company, Annabelle Gamson, Teo Morca, Changing Times Tap Dance Company, Christine Sarry and Cynthia Gregory (for whom he choreographed and with whom he performed in two consecutive Seattle Summer Festivals), Zero Moving Company, Cohan/Suzeau Dance Company, Freedman/Coleman Dance Company, Brenda Bufalino, Bril Barrett, Bruce Stegmann, Jeanie Hill, Acia Gray, Mark Yonally and many others.  He has also produced annual seasons by the Evans Dance Company since 1976 and numerous community dance celebrations in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and elsewhere in New Mexico since 1989, including several Dance Magnifico (Albuquerque’s annual festival of the arts) concerts, several Dancing Men concerts, several World Dance Concerts, several concerts in collaboration with companies from Japan, Canada and Mexico, and eight festivals of percussive dance.

Bill Evans received the National Dance Education Organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts in 2001, and the Albuquerque Arts Alliance Bravo Award for Excellence in Dance in 1997 and 2003.  He was selected as one of three favorite national tap dance artists (with Savion Glover and Brenda Bufalino) in the 2004 Dance Magazine Readers Choice Poll.  Also in 2004, he was honored by the creation of the Bill Evans Award to the outstanding graduating dance major at the University of New Mexico.  He was selected as the National Dance Association Scholar/Artist in 1997. Other awards he has earned include the Guggenheim Fellowship and thirteen choreographic fellowships, production grants or company grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as numerous company grants and fellowships from the Western States Arts Federation, the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities and from state/provincial agencies in Utah, Washington, Manitoba, Indiana and New Mexico.  He has been awarded numerous grants by several private foundations and 19 research/teaching grants by the Universities of Utah, Indiana and New Mexico.

Bill Evans is an active advocate for dance and currently serves on the board of the National Dance Education Organization.  He has previously served on the boards of VSA Arts New Mexico, Dancers Inc., New Mexico Contemporary Dance Alliance, American College Dance Festival Association, Dance Theatre Seattle and National Dance Association, where he was vice president and chair of the performance division. He has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Western States Arts Federation, the Indiana Arts Commission and other state agencies. He has been a site evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Dance and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been an adjudicator in several regions for the American College Dance Festival Association and in several regions of Regional Dance America.  He has served as a consultant to several college and university dance programs and state education agencies.  Professor Evans spoke before the U. S. Congress on behalf of the American Arts Alliance.

Mr. Evans’ interests for the future include making further connections with dance communities in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, Asia and Africa;  exploring new performance modes for the mature male modern and tap dancer;  choreographing as much as possible;  writing about his theory and technique of training dancers, about his life as a performing artist, and in the area of dance criticism;   passing on his teaching methods and materials through the Evans Technique Certification Program and creating instructional videotapes on his teaching of Bartenieff Fundamentals and Modern Dance Technique.