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 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.

For further information on Bill Evans, please contact him at:

Bill Evans Dance
6960 Benedict Beach
Hamlin, NY 14464

billevansdance@hotmail.com

Reminiscences of a Dancing Man:  A Photographic Journey of a Life in Dance

Published by the National Dance Association/AAPHERD Publications, fall, 2005

ISBN 0-88314-767-X

“I have known Bill since our student days together at the University of Utah, and now if this vibrant photographic record of his life as a performer, I meet him again.  Bill’s memoir show us what it means to follow talent instinctively, and how to dance toward spirit, not sacrificing spontaneity to form.  As Bill says, ‘technique is not working if it shows,’ and we might say the same for his book, flowing as seamlessly as his dances, and with as much dynamic excitement.  In Reminiscences of a Dancing Man, we meet many of the major players in the world of ballet and modern dance;  we meet them personally, ‘performatively’ and with love through Bill’s journey.  Not resting on celebrity, however, Bill has crossed the boundaries of professional dance and education.  For students who continue to learn what Bill has to teach, he continues to teach what he needs to learn—joyfully dissolving boundaries.”—Sondra Fraleigh, author of the Lived Body and Dancing Identity

For more information, contact

NDA                                                                                                                                                                              1900 Association Drive                                                                                                                                             Reston, VA 22091

Videotapes/DVDs:

Available for purchase.  Send check for $50 per VHS tape/DVD made out to Bill Evans Dance to 6960 Benedict Beach, Hamlin, NY 14464.

1.  “Bill Evans Teaches Bartenieff Fundamentals

       as Preparation for Dance Technique”—1999

2.  “Bill Evans Teaches Modern Dance Technique to Lisa Nevada and Kyla     

      Wallace”—2002 

3.  “Bill Evans Teaches Modern Dance Technique to Don Halquist, Linda   

      Johnson-Gallegos and Debra Knapp”—coming in summer, 2006  

4.  “Bill Evans Choreographs Extended In-Class ‘Dancing Combinations’

      for students in the SUNY Brockport Department of Dance”—coming in summer 2006

5.  “A Preview of 24 Evans Choreographic Works created between 1971 and 2004,” edited               

      by Roxy Traino—coming in Winter, 2006 

Book Chapter, Articles and Masters Thesis by Bill Evans:

“Teaching Movement Analysis,” Teaching Dance Studies, edited by Judith Chazin-Bennahum, Routledge Press, 1005, ISBN 0-415-97036-9

“Breath, Focus, Expression,” Dance Magazine College Guide, 2005/2006

“Fully Alive,” Dance Magazine, October, 2003

“We Must Provide Safe and Non-Judgmental Support for Our Lesbian, Gay and Transgender Students,” Journal of Dance Education, Winter, 2004

“How I Survived My Dance Training, “Medical Problems of Performing Artists, Winter, 2003/2004

“New Mexico Dance Pride, ABQ Arts, December, 2003

 “The Multi-Colored Sky:  A Call for Recognition and Validation of Differences through Movement,” (originally a keynote address delivered to the National Dance Education Organization), Journal of Dance Education, Volume 3, Number 2, 2003

“A Strange Hero’s Influence,” Dance Magazine, April 2002

“Teaching What I Want to Learn” (revised), Contact Quarterly, Summer/Fall, 1999

“Teaching What I Want to Learn” (National Dance Association Scholar/Artist Lecture)
AAHPERD Publications, March, 1997

“East of Bombay: An American Dance Teacher, Performer and Choreographer Recaps His Journey to Western India,” Dance Teacher Now, July/August, 1995

“Dancers in Cap and Gown, National Dance Association Conference, ”Dance Magazine, July, 1995

“Choreographer of Regions,” Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Conference of the Society of Dance History Scholars, February, 1989

“I Had to Dance, ”Puget Soundings, December, 1977

When Summoned: An Account of the Dance Work Created for and produced by the Deutsche Oper Ballett, West Berlin, Germany, Master of Fine Arts Thesis, University of Utah, James William Evans, May, 1970

Articles and Masters Thesis about Bill Evans:

“Bill Evans:  “Changing the Body and the Geography of Modern Dance”
Gigi Berardi
Dance Magazine, pages 38 - 43
October, 2003

“Dance Teacher Recognizes Bill Evans Teachers’ Intensives”
Jacky Gerzema
Dance Teacher
October, 2003

“In Attitude--Dance Master Bill Evans on Listening to Your Body”
Susie Eisner Eley
Dance Spirit, pages 46 - 49
April, 2000

“Of Mentoring and Metamorphosis”
Susie Eisner Eley
Dance Teacher
January, 2000

“Evans, Bill--American dancer, choreographer, educator and company
director”
International Dictionary of Modern Dance, pages 245 - 250
1998

“Training that Cultivates Personal Style”
Liz Winslow Fruits
Dance Teacher Now
May/June,1993

“Bill Evans:  An Overview of Selected Artistic Works in Choreography and Performance from 1967 through 1990,” Master of Arts Thesis, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
Rachel Nelson Congdon
1990

“Bill Evans: A Modern Day Dance Frontiersman”
Amanda Smith
Dance Magazine
February, 1977

Book/Video about Bill Evans:

The Legacy:  Bill Evans Reaching Out from the Regional Southwest

Bill Evans with Jennifer Allen Noyer

A videotape with text published in August 2000 by Harwood Academic Publishers.