Welcome to my blog!  Please explore the sidebar items on the right to learn more about me as a choreographer, dancer and educator.  If you would like to contact me, please do so at denisepurvis@suu.edu.  I would love to work with your company and/or students.

This has been a busy and very exciting year for me.  As I reflect on my first year at Southern Utah University, I am grateful to work with such a wonderful faculty and such intelligent and gifted dancers.  I look forward to the growth and experiences next year will bring.  A few highlights of my year:

I began a dance workshop series instructed by my elementary education majors and open to area children.  What began with about 65 children taking dance classes on a Saturday afternoon has grown to over 200 children participating in dance, theatre and visual arts four Saturdays per year.  Thanks to collaborators Michael Bahr and Alisa Peterson, we now have a catchy name:  Arts*Lab, make, move, play.  I am very excited about the pedagogic experience this offers all our students, as well as the artistic experience Arts*Lab offers our Cedar City children.  I can't wait to see how the program develops next year.

I am now the Higher Ed Representative for the Utah Dance Education Organization.  Though this position requires a good bit of travel, I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with such a strong and devoted network of dance educators.

I was nominated for Professor of the Year!  Though this award went to someone much more deserving, I am honored to have been nominated.

On June 14 & 15 I will share two dances with the St. George, UT community in the Contemporary Dance Concert, hosted by St. George Dance Company.  I am excited to be premiering my (finally) complete suite of dances to Nina Simone's music, Journey On.  This suite has been in progress since 2006, and I am finally ready to finish it.  St. George Dance Co. dancers Katherine Call and Chauntelle Lewis are going to bring this piece to life beautifully!  I will also present a re-staging of To the End, set on dancers from SUU.

In June I will travel to Brockport, NY to present in a conference on teaching somatics-based technique.  I will focus on the use of inter- and intrapersonal methods when teaching technique in grades 9-12.  I will also premiere a new solo at the conference.  The work, titled Combative, explores the seeming political impotency our government is experiencing.

In October I will travel to Miami, FL to present in the National Dance Education Organization annual conference.  While teaching a student in a wheelchair in my Modern I class, I realized that I needed a fundamental shift in my pedagogic filters.  I discovered some wonderful teaching tools, and I will share them at the conference.  I am even more excited that a student of mine, Heidi Powell, will be co-presenter.  A dance education major in my methods course, she assisted in the class.  I look forward to working with her to create an engaging presentation for NDEO.

Coming up?  Well, I will produce my first concert in Utah.  And a fledgling dance company is in the works.  I am feeling all this out, as it is a new endeavor.  Be on the lookout as my new company, Shifting Velocity, takes form.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Please come again soon!

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to PurvisDances, a blog dedicated to sharing information about Denise Purvis.  I am a professional dancer, choreographer and educator who looks forward to sharing my work with as many people as possible.  I am certified and specialize in the Bill Evans method, but am equally capable of teaching ballet, jazz and tap technique.  I am available for master classes and residencies, and would love to work with your students and/or dance company.   Please use the sidebar menu on the right to learn more about me and my work.  Contact me at DenisePurvis@SUU.edu to discuss the myriad ways I can work with you and your dancers.