| Dear Dance Alumni and Friends: | Spring in Iowa is always a time of new beginnings and invigorating natural energy. We certainly felt it at Sophie McLaughlin’s uniquely botany-themed thesis concert earlier this month, performed at Hickory Hill Park on a beautiful spring Saturday afternoon. (View photos from the performance here.)
I’m thrilled to share the news that I personally will emerge into a new season of my life and career this year, as I plan to retire from the UI Department of Dance this spring to take a position as a professor in the World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department at UCLA beginning in the fall!
To my community at the University of Iowa, faculty, staff, and students, past and present, it has been the joy and honor of my life to work with you over these years. I’ve learned and grown so much as a result of all you’ve taught me about dance and life and will always cherish our time and creativity together. Please keep in touch, whether in LA or back here in Iowa, where my visits will be frequent.
We are eager to hear about your accomplishments and accolades, too—so please share your news with us! SEND US YOUR NEWS
Thank you for your support!
Warmly,
Rebekah Kowal
Professor and Department Executive Officer | | | Departmental News |
- The UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recently created a new recruitment video highlighting our department and featuring undergrad Dance major Maddie Bulman.
- Performing Arts at Iowa is seeking a full-time scenic and lighting designer to join as a resident designer. This role supports the Department of Dance, School of Music Opera, and Department of Theatre Arts, fostering student engagement and collaboration. Ideal candidates will prioritize mentoring and create a welcoming, respectful environment. For full details and to apply, click [here]. Please share this opportunity with skilled designers you know!
- Gloria Sitso Ahlijah has been named our new Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance Forms of the African Diaspora for the Department of Dance.
 Sitso joined us as a Visiting Assistant Professor in 2024 and we are thrilled that she'll be continuing to share her talents with us. Sitso is an instructor, dancer, and choreographer hailing from Ghana, West Africa, and received her MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan. She has received extensive training in West African Dance, African Contemporary Dance, Kizomba, and Afrobeat. She hopes to make a great impact by contributing to cultural appreciation and identity discovery through her art form. As a facilitator, she conducts workshops aimed at helping individuals connect with their bodies and minds through movement. Her choreographies possess a unique essence as they strive to amplify individual voices and share stories that resonate with people from all walks of life.
- Visiting Assistant Professor Zena Bibler has accepted an offer to join our tenure track faculty in the Department of Dance, beginning in the fall of 2026. She received her Ph.D. in Culture and Performance from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. She continues to build on her dissertation research, which explored how 21st-century experimental dancers are developing specialized states of attention as both choreographic and political strategies in the “attention economy.” Drawing from over a decade of work as a site-responsive choreographer and festival curator, her second major project examines conflicting histories of site-specific performance. She engages dance as a mode of asking questions about the world—one that can reveal insights not accessible by other means.
- University of Iowa Dance MFA candidate Emily Culbreath and her cast were selected to represent the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Central Conference at the 2025 National College Dance Festival at Georgetown University’s Royden B. Davis Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C., May 2-4, 2025. Mikey Rioux, also a second-year MFA candidate, and their cast were named as a second alternate by the ACDA Central Conference adjudicators for their piece, Mystic Sister. Selections were made at the Central Conference in Norman, Oklahoma, earlier this spring. READ MORE
| | | Alumni News |
- Linda Lewis (formerly Logan, 1984 BA, 1986 MA) has retired after 16 years as Director of Dance at Santa Susana Performing Arts High School, and 20 years at Long Beach City College, both in the Los Angeles area. She recently moved to western Nebraska to be closer to her sister and father (93), where she is his full-time caregiver and the Art Director at an assisted living facility.
- Todd Rhoades (2023 BFA) is now the Director of Development for Ballet Des Moines.
SUBMIT YOUR NEWS HERE | | | Faculty News |
 Professor Jennifer Kayle was awarded a grant through the Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI), backed by the UI Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR), to support her “Ageing Virtuosity” project, which explores how ageing and maturity become visible (and valued) in dance and on screen. READ MORE
- Earlier this spring, Kayle was also named one of two recipients of the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award by the UI Graduate College, which recognizes exemplary mentoring of doctoral and/or masters' students by members of the UI graduate faculty. Our Dance MFA program has been transformed under Jennifer’s leadership and commitment to its ongoing excellence, and our grad students are grateful to her for her guidance and care. The Graduate College recently published a story about the award.
- Assistant Professor Stephanie Miracle is one of two winners of the 2025 Early Career Scholar of the Year award from OVPR. Miracle has built
 an international reputation as a skilled professional performer, choreographer and screendance maker. Her interdisciplinary research practice combines choreography, filmmaking, and relational aesthetics into performances for stage and nontraditional spaces, challenging assumptions around what dance can do and where it can happen. READ MORE
| | | Coming Soon to Hancher Auditorium | RIVERDANCE
Broadway Show
May 9-11, 2025
TINA
The Tina Turner Musical
May 30- June 1, 2025
Hancher Auditorium | | | |
