Pacific University Dance Artistic Team

The Dance program includes some of the finest artists in their field pursuing and living their passion in choreography, lighting, and costume. Through their dedication to the art form our artistic team collaborates to complete the dance works in hope that they will inspire, express, and move our audiences— lighting design/set design captures the dancers and story of the work, costume design and construction further deepens the theme of the work and the dancers' lines, and the choreographer creates a living moving landscape that can tell a story or abstract the essence of an idea.  

Artistic Director, Jennifer Camp; our Technical Director, Tal Sanders; our Costume Designer, Melissa Heller; and James Healey (see faculty biographies) for each show.

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2022-2023 Featured Visiting Guest Choreographers

Shannon Mockli

Shannon Mockli is an Associate Professor of Dance at the University of Oregon with an emphasis in choreography and performance. She earned her M.F.A. in Modern Dance from the University of Utah and was honored with the L. Scott Marsh Mentorship Award in 2008.  Shannon presents work nationally and internationally.  Notable presentations include the World Dance Alliance Global Summit in Newfoundland, Physical Theatre Lab in Slovenia, and the Festival Internacional Danza al Borde in Tijuana, Mexico. Her dance film, “Fluctuating Frequencies” was one of three highlighted at the World Dance Alliance Americas Assembly at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla 2016. Shannon is an honorary recipient of the Herman Award for Specialized Pedagogy from the University of Oregon and is certified to teach in the DanceAbility® Method through Alito Alessi, founder and artistic director of DanceAbility International.

Carlyn Hudson

Carlyn Hudson is the co-founder of SubRosa Dance Collective and an Independent Choreographer hailing from Nyack, New York. Her early dance education focused in Classical Ballet and Jazz, before studying at the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2008. Carlyn performed as a member of the Connecticut Ballet for two years prior to relocating to Portland, Oregon in 2010, where she joined Polaris Dance Theater before jumping off to self-produce work and establish SubRosa Dance Collective in 2011. Carlyn’s work has a witty flavor with a dash of humor noir in a creamy base of impeccable musicality. She has set work at Northwest colleges and universities, in addition to theater productions in Chicago, IL, and has been presented at Connecticut Ballet’s Under The Stars, Unveiled Dance Festival, Pacific Dance Makers, Chop Shop Contemporary Dance Festival, and Union PDX Festival of Contemporary Dance, among others. Carlyn continues to teach Classical Ballet, and Pointe in both Washington and Oregon states while producing original works of contemporary dance.

 

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Department pianist Karen Lam America

Karen Lam America

 

Karen Lam America, a native of Hong Kong, received both Master's of Music degrees in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy from the University of Oregon, where she studied with Dean Kramer and Claire Wachter. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she studied with Betty Oberacker. Both a soloist and a collaborative pianist, Ms. Lam has appeared in the International Workshops in Austria, Oregon Mozart Players Chamber Music Series, Palomar College Concert Series, and with the DeRosa Chamber Players. She has performed in Masterclasses given by Stephen Hough, Fernando Laires, Martin Katz and Rosalyn Tureck. Ms. Lam is an active member of the Oregon Music Teachers Association where her students have won numerous honors and awards in the Pacific Northwest. Currently, she serves as ballet pianist at Oregon Ballet Theater, Pacific University and The Northwest Dance Project. 

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Guest Composer

MW

Michael Wall is an internationally recognized composer, performer, and an educator who collaborates with dancers, choreographers, and filmmakers around the world. He composes original music, accompanies dance classes, and teaches sound design for dance and performance with Ableton Live. Michael has worked at Rutgers University, Princeton University, NYU, The Ohio State University, The Bates Dance Festival, The American Dance Festival, and is currently on faculty at The University of Utah, School of Dance. He’s supported independent artists in digital music distribution for the last ten years and offers a comprehensive online library of music for dance students, teachers, and choreographers. You can find all of his music at www.soundFORMovement.com

 

 

Associate Professor; Director of Dance
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Jennifer Camp is an Associate Professor of dance and has directed the dance program since 2003. She currently teaches Ballet, Pointe, and Contemporary, Choreography, Anatomy and Kinesiology for Dancers, and Injury Prevention and Conditioning for dancers. She is recognized as a dynamically diverse performer, encouraging educator, and innovative choreographer, and has more than 25 years of professional experience in the field.

Since her arrival at Pacific, she has implemented essential courses and recruited prestigious guest artists and dance companies every year and established the dance major in 2012.  In 2004, Jennifer founded Pacific’s university performing company, Pacific Dance Ensemble (PDE), where she resides as the artistic director of the company.

Originally from Atlantic City, New Jersey, Jennifer earned her BA in dance at Arizona State University with an emphasis on dance education and dance science, and an MFA in dance from the University of California, Irvine. She has choreographed and taught nationally in pre-professional schools and universities across the U.S. and she has presented her choreography at the national level.

Jennifer is a Franklin Method Educator and Certified Fascia Trained and is currently completing her Pilates certification.  She is passionate about educating dancers on how to maintain healthy minds and bodies so they may have long sustaining healthy lives inside dance and out.

Associate Professor
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Tal Sanders is an award-winning designer with numerous national credits. He has designed for nearly every venue in the Portland Metro area, and has been awarded the Drammy Award for his designs on several occasions. Tal is also a seven-time winner of the Santa Barbara critics’ Independent Theatre Award. He is a member of the United Scenic Artists, and has designed lighting and scenery for many aspects of entertainment including: theatre, film, television, theme parks, concert stages, cruise ships, mall décor, and zoos. He holds an MFA in design from California Institute of the Arts.

Melissa Heller
Costume Designer
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Melissa Heller is the Resident Costume Designer for Pacific University Department of Theatre & Dance.​ She also Resident at Bag&Baggage Productions and has designed costumes for various theatre companies around the Portland metro area for 8 years.

Instructor
503-352-1550

James Healey, a native of Grants Pass, Oregon, received a BA from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas. James has been an adjunct professor at Pacific University (Forest Grove, Oregon) and an assistant coach and choreographer for the Canby High School Dance Team (Canby, Oregon) for over a decade. James is primarily a modern and contemporary choreographer, often a choreographer for the Pacific Dance Ensemble, and has led the Canby High School Dance Team to several Oregon State Athletic Association (OSAA) state championships in the Show Division, as well as Modern and Contemporary Category championship awards.  James finds the path that dancers take from high school environments to college refinement a rewarding and beautiful journey to mentor and guide.

Before returning to Oregon in 2013, James was a founding member of Shen Wei Dance Arts in New York (2000), where he served as a lead dancer and rehearsal director for over ten years. During his time with Shen Wei, James experienced the creation and refinement of Shen Wei’s “natural body development technique” and was among the original cast for many of Shen Wei’s groundbreaking works, including Near the Terrace, Rite of Spring, and Connect Transfer. James has been sought out nationally for his excellence in teaching and choreography. Other teaching engagements have included dance faculty at the Governor's School of North Carolina, guest artist at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Rutgers University, and Reed College in Oregon. Other professional performance credits include dancer and acrobat in Imagine at the Luxor in Las Vegas, Nevada, dancer with Malashock Dance in San Diego, California, dancer with Skinner/Kirk Dance, performer at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art's TBA Festival with Ten Tiny Dances, and a New Expressive Works Artist Residency.