Pacific University Dance Artistic Team

The Dance program includes some of the finest artists in their field pursuing and living their passion in choreographing, 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 Anita Mitchell (see faculty biographies) for each show.

Fall 2020

Guest Artists

MWMichael Wall is an internationally recognized composer, performer and 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

 

 

Jennifer Camp, MFA
Associate Professor; Director of Dance
camp1759@pacificu.edu
503-352-3178

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.

Tal Sanders
Associate Professor
talsanders@pacificu.edu
503-352-2991

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
Melissa Heller
Costume Designer
melheller.design@pacificu.edu
503-352-2290

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.

James Healey
Instructor
healeyjamesr@pacificu.edu
503-352-1550

James Healey, a native of Grants Pass, Oregon received a BA from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas. James has taught at Pacific for the past eight years in the areas of contemporary technique, choreography and is a faculty choreographer for Pacific Dance Ensemble.

 In 2000, James became a founding member of Shen Wei Dance Arts in New York, dancing with the company and serving as the rehearsal director for over ten years. During his tenure 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. Currently, James continues to dance with Shen Wei for engagements.

James is sought out nationally for his excellence in teaching, choreography, and as an independent artist. He was an invited dance faculty at the Governor's School of North Carolina, and also served as a guest artist at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and at Rutgers University. 

Other performance credits include performing in Imagine at the Luxor in Las Vegas, Nevada, and with Malashock Dance in San Diego, California.