Founded in 1972, The Dance Archive is a special collecting area within the University of Denver’s Special Collections and Archive.
Keep up to date and follow along as we strive to be the most comprehensive and significant dance resource center in the American West.
To be the most comprehensive and significant dance resource center in the American West.
- Documentation
- Preservation & Access
- Interpretation/Education
Kate Crowe
Kate Crowe
Nathalie Proulx DeSalvo
Nathalie Proulx DeSalvo
Nancy Clark
Nancy Clark
Woody Colahan
Woody Colahan
The Board
Joan Brown
Christin Crampton Day
Christin is Executive Director of Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA). She has over 30 years of experience in non-profit and for-profit leadership and management, including experience in strategic planning, communications, public relations, marketing, sales, development and fundraising. Christin previously served as Executive Director of Ballet Nouveau Colorado. For 13 years she served on the Board of Trustees for Colorado Ballet and today serves on the Emeritus Board. In 2018, she was appointed to the Private Sector Council of Americans for the Arts. Christin is the President of The Dance Archive Board.
Kathi Crum
Kathi Crum is Past President of Colorado Dance Education Organization (CoDEO) from 2016-2019 which included statewide dance conferences at Denver School of the Arts and Metropolitan State University in Denver. Kathi began her professional teaching career at Houston Ballet Academy in 1995 and revitalized and grew ballet programs at prominent smaller schools as West University Dance Center and Houston Met and also directed a youth performing troupe, Bayou City Dance Company, for three years before moving to Colorado. Similarly she refreshed and expanded the ballet program at Peak Academy of Dance in Conifer, CO, before moving on to Colorado Ballet Academy to become the Lower Division Coordinator responsible for curriculum, teaching, choreography, staffing, and four separate programs spanning the academic and summer months.
Among other accomplishments, Kathi produced, conducted, and taught a summer intensive at the collaborative invitation from Nikoloz Makhateli. Kathi is an ABT® Certified teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Levels 6/7 and Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum, as well as a 2018-2019 alumni of the Colorado Business Committee Leadership Arts.
A Covid career change into the financial industry, Kathi continues to teach ballet part time while serving on the boards of CoDEO and The Dance Archive. Kathi intends to combine the knowledge of both industries to bring benefit the performing arts. Kathi is President-Elect for The Dance Archive.
Rachael Harding
For the past 20-plus years, Rachael Harding has built her career around dance—as a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She is currently the resident choreographer for Davis Contemporary Dance Company, co-owner/director of Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop and owner/director of Miss Rachael’s Dance in Denver, where she is inspired to share her passion for the arts with young dancers every day. She has had the distinct honor of dancing in past Opera Colorado’s productions Nixon in China, The Pearl Fishers, Rusalka and Josephine and Il Trovatore and choreographing for Rusalka, Aida, The Barber of Seville, Josephine, The Shining, Die Tote Stadt, Samson and Delilah and Il Trovatore. She also currently works with the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver, choreographing both opera and musical theatre productions.
Rachael fell in love with dance as a young girl, and continued her dance education at the University of Arizona, where she received a BFA in Dance and a BS in Business Management. She began her professional career as a dancer in Denver’s Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, where she also served as Assistant Rehearsal Director, and subsequently toured the United States as a solo dancer with winds quintet, Imani Winds, in “Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot”. After returning to Colorado, Rachael pursued her MFA in Dance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and continued to dance professionally with a variety of professional dance companies, including Davis Contemporary Dance, Moraporvida Contemporary Dance, Interweave Dance Theatre, Kim Robards, New Breed Dance Company, JK-Co, Boulder Jazz Dance Collective and Nu-World Contemporary Danse Theatre.
Rachael is passionate about the arts and community.
Ann Hunt
Sandra Minton
Nancy McElroy
Keri Mesropov
Keri Mesropov is the Founder and Executive Director of Spring, a talent development agency launching the next generation of leaders and cultivating multi-generational workforces. Prior to launching Spring in 2023, Mesropov was first a Senior Consultant then the VP of Client Service and finally Chief Talent Officer for TRG Arts, one of the world’s most influential consulting firms dedicated to the arts.
In her escalating role with TRG, Keri maintained a premiere portfolio, advising theater, ballet, orchestral, and Broadway producing organizations, helping them develop organizational frameworks and financial stability. Her clients included New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, among others. As TRG’s first-ever Chief Talent Officer, Mesropov was the founder of TRG’s Talent Lab, an incubator for developing early and mid-career arts administrators.
As an alumna of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications, she was a Professional in Residence. Mesropov currently serves as an Advisory Council member for the Nebraska Women’s Leadership Network, and in 2022 received the prestigious Woman of Courage, Character and Commitment award from UNL’s Women’s Center.
Mesropov’s 30 years of experience in arts administration includes executive leadership roles at Colorado Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Washington Performing Arts, and the Trey McIntyre Project.
Michael Ritchie
Rhetta Shead
Rhetta Shead has worked in the Denver Metropolitan area for over 30 years as a Marketing Specialist, Public Relations and Special Event Consultant. During her career Rhetta has worked in radio, television, special events and non-profits. Rhetta has worked with Denver area cultural organizations including the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, The Children’s Museum of Denver, the Denver Botanic Gardens, The City of Lakewood (Heritage Culture and the Arts) and currently at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. She is currently Chair of the Dance/USA Manager’s Council for Organizations 750k-2m, which also provides a seat on the Board of Trustees. At Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Rhetta is the Vice President of Theatre Operations handling the management of the office and theatre and overseeing production on the Annual Gala and Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum.
Sheila Sharpe
Susan Tracy
Susan Tracy discovered modern dance when she took a class as a student at Penn State. She was immediately drawn to this art form and, when she later moved to Denver, took classes in the Graham technique from Jane Tanenbaum (Mclean). Over the years she has enjoyed performances by many of Denver’s well-known and up and coming dance companies. Tracy has been active in promoting dance in Denver by her work on the boards of Colorado Contemporary Dance, the Denver Ballet Guild, and the Colorado Dance Alliance.
Tracy graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. She lives in Denver with her husband, Bill, and they have three grown daughters and four grandchildren. She spent over twenty years as a bookseller with the Bookies bookstore in Denver.
Julia Wilkinson Manley
After her career as a professional dancer with Ballet Ireland, David Taylor Dance Theater, and Ballet Nouveau Colorado, Julia Wilkinson Manley became the School Director for Broomfield-based Ballet Nouveau Colorado from 2003-2013. In 2013 she founded a new non-profit organization, Colorado Conservatory of Dance (CCD), becoming CEO and Artistic Director. As a leader of CCD for 10 years, she developed community education programming for over 60,000 individuals, a nationally-respected syllabus for dance training, and produced and choreographed over 25 ballets. In 2023, Julia co-founded two new organizations – Colorado Movement Lab and New Paradigm Dance Theater – to better serve the dance community with technique taught kinesthetically and without judgment, to create performances which break assumptions and promote true artistry, and to embolden dancers with curiosity, artistic sensibility, and tolerance.
Julia earned her BFA in ballet pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma, where she trained under the directorship of Mary Margaret Holt. In 2009, she served on the committee to rewrite the Colorado Academic Standards for Dance for the Colorado Department of Education and completed the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute (CAELI) under the mentorship of John McCann in 2015. Julia was honored in 2023 as a Legend of Dance by the Dance Archive at the University of Denver.
Many of Julia’s students have gone on to enjoy professional careers with dance companies such as Atlanta Ballet, Ballett Zürich, Colorado Ballet, Eugene Ballet, Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, Wonderbound, and Verb Ballets. Similarly, many of her students have developed illustrious careers as brain surgeons, architects, scientists, teachers, engineers, visual artists, writers, physical therapists, and more – all with the love for dance bolstering their success. Julia is committed to using her experiences with injury and body dysmorphia to positively impact the way dance can and should be taught. Julia is passionate about providing an environment for learning where dancers can feel vulnerable and authentic.
Reports
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