WSU Dance Program

WSU Dance Program
1845 N. Fairmount
Wichita, KS 67260-0101
316-978-3530

DANCE FACULTY

C. Nicholas Johnson (Modern Dance/Jazz/Mime Theatre), associate professor and Director of Dance at Wichita State University, began his career in movement arts in 1977 with a parallel interest in both mime theatre and dance. He was introduced to mime by Gregg Goldston and dance by Joan Woodbury in Salt Lake City, developing his early movement skills in mime, modern, jazz, and ballet classes. Johnson continued his parallel training in New York City with world renowned Polish mime director/performer, Stefan Niedzialkowski. He became a company member of Niedzialkowski’s New York company Mimedance Theatre and performed in New York from 1980-1983. Johnson continued to train in dance with Frank Hatchett, Richard Levi, and Ron De Marco. In 1980, he co-founded the Goldston School for Mimes, a summer residency program dedicated to teaching mime based at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. The School hosted five seminars with Marcel Marceau further broadening Johnson’s foundation in classical mime. At the School for mimes he began to fuse his eclectic training into an artistic vision of choreography that reflects both mime and dance.
    In 1990 Johnson developed Alithea Creations, a company dedicated to the production of single discipline and multi-discipline performances in mime theatre. Recognizing the need of a strong identity in American mime theatre, Johnson began to create new works and re-stage former company pieces that would later become the touring repertory for the Alithea Mime Theatre, a performing company that would highlight his group and solo choreography.
     In 1994, further blending of the arts occurred when Mr. Johnson premiered his production Seg way, a multi-disciplinary performance combining film with mime, dance and original music, Tucson, Arizona. After re-staging, the production was introduced to Chicago audiences at the Ruth Page Theater in 1996. In 1997, Alithea Mime Theatre performed his repertory works at the Athenaeum Theatre, Chicago. Johnson received a 1998 Kansas Arts Commission Fellowship for his multi-disciplinary vision. Fusing mime theatre, dance and film, he also placed 1st and 3rd in the 1998 Kan Film Festival for the experimental Seg way films and won 1st place in the Wichita National Short Film Competition 2002.
     As Artistic Director of The Alithea Mime Theatre, a company based in Wichita, Johnson and Sabrina Vasquez, Associate Artistic Director have toured Alithea to the International Mime Art Festival, Warsaw, Poland, in May 1999 and 2000, the First International Mime and Physical Theatre Festival in the Caribbean, San Juan, Puerto Rico, in May 2001, and the China Shanghai International Arts Festival 2005. The documentary film, Beyond the Word, made in collaboration with the Wichita State University Media Resource Center documenting the tour to Poland, directed by Greg Mathias, won a national Telly award in 2001. Alithea performed at the United Nations Youth Assembly 2006, NYC, New York.
    Further exploration of interdisciplinary theatrical projects combining movement with film and stage led to the creation of numerous children's theatre productions during residencies at the Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center, Cave Creek, Arizona. Johnson created The Nickracker in 1996, Alice in 2000 and 2003, A Midsummer's Nightmare in 2004, and Once Upon a Planet in 2005.
    In 1997, Johnson accepted the job as Director of Dance at Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas. From 1997 to the present he has been choreographing and teaching modern dance, jazz dance, mime theatre and movement for actors. Johnson created the Wichita Contemporary Dance Theatre in 1998, a resident student touring company highlighting both faculty and guest choreography. Both WCDT and the Alithea Mime Theatre tour Kansas as part of the Kansas Arts Commission touring roster. In spring 2004, Johnson created and directed Cinderella, a multidisciplinary collaboration with dance and music faculty and Ballet Wichita, formerly the Metropolitan Ballet Wichita. Johnson received the Wichita State University, College of Fine Arts Creative Achievement Award in 2003.

Office: 117 Heskett Center
E-mail: nick.johnson@wichita.edu
Phone: 316.978.3645
Home Page: http://www.alitheacreations.com

Denise A. Celestin (Ballet Technique/Choreography/Music for Dance), Associate Professor of Ballet at Wichita State University, received her early training in New Orleans and completed the MFA in Ballet from Texas Christian University. She performed with the New Orleans Ballet, Fort Worth Ballet and BalletMet of Columbus, Ohio, and served on the faculties of the BalletMet Academy, Otterbein College, and the Ohio State University. Ms. Celestin participated as a coach in the Fifth USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, and has choreographed a wide range of works for Ballet and Opera. Her choreography has been presented in London, Paris, Switzerland, Austria and Germany as part of the Voyageurs International Kansas Ambassadors of Music European Tour. She received an Individual Artist Fellowship Award for Choreography from the Kansas Arts Commission in 2001. Ms. Celestin has studied teaching methods at the National Ballet School Teacher’s Seminars in Toronto, Canada, and has presented research papers on Carnival and Dance Ritual for the Society of Dance History Scholars and for the 19th World Congress on Dance Research (CID-UNESCO) in Larnaca, Cyprus. Her special interest in music and dance has led to invitations to present interactive sessions on Baroque and Romantic Dances at the Music Teachers National Association, CBDNA and International Piano Pedagogy Conferences.

Office: 144D Heskett Center
E-mail: denise.celestin@wichita.edu
Phone: 316.978.3047

Sabrina Vasquez (Ballet/Modern/Jazz), Instructor, started dancing at the age of seven in ballet with Richard France in Tucson, Arizona. After numerous Nutcracker performances with Tucson Metropolitan Ballet, she went on to join Arizona Dance Theatre under the direction of Jean Paul Comelin as an apprentice. In 1986, Ms. Vasquez joined Ballet Arts as a demi soloist where she received accolades for various roles such as "The Dying Swan." Looking to expand her dance training to other disciplines, Sabrina continued her training at the University of Arizona. While at the University she performed the modern, ballet, jazz, and mime works of Douglas Nielsen, Ellen Bromberg, Jory Hancock, Melissa Lowe, Susan Quinn Williams, Michael Williams, and C. Nicholas Johnson. In 1995, Ms. Vasquez joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago where she performed works of Daniel Ezralow, Margo Sappington, and Twyla Tharp. While in Chicago, she also performed with the James Kelly Choreography Project and Chicago Tribune Charities Nutcracker. Sabrina is currently Adjunct Faculty at Wichita State University teaching Ballet, Modern and Jazz and is Associate Artistic Director of Alithea Mime Theatre.

Office: 144E Heskett Center
E-mail: sabrina.vasquez@wichita.edu
Phone: 316.978.3531

Stephanie Thibeault (Modern Dance/ Choreography/ Dance Improvisation/ Dance History/ Dance Technology/ Art of the Dance), Assistant Professor of Dance, holds her M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Maryland and a B.F.A. in Dance from Southwest Missouri State University. She spent nearly a decade in the Washington DC/Baltimore area, working as a professional dancer, choreographer, and dance educator, before serving as a dance faculty member at several institutions, including University of Maryland and Dickinson College, and Wichita State University. She was a member of Kinetics Dance Theatre, and a founding member of SURGE Dance Company of Baltimore. She has performed and presented work in New York, NY; Baltimore, MD; Washington, DC; Lisbon, Portugal; and many other cities, large and small. In addition to working with such fine choreographers as Deborah Hay, Mark Haim, John Evans, Jennifer Dorsey, Ken Skrzesz, Ed Tyler, Joe Goode and Doug Varone, she has also had the pleasure of performing with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Parsons Dance Company. Ms. Thibeault teaches all levels of modern dance and choreography, and is Co-Artistic Director of the Wichita Contemporary Dance Theatre (WCDT). Through her courses, individual mentoring, and the new choreographic work she creates every semester, she introduces students to a wide range of creative and performance ideas, from contact improvisation, to various dance and performance techniques, to digital sound and video editing. While much of her recent choreographic work has involved combining her passions for jazz music and contemporary dance, Ms. Thibeault continues to seek out new challenges, including her ongoing interest in integrating dance and new technologies.

Office: 144C Heskett Center
E-mail: stephanie.thibeault@wichita.edu
Phone: 316.978.3056

This site is maintained by the Dance Program of Wichita State University. Updates are made periodically. If you find errors on this page, please bring them to the attention of the Web Master.

Wichita State University, 1845 N. Fairmount, Wichita, Kansas, 67260. Privacy Policy. Technology Policy. Notice of Nondiscrimination.