Melissa Wynn

dnc_mlw@shsu.edu

M.F.A., University of California, Davis; B.F.A., The Juilliard School

Melissa Wynn, originally from San Jose, California, has studied dance at the Willow Glen Dance School, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, and Dance Theater of Harlem. She received her BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School, and her MFA in Theatre and Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from the University of California, Davis. Since 1989 she has been studying dance forms that move away from her traditional training, including, Release Technique, Feldenkrais Technique, Alexander Technique, Bartenieff Technique, butoh and acting. Wynn has worked with various artists and professional dance companies in both the Bay Area and in New York City where she resided for 16 years. Companies and choreographers she has chosen to work with have all experimented with breaking the boundaries and definitions of dance (or theatre) on some level, and include Bobbie Wynn and Company (San Jose, CA), Bonnie McNeely (Davis, CA), Ellen Webb (Oakland, CA), the Stanley Love Performance Group (New York), Works/Laura Glenn Dance (New York), Nina Winthrop and Dancer (New York), Sham MosherÕs Hybridium (New York), Reggie WilsonÕs Fist and Heel Performance Group (New York), the theater group John Kelly and Company (New York), Cynthia OliverÕs SHEMAD (New York), and the award-winning Bebe Miller Company (New York). She was a founding member of Rent choreographer Marlies YearbyÕs MovinÕ spirits Dance Theatre as well as of Sarah Skaggs Dance with whom she danced for five years. She currently dances with choreographer Della Davidson in Sideshow Physical Theater. Wynn continues to recognize and challenge a wide range of stereotypes while committing to the continuous challenge of moving away from the necessarily expected movement style of any specific categorization. As a teacher she has served as a visiting faculty member at UC Davis on several occasions in addition to teaching technique and repertory classes and workshops via the various companies she has danced with. Her choreography has been presented in New York at the Danspace Project (at St. MarkÕs Church), Dixon Place, and Long Island University, and in Davis, California at the Robert and Magrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. She has also created several site-specific works on the Nexus Dance Collective in Davis.

 

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