Associate Professor Associate Professor

Judith K. Steel, [Associate Professor; Dept. of Dance and Choreography at Virginia Commonwealth University]; a native of Pittsburgh, Pa. holds an M.A. degree in Dance from the University of Colorado and is a C.M.A. [Certified Movement Analyst] through the Laban Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in NYC.  At VCU, she teaches Contemporary Dance, Improvisation, Choreography, Anatomy for the Dancer and Dance Science. Ms. Steel was a Fulbright Scholar in Fall 2024 teaching dance and choreography in Riga, Latvia. Ms. Steel has studied with and has been strongly influenced by Daniel Nagrin, Hanya Holm, Murray Louis, and Lynn Simonson.  She has performed with dance companies in NYC and Pennsylvania including the contemporary repertory company, Pittsburgh Dance Alloy. Former appointments include the dance departments at Ohio State University and SUNY Brockport as well as two years in London, UK at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance. Internationally, Ms. Steel taught as a month-long guest artist at the National School for Modern Dance in Copenhagen, Denmark and completed a semester research assignment in movement for actors at the Drama School of Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh, Scotland. In October 2018, she was invited to Moscow, Russia to co-teach an introduction to Laban Movement Analysis workshop for dance
movement/psychotherapy students and professionals at the Institute of Practical Psychology and Psychoanalysis. Current collaborations include dance science projects with physical therapists and presentations at conferences for Performing Arts Medicine Association and International Association of Dance Medicine and Science; most recently at the 2022 conference in Limerick Ireland. Ms. Steel is inspired by and is currently engaged in investigations into somatic-based approaches to training dancers and artists in multiple disciplines.