2630 Stringham Ave. #A220
Salt Lake City, UT 84109

(801) 585-6237
kristi.burns@utah.edu

(Dance)

Kristi Brubaker-Burns loves working with students and movement. Along with teaching dance skills, she also integrates movement and the core curriculum. With primary grades spelling words, mathematic equations, geography, life-cycles, literature all come to life through movement. With older students she pushes for artistic excellence and self-expression. As a way to engage students, her philosophy is learning through moving.

Her residency goals are flexible to meet the needs of each situation and group.  They can include creative movement classes, dance technique classes, teacher workshops, and choreographic projects.  Each residency culminates in a final sharing of the process for peers or community.  Movement ideas come both from classroom curricula and from the participants' personal life experiences.  Kristi believes in teaching inductively as a means of giving ownership to each student.  Her residencies always focus on team work, cooperation, and respect for the body.

Her 12 years plus of teaching dance has included such diverse settings as public and private schools, studios, work activity centers for special needs/disabilities, charter schools, and refugee camps in several parts of the world.  She received her MFA in dance from the University of Utah, her MA in dance education from UCLA and a BA in dance choreography from Brigham Young University.  Her current research looks at how dance fosters resiliency in children.

Kristi Burns has just joined the University of Hawaii at Manoa as the Department of Theatre and Dance education specialist.  Before Hawaii, Kristi served as associate instructor and head of dance at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She also instructed creative dance for students ages 2 1/2- adult, as well as special populations, and outreach in the public schools as part of the Virginia Tanner Creative Dance Program/Children's Dance Theatre.  She also administered the University of Utah's Fine Arts Education program Artsbridge America - a national program which links up college fine arts students with teaching opportunities in the public schools.

Currently she is affiliated with dance and the Child international, the National Dance Education Organization, and Arts First Partners of Hawaii. 

Preferences and Requirements:
Activities: residencies, teacher training, collaborations with other artists, and short-term activities
Availability: greatest availability from May to August, and available for short-term projects during the rest of the year
Technical/space needs: a clear open space in which to move, preferably without carpeted floors