Press Room
Dancer Celebrates 25 Year Legacy at SUU
For Immediate Release: August 3, 2007
(Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah) Gwen Grimes has been an Artist in Residence at Southern Utah University since she moved to Cedar City from Santa Monica, California in 1982. Ms. Grimes took some time away from her retirement preparations to discuss the highlights of her experiences in the SUU Department of Theatre Arts and Dance over the past 25 years.
Ms. Grimes’ path to Cedar City started in 1962 when she began dancing with the American Folk Ballet, under the direction of Burch Mann. The American Folk Ballet took residence in Logan to perform in Gerald R. Sherratt’s Festival of the American West. When Sherratt moved to Cedar City in 1982 to become President of SUU, he recruited Mann and Grimes to build the Dance program. Ms. Grimes recalls her feelings before her move to Cedar City, “I had passed through Cedar City as a child to visit family in Colorado, but I just remembered it as a street full of motels. I had been teaching at dance studios in Los Angeles, but I was looking for a new lifestyle to raise my daughter, Joy.”
Through her work as Artistic Director of the American Folk Ballet, Grimes became internationally known which led to opportunities outside of Cedar City, including the Cultural Olympiad for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, and a special cultural exchange with Russia in 1990. Of her experience in Russia, Ms. Grimes recalls, “For the White Nights Festival we arrived in Leningrad a week early to set up a special ‘Friendship Dance’ with the Russian dancers. It was a great learning experience to share knowledge with them, and it was the most incredible experience being able to take Burch’s work to Russia.”
Ms. Grimes also found teaching a very rewarding calling while at SUU. “It is fun to watch how far a student can grow in a set time period. I remember one student, Michael Anderson, who had no experience and started out as a beginner in Ballet I. He went on to dance with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago for twelve years.”
Melissa Holm, a dance major at SUU, says, “Gwen not only teaches with a loving disposition, but she has always wanted the best for her students. I began in the dance program with very little ballet experience and she pushed me to improve and taught me self-discipline. She always gave me hope and help in becoming better.” Shauna Mendini, Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance adds, “The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance is indebted to Gwen for her quality teaching, creative contribution, and dedicated service over the past twenty-five years. She is a model of artistic excellence and will be greatly missed.”
In addition to teaching and performing, Ms. Grimes has shared her gift for choreography through the American Folk Ballet, SUU dance concerts, and the Utah Shakespearean Festival. She explains her choreography philosophy, “I like to work with stories, characters and personalities. I like to use humor. In some ways I think people have lost the ability to enjoy what they’re doing, and I like for the dancers to have some joy and to communicate that joy with each other and the audience.”
When asked about her retirement plans, Ms. Grimes glowingly replied, “I am moving to Seattle, and planning my wedding.” She also hopes that she will have an occasion to come back to SUU to teach workshops, “If they want me, I’d be glad! That would be great fun!”