# Bill Evans (dancer)

James William Evans or Bill Evans (born 1931) is an American choreographer, performer, teacher, administrator, writer and movement analyst. More than 250 of Evans' works have been performed by professional and pre-professional ballet, modern dance and tap dance companies throughout the United States, including his own Bill Evans Dance Company, Ruth Page Chicago Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, and many other companies. He may also have created works for companies in Canada, Mexico and New Zealand.

## Childhood and education

A native of Lehi, Utah, Evans began his performing career during childhood. He regularly appeared on the Juvenile Jamboree, a Salt Lake City television program in the 1950s. He began studying ballet and character dance with Willam Christensen at age 15.
Evans was a scholarship student at the University of Utah, where he danced in Orchesis, directed by Shirley Ririe and Joan Woodbury and in the Utah Theatre Ballet. He received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree in English and a BA-equivalent in ballet, from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in 1963.
He moved to New York City on a scholarship as a student of the Joffrey Ballet School. He returned to the University of Utah in 1967 and was awarded a master of fine arts degree in modern dance in 1970.
Evans has studied Laban Movement Analysis since 1976.

## Dance career

Evans first danced professionally in 1966 with the Briansky Ballet in New York City. After dancing with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and touring nationally with Ruth Page's Chicago Ballet, he returned to Utah. There he joined the Repertory Dance Theatre in 1967.. He remained with the company working full-time as a dancer, choreographer and one of three artistic coordinators until 1974.
In 1970, he founded the Bill Evans Solo Dance Repertory.
In 1974, Evans formed his own professional ensemble, the Bill Evans Dance Company (BEDCO).
In 1976, he moved BEDCO to Seattle, Washington. He also became artistic director of Dance Theatre Seattle/Bill Evans Dance Company School.
In 1977, he founded the Bill Evans Summer Institute of Dance in Seattle.
From 1983 until 1984, Evans was the artistic director, resident choreographer and company teacher of Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers, the oldest professional modern dance company in Canada.
In 1986, Evans became associate professor and director of contemporary dance at Indiana University, where BEDCO was in residence.
In 1988, Evans joined the faculty at the University of New Mexico, Theatre and Dance Department as Full Professor and Head of Dance. His company was based in New Mexico for 16 years.
In 1992, he set up the Bill Evans Rhythm Tap Ensemble. He founded the New Mexico Tap Festival and Dance Tap Jam in 1999.
From 2004 through 2014, his company was based at The College at Brockport, State University of New York.
The Bill Evans Dance Company celebrated its 40th anniversary in April, 2014.
In 2014, Evans relocated to Providence, Rhode Island.
In 2017, He founded the Evans Somatic Dance Institute in 2017.
In 2018, Evans moved to Port Townsend, Washington.

## Choreography

Evans has choreographed more than 250 works. His pieces include For Betty, Quartet for Jamie, Octet for Jacquie, Requiem for Janet, For Tim, The Legacy, Impressions of Willow Bay, Colony, Bach Dances, Tres Tangos, Jukebox, When Summoned, Tin-Tal, Five Songs in August, Yes Indeed, Los Ritmos Calientes, Velorio, Saintly Passion, Barefoot Boy With Marbles in His Toes, Climbing to the Moon, Albuquerque Love Song, Dreamweaver, Together Through Time, Rhythms of the Earth, Within Bounds, Hard Times, Craps, Naturescape Unfolding, Diverse Concerto, Multiple Margaret, Alternating Current, Prairie Fever, Doin' M' Best, Keep On Tryin', Remembering, Cuttin' A Rug, Field of Blue Children, Mixin' It Up, Double Bill Echoes of Autumn and Suite Benny. He has collaborated with jazz musicians, including Bill Evans, the jazz pianist—with whom he created Double Bill and Mixin' It Up in 1978 and 1979 respectively. Other famous collaborators have included ballerinas Cynthia Gregory and Christine Sarry.

## Teaching career

Evans has been an assistant professor of Modern Dance at the University of Utah, a visiting professor at the University of Washington and an associate professor and coordinator of the Contemporary Dance Program at Indiana University. He is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Dance at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he served as a full-time faculty member from 1988 to 2004. He is Visiting Professor Emeritus at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. He served as a professor of dance or artist in residence at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts from 2014 through May 2018.

### Method of Teaching Dance Technique

In 1976, Evans worked internationally in the field of somatics-based dance technique.
Since 1999, his summer programs have shared his pedagogy of dance technique with dance educators.
In 2002, he founded a Certification Program in the Evans Method of Teaching Dance Technique.
In 2003, Evans founded the annual Somatic Dance Conference and Performance Festival. Conferences and Festivals have taken place at the College of Brockport (2013–2014), Dean College (2015) and Hobart and William Smith Colleges (2016–2019). An additional conference called Dance Science and Pedagogy, took place at New Mexico State University in 2016.

### Publications and Organizations

His book, Reminiscences of a Dancing Man: A Photographic Essay of a Life in Dance was published by the National Dance Association in 2005. He wrote a monthly column, Tips for Modern Teachers, for Dance Studio Life from 2011 until 2014.

## Awards and recognition

Evans has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and thirteen fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 1997, he was selected as the National Dance Association Scholar/Artist. NDA published his keynote address, Teaching What I want to Learn.
In 2001, he received the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts.
In 2004, he was selected, along with Savion Glover and Brenda Bufalino, as one of three favourite world tap dance artists in the Dance Magazine Readers' Choice Poll.
In 2005, Evans received the National Dance Education Organization's Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2009, he received the Dance Teacher Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of Fine Arts by the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.
In 2011, he received the Outstanding Service Award from the National High School Dance Festival.
In 2013, he was also made an honorary member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science.
In 2014, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Dance Guild at the Ailey City group Theatre in New York City.
In 2015, he received the Choreography Fellowship from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.
In 2017, the Bill Evans Dance Company received the Dorry Award for Providence's Best Dance Performance of the Year. Evans completed a Fulbright Specialist residency, at Universidad Nacional in Heredia, Costa Rica.
His choreographic works have been selected for gala performances at numerous regional conferences of the American College Dance Festival Association, and at three of the ACDFA National Festivals.