Leslie Merrill Schmidt

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Leslie Merrill Schmidt

Senior Lecturer of Dance

Theatre and Dance

Bio

Leslie Merrill Schmidt, MFA, is an interdisciplinary dance artist and Co-Director of the dance program at MSU Denver, and has worked as a dance educator for over 20 years. She is currently studying to become a certified teacher with Dance for PD (Parkinson's Disease) and is training with the Tamalpa Institute to become a registered Somatics Movement Educator and an Expressive Arts Educator. She enjoys facilitating community-based arts projects that engage participants in collective creative processes where they can connect and share their voices and stories through the language of the arts. She has performed extensively with a number of companies in Colorado and beyond. Leslie has created and produced several evening-length performances and has shared her academic, choreographic, interdisciplinary, and video work nationally and internationally.

Degree

MFA in Dance

University of Colorado

BA in Art History

University of Kentucky

Published Works

  • Merrill Schmidt, L. (2021). A Year of Life and Art in the Tamalpa Level 1 Training Program. Conscious Dancer Magazine, https://consciousdancer.com/

Research Interests

Improvisation, choreography, dance technique, dance pedagogy, interdisciplinary performance, somatics, expressive arts, anatomy, dance history, dance for Parkinson's disease, and community-based arts and social change

Teaching Interests

Leslie teaches choreography, community-based dance, dance pedagogy, dance history, interdisciplinary performance, and various dance technique courses, and brings her training and experience in improvisation, somatics, and expressive arts into a variety of classes. She aims to draw out the inherent intelligence, creativity, and curiosity that every student possesses. These capacities provide a strong foundation as students develop discipline-specific and transferable skills through thoughtful inquiry, collaborative problem solving, and interdisciplinary investigation.

Office Hours

Fall 2022 Office Hours
Thursdays - 8:00-12:00
Fridays - 10:30-11:30
or by appointment