SMTD Department of Dance alumna Marley Spieser-Schneider is, among many things, a dance artist who currently teaches, choreographs, performs, and experiments in various locations, primarily Vermont, New York, and Michigan. As usual, she is constantly embarking on a multitude of projects. At the moment she is working on an evening-length collaborative work with Avi Waring and Paul Besaw, a duet work with Trina Mannino, a solo show titled Mantra.Math.Marrow, and a series of ongoing projects with various multimedia artists, including Ona Schneider and Jamie Killen. In short, she seeks to connect with people and engage in collaborative processes that inspire creative problem solving and open-minded investigation.


Each Modern Lab session features a different guest artist teaching a master class and sections from their repertory. This panorama of the contemporary dance field is presented to broaden the students’ awareness of potential career possibilities. Each guest artist conducts a 30-minute technique class/warm-up and then teaches repertory that is performed by the class. In the final 15 minutes, faculty coordinator Bill De Young conducts a Q & A with each artist, discussing their career; their recommendations for transitioning from student to professional, and what they look for when they audition dancers for their projects.

This event supported in part by the EXCEL Lab.