Janet Muse Gray

Janet owned and artistically directed her studio since 1978. Janet served as a board member for Repertory Dance Theatre and was delighted to be a mentor/adjudicator for Utah Shakespeare Festival’s High School Shakespeare Competition held at Southern Utah University. She served 16 years as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Ballet Department, University of Utah (1984-2000), where she taught jazz, tap, musical theatre, choreographed for Utah Ballet, Ballet Ensemble, and produced the University Fine Arts Crimson Collage for ten consecutive years. She was a guest teacher and choreographer (1992-2004) for the Interlochen Arts Academy and has also served on faculty for the 2003 RDA Mid-States Festival, Ballet West Academy Summer Intensive, Boise State Summer Dance Festival, Ballet Idaho’s Summer Intensive, Black Hills Dance Theatre, and St. Paul’s School, NH. She completed her degree in Psychology, B.S., University of Utah 1974.

She received the “2003 Dance Professional of the Year Award” from the American Alliance for Physical Health Education Recreation and Dance organization (AAPHERD), Southwest Region. She was honored with a featured “Utah People” profile in the Utah Business Magazine, Sept. 1997. Janet served as rehearsal assistant for Mr. Jacques d’Amboise in his 1989 production of “Games Cells Play”; she taught a master jazz class for the ‘daCi’Conference 1991 (Dance and the Child International), and has also taught on guest faculty for ACDF (American College Dance Festival 1996-2008). She has been published in the International Tap Magazine.

Janet’s students have appeared professionally in Actor’s Equity musical theatre productions, music videos, as dancer entertainers on major cruise lines, worked for the Disney Corporation, Sundance Summer Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, and Egyptian Theatre, Park City. Janet was an active choreographer for community theater projects which have included “Cats”, “Aida”, and Park City Egyptian Theatre’s “Fantasticks”, “Music Man”, “Pageant”, and “Cabaret “ for which she won 2008 Best Choreographer.

Mission

Janet’s philosophy of dance was one of careful technical training and the development of an educated appreciation for the arts. Not everyone will choose to perform, but should a student desire to audition for a professional production in theater, dance, Disney or a cruise ship, they should be adequately prepared. To give a successful audition in the jazz and musical theater arts, BALLET is a necessity and was required study for our students. Janet was confident that her attention to careful and consistent technical training works because her students continue to have success in the professional entertainment industry.

Dance Benefits: Dance education enables the student to use and practice the seven major human intelligences identified by Dr. Howard Gardner, Harvard. These are visual-spatial, musical, verbal, logical/mathematical, interpersonal (relationship with others), intrapersonal (knowledge of self), and kinesthetic. Studies indicate that an individual’s emotional intelligence and confidence increase with dance training. We also give the students the tools and choreographic devices necessary for the student to express their artistry through dance.