Meet the Artists
Kirsten Harvey
Sponsored Choreographer
Kirsten Harvey, Assistant Professor of Dance at Western Michigan University, received her BA and MFA from the University of California, Irvine. Ms. Harvey began her dance career studying with some of the best at the School of American Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, Tremaine Dance Center, and The EDGE Performing Arts Center. She danced with the Marla Bingham Contemporary Ballet Company and has performed professionally in numerous commercials, music videos, and movies in Los Angeles.
Some commercial credits include principal dance roles in commercials for Coke-a-Cola and Hallmark as well as in the movies Fallen Star and A Time For Dancing choreographed by Marguerite Derricks. Ms. Harvey’s concert and commercial choreography has been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Toronto and she has taught master classes nationally in jazz, ballet, hip-hop, and musical theatre. She was the director of the 14-time national championship winning Tustin High School Dance Program for six years and was an Associate Instructor of Dance at Fullerton College, Mira Costa College, and at the University of California, Irvine.
Ms. Harvey has presented her research on jazz dance improvisation and teaching emotional connectivity to dancers in Germany, England, Australia, Dallas at the Jazz Dance Symposium 2012, and at the National Dance Education Organization annual conference in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. She is thrilled to have been selected as the winner of the Inaside Chicago Dance Choreographic Sponsorship Event 2014 for her dance work Black Iris!
