Valerie Alpert, Founder and Artistic Director

Valerie Alpert is a native of Chicago and received her BFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988. Ten years later, she graduated with an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University. In between her school years Alpert performed, choreographed, and taught dance both nationally and internationally.

As a performer, Alpert toured with professional repertory dance companies in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Texas. As a company member with Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth and Zenon/Jazz Dance Company, she worked with internationally known choreographers and performed assorted repertory across the United States. In 1990, a highlight in her performing career was marked with her debut at the Joyce Theatre in New York City. Her repertory includes works by Gus Solomons jr., David Dorfman, Hannah Kahn, Mary Cochran, Jan Erkert, Bebe Miller, Stephanie Skura, Holly Williams, and Danny Buraczeski. Alpert’s credits also include "My Fair Lady" with the Minnesota Opera Company. Her inspirations are drawn from the vast experience and techniques acquired along the way.

Alpert’s choreography has drawn praise in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Arizona. She has been commissioned by several dance companies and has done extensive community outreach including a month long project commissioned by the Fort Worth Zoo. In 1994, she was invited to the Dallas Dance Gathering and to the Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival in Pensacola, Florida. Internationally, Alpert received an honorable mention for her work "Tunnel Vision" which was presented at the 1999 Prague International Dance Festival. Alpert's works are diverse, defined by past, present and future culture, literature, personal experience and imagination.

Alpert's work on the technology front included an invitation to present her multimedia work "Wearing Me Out," a work which explores the act of integrating computer technology into live performance, at the 1999 International Dance and Technology Conference. Her dance video "Images of Women: Picture Perfect" was exhibited at the Puffin Room Gallery in New York City as part of the 2000 Dance for the Camera Festival. Her contributions to the field of technology also include the publishing of her technical manual for the notation software program, LabanWriter 4.0 under Lucy Venable.

Along with her extensive performing and choreographing experience, Alpert is equally enthusiast for sharing the experience of dance with people of all ages. She has been teaching dance classes in jazz, modern, ballet, tap, composition, and improvisation to students of all ages and abilities since 1988. Her teaching credentials include Zenon Dance School and Minneapolis Community College in Minnesota, Tarrant County College in Texas, and The Ohio State University. As a guest artist, she has been invited to teach at Texas Christian University and the University of Minnesota. Alpert is on faculty and has been teaching dance at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. Currently, Alpert is pursuing her Ph.D. in Dance at the Texas Woman's University.