Sam Stone is a dance performance artist, teacher, community organizer, and creator. She has studied a range of focuses in the dance field, coming away with a BFA in Modern Dance from the University of Michigan, then spending her career soaking up studies in release technique, improvisation (solo and contact), anatomy and biomechanics research through the Axis Syllabus, and a many wanders through travel and nature, before arriving at the University of Utah for an MFA in Modern Dance. Sam has presented work in theaters in and outside of the US but prefers enchanting the homes and found spaces that she passes with art and design. Sam is responsible for directing and conceiving seven evening-length productions, dozens of shorter pieces, and more than 50 children’s dance works. She is also a creator of music, clothing, found object formations and discreetly performs in plays.
‘Ms. Sam’ teaches creative dance to children with the San Francisco Arts Education Project, while ‘Sam’ teaches adult and professional dancers as a certified Axis Syllabus teacher. As a dance advocate, Sam participates in the collective vîv, who offers space (“Free Up the Space”), class (“Peer Practices”), and opportunities to underserved local choreographers, disrupting the status quo of what it means to be a dancer in the US and challenging certain static tendencies of the scene. Sam also is responsible for organizing Salt Lake City’s twice-a-week, rotating Contemporary dance series, “Dance Class for Humans,” in conjunction with her research about social skills as subscores within the dance classroom. As a performer, Sam has worked with Joanna Kotze, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Bianca Cabrera, Rosemary Hannon, Ashley Trottier, Aura Fischbeck and Leyya Tawil. Sam loves to dance in the studio, on the stage, in the club, and in her kitchen…. She values the expression, freedom and play that dance offers and always pushes for arts awareness and opportunity for all.