Michelle Moeller, M.F.A.
Associate Professor/Chair
About
Michelle Moeller is Chair of the Department of Dance and an Associate Professor at the University of Central Oklahoma. Additionally, she is the Director and Founder of Perpetual Motion Dance, an Oklahoma City based modern and aerial dance company. Her performance and choreography have been part of numerous concerts and festivals, including the Houston Fringe Festival, ROGUE in Fresno, CA, Tulsa SummerStage, Live at the Crossroads in Kansas City and the New Genre Festival in Tulsa, as well as four American College Dance Festivals, where her piece “Echoes” was selected for the 2007 ACDFA Gala concert and as well as her piece "In the Wake" in 2004. As a freelance choreographer, Ms. Moeller’s unique aesthetic sensibilities have been sought after for commissioned works by Oklahoma City Ballet for their Future Voices project, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University, and Muscle Memory Dance Theater. She completed her Master of Fine Arts in Dance at Texas Woman's University where she was awarded the Excellence in Choreography scholarship.
As Director of Perpetual Motion Dance, Michelle has produced 15 original concerts most recently “Cora’s Door” which premiered in Oklahoma City and performed in full-length at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, NM, “Wanderlust” premiered in Oklahoma City and performed in full-length at Oklahoma State University, “Fault Line” recipient of the Mid-America Arts Alliance “Artistic Innovations” grant, premiered in Oklahoma City, and performed in full-length during the Tulsa SummerStage Festival and the Houston Fringe Festival, and “Water Won’t Wait” recipient of the Mid-America Arts Alliance “Artistic Innovations” grant, premiered in Oklahoma City, and performed in full-length in Little Rock, AR and Duncan, OK. She has participated in several public school residencies and after school programs, and served as a coordinator and teaching artist for the “Dancewise” project, a dance education program for the Putnam City School District in Oklahoma City. In 2013, she was recognized as one of Oklahoma’s“40 Under 40” by Oklahoma Magazine for her contributions to the arts landscape of Oklahoma.
Education and Certifications
Texas Woman’s University, MFA, Dance Performance
Professional Paper “Accessing Effort in Dance Performance: Somatic Entry Points Into Qualitative Movement”
- Excellence in Choreography Award/Scholarship (2004-2005)
- Academic Scholarship (2002-2005)
- Texas State Education Grant (2002-2004)
University of Central Oklahoma, BA, Dance Education
- F. Ann Shanks Dance Award (2001)
- Dance Scholarship (1996-2001)
Classes Taught
Classes: Modern I, II, III and IV, Beginning Modern, Beginning Ballet, Intermediate Ballet, Dance Composition, Dance Composition II, Music and Dance Collaboration, History and Philosophy of Dance I and II, Dance Improvisation, Contact Improvisation, Dance Practicum, Senior Project in Dance.
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