Shellie C. Nielson
Associate Professor of Dance
B.F.A., University of Utah
M.A., Teachers College, Columbia University
E-mail: Shellie.Nielsen@usm.edu
Shellie C. Nielsen received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in modern dance from the University of Utah and her Master of Arts in dance education from Teacher's College, Columbia University. As a professional dancer, she has performed with the Dayton Ballet Company, the Mercer Ballet Company, and various musical theater and summer stock companies. In 1987, Nielsen made a guest appearance with the Ririe/Woodbury Dance Company in Alwin Nikolais' lecture-demonstration presented at the 7th World Conference on Gifted and Talented Children. Most recently, she participated in Repertory Dance Theater's summer workshop performance at the Utah Arts Festival. As a multifaceted choreographer, Nielsen's works range from classical ballet, modern dance, opera, jazz, and musical theatre to period dance forms.
As a dance historian, Nielsen has studied Renaissance dance forms with Charles Garth and 19th-century ballroom dance with Elizabeth Aldrich. Her master's thesis, which examined the appearance of turnout in the social dances of the French Court during Louis XIII's and Louis XIV's reigns, sparked her interest in Baroque dance. She has been fortunate to study Baroque dance with Wendy Hilton, whose expertise encompasses the history, social context and choreographies for the Baroque dances in the French court, ballet and theatre. In April 2002, Nielsen was invited to present a lecture on Baroque dance for the Splendors of Versailles International Baroque Music Festival's Scholarly Symposium Series in Jackson, MS. Currently, she presents educational workshops throughout the state on Baroque and other period dance forms.
Nielsen successfully wrote and received major grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission, the Mississippi Humanities Council, the Southern Arts Federation, the Task Force on Cultural Diversity, and the Hattiesburg Arts Council. These grants have helped fund dance residencies and community outreach programs with such prestigious companies as Doug Verone and Company, Shapiro and Smith, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company in 1996, the Repertory Dance Theater in 1998, and Ballet Florida in March 2000.
She is active in the university community as well as throughout the state. At Southern Miss, she served as Faculty Senate secretary for the 1999-2000 academic year. Nielsen was a founding board member of the Mississippi Dance Association and has served on the Arts Commission's grant panel review committees. She is a member of the Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education and serves as a dance resource person for the Mississippi Arts Commission.
Currently, Nielsen is exploring intensive studies in Laban movement analysis, Bartenieff Funamentals, Creative Systems Theory, and Touch and Observation that will lead to certification in the Integrated Movement Studies program and the right to use the professional title of CLMA.
Department of Theatre and Dance
http://www.usm.edu/theatre
601.266.4994 (Theatre) • theatre@usm.edu
601.266.4161 (Dance) • dance@usm.edu