Joan Van Dyke

Title

  • Associate Professor of Dance
  • Affiliate Faculty Member of Women's Gender Studies

Specializations

  • The Alexander Technique and Dance
  • Cast-Based Approach to Choreography
  • Kinesiology and Dance Research
  • Child Abuse Prevention and Empowerment through Movement Studies and Somatics

Contact Information

Office: Zink Dance Studio
Phone: 724-357-5528
Email: jvandyke@iup.edu

Courses Taught

  • Ballet
  • Jazz
  • Tap
  • Ballroom
  • Introduction to Dance
  • Women and Dance
  • Somatics and Dance
  • Ethnic Dance
  • Dance Production

Degrees

  • BA Ballet, Virginia Intermont College
  • MS Ballet, Indiana University, Bloomington
  • MFA Dance, Arizona State University
  • The Alexander Technique, International Centre, Galway, Ireland
  • Somatic Studies, Laban Centre, London and the Himalayan Institute, Honesdale, PA

Biography

Van Dyke is an associate professor of dance, and affiliate faculty for Women’s and Gender Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Van Dyke is director of the Dance Program and the IUP Dance Theater Company. She has choreographed 61 mainstage productions, including musicals, dance concerts, ballets, and plays. Van Dyke was selected for the Distinguished Faculty Award in the Creative Arts at IUP.

Van Dyke was appointed to the faculty of the former Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts where she served as ballet master. Van Dyke has choreographed productions for the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, and Squonk Opera’s production of Indiana, the Opera. She served as the choreographer for the Unseam’d Shakespeare Company’s Production of Macbeth 3, which was voted one of the top 10 events to see in Pittsburgh. She has served as vice president of dance for the Pennsylvania State Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance and is a member of the International Dance Association “Corps de Ballet.”

Van Dyke was awarded Outstanding Professional of the Year and the University Dance Teacher of the Year award for the Eastern District for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.

In addition to her university faculty responsibilities, she presently serves as the artistic director and director of curriculum for Van Dyke and Company and the Mahoning Valley Ballet, where she has choreographed, directed, and produced 65 full-length classical and contemporary ballets for the company and school. 

Van Dyke is an invited choreographer, lecturer, and educator nationally and internationally, including at the International Dubrovnik Festival, in Croatia; the International Centre for the Alexander Technique, in Ireland; and the Skyros Centre and the International Festival of Theater in Greece. She was recently awarded a certificate of appreciation for her work with educational and career goals for the Anabaptist Community, which included a full-length original ballet, panel discussion, a short award-winning film, and research.