Liz Maxwell

Assistant Professor of Somatics and Dance

Liz Maxwell teaches modern dance technique, dance history, pilates, yoga, choreography, and Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis. She received a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School and an MFA in Dance from the University of Washington's unique program for returning professionals in 1994.  At Juilliard, she studied with teachers Hanya Holm, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Daniel Lewis and Ruby Shang, served as the dance captain of The Juilliard Touring Ensemble and performed in the works of Jose Limon, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Paul Taylor's "Esplanade" with the Juilliard Orchestra and premiered in Anna Sokolow's "Magritte, Magritte."  Liz spent the next ten years in New York performing in the companies of Laura Dean, Lucinda Childs, Donald Byrd, Neil Greenberg, Elisa Monte, Kenneth Rinker, Bill Young and Ton Simons among others.  She studied technique and composition at the Merce Cunningham School on scholarship, was an apprentice with Trisha Brown Dance Company as well as served as rehearsal director and dance reconstructor for Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians.  Her choreography has been produced by University of Washington, LocalMotion in Oklahoma, Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, and in California; CalArts, Moorpark College, Rio Hondo, The Fountain Theatre, Downtown Playhouse, Angel's Gate, Shoshanna Wayne Gallery and LACE.   In California, Liz has performed with Pacific Dance Theatre, Trip Dance Theatre, the York Dance Project, the CalArts Dance Ensemble, bodytalkdance and worked with choreographers such as Joe Goode, Ann Carlson, Laurence Blake, Doug Nielsen, Tina Yuan, Cristyne Lawson, Lauren Winslow Kearns and Ruth Barnes.  In 1999, Laura Dean created a solo for Liz entitled, "Celestial Navigations" which premiered at The University Theatre, CalPoly, Pomona.  She has been on the faculties of CalArts, Pomona College, CalPoly, Pomona, UC, Riverside, CSULB, Loyola Marymount University, Moorpark, Scripps College and Rio Hondo College where she served as co-director of the dance ensemble.   Liz is certified in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis and has written on dance as it relates to popular culture, trends in dance training and is interested in pursuing research into the mind/body connection.  Liz lives in Altadena with her husband, a screenwriter, and their two boys.