Narrative

Erin Thompson, Teaching Specialist for University of Minnesota Dance, teaches Modern Dance, Alexander Technique, and advises dance major students. Erin began her association with the Dance Program as a Cowles Chair guest artist in 1989, 1990, 1992, and 1993. Her dance career began with Loyce Houlton’s Minnesota Dance Theatre and continued in New York City in the companies of Nina Wiener and Bebe Miller. She received a New York Dance and Performance Award, “Bessie”, in 1986. Erin and her husband, Byron Richard, have received choreographer’s fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994 and 1996, and from the McKnight Foundation in 1993. Erin has also been awarded grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Jerome Foundation. She has taught around the U.S. and in Europe and Japan, and has recently graduated from the Alexander Alliance in Philadelphia, PA as an Alexander teacher. Erin was a 2007 Sage Award nominee in the Dance Educator category.