Jonette Lancos

A native of Pittsburgh, Jonette Lancos is Professor of Dance at the State University of New York at Geneseo, where she is recipient of the Chancellor?s Award for Excellence in Teaching. At Geneseo she teaches dance technique and dance history classes while serving as Artistic Director of the Geneseo Dance Ensemble. Professor Lancos holds degrees from Boston Conservatory (B.F.A., Dance and Drama) and the State University of New York at Brockport (M.A., Dance Research: M.F.A., Choreography and Performance) where she completed an M. A. thesis, The Movement Style and Technique of Charles Weidman, and an M. F. A. creative thesis, Pulse of Africa, a Humphrey-Weidman based work. She has studied, researched, and performed extensively in the historic dance styles and techniques of Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman under the tutelage of Nona Schurman, Deborah Carr, and Janet Towner, among others, and has studied José Limón?s technique with James Payton, Susannah Newman, Jennifer Scanlon, Chester Wolenski, and Nina Watt. Professor Lancos? teaching and choreography has been nationally and internationally recognized in reviews in both Dance Magazine and Dance Teacher Magazine. She has served as guest teacher and choreographer at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, Minnesota Dance Center, Mississippi University for Women, Mohawk Valley (Utica) Ballet, Point Park College, Skidmore College, SUNY Brockport, SUNY Potsdam, Wilkes-Barre Ballet Theatre, Boston Conservatory, and Kannon Danse in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She has presented her research at the International Congress on Research in Dance, Society of Dance History Scholars, National Dance Education Organization, and International Conference on Literature and Visual Arts. Her additional accomplishments and recognitions include the Delta Kappa Gamma International Women Educator's Achievement Award (2005), an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award from the Geneseo Alumni Association (2008), the Delta Kappa Gamma Pi State Dr. Elsa Brookfield Scholarship (2009), and the Genesee Valley Arts Council's Artistic Achievement Award (2010).In May 2007, The Edwin Mellen Press published Professor Lancos's book Reclaiming Charles Weidman: An American Dancer's Life and Legacy. Currently, Professor Lancos is writing Keynotes to Dance History: From the Stamping Grounds to the Joyce Theatre, also for The Edwin Mellen Press.