Woodbury, Joan, 1915-1989

Joan Woodbury was born on 21 September 1927 in Cedar City, Utah. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with B.S. degree in dance in 1950 and with a M.S. degree in dance in 1951. She taught dance at that same institution for several years until becoming an instructor at the University of Utah in 1951. Woodbury was an associate professor there during the 1960s and 1970s. She also toured the United States, South Africa, Portugal, and France during the 1970s giving dance workshops. She and Shirley Ririe co-founded the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in 1964, formerly known as Choreodancers. Joan Woodbury has won various awards for her efforts in the arts.

Joan Woodbury was born on September 21, 1927 in Cedar City, Utah. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a B.S. in Dance in 1950 and an M.S. in Dance in 1951. She became an instructor at the University of Utah and served as Associate Professor there during the 1960s and 1970s. She toured the United States, South Africa, Portugal, and France during the 1970s giving dance workshops. She and Shirley Ririe co-founded the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in 1963, formerly known as Choreodancers. Joan Woodbury has won various awards for her work in the arts.

Joan Woodbury graduated from the University of Wisconsin and became the first Fulbright Scholar in dance when she studied with Mary Wigman in Berlin, Germany in 1945. A retired professor of modern dance at the University of Utah where she taught for 47 years, Woodbury choreographed more than 100 works throughout her career, collaborated in the creation of 16 dance videos, and has been commissioned to choreograph by the Conservatoire National in Portugal, Outlet Dance Company in Australia, Desert Dance in Arizona, the University of Hawaii and Juillard School of Music plus many others. She has taught dance workshops and master classes throughout the United States as well as Portugal, France, Yugoslavia, China, Canada, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, England, Ireland, Singapore and Italy. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and has been honored by organizations across the world, including the prestigious French dictionary of dance, Dictionnaire de la Danse .

In 1964 Joan Woodbury founded Salt Lake City's Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company with fellow dancer and University of Utah professor Shirlie Ririe. The company has toured the world. Dedicated to educating children about the dance world, the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company offers not only formal and informal performances but also lectures, demonstrations, workshops and classes for all age groups in dance for actors, stage production and theater lighting. Joan Woodbury and Shirlie Ririe handed the artistic direction of the company over to Charlotte Boye-Christensen in 2008.