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Dance grad honored for distinguished career

March 28, 2007

KALAMAZOO--Kathleen Hermesdorf, award-winning choreographer, performer and teacher, recently was inducted into the Western Michigan University Department of Dance Alumni Academy. While on campus to receive the honor, she spent time teaching master classes in dance performance.

Hermesdorf, who graduated from WMU in 1989, earned a master's degree in dance performance and pedagogy from the University of Illinois. She creates and teaches throughout the United States and Europe, and has been performing professionally in San Francisco since 1991.

For nearly 10 years, Hermesdorf and musician Albert Mathias have co-directed Motion-Lab, a company that produces stage and club choreography, music, improvisation and dance for a diverse population of artists, audiences and students. She is a recipient of the Isadora Duncan Dance Award, Goldie Award and Bessie Award.

The Alumni Academy was established to honor graduates who have distinguished themselves in their careers or shown outstanding leadership in their service, and the Department of Dance has inducted five people into the academy since its inception. They include choreographer and dancer Morella Petrozzi, attorney Kathryn Geib, dance educator Diane Makas-Weber, choreographer and dancer Derrick A. Evans and choreographer and dancer Anastasia Wozniak McGlothlin.

Media contact: Nina Nelson, (269) 387-5830, nina.nelson@wmich.edu

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