Through teaching, dancing, choreography, advocacy, program development, and partnership building, Teresa works to cultivate spaces for all people to find empowerment through movement.
Bio
Teresa VanDenend Sorge, EdM is a dancer, dance educator and Founding Director of Koresh Kids Dance. An outreach initiative of Koresh Dance Company, Koresh Kids Dance serves nearly 600 Philadelphia public school children each week. For nearly a decade she was a full-time lecturer at Muhlenberg College in the department of Theatre and Dance specializing in dance education and developing a dance education laboratory. She remains a part time lecturer at Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia using creative dance and choreographic practices to encourage empathy and kinesthetic awareness for medical students. Teresa recently moved to Cincinnati where she teaches dance at NKU and Miami Valley Ballet Theatre. Teresa created a dance collective with collaborator Rowan Salem and in collaboration with Greater Cincinnati Dance Alliance, they were recently awarded an Artswave grant for their upcoming project, Synergy Series. Teresa’s choreography and scholarship has been shared at multiple venues and in many community settings, including the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, The Cincinnati Art Museum, the Mayo Clinic, Northern Kentucky University, National Guild for Community Arts Education, Arts and Literacy Conference at UPenn, and National Dance Education Organization. Teresa attended Anne Green Gilbert’s SDIT, as well as the Institute for Restorative Arts with Buildabridge International, where she served as teaching faculty and Artist on Call. Teresa holds a BA in Dance Education and Dance Performance/Choreography from Hope College in Holland, Michigan and a Master of Education in Dance degree from Temple University. She is a 2023 candidate for Master of Fine Arts in Dance at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Choreography
Selected works from Teresa VanDenend Sorge
Video: Lisa Kuhn
Music: The Petersens
Choreography by Teresa VanDenend Sorge and Adam Kerbel
Music: James Taylor performed by John Denver
Dancers: Teresa VanDenend Sorge and Scott McPheeters
Choreography by Teresa VanDenend Sorge
Music: Janis Brenner and Theo Bleckmann
Dancers: Christine DeLuca, Juliana Genova, Emily Hirsch, MJ Hodge, Gwynne Jones, Miranda Keane, Kylie Sickler, Meredith Testa, Lea Torelli
Choreography: Teresa VanDenend Sorge
Music: Hope College Chapel Choir, Dies Irae and Pange Lingua
Dancers: Emma Jahde, Megan Ross, Olivia Wood
Choreography by Teresa VanDenend Sorge
Music: John Dever
Dancers: Teresa VanDenend Sorge
Choreography by Teresa VanDenend Sorge
Music: John Dever
Dancers: Teresa VanDenend Sorge, Scott McPheeters, Meredith Clemmons, Courtney Hunsberger, Kylie Sickler
Press and Publications
Koresh Kids Dance Articles and Media:
https://hvgreenspan.wixsite.com/phillyisdancing/single-post/2014/12/11/Giving-The-Gift-of-Dance-Koresh-Kids-Dance
https://www.williampennfoundation.org/blog/salsa-socioemotional-growth-benefits-school-arts-partnerships
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1986123538127321
Dance and Wellness-Sidney Kimmel Medical College:
https://philadelphiadance.org/dancejournal/2019/08/20/dancerx-or-is-there-a-dancer-for-the-doctor-in-the-house/?fbclid=IwAR3d9rHJBEQXOL2A3L-zrkWse5GRmLCmcDElFYCcpSW-hY7GrJeZhLHDzoI
Dancemax-Muhlenberg College:
https://www.muhlenberg.edu/news/charged-performance/
Journal of Dance Education:
Ellen V. P. Gerdes & Teresa VanDenend Sorge (2015) Building Humans and Dances: Exploring Cultural Relevancy as Teaching Artists, Journal of Dance Education, 15:2, 72-76, DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2015.990636
Thinking Dance Review:
http://thinkingdance.net/articles/2014/09/15/Experimenting-With-Memory
Contact and Consulting
Teresa is available for consulting, please leave a message and she will get back to you