Rachael Leonard, Movement

Rachael McClellan Leonard instructs Wellness for Musicians and Movement courses in the School of Music at Stetson University.  She earned her BFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah and her MFA in Dance Choreography from Jacksonville University/WhiteOak as the recipient of the Howard Gilman Fellowship. In addition, she is a nationally certified instructor of Mat Pilates, Yoga, Group Exercise, and Personal Training, and is a holistic nutrition consultant.  Ms. Leonard is co-founder and Artistic Director of Surfscape Contemporary Dance Theatre, and is also an Adjudicator for the American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA), a Master Artist in Residence for Very Special Arts, and an internationally published author of dance articles and papers.  Ms. Leonard has been awarded multiple corporate and governmental grants for her creative projects and has developed over eighty original dance works for SCDT. In addition, she has choreographed for companies and college dance ensembles throughout the U.S. and as a residing guest, has taught at College of Southern Idaho, University of Utah, Alma College, Jacksonville University, Rowland Hall Saint Marks School, Lowell Elementary School, Stoneleigh-Burnham School, Carolina Strut Dance Arts Centre, and Atlantic Center for the Arts.  She was company member with Dance Performance Project and Pioneer Valley Ballet in Massachusetts, a soloist with Figure Five Dance and a guest performer with CDT in Salt Lake City, and also worked as a freelance artist performing with various groups and choreographers. Rachael has had the opportunity to train at Boston Ballet, Green Street Studio, Dance New Amsterdam, ODC, Shawl Anderson Dance Center, North Carolina School of the Arts, NYU/Tisch, Jacob's Pillow, Atlantic Center for the Arts, ACDFA, Jacksonville University, White Oak Conservation, and the Departments of Ballet and Modern Dance at the University of Utah.  She has also studied piano, voice, percussion, music theory, rhythm analysis, and multi-cultural music and dance.  In addition to serving on the faculty at Stetson University and directing SCDT, Ms. Leonard serves as the Vice-President of the Board of the Volusia County Cultural Alliance as an advocate for the arts.