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Ashlea Sovetts

Name: Ashlea Sovetts
Title: Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance
Education: M.F.A., Texas Women's University
B.A., Winthrop University
E-mail: sovettsa@winthrop.edu
Area(s): Contemporary/Modern dance, Improvisation, Choreography, Dance History, Ballet, Jazz

Ashlea Sovetts is a multifaceted dance artist who is able to flow between a variety of different roles. Primarily, her work focuses on choreographic residences, dance in higher education, arts program development, and arts administration. As a choreographer, she investigates real-life experiences as inspiration to create narratives. As an educator, she emphasizes a somatic approach by focusing on breath, fluidity and awareness of one’s presence in relationship to others. As an arts program manager, her skill set includes idea and content development, community outreach, recruitment and retention of students, grant writing/editing and leading facilitation amongst artists through project execution. Ashlea actively serves on three boards as she is the former board president for the Grand Strand Charter Arts High School, a World Dance Alliance Americas board member, and an NDEO Advocacy committee member. As an administrator, Ashlea was the Recruitment Coordinator for the Department of Dance at Texas Woman’s University and was the University Partner Relations Coordinator for the Sant’Anna Institute in Sorrento, Italy and continues to consult as a community relations advisor for Staibdance summer intensive in Sorrento, Italy. In addition, her work has been supported by the South Carolina Arts Commission, Alternate Roots, the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, and the New England Foundation for the Arts. Currently, Ashlea has returned to her alma mater to serve as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Dance at Winthrop University.  Ashlea, originally from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina graduated Cum Laude and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas.