Shani is a highly experienced dance educator and performer with over 25 years of teaching, artistic direction, pedagogical research, and choreography experience. Her contemporary works have been seen at such events as the Gala Concert at the American College Dance Festival (ACDA) Northwest Region and the Utah Regional Ballet (now Utah Metropolitan Ballet), and she has been asked to perform master classes and workshops across the Western United States.

Shani Robison is an Associate Professor of Dance at Brigham Young University. She earned her B.A. in Dance in 1995 and her M.A. in Dance with a Performance/Choreography emphasis in 1999 from Brigham Young University. Shani has been a full-time faculty member at BYU for 18 years, teaching prior to that as adjunct faculty and a student instructor at BYU for an additional 11 years. Shani served as the BYU Ballet Area Administrator for 10 years, the Artistic Director of BYU Theatre Ballet for 9 years, and the Artistic Director of the BYU Ballet Showcase Company for over 5 years. She is certified in American Ballet Theatre’s Teacher Training Primary through Levels 3, Progressing Ballet Technique, Total Barre, and will finalize her certification in Essential, Intermediate, and Advanced Stott Pilates Mat and Reformer Training this year.

Shani has been professional faculty and/or taught intensives/master classes at dance schools throughout Utah including Central Utah Ballet, Ballet West Academy, Odyssey Dance Utah, Lifehouse Academy of the Arts, The Dance Club, Center Stage, The Pointe Academy, and the Rocky Mountain School of Classical Ballet. Outside of Utah she has taught at the Creative Arts Center in Helena, Montana; Regional Dance America, Pacifi Region Festivals; American College Dance Festivals, Northwest Region; Ballet Idaho; College of Southern Idaho; and at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

While directing BYU Theatre Ballet, Shani set original full-length ballets such as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, and a collaborative Snow Queen; and restaged Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. In addition to these productions, Shani has choreographed 26 contemporary ballet works, and 13 classical/neoclassical ballet works. Three of Shani’s contemporary works, African Winds (2008), Concealed (2009), and Interrupted Impulse (2012) were given the distinct honor of being selected to be performed in the Gala Concert at the American College Dance Association Festival Northwest Region, with Interrupted Impulse selected as an alternate for the ACDA National Festival. In 2010 Shani was selected as one of two finalists in the Professional Division of the Choreographic Design Project to set a new work on Utah Regional Ballet, now known as Utah Metropolitan Ballet. And, through invitation, she choreographed for 4 BYU Opera productions and 2 BYU Musical Theatre productions.

In addition to creative works, Shani has presented research nationally and internationally at conferences in Austria, Greece, Toronto, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and Utah. She is a professional member and former President of CORPS de Ballet, International, and a professional member of both the National Dance Education Organization and Utah Dance Education Organization.

“My goal is to help dancers not only to fall in love with this beautiful art form, but to find their individual potential and voice through a positive and encouraging atmosphere. Whether I am working with professional dancers, collegiate dancers, or small children I find great joy in building them up, challenging them, and helping them to reach new heights artistically and personally.”