Alicia Laumann

Alicia Laumann
Teaching Assistant Professor, Dance
laumanna20@ecu.edu
252-328-4849
112 Messick Theatre Arts Center
Mail Stop 553
East Carolina University

Alicia Laumann received her early dance training in south Texas before going on to earn her high school diploma from the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts where she danced lead roles in Swan Lake, Raymonda, and corps roles in George Balanchine’s Serenade and Concerto Barocco, for which she was coached by one of the preeminent Balanchine dancers of her time, Melissa Hayden.  She spent summers at San Francisco Ballet and the Hungarian National Ballet and after graduation was a company member of Ballet Austin for a period of two years.

Turning her attention to her academic career, Alicia attended the University of California, Berkeley before transferring to the UC, Irvine with the intention of being mentored by the late Donald McKayle, a distinguished professor at UCI who was one of the first African American men to address race issues by means of modern dance.  As a member of McKayle’s company, Etude Ensemble, Alicia had the privilege of dancing in his historically important Shaker Life (1972).  She stayed on to complete her MFA at UCI and was coaching assistant for William Forsythe’s New Sleep and George Balanchine’s Valse Fantaisie.  A particular highlight was dancing the lead role for Martha Graham’s seminal 1936 Steps in the Street, for which she was coached by former Graham principal dancer, Bonnie Oda Homsey.

Since receiving her MFA in 2004, Alicia has served as a visiting professor at Colorado Mesa University and adjunct faculty at Colorado State University most recently, and other colleges in both California and later in Colorado, teaching courses in all levels of ballet and modern as well as dance history and composition.  From 2015-2020, as resident choreographer and later artistic director of Canyon Concert Ballet in Fort Collins, CO, she set and choreographed classics and new full-length classical and contemporary works for the company’s yearly seasons.  Her students have gone on to companies such as Boston Ballet, Nashville Ballet and Colorado Ballet.  This is her first year as a professor at ECU and she is thrilled to be a part of the dance community here.

Education: MFA, UC Irvine

Courses: Introduction to Dance, Ballet