Minor in Dance

Dr. Sally Sherman, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Practice within the Department of Health and Human Development. She holds a B.A. in Dance, an M.Ed. in Teaching, an M.S. in Exercise Science, and a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology. In addition, she engages as an investigator in National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research studying the impact of yoga and meditation on various health outcomes.

Dr. Sherman’s original work studied “Energy Expenditure in Yoga Versus Other Forms of Physical Activity” and revealed that vinyasa yoga meets the guidelines for moderate physical activity. This study has been published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health and has been presented nationally and internationally.

She is a regular presenter on wellness and health, has led and assisted yoga and meditation trainings all over the world, and leads both anatomy and research workshops within yoga teacher trainings.

As an alum of the School of Education, Dr. Sherman aims to inspire students to dream big and to ignite learning both in and out of the classroom.

Recently, she was an invited guest on CBS Pittsburgh where she discussed the research behind yoga.

With an eclectic, energetic, lighthearted, and supportive approach, Gretchen Hurd has been an active educator, choreographer, and performer in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia since 2002.

After receiving her BA in Dance from Slippery Rock University in 2002, Gretchen began teaching at dance studios and choreographing musicals in central Pennsylvania. Her professional performance career began in Pittsburgh in 2004 and continued through 2017 throughout Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This included company member positions with Laboratory Company Dance (LABCO), August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble, Dance Alloy Theatre, and as a guest performer with the Pillow Project, STAYCEE PEARL dance project, Gia T. presents, TanzTheatre André Koslowski, and West Virginia Dance Company. She has continued a solo performance career as a Modern improvisational artist and has begun training in street dance styles including Hip Hop, Popping, Locking, and Breaking.

Her modern and hip-hop choreography has been performed by Dance Alloy Theatre, West Virginia Dance Company, August Wilson Dance Ensemble, West Virginia Wesleyan College, and by West Virginia University in Guatemala. She has choreographed musicals for Brookville Area High School and DuBois Central Catholic High School.

Gretchen has taught every level of dancer from age 3-84 in Choreography, Hip Hop, Improvisation, Modern, Jazz, Salsa, Party Dance styles, and Creative Movement. In the past, she was an instructor at Morgantown Dance Studio, The Dance Factory, Cadalzo Contemporary Dance Studio, and was an adjunct faculty member at Slippery Rock University, West Virginia Wesleyan College, and Chatham University. Currently, she is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh and West Virginia University; an instructor at Altered Productions Institute, PK’s School of Dance, and Studio 412; and teaches master classes for festivals, summer workshops, and dance intensives in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Gretchen is an established photographer and specializes in pets, dancers, and action photography with her company, Dapper Dewey Photography. She is the resident photographer for BluePearl Pet Hospital and is one of two photographers for Slippery Rock University Dance Theatre.

As a dancer, teacher, producer, and arts administrator, Michelle Dawson develops projects that bring professional and developing artists into creative engagement with diverse communities. A part-time faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh, Michelle teaches ballet, jazz and modern dance to students from beginner dance enthusiasts to seasoned dancers. Her classes focus on the common connection we share as movers in the world. Her classes are rooted in technique and foundational movement patterns within an environment of joyful discovery.  At Pitt she has also taught dance history, dance pedagogy and choreography.

In addition to her work at the University,  Michelle  is co-director of the Academy of Dance by Lori, a nationally recognized, award-winning studio in Pittsburgh’s South Hills. At the Academy, Michelle teaches a range of classes to students from 2-18 years old. In addition, she established and directs an Adapted Dance program that includes dance classes and performance opportunities; this program pairs typical students with dancers who experience unique needs resulting from their experience of Autism, Downs syndrome, Stroke, and seizure disorders.

In addition to teaching, Michelle facilitates opportunities for dancers to participate in the professional dance communities of Pittsburgh,  Los Angeles, and New York, and she coordinates annual summer workshops that provide her students with opportunities to expand their repertoire–and their creative imaginations–by working with performance professionals from multiple disciplines (dance, theater, film, music). Twice the local coordinator for the Moscow Ballet tour of The Great Russian Nutcracker, Michelle also annually produces an original holiday show that features professional and developing dancers working together. Proceeds from this show are shared with the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh, where, every December, Michelle facilitates an interactive performance that enables dancers to share live performance as they open a space for the medically fragile children in the Child’s Way department to dance.

Michelle danced professionally with the Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, where, under the leadership of director Mark Taylor, dance performance was pursued as an ongoing program of international movement research. With Dance Alloy, Michelle enjoyed opportunities to collaborate with internationally renowned artists including  Eiko and Koma, David Rouseeve, David Dorfman Dance, and Ann Carlson, as well as with artists dedicated to traditional dance forms in Hawai’i and India. Michelle also performed with MADSHAK/Molly Shanahan Dance in Chicago creating and performing original dance works in collaboration with musicians, including Andrew Bird. In Chicago, she also collaborated and performed in the original play H20 for the Neofuturists Theatre Company.

Michelle’s choreography has been performed at Dance Chicago, the Pittsburgh Choreographers Continuum, The American College Dance Festival (with University of Pittsburgh Dance Ensemble), the Carnegie Museum, and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland (with the Unseam’d Shakespeare Company). Most recently she has staged the Medallion Ball in Pittsburgh in 2022,2023 and 2024.

Along with teaching and performing, she maintains an ardent interest in movement education and has worked with Dr Julius PA Deward, PT, PhD and other colleagues at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago on movement recovery research following hemiparetic stroke. This work has been published in the journal Experimental Brain Research and presented at major conferences both nationally and internationally.