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DeeAnna Hiett, new Assistant Professor of Modern Dance and Charlotte Street awardee, performs a challenging role in "City" during Spring rehearsals with the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Theatre.

DeeAnna Hiett

New dance professor receives Charlotte Street award

By: Nicole English

Posted: 6/2/08

Notwithstanding a knee injury incurred during a May 16 "City" performance, May was a good month for DeeAnna Hiett.

The UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance announced Friday, May 30, it had chosen Hiett to join its stable of considerable talent as the newest faculty member, citing her "extensive experience and expertise as a teacher and choreographer.,"

"I was really happy about the news," said Hiett said. "I am really looking forward to teaching at this stage of my life …... and I am really delighted to be doing it at UMKC."

Hiett will join the Conservatory this fall as Assistant Professor of Modern Dance, and was selected through a rigorous national search process.

Hiett was also nominated and honored in May with the Generative Performing Artist Award from the Charlotte Street Foundation, which supports and recognizes outstanding and innovative performers. She was one of the three recipients of a cash award of $5,000 in recognition of her artistic contributions in the Kansas City area.

"It was quite a surprise," said Hiett said. "The nominations are done anonymously, so I have no idea who suggested my name. But I was invited to submit some pieces of my work on video …... then a committee made the selections. I was ecstatic to find out that I was one of the recipients."

Hiett has been teaching as Visiting Guest Professor at UMKC for several years, and performs regularly with the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Theatre, which has guest artist residency at the Conservatory.

Her other credits are considerable, including working as a principal dancer with the Jamison Project, under the direction of Judith Jamison, and later as a member of the prestigious Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York. She has also choreographed for the Lyric Opera, the Coterie Theater, and was a featured performer in the Kansas City Ballet and Lyric Opera.

In 2007, Hiett was featured at New York's famed City Center, and was praised as the "standout performance of the evening" by the Executive Director of the American Guild of Musical Artists, Allan Gordon. Her other choreographic and performing credits include the Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theater, American College Dance Festival, and the Deeply Rooted production in Chicago. She also works with the local Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, to interest and engage youth in modern dance.

Instead of a traditional awards ceremony, the Charlotte Street Foundation is preparing a showcase event with Hiett and the other two award winners, Ron Megee, a well-known producer/performer/playwright in the Kansas City night scene, and Mark Southerland, a composer/musician/performer.

"We don't have all the details worked out yet," said Hiett said. "But we will be putting a performance together this fall of existing works - and possibly some new works as well ... all in the spirit of the award's conception."

nenglish@unews.com