10/01/2026
Thank you again to Thayer Jonutz and Jon Anderson for the meaningful presentation, performance, discussion, and masterclass!
👉Thayer Jonutz is an assistant professor of dance at Oakland University and has taught Modern dance technique, improvisation, composition, dance pedagogy, and partnering. He is the director of the student Repertory Dance Company and currently serves as department chair. He has also co-founded three performing companies which have served as building blocks to his current ventures. Mise en Place Dance, Soduo, and Take Root enjoyed much success pushing the boundaries of technology and dance and performing in festivals in New York, unconventional spaces in Detroit, and a handful of international opportunities.
As an educator and artist, Thayer believes strongly in a variety of influences. Always open to new collaborative relationships, Thayer strives to continually stretch as well as challenge his comfort zone. His current multiyear creative process on the solo concert Hammer and Nail has pushed Thayer outside the typical modern dance aesthetic and has merged acting, vocalization, sound engineering, and integrative props to tell his Pandemic survival narrative.
Jonutz holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Michigan
👉Jonathan Anderson is an assistant professor at Wayne State University, where he teaches music theory and composition.
Writing for a variety of music for traditional acoustic ensembles such as orchestra, band, and chamber groups, as well as less traditional ensembles involving interactive computer music, Anderson frequently incorporates physical movement and dance as structural elements. With awards and honors from institutions such as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, SCI/ASCAP, and the Pierre Schaefer International Competition of Computer Music, his works have been commissioned and performed by orchestras, ensembles, and soloists throughout the world. Anderson, whose music has been described as “haunting,” mixing "electronic beats” with a “cocky mélange of aggression and tongue-in-cheek humor,” teaches music theory and composition at Wayne State University and serves as the resident composer for the modern dance company Take Root Dance.
Jonathan Anderson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music degree in Composition from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
