Director
Diana Stanton received her M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her B.A. in Dance from the University of California at Irvine. Her choreography has been presented professionally in many venues including UC Irvine; CU Boulder; Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop; Dancers for Life, a benefit for AIDS at Riverside Community College; Cal Poly; Allan Hancock College; the LA Open Festival; and several American College Dance Festivals throughout the U.S. She is the founder and Co-Artistic Director of Variable Velocity Performance Group in San Luis Obispo, CA. In addition, Diana teaches at Cal Poly and World Rhythm and Motion Dance Studio, and has also taught at Cuesta College, Allan Hancock College, the Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts, CU Boulder and the Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop.
Assistant Director
Michelle Walter is a Cal Poly graduate and Orchesis alumna. She received an M.A. in Dance Education from Stanford University. Michelle is the founder of the Cuesta College Dance Company, Entourage. She has been the director of that company for the past 11 years and an instructor of dance at Cuesta for 20 years. Michelle has taught and performed with the Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo and Gilbert Reed Ballet. While on sabbatical in England, she studied in London and Cambridge, and performed at the Cambridge Arts Theatre.
Designer and Technical Director
Howard Gee has served as the Orchesis designer and technical director for more than 15 years, working with hundreds of professional and student choreographers. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Design and Technical Theatre from the University of Utah and his Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Theatre from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Howard toured nationally with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Co. as stage manager and lighting designer and taught at Morehead State University in Kentucky, before coming to Cal Poly in 1979.