Janet Lilly (born August 15, 1957) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

modern dancer and choreographer. She was a

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

for

Bill T. Jones William Tass Jones, known as Bill T. Jones, (born February 15, 1952) is an American choreographer, director, author and dancer. He is the co-founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Jones is Artistic Director of New York Live Ar ...

and

Arnie Zane Arnie Zane (September 26, 1948 – March 30, 1988) was an American photographer, choreographer, and dancer. He is best known as the co-founder and co-artistic director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Early years The second so ...

's company from 1983–1991. She currently serves as the Director of the UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Dance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. From 2012–2014 she was the president of the Board of Directors of Iyengar Yoga National United States Association.

Early life

Lilly grew up in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

and graduated from Iowa City West High School in 1975.

Dance

Lilly graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

's Tisch School of the Arts in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. She was a principal dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from 1983 until 1991. She also worked as a master teacher, rehearsal director, and choreographic assistant for the company. She went on to attend the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

's School of Music, Theatre & Dance for her graduate degree, graduating

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

in 1992. Lilly taught at the Peck School of Art's Department of Dance at the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscons ...

for fifteen years and served as the Dance Department Chair from 2005 to 2009. In 2011 she joined the faculty of the UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, succeeding

Jan Van Dyke Jan Van Dyke (April 15, 1941 – July 3, 2015) was an American dancer, choreographer, dance educator and scholar who was a pioneer of modern dance, modern and contemporary dance. Education Van Dyke graduated from the University of Wisconsin wi ...

as the Dance Department Chair. In 2016, the Department of Dance became the School of Dance with the creation of the UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts, with Lilly serving as Director of the School. Lilly also serves on the Commission on Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Dance.

Awards

*2008–2009

Fulbright Lecturer The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Award *2001

National Endowment of the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Creation and Planning Grant

Yoga

Lilly began studying Iyengar Yoga in 1992 while a student in graduate school, where she studied with Laurie Blakeney at the Ann Arbor School of Yoga in Michigan. She has been teaching since 1995. She has studied at the Iyengar Institute in Pune, India under

B. K. S. Iyengar Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga guru ...

seven times. She was granted a four-month residency at the

University of Pune Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...

. From 2012–2014 she was the president of the Iyengar National United States Association. She teaches yoga at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and at Triad Yoga in Greensboro.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lilly, Janet Living people 1957 births 20th-century American dancers 21st-century American dancers American women choreographers American choreographers American contemporary dancers American female dancers Dancers from North Carolina American yoga teachers Dance education in the United States Dance in North Carolina Dance teachers Modern dancers Actors from Iowa City, Iowa People from Redlands, California University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee faculty Tisch School of the Arts alumni University of North Carolina at Greensboro faculty Savitribai Phule Pune University faculty Women yogis Women academic administrators 21st-century American women