Photo: Brittany App
BIOGRAPHY
DIANA STANTON is a Professor Emeritus of Dance at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA. She directed the Dance Program within the Theatre and Dance Department from 2009 until 2025, and she also directed the Orchesis Dance Company from 2009-2014, and 2020-2025. She has choreographed for The Orchesis Dance Company, Cal Poly Music department’s Cal Poly Symphony, Cal Poly Choir, Soundings and RSVP Performances. Diana was one of the three Cal Poly faculty to receive the Distinguished Scholarship Award for the 2020-2021 academic year. Her Dance for the Camera, "Breaking Bread," screened at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival March 2018, and the Seattle Transmedia Festival in July 2018. In 2016, her first Dance for the Camera, "State of Grace," was selected for screening at the Front and Main Dance Festival in Temecula CA, the Flying Frame Film Festival in Illinois, The Petaluma International Film Festival in CA and The Bare Bones International Music and Film Festival in OK. Diana was also the Co-Founder, Co-Artistic Director, and Administrative Director of Variable Velocity Performance Group in San Luis Obispo, CA where she created original choreography and multi media projects for more than 12 years. She received an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a B.A. in Dance from the University of California, Irvine. Her choreography has been presented professionally in venues including: UpSide Dance Company in Healdsburg, CA, Jumpbrush Pacific Dance Convergence, San Luis Obispo, CA; Choreography Under the Stars at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert; 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 L.A. Open Festival; and several American College Dance Festivals throughout the U.S. In addition to teaching at Cal Poly, Diana has also taught classes and Master Classes at Riverside Community College, Allan Hancock College, PCPA, Cuesta College, CU Boulder and the Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop. She was a founding member and Artist for the first Jumpbrush Pacific Dance Convergence in San Luis Obispo, CA in 2010, and again for the festival in 2012 where she was a featured performer in Joe Goode’s “Excerpts from When Things Fall Apart.” Diana focuses on released athleticism, contact improvisation and inverted techniques in her teaching and choreography.
Diana began her journey into dance after a childhood of competitive gymnastics and track and field. She approaches dance from an athlete’s point of view. She has practiced Yoga since 1995, has taught and practiced Pilates, and she finds her way to Contact Improvisation whenever she can.
She is an avid lover of the outdoors and enjoys many athletic activities – hiking, running, mountain biking, camping, and spending time with her dogs and traveling in her Noovo camper van https://www.noovolife.com/ (see video below), which all inform her work. On her own, she is a serious student of exercise science, nutrition, wellness practices, psychology, spirituality, and natural health. She is as passionate about learning as she is about teaching.
In both her work and in life, Diana is interested in Human Potential – physical, intellectual and emotional. Bold movement choices, experimentalism and kinetic wit characterize her choreographic work. She favors a collaborative choreographic process that results in dances that are about the dancers themselves. Diana’s work has been described as “Classical Modern Dance meets Rock Opera.”
Diana's current interests explore bridging the gap between art making and other disciplines and fostering creativity, empathy and intuitive thinking among groups. She facilitates interdisciplinary workshops using the artistic intelligence and collaborative processes employed in choreography to enhance traditional operations in business.
Diana began her journey into dance after a childhood of competitive gymnastics and track and field. She approaches dance from an athlete’s point of view. She has practiced Yoga since 1995, has taught and practiced Pilates, and she finds her way to Contact Improvisation whenever she can.
She is an avid lover of the outdoors and enjoys many athletic activities – hiking, running, mountain biking, camping, and spending time with her dogs and traveling in her Noovo camper van https://www.noovolife.com/ (see video below), which all inform her work. On her own, she is a serious student of exercise science, nutrition, wellness practices, psychology, spirituality, and natural health. She is as passionate about learning as she is about teaching.
In both her work and in life, Diana is interested in Human Potential – physical, intellectual and emotional. Bold movement choices, experimentalism and kinetic wit characterize her choreographic work. She favors a collaborative choreographic process that results in dances that are about the dancers themselves. Diana’s work has been described as “Classical Modern Dance meets Rock Opera.”
Diana's current interests explore bridging the gap between art making and other disciplines and fostering creativity, empathy and intuitive thinking among groups. She facilitates interdisciplinary workshops using the artistic intelligence and collaborative processes employed in choreography to enhance traditional operations in business.
Noovo Vans Owner's Story Video: Film by Josh Berendes
www.brende.co | @brende_films
www.brende.co | @brende_films
Photos: Brittany App, Kiel Carreau, Kamil Konrad