The Department of Dance is extremely proud of the excellence demonstrated by the graduate and undergraduate students in dance. Many have received department awards as well as awards and/or funding from other sources as noted below.
Graduate Awards
Department awards for graduate students were established in 2002 to recognize excellence in specific areas within the curriculum as noted and in honor of faculty and long-time supporters of dance at Case Western Reserve University.
- Elizabeth Salemi, 2002
- Chun-Jou Tsai, 2013
- Ziying Cui, 2016
- Carisa Leigh Armstrong, 2002
- Kelli Rose Sanford, 2007
- Ying Xu, 2012
- Hannah Barna, 2015
- Amanda Clark, 2015
- Andrea Alvarez, 2016
- Carisa Leigh Armstrong, 2002
- Emily Marie Johnson, 2002
- Elizabeth Salemi, 2002
- Kathleen Eiko Kohatsu, 2003
- Kelli Rose Sanford, 2007
- Kristy Clement, 2012
- Rachel Stoneking, 2012
- Carissa Jayne Bellando, 2013
- Yizhen Hu, 2019
- Yuting Zhao, 2020
- Shannon Michelle Cozad, 2004
- Jamie Knurek, 2009
- Hannah Barna, 2015
- Amanda Clark, 2015
- Emily Marie Johnson, 2002
- Kathleen Eiko Kohatsu, 2003
- Shannon Michelle Cozad, 2004
- Sharon Catherine Manuel, 2004
- Paloma Lisa McGregor, 2004
- Richard Dickinson, 2005
- Sarah McCalister, 2005
- Mingming Liu, 2007
- Kelli Rose Sanford, 2007
- Heather Derman Koniz, 2008
- Christopher Bell, 2012
- Carissa Jayne Bellando, 2013
- Chun-Jou Tsai, 2013
- Yidi Lin, 2016
- Richard Oaxaca, 2016
- Carrie Langguth, 2018
- Karen Opper, 2018
- Mary-Elizabeth Fenn, 2022
- Tingyu Xie, 2022
- Richard Dickinson, 2005
- Sarah McCalister, 2005
- Jared Bendis, 2016
- Christian Mintah, 2021
- Katie Nabors, 2021
Undergraduate Awards
We recognize the excellent work and achievements of our undergraduate students through several different awards.
The first award for undergraduate students was established in the 1980s by Janet Meskin (MFA ’83) in honor of Lily Dreyfuss, who was a long-time supporter of dance at Case Western Reserve University.
- Patricia Gay, 2009
- Jody Herman, 2010
- Claire Cobb, 2011
- Alexander Cooke, 2011
- Hannah Barna, 2012
- Jacob Marx, 2013
- Keely Saslow, 2013
- Eve Lanyi, 2014
- Abbey Hafer, 2015
- Karlie Budge, 2016
- Rachel Lanyi, 2016
- Emily Shelton, 2016
- Mireille Fehler, 2018
- Madison Martin, 2018
- Amanda Lindamood, 2019
- Joel Linebach, 2021
- Megan Gregory, 2023
- Megan Halley, 2023
- Mikayla-Heinrich Wong, 2023
- Lauren Robinson, 2023
The Vera Orlock Award was established in her memory by her brother, CWRU Professor of Theater and English, John Orlock. Vera earned the MFA degree in Dance from CWRU in 1978 and was a recognized practitioner of body-mind centering.
- Ameeya Singh, 2020
- Mikayla-Heinrich Wong, 2022
- Lucia Mancha, 2023
The Petot award was established after dance became a department in 2011 in honor of Brad Petot, longtime light designer and technical director of dance at Case Western Reserve University.
- Rebecca Gilson, 2012
- Nora Scullin, 2012
- Arielle Dolezal, 2014
- Jennifer Luppino, 2016
- Sydney Gray, 2018
- Natalie Nielsen, 2019
- Zhaonian Li, 2021
Other Awards and Funding
- Richard Dickinson, 2005
- Brandon Gregoire, 2020
The Eva L. Pancoast Award was established by the university’s Board of Trustees in 1985 as a fund in honor of Eva L. Pancoast, awarded to women graduate students or women who are graduating seniors for foreign study or foreign travel or both.
- Katri Shaller, 2001 (Japan)
- Beth Salemi, 2002 (Turkey)
- Kathleen Eiko Kohatsu, 2003 (Peru)
- Paloma McGregor, 2004 (Africa)
- Kelli Rose Sanford, 2007 (Australia)
- Ying Xu, 2012 (London)
- Chun-Jou Tsai, 2013 (Austria)
- Amanda Clark, 2014 (The Netherlands)
- Julia Pedron Nicolau, 2015 (Contact Improv Festival, Kuala Lumpur)
- Karen Opper, 2018 (Italy)
- Mikayla Heinrich-Wong, 2023 (Italy)
The Cleveland Arts Prize: Kathryn Karipides Scholarship in Modern Dance was first offered in 2006 to any student and is now offered through the Cleveland Arts Prize for any student in the MFA dance program for summer study.
- Rachel Stoneking, 2011
- Carissa Jayne Bellando, 2012
- Chun-Jou Tsai, 2013
- Yidi Lin, 2014
- Yidi Lin, 2015
- Tingting Zhou, 2016
- Andrea Alvarez, 2017
- Yizhen Hu, 2018
- Yuting Zhao, 2019
- Katie Nabors, 2020
- Joel Linebach, 2022, 2023
In addition to the above notable awards and citations, many of our undergraduate students have been invited to join the Ohio Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.