Melissa Younker
Melissa Younker (she/her) is a Salt Lake City based artist with a multifaceted dedication to dance; directing, choreographing, teaching, learning, performing and designing costumes. Her experimental approach combines her multi-disciplinary experiences to create solo, ensemble, site-specific, video, and theatrical performances. She is driven by curiosity: engaging in processes that are intimate, sentimental, and unrestrained.
Originally from Southern California, Melissa received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University, Long Beach in 2014. From 2014-2020, she was a full-time dance artist with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. During that time, she toured throughout the US and France performing repertory by choreographers Jonah Bokaer, Adam Barruch, Ann Carlson, Raja Feather Kelly, Joanna Kotze, Andrea Miller, Doug Varone, Kate Weare, Johannes Wieland, Netta Yerushalmy, Yin Yue, among others. Additionally, she performed historical repertory by Alwin Nikolais with Nikolais Dance Theatre. In 2018, Melissa traveled to Mongolia and South Korea as a cultural ambassador with DanceMotion USA℠, a cross-cultural exchange program of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administered by BAM ® (Brooklyn Academy of Music). Melissa is a founding member of Heartland Collective, a multi-disciplinary collective with collaborations in dance, visual arts, music, and performance that started in 2019. Since 2020, Melissa has served as Co-Artistic Director of Utah Valley University’s Contemporary Dance Ensemble, where she was honored with the School of the Arts Dean’s Award of Excellence, for Adjunct Faculty. She teaches within a multitude of communities including Dance Church®. In 2023 Melissa was invited to work with project based movement group, Oriantheatre Dance Company, based in Paris, France.