Media Relations

WKU Dance Instructor Added to Kentucky Arts Council Directory

Author: Angela Oliver of the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer
Date: Monday, July 2nd, 2012

Shauna Dever-Jones wears many hats in the professional dance world. A new opportunity could lead her to wear many more.

The Kentucky Arts council announced Dever-Jones as one of seven performing artists added to the Kentucky Arts Council Directory Tuesday. Six artists and companies also renewed their places in the listing. Dever-Jones is the only one from Owensboro.

"I'm grateful," said the newlywed. "It's an honor, and there have just been so many exciting things going on for me lately."

Dever-Jones said she applied for the directory listing in January and was notified about two weeks ago.

"It just feels good to be listed among so many great artists," she said. "And it's not just about the listing, we actually get the chance to meet and connect with each other."

Acceptance into the directory is based on "artistic excellence, performance experience and marketing capacity, as judged by an independent panel of performing arts professionals," and there are currently 98 individual artists or groups participating, according to the arts council's website. They attend professional development workshops and are marketed by the arts council online, in print and at events such as the Kentucky On Stage showcase.

Performing artists are required to complete a certain number of recitals or other exhibitions, and in Dever-Jones' case, 50 percent of the members in her dance company, Shauna Dever Dance, must be Kentucky residents.

Along with running her contemporary dance company, Dever-Jones is an adjunct professor of dance at Western Kentucky University, a dance teacher and choreographer for Daviess County Public Schools and an instructor at Owensboro Dance Theatre.

A former student of the local dance theater, Dever-Jones said its lessons have stuck with her.

"I would've never had this opportunity without what I've learned there," she said.

ODT invited Dever-Jones' company to perform during its time slot at the Dazzling Daylilies Festival. The dance theater will perform from 7:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Western Kentucky Botanical Garden, 25 Carter Road.

Dever-Jones and other members of her dance company will share the stage, performing a new duet she choreographed.

"I really appreciate them allowing me to show my new piece," she said. "It's so gracious of Joy (owner) and the company to share their stage time."

The duet also will be featured at the Nashville Fringe Festival later in June, and she is submitting it to a dance festival in New York in February.

With her success in dance, Dever-Jones said she will always give back.

She is offering a free dance class from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Johnson's Dance Studio, 2705 Breckenridge St.

Performing artists can renew their listing every two years.

"As long as I keep up my end of the bargain, I hope I'll continue to be in the directory," she said. "It could lead to great things. It seems like I do a lot, but it's all what I love, so I balance it somehow."