Sharonjean Leeds has taught Beginning Ballet,
Intermediate/Advanced Ballet, Intermediate Modern, Dance
Exploration, Choreography and Tap at USF since 1973.She has
choreographed for the University Dancers, USF's Dance
Ensemble and the College Players. She has received 2 awards: the
College of Arts and Sciences "Service Award" in 1993; the
University's "Distinguished Lecturer Award" in 1995. She
earned her B.A. in Theater and Dance at Smith College; danced with
Germany's Wuppertal Opera Ballet; earned her M.A. in Dance
at UCLA; performed, choreographed and taught for San Francisco
Dance Theater for 12 years; and founded her own dance company,
DANSFRANCISCO, in the 1980's. In the 1990's she
choreographed & performed with "New Shoes, Old Souls,"a company
of dancers over 40, which also worked with Mark Morris &
Michael Smuin. She guest-performed with Smuin Ballet in 1999. She
taught ballet & modern dance throughout the Bay Area for 35
years, most notably at San Francisco Dance Theater, Dancers
Workshop in Mill Valley, Redwood Empire Ballet School and was a
guest teacher for the California Association of Health, Physical
Education, Recreation, and Dance summer workshops. With her husband
she established the "Sharonjean & Richard Leeds Dance
Scholarship" for a graduating senior at San Francisco's
School of the Arts. Recently, she established an endowment to
benefit the Dance Department at Smith College, where one of the
rehearsal studios was dedicated in her name in 2002.
