Wilson Names New Director of Fine Arts Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  | Dec. 5, 2016

Chambersburg, Pa. — Choreographer, performer, dance historian and artistic director Joshua Legg, formerly of Winchester, Va., has been named the new director of the Wilson College Master of Fine Arts program, effective in January 2017.

Legg, who grew up in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, has managed the dance program at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, since 2015. For the past 11 years, he has served as artistic director of JoshuaLegg/Dance Projects, which is based in the Mid-Atlantic region and produces artistic and scholarly programs that span a variety of contemporary and historical dance genres, dance-theater and theater. Legg is also a dance historian.

Legg — whose work has spanned ballet, classic modern, post-Judson, street jazz, dance theater/performance art, opera and classical, contemporary and musical theater — has performed dance roles in masterworks by Balanchine, de Mille, Petipa and Robbins, as well as a diverse range of contemporary works. He is the author of Introduction to Modern Dance Techniques and he has taught in dance or theater programs at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Harvard University (where he received a certificate of distinction in teaching), Suffolk University in Boston, Shenandoah University and Lake Superior State University.

“Wilson is excited to welcome someone with Joshua’s depth of experience and breadth of knowledge,” said Elissa Heil, vice president for academic affairs. “We are confident that he will take our M.F.A. program to the next level.”

Wilson’s M.F.A. program is “prime for deep, creative investigation and for collaboration,” according to Legg, who has three degrees from Shenandoah University in Winchester, including a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) and a bachelor’s degree in dance performance and choreography from Shenandoah Conservatory.

The college has “the potential to develop an exciting laboratory that is flexible enough to meet the needs of our students while we practice highly contemporary approaches to artmaking.” Legg said. “It is exciting to see the potential for us to create artist collectives for the 21st century. I can’t wait to get started working with our graduate students and the Wilson community in general.” 

Begun in 2015, Wilson’s M.F.A. is a low-residency program designed for working artists and others who have been away from academia and are now seeking an advanced degree. The program, which offers concentrations in visual art and choreography, is developing as an intimate and intense experience in which students and faculty explore making dance or visual art without the usual boundaries of media, according to Robert Dickson, chair of the college’s fine arts department.

The program offers a mentoring component to the curriculum that differentiates it from other low-residency M.F.A. programs. Wilson’s program is unique in providing a Wilson-approved faculty mentor near the student’s home, giving each student one-on-one personal contact with a professional who can offer ongoing advice and motivation, Dickson said.

Wilson’s M.F.A. program is designed to be completed in two years with 20 courses, including two required, four-week summer residency periods when students live, study and work on the Wilson campus.

During the non-residence periods, students will have regular contact with Wilson program faculty members and with their mentors. Each semester at home will include an online seminar with other members of the M.F.A. program learning community.

The M.F.A. program is supported in part through an endowment from Wilson College alumna Francis Farmer of the Class of 1950.

MEDIA CONTACT:       
Robert Dickson, Division of Arts and Letters Chair
Phone: 717-264-4141, Ext. 3400
Email: robert.dickson@wilson.edu

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Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees in 34 majors and master’s degrees in education, the humanities, accountancy and nursing. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation.

Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college had a fall 2016 enrollment of 1,098, which includes students from 18 states and 16 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.