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Faculty Member

Christa St John

Biography

Christa St. John is an Assistant Professor of Ballet and serves as the Ballet Program Coordinator and Co-Artistic Director of Repertory Ballet Ensemble at Utah Valley University (UVU). Her extensive professional performance career includes dancing with Ballet Austin, Louisville Ballet, Charleston Ballet Theatre, Atlantic City Ballet, and Northwest Florida Ballet. Throughout her career, she worked with esteemed national and international artists and performed diverse repertoire spanning contemporary and classical genres.

Before joining UVU, St. John was the Elementary Division Director at Northwest Florida Ballet Academie, Artist-in-Residence at Western Kentucky University, and Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oklahoma where she served as Ballet Master for Oklahoma Festival Ballet and as Ballet Master and Choreographer for OU Opera Theatre.

St. John embarked on her choreographic path in 2014, marked by her commission to create her own full-length version of The Nutcracker for Ballet Indiana. Since then, she has premiered numerous works for both professional companies and university dancers, frequently collaborating with artists from film, music, theatre, and visual arts.

Her scholarly pursuits center on interdisciplinary collaboration and the intersection of dance and gender. She has presented scholarly and choreographic works at national and international conferences and festivals. In recognition of her contributions, St. John was honored with UVU's Faculty Excellence Award for the School of the Arts during the 2023-2024 academic year. She holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Dance from the University of Oklahoma.

Education

MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Dance, University of Oklahoma, 2021

Major: Ballet/Dance

BA, Western Kentucky University , 2018

Major: Dance

Teaching

DANC 4270R

Ballet Technique and Theory IV, Spring 2026

DANC 4210R

Pointe IV, Spring 2026

DANC 4250R

Repertory Ballet Ensemble, Spring 2026

Presentations

St John, Christa (Co-Author), Johnson, Jamie (Co-Author), 2026 Conference on Learning and Student Success (CLASS), "Subtle Shifts, Significant Change_ Gender-Inclusive Pedagogy with Measured Advocacy", American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Tucson, AZ. (April 18, 2026)
St John, Christa (Co-Presenter), Johnson, Jamie (Co-Presenter), State-Wide CPL Conference , "Credit for Prior Learning in the Arts_ The Ballet West–UVU Dance Pathway", Workforce Learning , Online . (March 25, 2026)
St John, Christa (Presenter & Author), Barnes , Colleen (Presenter & Author), Johnson, Jamie (Author Only), Making an Impact in the Fields of Gender & Sexuality , "Dancing Around Antiquated Curricula in Higher Ed_ How Curricular Revisions Can Celebrate All Genders in a Traditionally Binaried Art Form", The International Conference on Gender and Sexuality , Bankok, Thailand . (October 21, 2025)
St John, Christa (Panelist), Johnson, Jamie (Panelist), Barnes, Colleen (Panelist), Goldman , Ilana (Panelist), Choreographing Community_ Innovations & Collaboration in Ballet Education , "Ballet Across Communities_ Socio-Cultural Comparisons and Institutional Practices in Higher Education [Peer-Reviewed/Refereed]", CORPS de Ballet International , Salt Lake City, UT. (June, 2025)
St John, Christa (Co-Author), Johnson, Jamie (Co-Author), Women in Dance Leadership Conference_ Inclusive Dance Training and Dance Education, "Sylphs Supporting Sylphs_ Confronting Gender Binaries in the Ballet Canon [Peer-reviewed/Refereed]", Women in Dance, Los Angeles, CA. (October, 2024)
St John, Christa (Co-Author), Barnes, Colleen (Co-Author), From Policy to Practice_ Seizing Opportunities to Advance Gender Equality, Sexual and Gender Diversity, "Addressing the Gender Binary in Ballet_ Practical Approaches for Inclusive Learning Environments in Higher Education [Peer-reviewed/Refereed]", International Conference on Gender and Sexuality, Bangkok, Thailand . (September 20, 2024)

Scholarly/Creative Works

Johnson, Jamie , St John, Christa , (2026) "Leadership, Gender, and Curricular Change_ Ballet Pedagogy with Measured Advocy " (vol. 16). Newport News, VA: Journal of Performing Arts Leadership in Higher Education.
St John, Christa , Johnson, Jamie A, Kraus, Kristin L., (2024) "Sylphs Supporting Sylphs_ Confronting Gender Binaries in the Ballet Canon" (vol. 100). Provo, UT: The Journal of the Utah Academy . https://www.utahacademy.org/academy-journal/

Awards

UVU Scholarship and Creative Works Reception

Office of Academic Affairs - October, 2024

The Office of Academic Affairs hosts an annual event for selected faculty who demonstrated excellence in scholarship and creative works during the previous academic year.

Spot Award, Scholarship Ball 2024

School of the Arts - October 21, 2024

Faculty Senate Faculty Excellence Award

Utah Valley University - March, 2024

"The purpose of the Faculty Senate Faculty Excellence Award is to recognize full-time and adjunct faculty who have made significant contributions to UVU's mission through demonstrated excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service..." https_//www.uvu.edu/facsenate/awards.html

Best Paper Award, Arts

Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letter - November, 2023

Awarded best art paper by the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters with Co-Author Jamie A. Johnson for our 2023 publication in the Journal of the Utah Academy titled, "Sylphs Supporting Sylphs_ Confronting Gender Binaries in the Ballet Canon."