About

Jessica Baynes is a contemporary dancer and choreographer based in Salt Lake City, Utah, whose field work focuses on multidisciplinary collaboration, education, community engagement, and arts-for-health.

Baynes is an alumna of San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts Department of Dance and University of Utah School of Dance.

Jessica studied at the University of Utah on talent and academic scholarships and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Modern Dance in 2019.

Currently, Jessica holds a full-time faculty position at the professional ballet company, Ballet West.

Research & Choreography

Jessica's research in dance and arts-for-health has been featured by TED.com, United Nations Civil Society, National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), and International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS).

Her choreography has been sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Salt Lake City Arts Council, Utah Division of Arts and Museums, and Ballet West.

Performance

Jessica’s performance history includes traditional modern dance works such as "Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" by Donald McKayle and "Psalm" by Jose Limón. It also includes contemporary repertoire such as "SURGE" by Anouk van Dijk, and “r3gla tr3s” by Omar Carrum in Mexico City.

In addition to her modern and contemporary background, Baynes has over a decade of training and performance experience in Flamenco and Irish dance.

Teaching

Jessica has instructed thousands of hours over the course of her career as a full-time dance educator, to a wide variety of populations ranging from ages 2-101 years old.

Baynes holds a 600-hour classical Pilates teacher certification from the United States Pilates Association and the New York Pilates Studio©️.

She has guest instructed for institutions such as National Dance School of Panamá, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Brigham Young University, and Weber State University.

Most recently, Jessica taught on faculty at the University of Utah School of Dance and Repertory Dance Theatre.

Currently, Jessica holds a full-time faculty position at Ballet West, where she teaches daily classes to Ballet West Trainees, Professional Training Division students, Summer Intensive students, and Department of Education and Outreach participants. Her weekly classes Include:

  • Modern Technique

  • Contemporary Technique

  • Classical Pilates

  • Flamenco Technique

  • Adult Ballet

  • Adaptive Dance for Young Children

  • Ballet for Seniors

Baynes authored and designed all Contemporary, Modern, Flamenco and Pilates curricula for Ballet West Academy, which is currently under review for national accreditation.

She also serves as rehearsal director for Ballet West’s Studio Contemporary Company, “Current” Contemporary Performing Group.

 

Community Engagement

Baynes is a dance activist who is passionate about increasing the accessibility of high-quality movement education to underserved communities.

In 2016, she founded an arts organization called Healing In Motion Dance, which offers rehabilitative ballet classes to patients with neurological conditions that impair movement such as Multiple Sclerosis, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease.

Jessica teaches for Movement Mentor, a program which offers creative movement to children with special needs, and for Senior Steps, a ballet program for geriatric populations. These classes were recently mentioned in the New York Times.

Baynes is also an advisory board member for Movement Exchange, a nonprofit which offers teaching opportunities to collegiate dance students and year-round education to at-risk youth in the United States, Panamá, India, and Brazil.

Artist Philosophy

  • Coming soon.

  • As a dancer and educator with a focus in community accessibility, it is my mission to encourage personal growth and self-confidence through codified technique.

    Guiding Awareness and Appreciation of Physical Embodiment

    I am an enormous advocate for the life-changing potential of communal dance education. As young children, we first develop awareness of our body as it relates to others. This is a knowledge that influences how a person navigates their physical embodiment through life. I believe that dance strongly impacts how we understand our physical selves, the world around us, and the relationship between the two.

    Therefore, when teaching class, I integrate exercises which demand spatial awareness, kinesthetic empathy, and heightened proprioception. That way, when students leave the studio, they leave with a stronger mind-body connection and heightened sense of how their physical existence relates to their surroundings.

    Developing Confidence Through Community, Contrology, and the Joy of Movement

    What drives my passion for education is my interest in personal development through community. In the classroom, I implement activities that include partnering, eye-contact, weight sharing, and group composition, in order to facilitate community.

    A significant part of my somatic background is in classical Pilates, also known as Contrology, which is the study of body control. As a result, I make a point of educating dance students on their muscular anatomy, initiation, alignment, and control during technique classes.

    When introducing kinesiology concepts, I instruct through an inclusive and body-positive lens which, to me, means emphasizing the importance of:

    1. listening and trusting the body’s cues on alignment and misalignment

    2. savoring the joy of movement, no matter how large or small

    3. moving for the love of dance and not for the love of perfection.

  • Coming soon.