Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, Beth’s original training focused largely on classical ballet while she studied dance at The Studio, School of Classical Ballet and performed with Santa Cruz Ballet Theater. During this time she spent summers dancing with Richmond Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Ballet Austin. She also had the incredible experience, in 1999, of touring Europe for the Tanzsommer Dance Festival, both performing and training in Germany, Austria, and France.
In 2003, Beth attended Ballet Austin’s summer intensive where she was offered a contract as an apprentice for the 2003/2004 season. After apprenticing for Ballet Austin for two years, Beth joined the main company where she went on to spend eight years of her career dancing. During her time with Ballet Austin, Beth had the privilege of working with Artistic Director Stephen Mills both on new creations and archival pieces of his work. She also performed in multiple works by August Bournonville, Septime Webre, George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, and Twyla Tharp. Being a member of a mixed repertory company, Beth had the pleasure of collaborating on new works by Reginald Harris, Thang Dao, Thaddeus Davis, Viktor Kabaniaev, KT Nelson, Dominic Walsh, Gregory Dolbashian, and Nicolo Fonte.
During her time in Austin, Beth received her massage license from Austin Community College which prompted her to dive back into school and focus on getting her Associates degree in biology. She also spent her summer exploring the larger Austin dance community and worked with creators Orlando Canova, Michelle Thompson Ulerich, Gina Patterson, Jennifer Hart, and Toni Bravo. She also developed and directed two seasons of the summer dance performance Califa Arts Collaborative. This project brought a diverse group of artists together for a free collaborative performance with the goal of uniting the Austin dance community while also creating a more accessible performance experience for the audience.
In 2012 Beth decided to retire from the ballet world and move to San Francisco, California. In San Francisco she performed with Post: Ballet and gave birth to her first child. She also completed her associates degree in science but chose to pivot her degree to marketing when she and her family decided to move their adventure to London, UK.
It was in London where Beth began dabbling in her choreographic passions awhile completing her degree in marketing. Too sick with her second pregnancy to dance, Beth applied for a residency at Clarence Mews, where she was accepted, and began to revisit her creative mind. This re-ignited passion for creation followed Beth on her move to Seattle where she began to choreographing under her company, The Gray.
Since moving to Seattle in 2018, Beth has created works for Velocity Dance Center’s Co-Production Series, Bridge Project, and their Velocity Bash Fundraiser. She has also choreographed for Seattle International Dance Festival in 2019 and 2021 and was accepted into their James Ray Residency Program which culminated in a performance at their festival in 2022. Beth has also created and shown work in Converge Dance Festival, a Pitch and Roll Productions mixed bill performance, Soft Concrete II immersive performance, Base Independent Arts + Space’s 12 Minutes Max show, and received a residency at On the Boards which culminated in a performance weekend. Beth also had the opportunity to create a film for Seattle Dance Collective’s Continuum, Bridging the Distance film series during the pandemic.
Beth has had multiple experiences choreographing for producing shows around Seattle at Velocity Dance Center, Base Arts + Experimental Space, On the Boards, and Broadway Performance Hall. She has also broadened her teaching experience by teaching adult ballet classes around Seattle as well as company class for The Gray and for Seattle contemporary dance company Whim W’him. Beth has also taught workshops for professional dancers around Seattle as well as gave a talk on career strategy and taught ballet class at Cornish College of the Arts.
In 2022, Beth joined University of Washington’s dance department as an MFA candidate. During her time at UW so far she has returned to the stage performing works by Gary Champi and Crystal Pite. She is also teaching undergraduate student courses and will be choreographing for both the graduate and undergraduate concerts. Beth’s current research interests include audience experience and performance tools as well as dance as embodiment both for performance and for healing.
BETH TWIGS | bio
Photos by Warren Woo