Carnegie Mellon University

School of Music

Where artistry and innovation share center stage

Michele de la Reza

Michele de la Reza

Teaching Professor of Dance

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Bio

Michele de la Reza has been a faculty member in the CMU School of Music since 2007 and is the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Attack Theatre - fusing modern dance, original live music, and interdisciplinary art forms to create passionate portrayals of everyday life. With her partner, Peter Kope, their work has toured across the U.S. and around the world, including at the Avignon Festival (France), the 7th Next Wave Dance Festival (Japan), Spoleto USA, the Indonesian Arts Festival, Tanzmesse NRW (Germany) and Monaco Danses Forum among others. They maintain a priority on collaboration and frequently partner with orchestras, opera and theater companies and art museums. They have provided choreography, movement coaching and performance for over two decades with Pittsburgh Opera including CarmenEugene Onegin, Dead Man Walking, Aida, Salome and Samson and Delilah.  With the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Michele and Peter choreographed and performed in Stravinsky’s L’histoire du Soldat with Pinchas Zukerman and choregraphed and performed works by Manuel de Falla with the Asheville Symphony and Erie Philharmonic. Michele and Peter have created original work with theater companies (Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh Festival Opera), museums (Carnegie Museum of Art, Andy Warhol Museum, Frick Art Museum, Mattress Factory), and international dance companies (Japan’s Nibroll Collective and Belgium’s Compagnie Matteo Moles). They made their Broadway debut in 2000 as choreographers for Squonk.

Michele was a founding company member of NYC based Perks DanceMusicTheatre and a company member of with Dance Alloy, performing and touring with both companies for eight years. Together with Peter, Michele is the recipient of three Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowships, Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” and the Hardie Educator of the Year award. 

With a core belief that movement is an essential part of living and learning, Michele brings dance and kinesthetic learning strategies into the classroom through residencies, workshops and performances for students and educators. She has been on faculty for CMU Pre-College and the Dalcroze Eurythmics Training Center since 2008.

Attack Theatre is the dance company in residence for the School of Music, where Michele is an Associate Teaching Professor of Dance. She received her BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School and a Master’s of Science in Developmental Movement/Motor Learning from the University of Pittsburgh.