Stacy Pottinger

Stacy Pottinger joined Carthage’s faculty as director of the dance minor and assistant adjunct professor of theatre in 2009. She holds a B.F.A. in dance performance from Southern Methodist University, an M.A. in dance education from the State University of New York College at Brockport, and an M.F.A. in dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her work has included a variety of interdisciplinary projects and collaborations with composers, musicians, video animators and teaching professionals of varying subjects. She continues to pursue opportunities to develop as a dance educator and draws inspiration from such experiences to share with her students.

Ms. Pottinger has worked with many independent dance artists and companies based in Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin and beyond. She performed with the Christopher Watson Dance Company (1996-2009), Biodance (2006-2007), Kinetic Evolutions Dance Company (2009), the City Children’s Nutcracker (1997-1998), and has worked with internationally known artists including Bill Evans and Juanita Suarez. Her choreographic work has been presented in venues up and down the United States, including the McKinney Avenue Contemporary Theater in Dallas, Texas; the Image Movement Sound Festival in Rochester, N.Y.; the Forum in Jonesboro, Ark.; and the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Her work “Collapsible Man” was adjudicated and selected for the gala concert at the American College Dance Festival in Athens, Ohio (2006), and she was featured as a guest choreographer for the University of Wisconsin-River Falls dance concert in 2009.

Ms. Pottinger is a co-recipient of numerous grants including the Minnesota Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) Small Grants/Community Arts (2000-2004); Target Foundation Special Projects Grants (2000-2004); the Hastings, Minn., Youth First Mini-Grant (2000); and a Global Interdependence and Cultural Diversity Grant (2006) from the Brockport Better Community Organization. She is also a recipient of the SUNY College at Brockport Graduate Student Alumni Award (2006-2007), the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) Elsa Posey Student Scholarship (2005), and The Dawn and Jacques Lipson, M.D. award in Performing Arts (2005). She was the SUNY College at Brockport Dance Department’s Princess Grace Award Nominee in 2006. She has presented at NDEO conferences and has instructed master classes at the American College Dance Festival and at the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Minnesota.

At Carthage, Ms. Pottinger has directed Fall and Spring dance productions for the past 16 years. She coordinated the College’s first student dance concert, “Away from the Mirror,” and has nurtured this annual student production into a cornerstone of Carthage’s dance curriculum. Her credits at Carthage also include choreography featured in the Theatre Department productions “Lysistrata” (2009); “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” (2010); “Into the Woods” (2018); and numerous works in Carthage’s annual dance productions spanning from 2009 - 2024.

Under Ms. Pottinger’s direction, Carthage’s Dance Minor Program has developed a 16-year relationship with Dancing Legacy, an organization dedicated to preserving American dance history through its Repertory Etudes Collection. Through this connection, Carthage’s dance program has hosted several mini-residencies with Dancing Legacy artists and has presented at least one Repertory Etude in every Fall dance production since 2009, including works by Pearl Primus, Donald McKayle, Anna Sokolow, Sophie Maslow, Danny Buraczeski, Robert Battle, and David Parsons.

Ms. Pottinger teaches Applied Dance Technique courses in Ballet, Jazz, and Modern as well as Composition, Improvisation, and Dance history. Her recent research inquiries include repertory-based teaching methodologies and literacy programming through the Repertory Etudes Collection. She has mentored student choreography at Carthage for the past sixteen years, led numerous trips to the American College Dance Festival conferences, and has served on multiple response panels, including that of Danceworks, Inc. Art to Art Series in Milwaukee, Faculty Feedback Panels for the American College Dance Festival North-Central Regional Conference Informal Concerts (2017 and 2014), and for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 2015 spring dance concert.

In addition to her roles as Dance Minor Director and Assistant Adjunct Professor, Ms. Pottinger is Faculty Advisor for Carthage’s NDEO Student Chapter and National Honor Society for the Dance Arts (NHSDA), and serves as President on the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Dance Council.

• B.F.A. — Dance performance, Southern Methodist University
• M.A. — Dance education, State University of New York College at Brockport
• M.F.A. — Dance, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

• DNC 1047 Applied Dance: Modern
• DNC 2047 Applied Dance: Modern II
• DNC 1120: Dance Theory and Practices
• DNC 2060: Dance Theory and Composition
• DNC 2070: Dance Choreography and Repertory
• DNC 3050: Dance History

Dancing Legacy Repertory Etudes Collection & Educator’s Cohort: Developing repertory-based teaching methodologies & literacy programming established through Dancing Legacy’s Repertory Etudes Collection. Research has included multiple stagings of RepEtudes featuring masterworks by dance artists, Donald McKayle, Sophie Maslow, Anna Sokolow, Pearl Primus, Robert Battle, David Parsons, and Danny Buraczeski; planning & facilitation of specialized literacy programming through residencies and ongoing professional development.

• “Clouds In My Coffee” (2025). Presented in Carthage College Department of Theatre’s Fall dance production, To The Growth Edge, November, 2025
• Staging of “Parsons Etude” (1999) based on dances of David Parsons. Presented in Carthage College Department of Theatre’s Fall dance production, To The Growth Edge, November, 2025.