Suzanne Ryanstrati has a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Iowa, where she was on full scholarship.

 

Her choreography has been performed in Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, Virginia and Internationally in England (2012 & 2015), France (2015, 2019), Germany (2016, 2019) and Ireland (2016). Future plans include research and creative work in Nairobi, Kenya.

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She has been a faculty member at the Kansas City Ballet since 2008,  teaching Modern, Jazz and Improvisational Dance, Tap, Choreo(graphy) Lab and is a teaching artist through Community Partnership department.

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Ryanstrati's professional dance career began at the age of 19 under Neil Hess, director of the Lone Star Ballet and TEXAS Musical Drama. She performed with Bill Evans in the USA and Japan, later relocating to Kansas City where she joined aha! dance theater and co-directed Reach...a movement collective with Richard Parsons. Ryanstrati was the Director of The Dancing Word with Westport Center for the Arts for 3 years, an intergenerational production merging spoken word, dance and visual art focused on social justice. She formed her own company, Ryanstrati LLC which focuses on the integration of history/science, dance and text.

 

As a choreographer she set works on dancers with the Modern American Dance Company (MADCO), Kansas City Contemporary Dance Company, City in Motion, Störling MOVES, Kansas City Dance Collective, aha! dance theatre, Reach…a movement collective inc, Mid-America Nazarene University, Avila University, Missouri Western State University, the Lone Star Ballet, Cornish College, and the Kansas City Ballet School. 

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She has worked in higher education for 18 years at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Avila University, Störling Conservatory, Southern Illinois University, University of Iowa (paid position GA), and founded the dance department at Missouri Western State University.

 

Ryanstrati founded Dancing Together with Cystic Fibrosis, Brain in Motion, and started the dance class at the National Parkinson’s Foundation. She loves working with members of the community! 

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Headshot photo by MIKE + JULIE |storytellers