In the vibrant backdrop of the 1960s, sparks of experimentation and exploration ignited to form Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, a Utah institution that helped redefine the contemporary dance landscape.
Today, the rep company finds itself in post-pandemic flux, grappling to unearth its next evolutionary stage. While looking for a fresh artistic current, it is, like many performing arts organizations, seeking new ways to bring audiences into theater seats.
Leslie Kraus, Ririe-Woodbury’s new artistic director, thinks she may have the answer, but it has less to do with “seats” and more to do with reimagined “spaces.”
“I feel so honored to step into this legacy company,” says Kraus, best known for her starring role dancing as Lady Macbeth (2012-2015, again in 2024) in the off-Broadway smash hit, Sleep No More. Moving to Utah this past summer with her family (her husband, Salt Lake native Brandin Steffensen, is a former dancer with the company), she hit the ground running to fill the vacancy left by former director Daniel Charon. “It’s a dream come true for me, and I’m excited to curate seasons that bring in many voices and a wide range of life experiences, which I hope Salt Lake will be excited about.”
She spent her early career dancing and then assistant-directing for the award-winning Kate Weare Company in Brooklyn, NY. She also worked as a faculty member at University of Oklahoma’s dance department and coordinated the Five Moons Dance Festival. But her pièce de résistance is immersive dance, a genre that dissolves the boundary between spectator and performer, sometimes employing unconventional dance settings to engage audiences more deeply in the creative process.
“How does a 61-year-old dance institution pull itself off the traditional stage and put itself back in the hands of the community? While other candidates talked about immersive dance and theater, Leslie is that. She has the lineage and the actual chops to explore it with us,” explained Ririe-Woodbury Executive Director Thom Dancy.
Innovation and Imagination
So, should Salt Lake buckle up for immersive walks in the park alongside dancers or programs where we inhabit a dancer’s digital avatar?
“No good work comes out of coming in and flipping the table,” Leslie says, noting that she is intent on building trust through listening. “I want to enhance the company’s image as an experimental dance hub, introducing new and interesting ways to think about dance. But I also want to take the time to learn what the community and dancers respond to and find that sweet spot.”
While her experience dancing in Sleep No More is no doubt a trendy asset, she reminds us that innovation is still happening on the proscenium stage in dynamic and exciting ways, too. Leslie says she opts for a more tempered, balanced approach, especially when considering Ririe-Woodbury’s storied history and reputation for dance quality.
Still, who can blame us for getting a bit starstruck? Sleep No More, with a cult-like following over its 14-year run, was one of the unlikeliest, hottest tickets in New York. Audiences, wearing signature company masks, moved through different floors of the swanky McKittrick Hotel to an assemblage of artistic mediums-film, contemporary dance, theater, music, literature-in a retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. After performing in the production for two years, Leslie signed on with the same UK-based immersive theater company, Punchdrunk, for another lead role in The Drowned Man.
“Immersive is a sexy word that people throw around, but really, it just explores something already inherent in dance performance: the partnership between the dancer and the audience member,” says Kraus, who describes taking audiences to the next level by allowing them into the dancer’s space sans barriers. “Audiences feel like they’ve just been dropped into the center of a movie, so it’s deeply thrilling for them.”
Ririe-Woodbury 2025/26 Season
- REVERBERATION | September 25-27, 2025
Featuring a world premiere by incoming Artistic Director Leslie Kraus, as well as a new creation by famed choreographic duo Florian Lochner and Alice Klock of Flockworks.
- TRAVERSE | January 15-17, 2026
Choreography and art in motion, this concert features the work of the company’s 2026 Choreographic Canvas Selected Artist, a nationally recognized artist residency initiative.
- SPRING FORWARD Annual Benefit Party | April 16, 2026
Spring forward with the Artists of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in an evening of frivolity, fashion, and florals. VIP showing of Vantage Point, as well as craft cocktails and light bites.
- VANTAGE POINT | April 17-18, 2026
From her vantage point, featuring an evening of works by female choreographers Tzveta Kassabova and Princess Grace Award winner, Keerati Jinakunwhipat (in an encore performance of The Opposite of Killing).
Tickets will be available at RirieWoodbury.com
Get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.
