Rodger Blum (Professor of Dance) received a BFA in Ballet Performance from North Carolina School of the Arts and his MFA in Choreography from the University of California, Irvine. Before coming to Smith he was ballet/master dancer for Carolina Ballet Theatre and chair of the dance program at the Performing Arts School in Louisville, Kentucky where he received an excellence in teaching award from the National Foundation for the Performing Arts. His choreography has been presented by various companies on the east and west coasts of this country and in several countries in Europe. Active in the field of dance and technology, Rodger’s dance/theatre video “Embrace” was recently shown at the FAIF International Film Festival in the Mann Chinese Theatres, Hollywood, CA. His company, Suriving Jesse Productions, maintains a web site at www.smith.edu/survivingjesse.