Department of Theatre & Dance Staff

Amanda Clark, Professor, teaches all levels of jazz and tap dance technique, along with Dance Appreciation and Dance Pedagogy. She consistently creates original work for the WKU Dance Company and choreographed the WKU Department of Theatre & Dance productions of Blood Brothers, Beauty and the Beast, and Sweet Charity. She earned her BFA in Dance Performance with an emphasis in jazz, tap, and musical theatre dance from Oklahoma City University. She was a Graduate Fellow at The University of Oklahoma where she received her MFA in Dance with an emphasis in ballet and modern dance. Amanda has completed the Nan Giordano Jazz Dance Basic Certification and the American Tap Dance Foundation Rhythm Tap Teacher level one and two certificate training programs. Amanda received the Mahurin Honors College 2025 Faculty of the Year for Teaching award. 

Amanda performed extensively with the American Spirit Dance Company and Oklahoma Ballet Festival and has appeared in the Leo’s Competitive Event of the Jazz Dance World Congress in Buffalo, New York and Monterrey, Mexico. Amanda’s choreography encompasses a range of dance styles and genres and has been presented internationally in Civitavecchia, Italy and Monterrey, Mexico. She has created work for performance at the Jazz Dance World Congress Leo’s Choreographic Competitive Event in Chicago and in Pittsburgh, the Big Apple Tap Festival, the St. Louis Tap Festival, Inaside Dance Chicago’s Choreographic Competitive Event, Cultivate: A Choreographer’s Showcase in Indianapolis, the Tennessee Dance Festival, St. Gregory’s University, various regional American College Dance Festivals, the Baylor School, and Chattanooga Center for the Arts. 

Amanda has taught ballet, jazz, and tap dance at The University of Oklahoma, at national conferences and festivals, and within the private sector. She has attended and presented at numerous National Dance Education Organization Conferences and is a member of the National Dance Education Organization and the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science. Her primary research interests lie in dance history and pedagogy, with specific focus in the development and preservation of jazz and tap dance. She is the author of Dance Appreciation, 1st edition (2021) and Dance Pedagogy (2024), both published by Routledge. Current scholarship includes Dance Appreciation, 2nd edition (2026) and research with Dance Educators Living With/Through Cancer (DELC).