Aileen Norris

Teaching Artist

They/She

Aileen Norris is an interdisciplinary dance artist, organizer, and community member. Hailing from Iowa City, IA, they started their forever love of dance with ballet and attended summer intensives with programs including Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. In 2019, she graduated from the University of Utah with a B.F.A. in modern dance and B.A. in English.  

Aileen helped found Salt Lake City’s Queer Spectra Arts Festival in 2019 and served as co-director through 2023. She has performed works by artists including Halie Bahr, Alexandra Barbier, Nora Lang, and Leo Lynn. Their choreographic work has been presented at Melancholics Anonymous, Queer Spectra Arts Festival, and Sugar Space Sample Tracks. Her teaching background includes working with youth experiencing serious mental illness, youth involved in the criminal legal system, and traditional studio classes. They are passionate about increasing access to dance regardless of socioeconomic status, ability level, race, gender, sexuality, or other identity markers that have historically excluded individuals from the arts. 

Outside of dance, Aileen works as a freelance writer. When not in the studio, she loves going on walks with her wife, reading, crocheting, and watching the WNBA (Go Lynx!).

2025/26 Session Teaching Roster: Community Partnerships

Photo by Nora Lang