Mary Price
Boday, Associate Professor of Oklahoma City University, is Founder
and past Artistic Director of The Illinois Ballet and director
of the Central Illinois Dance School. Mary is part Cherokee Indian,
and grew up in Norman, Oklahoma. After graduating on the Dean’s
List from the University of Oklahoma with two Bachelor of Fine
Arts in Dance and a Master of Fine Arts, she moved to New York
City and danced professionally with the Leonard Fowler Ballet,
Mary Anthony Dance Theatre, Pearl Lang Dance Company, Larry Richardson
Dance Company, and the Gaku Dance Company (Dick Gain, Dick Kuch,
and Sophie Maslow). Also, in New York City, she taught and choreographed
for the Harkness Ballet Company Number Two, where she worked with
David Howard and Maria Vegh. From New York, she moved to Switzerland
to dance with the St Gallen Stadt Theatre Ballet and the Zurich
Ballet. Mary has been teaching for over 30 years and some of the
places include Harkness Ballet, ballet mistress in St Gallen,
the Zurich Opera House, the University of Illinois, Cornish College
of Seattle, David Howard Summer Workshops, and Dance Director
of the Mercyhurst College Dance Department.
When Mary was working
on her master’s degree, she formed the Mary K Price Dance
Company of twelve dancers that performed all over the state of
Oklahoma. In 1988 she formed the not for profit dance company
in Seattle, Washington called Mary and Friends.
Mary has been
choreographing for over 30 years with works on the Harkness Ballet
2 in New York City; the St Gallen Stadt Theatre Ballet in Switzerland;
the University of Illinois – Carmina Burena, Fallen
Leaves, Wagoso, Embrace, etc; Mary and Friends; Mercyhurst
College; the Lake Erie Ballet; the Peoria Ballet – Nutcracker,
The Little Mermaid of Lake Peoria, Alice in Wonderland, etc;
The Illinois Ballet – The Land of Pimiteoui, The Juggler
of Notre Dame, Appalachian Spring, Holiday Spectacular, A Christmas
Special, Gloria, Liebeslieder Waltzes, Rock Ballet, etc;
for Opera Illinois – Aida, La Traviata, The Marriage
of Figaro, Amahl and the Night Visitor, Rigoletto, Hansel and
Gretel, Il Trovatore, and Don Giovanni: for The Public Theater
Company – the musical Nosferatu; for Bradley University
Theater – Ruddigore, She Loves Me, etc. She also
has restaged the full-length ballets of Swan Lake and
Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake for The
Illinois Ballet. In the spring 2005, she choreographed Carmina
Burana for The Illinois Ballet.
Before finishing her
undergraduate work at the University of Oklahoma, she was honored
as The Most Outstanding Dancer Award. In 1977, she was honored
as one of The Outstanding Young Women in America, She is in many
Who’s Who – for example, Who’s Who, Who’s
Who in Entertainment, Who’s Who in the West, Who’s
Who in the East, Who’s Who in Finance, etc. Most recently
she is one of the 25 Leaders honored by WEEK TV – the NBC
affiliate, the Chamber of Commerce, and The Marketeer.
