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It has been an amazing week of inspiring choreography, voting, bidding, and more. We are so grateful for each and everyone one of you who watched choreography, voted, shared, and bid throughout the week to help us reach our goals and supported arts-in-education programming.

Thank you to each choreographer who put so much amazing work into this experience.

How It Works

Like always, RDT’s annual choreographer competition will offer four choreographers the chance to compete for an RDT commission. Audiences are given the opportunity to view the choreographic process and decide which choreographer they would like to see win a commission. On top of that, patrons can bid on high-end auction items, all to support RDT’s arts-in-education programming.

• The event will run from May 22-June 1, completely online.
• Everyone is invited to watch choreography by four aspiring choreographers (created via Zoom) throughout the week, beginning May 22 at 6 pm. You’ll also get a behind-the-scenes look at the choreographic process and insights from the choreographers.
• Audience members are encouraged to vote for their favorite choreographer by donating to RDT. Each vote is $25 and you can vote as many times as you want.
• An online auction will run for the week as well, featuring high-end items and experiences. CHECK IT OUT HERE>>

Martha Morrison Veranth 

Martha was born in Connecticut and lived there until she and John married and moved to Salt Lake City. Her childhood was the usual round of ballet and piano lessons and choir rehearsals; she choreographed her high school’s Gilbert and Sullivan productions of Gondoliers and Ruddigore. She received her B.A. in Biological Sciences from Wellesley College. Her senior project, Mobbing behavior in Black-Capped Chickadees in response to a stuffed Great Horned Owl, turned her into a life-long birder.

After holding various lab jobs she earned a M. Eng. in computer science and embarked on a career of writing medical software. However, her answer to “What do you do?” was always “I’m a Scottish Country Dance teacher who happens to write medical software.” After many years of ballet and folk dance she discovered Scottish Country Dancing and by the third lesson had decided that she needed to become a teacher. After training in Scotland and Canada, she received the Teacher’s Certificate of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. She has taught SCD at all levels from elementary school to university. She also combined her passions for dance and birding by publishing Feathered Friends: Scottish and English Country Dances with Ornithological Connections.

She started attending RDT’s community school classes in 1997 and has taken Modern, Ballet, Prime Movement, and Grey Matters. In 2001, out of a job and looking for a volunteer project, she learned from John, who was on the RDT Board, that RDT had a 35-year collection of playbills and videos in need of cataloging, and would probably welcome someone to take on the project. She has been working on the company archive ever since.

At the beginning of the pandemic, she and John moved to their vacation home in Boulder, Utah. They enjoy all the ZOOM dance classes they are able to take every week but are looking forward to attending classes in person again.

RDT depends on the generosity of volunteers who provide expertise and hours of service to help the company achieve its mission.

Martha Veranth saw the importance of preserving RDT’s history… the who, what, how, when, and where that has made RDT a company like nonother.

No other person during our 56 years has given more time to help us tell our story.

Martha spent hundreds of hours researching information about our artists, choreography, personnel, our concerts, and our touring. She organized and documented data to record our legacy and gave us a model to continue to preserve our history.

We are proud to honor someone who not only loves dance, but someone who also understands the importance of helping arts organizations succeed.

Thank you, Martha. Your generosity has been munificence.