Ron De Jesús
Clinical Assistant Professor of Music
Bio
Ron De Jesús, who is the founder and director of Ron De Jesús Dance, joined the Department of Musical Theatre as an assistant professor in 2012. De Jesús is the artistic ambassador of Northeastern Illinois University and artistic associate for StagePlays Theater Company in New York. He has received many awards including the New York Musical Theater Festival Award for Excellence for Best Choreography and the Chicago Music & Dance Alliance Award for Best Choreographer.
A Chicago native, he has danced with Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, Joseph Holmes Dance Theater, Chicago Repertory Dance Ensemble, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago where he was a leading dancer for 17 seasons. He was in the original cast of the Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel musical Movin’ Out, was part of the creative team of Tharp’s Come Fly Away, and is a repetiteur for Twyla Tharp Productions. De Jesús has created works for film, theatre, television commercials, festivals, special events, and dance companies including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, HS2, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Luna Negra Dance Theatre, Sacramento Ballet, Momenta, and Thodos Dance Chicago, among many more. De Jesús has served as a guest teacher and choreographer at numerous major universities including Harvard, the State University of New York at Purchase, Point Park, Wayne State University, Western Michigan University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Pepperdine University.
