Holly Handman-Lopez

  • Assistant Professor of Dance

Areas of Study

Education

  • BA, Connecticut College
  • MFA, choreography and performance, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  • Studied and worked with David Dorfman, Nicholas Leichter, and Lisa Race

Biography

Holly Handman-Lopez joined the Oberlin College dance faculty in 2003, and has choreographed numerous concert works, straight and musical theater pieces, and operas. Recent productions have included 33 1/3 (Dobama Theater), Body of Bourne, A Bernstein Revue, Angels in America, Romeo and Juliet, Picnic, The Winter’s Tale, The Miracle Worker, Spring Awakening, and Mr. Burns (with Cleveland Public Theatre).

She received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for her contemporary dance/theater work and has been recognized by the Cleveland Critics Circle for Superior Achievement in Choreography.

Handman-Lopez danced professionally in New York City with many prominent choreographers—including David Dorfman, Nicholas Leichter, and Lisa Race—and performed extensively in New York City venues and as a member of national and international tours.

Most recently, she performed in Germany and Denmark with internationally acclaimed poet Esther Dischereit, and in the United States with Neos Dance Theatre and Shelter Repertory Dance Theatre.

In summer 2018, Handman-Lopez made her directorial debut with Little Women for the Oberlin Summer Theater Festival.

Spring 2025

Contemporary Dance I: Beginning — DANC 100

Production Project — DANC 211

Musical Theater Dance — DANC 242

Practicum in Dance — DANC 311

Senior Project — DANC 400

Senior Capstone Project — DANC 500

Fall 2025

Production Project — DANC 211

Practicum in Dance — DANC 311

Senior Capstone Project — DANC 500

Earlier in her career at Oberlin, she choreographed Oberlin’s production of Orpheus in the Underworld in 2004; A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2007; Kindle in 2007; Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre in 2008; and in 2009  for the Oberlin Dance Company.

Notes

Ohio Arts Council Presents Holly Handman-Lopez with Individual Excellence Award

Assistant Professor of Dance Holly Handman-Lopez has been awarded a 2022 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for Choreography. Her prize-winning work was created during the pandemic and performed by Oberlin College students. This is Holly's second such prize from the Ohio Arts Council.

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