Jan Justis Oral History, 2020

Interview with Jan Justis conducted by Sandra Minton. Interviews for 2020 Legends of Dance were conducted over Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jan Justis danced professionally with the Nikolais Dance Theatre and created her own Denver-based company, the Jan Justis Dance Company. Her choreography has been shown at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and International Thespian Conferences. Jan holds a BA in dance from Barat College and an MA in Humanities, Theatre and History from CU Denver. A teacher at East, Eaglecrest, and Grandview High Schools, Jan taught and choreographed for both dance and theatre productions. She now lives in Salida where she has served as Artistic Director for the Stage Left Theater Company and produced dance performances at the SteamPlant Theatre. Jan served on the Governor’s Commission on Arts Education, is past president of the Colorado Dance Alliance, and received the Alliance for Colorado Theatre’s Richard L. Knaub award as an outstanding theatre teacher.