Bill Evans is an internationally-known choreographer, performer, teacher, administrator, and movement analyst. More than 200 of Evans' works have been performed by professional and pre-professional ballet, modern dance, and tap companies through the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Europe and New Zealand. He was a leading dancer and major choreographer with Utah Repertory Dance Theatre (1968–74). In 1970, he founded the Bill Evans Solo Dance Repertory. He is currently the Artistic Director for the Bill Evans Dance Company (founded in 1975) and the Bill Evans Rhythm Tap Ensemble (founded in 1992). He is Emeritus Professor of Dance at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he served as a full-time faculty member from 1988-2004.
A native of Utah, Bill Evans began his performing career during childhood. He went on to study at the University of Utah, receiving a BA in English, a BA equivalent in ballet, and an MFA in modern dance. He joined Utah Repertory Dance Theatre in 1968, where he quickly distinguished himself as a leading dancer and choreographer. Noteworthy dances from this time period include Five Songs in August, For Betty, Tin-Tal, Piano Rags, The Legacy, and Hard Times.
In 1975, Bill Evans left Utah Repertory Dance Theatre to form the Bill Evans Dance Company in Seattle, Washington. He became Director of Dance Theatre Seattle in 1976, which, at the time, was the largest school of dance in the Pacific Northwest. In 1988, Mr. Evans joined University of New Mexico Dance Program as a full professor.
Bill Evans has made thousands of appearances will ballet, modern dance and tap companies, and as a solo concert artist. As a choreographer, Evans is known for his diversity, range of expression and rhythmic inventiveness. One of his foremost achievements has been the creation of a modern dance technique that emphasizes total mind-body integration and that has influenced numerous dancers and dance teachers since 1976.
Bill Evans has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and thirteen fellowships and grants from the National Endowments for the Arts. In 2004, he was selected, along with Savion Glover and Brenda Bufalino, as one of three favorite national tap dance artists in the 2004 Dance Magazine Readers Choice Poll. In 2005, Evans received the National Dance Education Organization's Lifetime Achievement award.