The Department of Dance lost a beloved member of their faculty on Monday, April 28, 2014.
Lisa Stoddard, 45, passed away in a car accident on her way to join BYU Music Dance Theatre (MDT) performers at the Salt Lake airport. She was the choreographer for the members of the group who were to audition for jobs as part of the university’s New York Showcase program.
Stoddard had a large responsibility in the department in recent months with her positions in MDT, as jazz dance coordinator and department recruitment chair.
“We have lost an amazing colleague who loved her family, students, dance and each of us,” said Marilyn Berrett, chair of the department of dance.
Stoddard graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1993 with a BA in dance. She later attended Brigham Young University where she received a master’s degree in dance with an emphasis in dance choreography in 1996.
At the time, Stoddard was working for the department as an adjunct instructor.
Her influence has been widely felt as a choreographer, teacher and friend.
Hundreds of Stoddard’s friends, students and colleagues have already expressed their devastation at the accident on her Facebook page.
Her funeral will be on Saturday May 3, 2014 at 2:00pm at the Orchard East Stake Center, 810 East 600 North in Orem. A visitation will be held Friday evening from 5:00-9:00pm at the Sundberg-Oplin Funeral Home, 495 South State Street, Orem, and also Saturday at the Stake Center from 12:00-1:30pm