Photo by Chris Macke
Originally from Germany, dancer and choreographer Patricia Seto-Weiss received her diploma with a main focus in dance performance (now Line 1) and secondary focus in pedagogy from Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance in Munich. While still a student, Patricia made her professional debut in the Bavarian State Opera's production of Verdi's Falstaff. Upon graduation, she continued her studies at The Ailey School in New York City as an international student in the Independent Studies Program.
Patricia is a passionate ballet instructor and has been teaching ballet continuously for 17 years. She is currently Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Department at Brown University. Patricia previously taught at New Haven Ballet and at Chrystie Street Ballet Academy in New York City, where she remained on faculty for over ten years. She continues to foster a close relationship to CSBA as a guest artist. After starting her teaching career as a ballet faculty assistant at Ballet Tech, she initiated and taught the Teen Ballet Series at The Ailey Extension under its former director, Yvette Campbell. Patricia also served as the staff coordinator at The Ailey Extension, where she hired, trained, and managed a staff of more than fifty volunteers.
Patricia was Artistic Director and Choreographer of VQ Dance Productions, Inc., where her projects included a two-hour contemporary ballet inspired by the novel Voodoo Dreams by Jewell Parker Rhodes. She has also choreographed numerous operas, including the western hemisphere premiere of J. A. Hasse's Alcide al bivio at the Italian Academy at Columbia University, and productions at the Juilliard School and The Ailey Citigroup Theater.
In August 2018, Patricia was a guest speaker at Roche Continents in Salzburg, where students from universities throughout Europe met to explore sources of inspiration at the intersection between arts and science.
Patricia's dance collaborations with visual artists Annegret Hoch and Susanne Thiemann sparked an interest in art and architectural history. She has worked on a variety of art historical ventures including digital media projects for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and has published several articles on significant buildings in Connecticut for the Society of Architectural Historians’ Archipedia.