By: Makiah Osborne 

Dedicating her life to the arts, Jodi Jones is a visionary for her students and her craft, nurturing fundamental pieces of a world built on community, intention, and discipline. Through this evolution, Jones built the entire dance program at Casper College, alongside being the accreditations coordinator, resident choreographer, and dance instructor. After 29 years, it is in Jones’ retirement that a new era unfolds.

Persistently tenacious, Jones dabbled and excelled in any field she found interest, touching lives and building a legacy that precedes her. 

Kennedy Terry, a prior student of Jones’ said, “Growing up as a dancer in this community, you always hear about Jodi — Jodi at the college — Jodi Jones — and it’s kinda like she’s this mythical creature until you get the opportunity to meet her. And then when you do meet her, she’s like, ‘I’ve got my eye on you. I know who you are’ because she’s everywhere.”  

Growing up in Casper, Jones showed a natural likeness for the performing arts. She joined Ka-Lark’s Gymnastics, a local gymnastics company, and attended a summer clinic held at Leisinger Hall. The clinic covered four events, one of which was dancing. Her coach noted her natural talent and invited her to demonstrate at dance caravans around the country. At the age of 12, Jones became a caravan member, touring with Danny Hoctor’s Dance Caravan, where she demonstrated dance for elite jazz, tap, and ballet dancers.  

This evolution sprouted an affinity for dance and choreography, serving as a broader introduction to the artform. Exploring other realms of performance art, Jones pursued cheerleading and pageantry. Through her time in pageantry, she met Dr. Patricia Tate, a professor in the theater and dance department at the University of Wyoming.

Entering college, Jones decided to attend UW to pursue her second passion, English pre-law, though after watching her talent for dance in the pageant world, Tate had other plans. 

Jones recounted that Tate said, “I can see a gift that you need to cultivate. You are a dancer. You were born a dancer.’”

Though Jones explored many forms of performing arts, she had not previously received formal dance training. 

Due to this, Jones questioned Tate’s persistence, in which she replied, “Because dancers are born. They’re not made.”

In response, Jones double majored in English pre-law and dance before eventually dropping her original plan entirely, majoring in the fine arts. Jones earned her Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Dance, and then went to the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana at the Krannert Center of the Performing Arts. After three years, Jones obtained her Master of Fine Arts. However, in preceding years of intense education, Jones looked for a guiding incentive for her skills.

Jones said, “I wanted to create with students who maybe didn’t have the training like I did but needed to find that spot in them. They needed to find their moment where they’re, ‘Oh, I can do this.’ That was where my passion was leaning.”

After obtaining her Master of Fine Arts, Jones moved to Colorado, working in various gyms and schools before receiving a call from Tom Empey, the chair and director of the theater program at CC. He saw a need for a dance program where theater and dance students alike were more prepared for their careers after college. 

Jones said that Empey told her, “You’d have to start from ground zero. There’s nothing.” She replied, “Well that’s literally what I went to school for.” 

Through the generous donation of Barbara Scifers, Jones built the program in its entirety, making CC one of the first two-year colleges in the United States fully accredited in all four sanctions of the fine arts. Through this impactful leadership, Jones not only built a thriving program, but a strong community.

Jocelyn Reed, a current dance major, said that Jones took her under her wing, replicating the care and foresight that Jones herself received, coming from a background not formed around dance. Speaking to her nurturing nature, Reed described their Saturday rehearsals as long days of straight dancing made meaningful by Jones and her incentive to be the mom of the program. Jones was deliberate in forming an environment where her dancers felt seen, understood, and appreciated. 

Reed stated, “She’s allergic to cinnamon but she’s bringing in coffee cake with cinnamon that she baked. She always takes care of us.”

By nurturing the people around her, Jones made an irrefutable impact in the lives of students and community members alike. Terry held high regards for Jones, praising her stature as a woman, professor, professional, and choreographer. 

Terry said, “Jodi is responsible for who I am today because of the discipline and the work ethic that she required of me, (and) the requirement to be creative, but also sustained in the art form.” 

Following her 29 years of impact at CC, Jones is turning a new chapter in retirement. She said that the most rewarding part of being at CC was growing a collaborative world where each student is fostered into their own artist, prepared for each path they will take.  

Chandler Dean, a former student and current costume shop assistant at CC said, “She has let this place grow and now she deserves to step away and help herself grow, help her family grow, help a project in her mind grow, and no longer worry about this place thriving anymore because she’s set it up to thrive so she can walk away.”

Through dedication to art and community, Jones leaves her role at CC as a legacy and friend to many. 

She stated, “A new season, a new chapter, new horizons. I’m not leaving the business.”