Spotlight: Maggie Wright-Tesch
How do you honor a mentor, a work wifey, a friend as deeply as they deserve?
Maggie Wright Tesch 📸Juj Godlewski
The answer is that it’s impossible to fully capture the depth and breadth of meaning in a collection of words. I began this spotlight on October 15, 2024 and promptly procrastinated in tip tapping words onto this page. Why wait so long when it was at the forefront of my psyche every week? Sadly, I held a tidbit of superstition.
I feared if I wrote glowing praise it would come across simultaneously too much and not nearly enough. How do I say enough thank yous to Maggie for commandeering the fighting corner I needed in my life? During grad school, when I felt most alone after the loss of Holly, Maggie provided me with a purpose. Summer intensives enlivened my summers and we became close through the chaos of kids, classes, and shenanigans. Together with the RA RAs, we successfully built the program.
Also, I feared losing Maggie. And I knew this post would include a goodbye of sorts. One I wasn’t ready to acknowledge. Truthfully, I’m still not. Despite knowing the growing possibility and feeling it deep down, I balked at the idea of writing something so fragile and precious. Yet, I don’t want this to be a post-mortem message either. Even though Maggie would laugh at that idea since we held “post-mortem” meetings on the last day of UBSI every summer to analyze how the program went.
Enough about me though, let’s place honor where it’s due. Here’s to the warriors in our lives that lift us up and fight for us when we feel defeated. The ones that believe in us and our talents. To the friends we carry on with us in our hearts. Here’s my toast to Maggie, her brilliance, her cleverness, and her fighting spirit.
Maggie and LK enjoy Bingo and puppies together
Not only did Maggie enjoy an impressive career performing for Ballet West, she teaches with a logical progression that inspires and just feels right for your joints. Most of my own classes are modeled after hers. I found it to be a treat to learn from her while in grad school Pedagogy courses and asked for mentorship during the summer program while teaching for her. I made sure to take advantage by taking as many of her classes as I could fit into my full schedule.
When Maggie asked me to be her assistant for the Utah Ballet Summer Intensive, I leaped at the opportunity. Little did I know the problem solving and drama that we would laugh through together over the next four summers. Sometimes the kids caused the chaos and sometimes random events swept through campus like the moose on the loose during our first summer together. We also toured together often, adjudicating auditions for future BFA students across the nation.
Between teaching, running rehearsals, and producing a show we grabbed matcha together to strategize or wine to recover. We went for walks along the trail behind the U to release the tension that built up. We took turns giving each other a break. Eventually, I invited Maggie out to stay the weekend with me in the Tetons. Memorial Day weekend is notorious for bad weather but we found it pleasant and many activities to delight our quiet locals only vibe of the weekend. Those are the sweetest memories. The ones I’ll cling to in the depths of my soul.
Maggie’s BIO on the Central Utah Ballet Academy website:
Maggie Wright Tesch retired from her 18-year career with Ballet West in 2006. She spent 12 of her 18 years with them as a Principal Artist and was noted for her versatility transitioning from classical ballet into Balanchine-style works and contemporary ballets with equal acclaim.
In 2003 she completed a BFA in Ballet from the University of Utah and her Polestar Pilates Certification that included 750 training hours. In 2006, she was invited to teach ballet technique, pointe and Pilates based conditioning at the Department of Ballet as an Adjunct Professor. Promoted to Associate Professor/Lecturer in 2012, she continues as one of the primary instructors for many of the university’s undergraduate studio courses. Maggie is an American Ballet Theater Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT’s Teacher’s Training Intensive in Primary-Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT National Training Curriculum. As a result her university teaching has expanded to include theory courses in Ballet and Pointe Methodology as well overseeing all of the Teaching Practicums that students need who seek the U of U Ballet Program’s Teaching Certificate. She created and oversees all of the trainee internships and professional courses offered by the Ballet Program and is the primary author of the Steps of Study that is used in leveling and grading the students. Most recently in 2017 she was appointed Director of the University of Utah Ballet Summer Intensive which hosts 100+ students every summer.
She is experienced in staging a variety of works from all genres for the department and is particularly passionate about supporting opportunities for dancers to perform in historical works. She mentors and prepares dancers for performances and select competitions and is continually sought after for coaching for which she has been noted:
“It was clear they had received the kind of excellent care and coaching from Tesch that artists welcome. By this I mean coaching in style, approach (what to think, feel, anticipate in each phrase or section), and overall interpretation. (Dean Speer)
She has coached dancers for both the Prix de Lausanne, YAGP and in June 2012, a dancer she coached was awarded 3rd prize in the Beijing International Ballet Invitational and another placed Top 12.
She has been awarded 4 grants and regularly sits on both College and School of Dance committees. In 2012 she developed a year-round Joint Trainee program in conjunction with Ballet West’s Professional Training Division which affords dancers from both programs to expand their training and performing experiences. Demonstrating her commitment to providing opportunities for her students and the community to receive the most current teacher training, she arranged for the co-authors of the ABT’s NTC to present on campus in June of 2014 and again in March of 2017. She most recently has become certified in the Progressing Ballet Technique which works holistically to train dancers out of damaging habits and improve their overall stability.
She is sought after to teach in schools around the country including University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Boston Ballet’s Newton Campus. She has been asked to teach master classes nationally and is asked back regularly to Regional Dance America and Ballet Alliance as a Distinguished Faculty and to recruit for the U of U.