Sarah Knapp

Overview

Wichita native Sarah Knapp began her dance training at Kansas Dance Academy. She attended summer ballet programs at The Rock School for Dance, Indiana University, and Alonzo King Lines Ballet, and contemporary programs at Hubbard Street Dance, Houston MET Dance, and New Dialect. Sarah graduated Magna Cum Laude with her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Conservatory at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, with a dual emphasis on Ballet and Modern Performance and Choreography. Throughout college, Sarah performed and assistant taught all over the United States and abroad, most notably at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and in China, Canada, Thailand, Costa Rica, and Australia. She worked closely with Kathryn McCormick and Stacey Tookey as an assistant for The Protege Movement for several years. During her sophomore year at UMKC, she starred in the 2015 feature film, “Lift Me Up.” As a company member with Wylliams Henry Contemporary Dance Company, Sarah performed several Kansas City seasons and toured to Florida, North Carolina, and Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA to perform on the iconic Inside Out Stage in 2018. That same summer, a few weeks prior, Sarah participated in Jacob’s Pillow’s first ever Gaga Intensive, where she studied under Brett Easterling and Ohad Naharin. After a year of further study and performance in New York City, Sarah returned home to Wichita and began focusing on her own work and local dance. She produced Expectation, an evening length solo work in Kansas City’s Fringe Festival, summer 2019, and performed with Regina Klenjoski Dance Company for 2 seasons. Sarah was privileged to be an artist in Cheyla Clawson’s dance film “She Moved the Prairie” in the Fall of 2020. Sarah has been teaching for the Wichita State University dance program off and on for the past several years, and presented Something Like Grief, in the WSU Spring Dance Concert, April 2025. She is excited to present Spore in this year’s concert, SPARK. Sarah is married to Patrick Knapp and they have two children, Cora and William.

Academic Interests and Expertise

• Kansas Dance Academy

Areas of Teaching Interest

Major areas of teaching

• Theatre Management Practicum
• Stagecraft: Applied Technology
• Stage Management
• Drafting and Visual Standards for the Theatre
• Applied Materials and Process Lab for Production 
• Theatre Internship

Areas of Service

Major areas of service

• Active member of the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) and the United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT)

Other Interests

Major areas of research or creative activity

• Production Design
• Technology
• Theatre and Stage Management

Professor Baker’s research agenda is rooted in applied curiosity as a guiding principal for the creative worker and artist. By giving them the tools of creativity, innovation and invention along with the skills of the entrepreneur he provides students with more than the technical ability to work for a living. He provides them with the tools to build a career while creating the theatre culture of the twenty-first century. 

His fundamental academic philosophy is best summed up as: “We may not always be comfortable with what the future holds. We will very likely laugh, and mock and miss-identify the next big innovation in art, culture or technology… We may already be doing it! Think, though; If we live in fear of the unknown, how will we be able to embrace future innovations? If we are to grow our stake in the world and answer the demands of continued innovation and growth we must be brave and follow our curiosities with passion.”