Liz Staruch is an interdisciplinary artist and arts administrator whose work bridges dance, theatre, music, and film to challenge traditional boundaries and cultivate transformative experiences for audiences. Her projects often disrupt passive spectatorship — rethinking space, incorporating technology, and inviting audiences into active, reflective engagement.

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Based near Philadelphia, Liz brings extensive leadership and teaching experience in higher education. Most recently, Liz serves as Interim Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at West Chester University. In this role, she oversees academic programs and department operations, scheduling, and strategic planning. A key focus of her tenure is strengthening connections between the department and its broader ecosystem—building bridges with alumni and regional professional theatres to create new opportunities for students and community engagement.

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Liz’s creative research investigates the intersections of performance, space, and design. From 2017 to 2019, she led a multi-year artistic inquiry into the German Bauhaus (1919–1933), exploring its influence on visual and performing arts. This culminated in A Thing Is Determined by Its Nature, a hybrid art installation and dance for camera created in collaboration with lighting/projection designer Mark O’Maley and costume designer Constance Case. The work celebrated the Bauhaus centennial through choreographic structures inspired by Bauhaus philosophies of form and interdisciplinary experimentation. This research arc also informed her direction and choreography of From Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill, which toured to the Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.

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Her choreographic work has been presented internationally in England and Poland and across the U.S. in New York City, Philadelphia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. She co-conceived and directed the site-specific film The Camera Betrays You, an official selection of the Philadelphia ScreenDance Festival, and created Cabaret à la Carte, a virtual benefit performance addressing food insecurity during the pandemic. Her musical theatre direction and choreography include productions of RENT and Hair, recognized by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

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Beyond the stage, Liz is a respected arts leader and community builder. She served on the Board of Directors of the American College Dance Association as Mid-Atlantic North Regional Director, Chair of Fundraising, and a member of the national 50th Anniversary Planning Committee. In 2020, she founded Dance Professors Online, a peer support network for dance faculty in higher education that has grown to over 3,000 members worldwide. Originally created in response to the global pandemic, the group continues to foster collaboration across institutions and share strategies for pedagogy, recruitment, assessment, and navigating the evolving landscape of arts education.

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Liz holds an M.F.A. in Dance/Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and previously held faculty positions at DeSales University and Elon University.