Elizabeth Miklavcic

Photo: Shaun Mitchell

Elizabeth A. Miklavcic is the Founding Co-Director of Another Language Performing Arts Company established 1985. She is a choreographer, actress, filmmaker and performance artist. She is the co-creator and co-director of the InterPlay international performances; a series of real-time, distributed, surrealistic, cinematic works presented at the University of Utah.

In 2003, Another Language began a performance format called InterPlay. Serving as the co-director of the series, Beth incorporated many interdisciplinary skills to create, assemble and perform these works. The success of the pilot project InterPlay: Intransitive Senses encouraged continued telematic explorations in this worldwide forum as a new direction for works created by Another Language. Additional InterPlay works include InterPlay: Hallucinations (2004), InterPlay: Loose Minds in a Box (2005), InterPlay: Dancing on the Banks of Packet Creek (2006), InterPlay: Nel Tempo di Sogno (2007), InterPlay: Carnivale (2008), InterPlay: AnARTomy (2009) and InterPlay: Event Horizon (2010).

In 2011, Elizabeth initiated and with co-director Jimmy Miklavcic, implemented the development of the VisLab Black Box Theater at the University of Utah Center for High Performance Computing. The added resource of this research and performance laboratory enabled the development of performances that incorporated 3D artistic assets. Performance works created at the VisLab were Duel*Ality 1.0 (2011), Duel*Ality 2.0 (2012) and XYZ (2013).

All works have received International attention and are available at the University of Utah Marriott Library Special Collections Division. InterPlay: Loose Minds in a Box was a national semi-finalist for the Peoria Prize in Creativity as one of the top ten creative projects in the United States. InterPlay: Nel Tempo di Sogno, InterPlay: Carnivale, InterPlay: AnARTomy and Duel*Ality 1.0 received Salt Lake City Weekly Artys awards. Another Language performances reach national and international audiences. Presentations about this work have been given throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth was a multimedia specialist with the Center for High Performance Computing at the Universtiy of Utah Intermountain Network and Scientific Computation Center for thirteen years, from 2000-2013. She worked with Adobe Suite, Maya and other 3D programs, digital video and DVD authoring tools, motion capture, Access Grid video conferencing and many other programs for incorporation into her large collection of artistic works.

Having danced since four years old, the emphasis on dance and motion is always present in Elizabeth's extensive expressions. Her choreography has been presented nationally and internationally and her works have been screened at a variety of film festivals and openings. She was honored with the Utah Arts Festival - Salt Lake City Mayor's Artist Award for Performance (1995), and has been the recipient of numerous grant awards. InterPlay Performing on a High Tech Wire a paper co-authored with her husband Jimmy Miklavcic won Best Paper in the Arts Category 2010 from the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Modern Dance (1989) and a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree (1982) from the University of Utah, where she received two Orchesis Dance Awards. Elizabeth believes that creative artistic expression is an important vehicle for the investigation of thoughtful communication, a way to develop a meaningful life, and a barometer for a conscious society.