Frances Wessells, founder of VCU Dance, dies at 105

By Leila Ugincius

Frances Wessells, associate professor emerita and founder of the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Dance + Choreography, died Dec. 31. She was 105.

Throughout her long life, Wessells was dedicated to dance, art and her students. Carmenita D. Higginbotham, Ph.D., dean of the VCU School of the Arts, said Wessells' extraordinary dedication and visionary leadership live on through VCU Dance.

"During her many years with the Department of Dance + Choreography, Frances inspired countless students, colleagues and community members - building a legacy of creativity and collaboration," Higginbotham said. "Her contributions continue to resonate within VCUarts. Frances Wessells was an inspiration, and we are profoundly grateful for the impact she has had on the school, the university and the Richmond arts community."

A child of musicians, Wessells considered her body to be her instrument, she told The Guardian in 2023.

"From when I was a child, I was very conscious of what was healthy for my instrument," she said. "Don't ever let anything stop you from moving."

She credited her longevity to that advice, she told VCU News in 2009. "Because I keep moving, and I am passionate about my life and my work," she said.

Dance transported her, she said, moving her into an ethereal space where motion is poetry. "I know I'm a healthier person because of it - also healthier mentally and emotionally. I think we all need to express ourselves. That doesn't mean everybody has to express themselves with movement. But I believe that people who can't express themselves in any way are missing an important aspect of life."

Frances Wessells with one of her stone sculptures at an art show in 2022. (Photo by Ed Holten)

Born in Colorado in 1919, Wessells started performing in high school as a chorus girl to earn money for college. As a freshman at the University of Denver, she knew she "wanted to do something with dance, but [she] didn't want to be a chorus girl."

She took one modern dance class her freshman year of college and was hooked. She then took private lessons twice a week with a modern dance instructor in the community, and then taught what she had learned to other university students.

After earning her bachelor's degree, Wessells earned her master's degree in dance from New York University, where she trained under modern dance masters such as Martha Graham and Charles Weidman. She again took private lessons, this time with modern dance luminary Hanya Holm.In addition to VCU, Wessells taught at Sweet Briar College

and the University of Richmond. She was a prominent choreographer of musicals in local and regional theaters, and for 25 years was the dance critic of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

"She has said that as she's gotten older, she feels she is teaching less about dance and more about life," Chris Burnside, a retired dance instructor at VCU, said in 2009.

Wessells' artistry was not limited to dance. From an early age, she worked with sculpture, capturing a moment of movement in a three-dimensional form. She thought of "sculpture as dance holding its breath."

"Through her tireless commitment to fostering artistic excellence, Frances nurtured generations of performers, artists and designers," Higginbotham said. "As an educator, she approached movement in meaningful, courageous and unexpected ways."

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