Burnside attended Richmond Professional Institute as an undergraduate, earning a BFA in Communication Arts and Design in 1969. In 1973 he received an MM in Dance from Florida State University, which led to a professional career performing across the country and in Europe. He returned to Virginia Commonwealth University to teach in the Department of Dance and Choreography in the VCU School of the Arts from 1985 to 2005. He served as chair of the department for five years and is also a former co-chair of what is now Equality VCU.
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The Man from Figueras
Chris Burnside
Chris Burnside is an artist/choreographer who was inspired to tell stories on stage after seeing performance artist Spalding Gray at an international theater festival in the early 1980s. After retirement and with the encouragement of a lifelong friend, Mr. Burnside started writing some of those stories down, eventually including others. The stories in The Man from Figueras focus on learning experiences, aha moments, and events that have, over the years, changed his perspective and shaped how he has lived his life. The ninety stories are in chronological order and are grouped by the eight decades of his life.
Burnside attended Richmond Professional Institute as an undergraduate, earning a BFA in Communication Arts and Design in 1969. In 1973 he received an MM in Dance from Florida State University, which led to a professional career performing across the country and in Europe. He returned to Virginia Commonwealth University to teach in the Department of Dance and Choreography in the VCU School of the Arts from 1985 to 2005. He served as chair of the department for five years and is also a former co-chair of what is now Equality VCU.