Melissa Gardner focuses on hip hop, jazz, and character jazz, and has taught singing musical theatre and ballet/lyrical. She has studied dance at the Susan Powell Dance and Singing Center, where she earned numerous local, regional and national awards in performance. She also studied vocal performance and piano while a student in Minerva Local Schools and at the University of Mount Union, where she was awarded a Music Proficiency Scholarship and was a member of the Dance Team.
In recent years, she has choreographed a number of musicals in the Alliance area including Oliver Annie Guys and Dolls The Wizard of Oz Little Shop of Horrors Aida Carousel Once Upon a Mattress I Love You, Your Perfect, Now Change Grease A Christmas Carol Honk Willy Wonka Jr. Aladdin Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. All Shook Up Jr. Anything Goes The Pajama Game and Xanadu Jr., among others. She also has choreographed for area choirs and show choirs, including those of Marlington High School and Southeast High School.
While a student at Minerva High School, Gardner was a cast member of Fiddler on the Roof and won the roles of Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors and Kim in Bye Bye Birdie. She also performed in Kent Stark Theatre’s production of Superman.
She graduated from Minerva High School in 1994 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass media from Mount Union in 1998 and a Master of Arts Degree in journalism and mass communication from Kent State University in 2002.
Gardner is the vice president for marketing at the University of Mount Union.