Bernardine Vojtko has been teaching at Sem for over 40 years, joining the faculty in 1981. In this position, she oversees the dance program for the entire school working at both divisions.
At the Lower School she developed a creative dance curriculum for primary students that focuses on the children’s natural abilities to move and create. Using tools such as music, poetry, and stories, her students explore and experiment with the elements of movement. In past years, she has choreographed dances for numerous school events and performances and organized a special Arts Day bringing guest artists from the community to share their skills with Sem students.
At the Upper School, Mrs. Vojtko teaches a variety of classes including ballet, jazz and Broadway dance. One of her favorite classes is Choreographer’s Workshop which she designed for upper-level dancers to develop their skills as young choreographers. She is the artistic director of the Wyoming Seminary Dance Company and choreographs for both the Company and for Sem’s musical theater productions.
In recent years, Mrs. Vojtko planned, organized and directed several Dance Festivals at Sem offering master classes and performance opportunities for area dancers. Mrs. Vojtko has also taught in many of the school’s summer programs as well. She has been coordinator for the Performing Arts Institute’s youth program held at the Lower School for many years and dance instructor for Music Makers, a music camp for children grades one to four. She also has taught classes for the school’s summer enrichment program and was the first choreographer for Sem Performing Arts Institute’s musical theater division.
As a long-time member of the Seminary faculty, she has received both the Frances and Louis Maslow Award for excellence in teaching and the Teaching Excellence Award from the Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church.
As a young girl, Vojtko studied dance with Jozia Mieszkowski at the Wilkes-Barre Ballet Theatre and then attended Mercyhurst University where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Elementary Education. Additionally, she trained with Twyla Tharp Dance, Wright State University, Dance Theater of Erie and the Peabody Institute. She has worked with a variety of national artists such as Barbara Weisberger, founder of Pennsylvania Ballet, Donlin Foreman, principal dancer with the Martha Graham Company, Trinette Singleton of the Joffrey Ballet, Ken Miller, Valentina Belova, and Ismet Mouhedin.
She attended Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts as a high school student, then returned as resident teaching assistant during college. After establishing her teaching career, she received a full scholarship to attend the Governor’s School for Arts Educators held at Gannon University in Erie, Pa.
Locally, she has taught dance for Misericordia, Marywood and Wilkes universities as well directed and choreographed musicals for numerous regional theaters and high schools.
Several years ago, Mrs.Vojtko was invited to collaborate with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic to stage and choreograph Peter and the Wolf for their Young People’s Concert. Since that first showing of Peter, the piece has been performed by Sem dancers with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes in Elmira, New York and with Sem’s Civic Orchestra in April 2022.