Biography

TIZA GARLAND is an Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Florida where she teaches in the MFA, BFA, and BA programs.  Her primary teaching responsibilities include teaching the Movement for the Actor courses, Stage Combat, and Period Styles Movement.

Professor Garland has a varied movement training background. She is a classically trained actor and has trained  with the Dah Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia in Grotowski-based work, she has studied Meyerhold's Biomechanics with Gennadi Bogdanov, as well as trained with the United Stuntmen's Association in Seattle, Washington. She has attended the Aerial Dance Festival in Boulder, Colorado where she trained in various aerial dance techniques and apparatus. 

Professor Garland is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) of Laban Movement Analysis (LMA).  She is a Certified Teacher with the National Michael Chekhov Association and she is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), a Certified Teacher with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat (BASSC), and a Senior Teacher with Dueling Arts International. 

She served as President of the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC )for 3 years (2015-2018).  She previously served as Vice-President of Programming, Secretary for the Executive Committee, Chair of the Stage Movement Committee, Chair of the Leighton Ballew Scholarship Committee, and served on the Strategic Planning Committee for SETC.

She has taught various movement and stage combat workshops and Master Classes at universities across the country at state theatre conferences as well as regional, national, and international venues.

Tiza has a Ph. D. in Fine Arts at Texas Tech University.  She earned her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Theatre Pedagogy with a focus in Movement and Fight Direction, and she earned her BA in Theatre, Spanish and Asian Studies from Western Michigan University.