Melissa Rochelle Younker (she/her) is an artist with a multifaceted dedication to dance; using an interdisciplinary approach that blends her experience in dance performance, choreography, costume design and film editing to contribute to collaborative centered experiences and productions.

Originally from Southern California, Melissa received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University, Long Beach in 2014. From 2014-2020, she was a full-time dance artist with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, touring throughout the USA and France as an educator and performer. During that time, she originated roles in works by Adam Barrach, Jonah Bokaer, Ann Carlson, Daniel Charon, Raja Feather Kelly, Stephen Koester, Joanna Kotze, Netta Yerushalmy, and Yin Yue in addition to performing 20+ restaged works including historical repertory by Alwin Nikolais. In 2018, Melissa traveled to Mongolia and South Korea as a cultural ambassador with DanceMotion USA℠, a cross-cultural exchange program of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administered by BAM ® (Brooklyn Academy of Music).

Melissa is a founding member of Heartland Collective, a multi-disciplinary collective with collaborations in dance, visual arts, music, and performance; directed by Molly Heller. Recently she has worked with project-based movement groups And Artists (Utah), Ballet Opera de Guerra (Utah), Brolly Arts (Utah), Keith Johnson/Dancers (California), Oriantheatre Dance Company (Paris, France), and The Woods Dance Project (Utah). Melissa is a passionate educator, teaching within diverse communities including Dance Church®, Dance Class for Humans, University of Utah School of Dance, and more. She was Artistic Director of Utah Valley University’s Contemporary Dance Ensemble from 2020-2025, where she was honored with the 2023 School of the Arts Dean’s Award of Excellence, for Adjunct Faculty.

She has toured to Croatia, France, Mongolia, Poland, South Korea and throughout the USA as a dance artist. Her independent projects and durational performances have been presented in Michigan, New York and Utah, in addition to official selections in film festivals in London, Utah and Virginia. Melissa continues to dive deep into her research in movement and its power to bring togetherness –  sharing her curiosities and exchanging ideas with a sense of wonder.