Melinda Soderling

Melinda Soderling, born in New Orleans and raised in Alabama, began dancing at age four and trained at the Alabama School of the Arts and Birmingham Southern College. Her professional career spans four continents, with performances at the Copa Room in Las Vegas, Radio City Music Hall in New York, European award shows, and stadiums across Central and South America with Latin pop icon Chayanne. She also appeared in films such as Showgirls, That Thing You Do, and Man on the Moon, and shared the screen with Diane Keaton, Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, and Goldie Hawn. After marrying cinematographer Kurt Soderling in 1999, Melinda transitioned into producing and motherhood. She co-hosted Distinctive Living Television and was associate producer on the award-winning film Class of '83. Together, she and Kurt are co-directing MOVE, a documentary exploring the commercial dance world through hundreds of interviews and over fifty short films. In 2023, Melinda graduated summa cum laude from Saint Mary’s College of California with a degree in Performing Arts and received the LEAP Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Artistry, and Citizenship. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Writing at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she created an interactive multimedia timeline on “The Last 50 Years of Dance in American Pop Culture.” 

Melinda serves on the President’s Circle Board at the Orange County School of the Arts and is a founding board member of the Dance Hall of Fame, championing dance history and education.