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Alan Schoenberger, a performance artist and champion skier steeped in the traditions of the European character-clown, has spent over two decades cultivating a stage career that blends art and skiing. His extensive and varied performances have toured thirty-two states and four foreign countries.

Born in Denver, Colorado, he spent his early years in Colorado and Vermont. At the age of five he learned to ski under the expert tutelage of his athletic father and quickly absorbed his enthusiasm for skiing. Exploring painting, sculpture and photography in high school, Schoenberger's appetite for art grew as it did for skiing. Along with an excellent curriculum in fine art photography at Utah State University, he began experimenting with choreography imagery in cinematography. This led in turn to dance and mime classes for deeper understanding of the performing arts.

Schoenberger's spare time however, continued to be dominated by skiing. Under the wing of his ski coach, Bob Parker, he developed his own unique and highly stylized ski technique. He won the Utah State University Ski Meister Cup, certified as a ski instructor, and became a full-time ski instructor for Junior Bounous at Snowbird, Utah.

For Schoenberger, skiing ultimately evolved into an art form. The lyrical imagery of dance-like movements within the vast mountain landscape he revered became the dominant subject of his film work. At the same time he explored a new possibility B and taught himself to dance on skis.

There followed intense studies in mine and dances in New York, mime and clown with Mone Yakim and Richard Morse; and many dance techniques, most particularly Merce Cunningham. He continued to winter in the mountains of Utah where his perceptions of blending live theater, dance, and clown on skis began to unfold. With encouragement from J. Milton Beens and Chris Ryman, his performance work on skis emerged earning him an invitation to perform his work on snow at the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) annual clinic at Alta, Utah. There, Alf Engen and Max Lundberg invited Schoenberger to remain at Alta and refine his movement work on skis. While at Alta, there began an intense focus on ballet skiing, and under the watchful eyes of Alf and Max, his art form on skis blossomed.

The challenge of freestyle skiing appeared to be the obvious stage for his performance art. At an international freestyle ballet in Stowe, Vermont, he offered his post-modern clown APuppet@ performance B and won the contest. ABC's World Wide of Sports featured his novel performance, launching a new and eccentric career. For years to follow his performances on skis were featured internationally on television, film and in print media. After placing first or second in almost all ballet skiing events throughout Europe, Canada, and the U.S., Schoenberger reached the high point of competition by winning the prestigious World Trophy in Ballet Skiing.

The need to bring his work into a more formal theatrical environment ultimately prevailed and Schoenberger left freestyle skiing to create his snowless theatrical touring production Schoenberger Skis the Stage, and later, Alan Schoenberger Ski Bum in Piano Roll. He set out to ski the great stages across the country and on the music roll of his larger-than-life player piano. His extensive and varied performances have toured 36 states and four foreign countries including alive performance with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and a PBS feature. Alan Schoenberger returned to the snow in 1994 when he was asked to choreograph and perform the opening ceremony for the World Cup in Vail, Colorado.

In 1992, Alan Schoenberger co-founded the Turning Point Ski Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit ski education organization and toured his theatrical production to benefit youth ski teams. He has co-authored and published five ski education books and five videos, including the award-wining book, Skiing and the Art of Carving. His pictorial studies of skiing are founded on an extensive background as a certified ski teacher and international competitor.

Schoenberger lives in Park City, Utah, and has a studio and summer home on an island in Lake Champlain, Vermont.

-Author Unknown