Vera Sears Materials

Vera Sears, formerly Vera Elsa Schultz-Bergen, was born in Dresden, Germany in 1912. Sears' family moved to Berlin and, at age 10, she began to study at the Berlin Opera School. Sears married Edwin Sieradz, an attorney who was Jewish, in 1934. The two moved to the United States soon after Hitler came to power, largely because neither she nor her husband were allowed to work, and soon after changed their name to Sears. Vera Sears studied with noted choreographer and dance educator Hanya Holm in Colorado Springs, Colorado where she met Martha Wilcox, another student of Holm, and became interested in modern dance. Sears and Wilcox both worked for the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, and Sears taught at the Children's Dance Theatre (a part of the University of Denver Lamont School of Music), serving as director for 17 years. Sears died March 8, 2008.