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 including teaching the Movement for the Actor courses, Stage Combat, and Period Styles Movement.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. Tiza recently completed her course work towards 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.
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.