Larissa Koch ’08 never planned to dance at Harvard. Koch had attended performing arts middle and high schools, but by the time she was ready for college, Koch thought that her dance career was over.

“With performing arts schools you choose to dance or you choose to go to school, and I thought ‘Okay, well, I chose college,’” says Koch.

Koch had didn’t dance at all during the summer between her senior year and her matriculation at Harvard, but when she arrived at Wigglesworth Hall, Koch discovered that setting dance aside would not be so easy.

Koch’s freshman roommates—who are still her suitemates in Eliot House today—turned out to be dancers as well. They convinced her to audition for a piece in a fall recital (given by the Dance Program of the Office for the Arts at Harvard, or OFA) that would be set by guest choreographer Sean Curran. After casting Koch, Curran took her under his wing and convinced her not to give up dance.

And it’s lucky for Harvard that she didn’t. Koch is this year’s recipient of the Suzanne Farrell Dance Prize, which is awarded annually by the OFA to a “Harvard undergrad who has demonstrated outstanding artistry in the field of dance.” The award is named for a legendary former principal dancer in the New York City Ballet.

To say that Koch is involved in the dance scene at Harvard is an understatement. Koch, a Houston native, is a member of both the Harvard Ballet Company and the Harvard Contemporary Dance Ensemble. She has choreographed dances for a number of student groups on campus, including the Harvard Early Music Society (HEMS), the Harvard Ballet Company, and the OFA Dance Program’s spring dance showcases.

And Koch isn’t just choreographing dances—she’s choreographing winning dances. Her piece “fallen falling” was chosen to represent Harvard at a regional American College Dance Festival in February of 2008. HEMS will perform a piece she choreographed, “Métamorphoses,” at the Boston Early Music Festival this June and as part of an arts festival in Versailles this summer.

The piece that Koch will take to France uses dance to bring a novel, dramatic element to the HEMS show. The director of the Harvard Early Music Society showcase, Matthew M. Spellberg ’09, wanted dance to accompany the cantatas he was setting for “Métamorphoses,” so he convinced Koch to do the choreography.

“He wanted to actually reintegrate the theatricals,” Koch says of the piece.

Koch says her concentration on choreography at Harvard has been a welcome change from her focus on performing in high school.

“The thing that’s great about performing is having a connection with the audience,” Koch says. “Being on the reverse end is really kind of weird and different. I have a hard time just being an audience member. As soon as you put [the piece you’ve choreographed] in front of the audience it ceases to be yours, and relinquishing that control takes some thought.”

Koch’s newest endeavor involves a return to the formal study of dance. A junior, Koch plans to take next semester off to undertake intensive study with the José Limón Dance Company in New York City. Koch intends to use her winnings from the Suzanne Farrell Prize, combined with an Artist Development Fellowship given jointly by the OFA and Office of Career Services, to fund her study with the Limón Dance Company.

“It’s kinesthetically very natural,” Koch says of the Limón style of dance, which José Limón, an artistic contemporary of Martha Graham’s and Alvin Ailey’s, first introduced in the 1940s.

“It’s based on the principle of allowing gravity to do what it does naturally.”

When Koch first began experimenting with the Limón technique, she found it difficult to let go of her classical training and adopt the freer movements pioneered by Limón. Koch, who has studied ballet, modern dance, tap, jazz, and musical theatre to varying degrees of proficiency, has been dancing seriously since she was eleven years old.

“Modern [dance] is really where I’m at home. But the golden rule is you start with ballet and then you figure out what you’re going to do,” Koch says.

And Koch is glad she has taken her time to figure out the exact role dance will play in her life. She believes her time away from dance between high school and college served a purpose.

“I think it was important to step away so you can realize what you loved about it,” Koch says. “I went through high school getting graded on dancing. Everything I do here is something that I want to do.”

Koch, a psychology concentrator who ultimately plans to attend medical school, says she will always be a dancer.

“Dance is a part of who I am. It’s sort of what manages to keep me sane and insane at the same time.”