Maggie Wright Tesch's Obituary
Maggie Wright Tesch, Professor Emerita of Dance
Maggie Tesch, beloved mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, teacher and colleague died peacefully at home in Salt Lake City, Utah on August 27, 2025 surrounded by those she loved the most.
Margaret Zachary Wright was born April 14, 1967 in Atlanta, Georgia, the third
child of Ethel Simons Williamson Wright and James Anderson Wright, Jr. (Sue). She is survived by her parents, siblings and their spouses Simons Wright Michels (Jeff), James Anderson “Jamie” Wright, III. (Erin) and Kate Waring “Katie” Wright Gibson (Jason).
Before she met Dennis Tesch and welcomed their daughters, Maggie’s true love was creating art through dance. She began dancing at age five at Ruth Mitchell Dance Company in Atlanta and when she discovered ballet shortly thereafter, she told her parents that she wanted to become a ballerina. During her second year at the University of Utah, her professor (Joy Ludlow) asked her, “Why are you here? You should be dancing in a professional company.” Later that year, Maggie joined the corps de ballet at Ballet West and spent the next 20 years working with the Company’s artistic directors and choreographers on some of the most iconic ballet repertoire and innovative creations in this rigorous discipline. Maggie’s unique physical combination of classic beauty and athleticism, along with her intellectual curiosity in artistic exploration with her collaborators, created performances that endure in the hearts of those of us lucky enough to have sat in the audience or backstage during her many hundreds of performances. Maggie was known for her work ethic and dedication to excellence, and she was unflagging in her commitment to bringing her very best to every project. Over the last several years of her professional career, Maggie finished her BFA in Dance at the University of Utah.
On September 26, 1992, Maggie married her best friend and life partner Dennis Tesch in Atlanta, GA. Dennis and Maggie are the parents of two daughters, Arden Behling Tesch and Mary Ann Wright Tesch. It gave Maggie so much joy to watch her girls grow, witness their accomplishments and everyday activities, and share with them her own family stories and legacy. She relished welcoming their friends into the vibrancy of the Tesch circle. Arden’s and Mary Ann’s courageous and fierce care, – along with that of Arden’s fiancé, Zachary Campbell, and Mary Ann’s partner, Connor Doyle -- for their mother in her final physical days on earth is a tender inspiration and was a great comfort to their mother and father.
Dennis is Maggie’s north star, and she his.
Maggie is also survived by Dennis’ loving parents, Dennis Thomas Tesch. and ValRae Benson Tesch and his siblings and their spouses Marnie Dorese Erickson (Brandon) and Korey Arden Tesch (Edvina).
Maggie leaves behind numerous aunts and uncles, sixteen (16) beloved nieces and nephews, and seven (7) grand nieces and nephews whom she adored, and in whose lives she took a personal interest from the time they were born.
After retiring from Ballet West, Maggie embraced a new chapter of her artistic life in teaching. She was an integral faculty member in the Ballet Program at the University of Utah for 25 years. During this time, she taught ballet technique, pointe/variations, and ballet pedagogy courses; staged historic ballet repertoire for mainstage concerts; helped develop and evolve the curriculum and served as a mentor to faculty and hundreds, if not thousands, of students. Maggie also served in significant leadership roles, including as the Recruitment Director of the Ballet Program for several years and as the Director of the Utah Ballet Summer Intensive. The Ballet Summer Intensive was one of Maggie’s favorite teaching opportunities, and she helped countless ballet dancers chart their course to professional dancing or teaching careers, or on their journeys after they finished dancing. Maggie had a gift for kind truth-telling that helped her students embrace the most authentic path forward and so many are grateful to her for her wisdom and generosity. Her contributions to the ballet legacy at the U are immeasurable. The University of Utah School of Dance will be honoring Maggie’s memory in several ways and the Tesch family asks, in lieu of flowers in Maggie’s remembrance, that you consider a gift to the Maggie Wright Tesch Endowed Scholarship in Ballet at this link: https://donate.utah.edu/the-maggie-wright-tesch-endowed-scholarship-in-ballet
Maggie loved the outdoors – hiking, skiing, walking with her many dogs, cuddling with her kitties, tending her beehives and harvesting their honey, good food, tequila neat, Emerald Isle, a great concert or college football game, deep conversations, hockey, warm socks, early bedtimes and early mornings. Her life was so well-lived and her memory will endure in every sunset at the beach, the spring blossoms of the magnolia trees, and every time the curtain rises with the swell of the orchestra and the dimming of the lights. May she rest forever in peace.
A celebration of life will be held on November 2, 2025, at the Alice Marriott Sheets Center for Dance at the University of Utah.
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