Date of Passing: October 17, 2025
Memories
The UWPIAA extends its condolences to the family of one of Up with People’s creative legends, Lynne Morris. Lynne brought choreography to life for Up with People across decades, serving as the organization’s Director/Choreographer and visually shaping its productions from the early 1970s onward. She was widely regarded for her artistry and leadership across the years—guiding hundreds of young performers through learning their shows, performing in four Super Bowl half times; World Peace Day for the Pope and 150,000 others in Denver, CO; and other similar projects—so the message conveyed by the movement and music could be felt as well as heard.
Even after her official departure in mid-2000, she returned in 2008 to travel to Sweden with a cast and help with staging. She also directed a show in Branson, MO, and Rose Parade openings in 2009 and 2012. Lynne then returned to direct the international show again from 2010 through 2012.
People who worked with her remember not only the choreography but how she taught: exacting, demanding excellence, yet still encouraging—earning her the fond moniker, “General Lynne”. Many alumni can track aspects of their confidence presenting/performing or their career trajectory back to lessons learned while under her tutelage, and “doing it again”…and again…and again.
One songwriter who knew her, Peter George Hanson, even titled a piece inspired by her work and temperament, noting that when takes weren’t right Lynne would breathe, smile, and say, “Let’s do it again.” That spirit of demanding excellence, wrapped in patience for repeated takes while teaching young people from around the globe, became part of the culture she helped build.
Up with People honored her with the Up with People Founder’s Award in 2014, and the Up with People International Alumni Association inducted her into the Songwriters Hall of Fame For her lifetime work as a choreographer in 2014, and she received the Samuel Lanham Award for Extraordinary Service to the UWPIAA in 2015. The Colwell Brothers, Herbie Allen and Co. honored Lynne with a surprise tribute during the 2014 Reunion with their performance of “I Can’t Dance!” (https://youtu.be/X66Ev7SrF6A).
We celebrate Lynne for her artistry, her mentorship, and the countless lives she touched—both on stage and beyond, elevating the organization’s productions and shaping the experience of countless participants and audiences as we carried the message of hope and understanding around the world.
From the Family:
Lynne Morris’s career started as a young mother of three who yearned to dance. Experts told her she was too old, had the wrong body, and would never succeed as a dancer. A few years later, Lynne was dancing regularly on network television, and was a protégé to the two top dance teachers in Los Angeles. Her volunteer time with the youth group at her church quickly grew into a successful dance school, from which a number of students went on to have careers with major dance companies; to star on Broadway and in film; and for one—to become a major pop music star. All the while, she juggled time between her school, her dance career, and parenthood.
Lynne also found time to develop her craft as a choreographer—combining her passions for dance, painting, sculpture, and music (yes, Lynne studied cello) to create art pieces that moved to music. Starting with local theater productions, she worked up to the San Francisco, Los Angeles and Broadway stages. A contact she met while working in New York led to a side career with a major campaign consultant. She spent time teaching national political candidates how to speak and to present themselves authentically. Over the years, Lynne’s never-ending interest in new challenges also led to a job staging a traveling circus, volunteer work directing the Tucson Mariachi festival, and to the foundation and leadership of the parent-teacher guild at her children’s elementary school.
After a show in New York, Lynne accepted an intriguing six-week job offer from the parents of two students in her “baby” dance class. Lynne may have burnished a remarkable résumé as a choreographer, but it was her work with students in her dance school, from young adults to toddlers, that caught the attention of parents Herb and Jayne Allen, and led Up with People to Lynne. Thus began a decades-long career and an enduring friendship and creative collaboration with Ralph, Paul and Steve Colwell, and Herb Allen, among so many other talents, all under the unique vision of J. Blanton Belk.
Lynne’s visual sense, choreography, background teaching dancers and politicians, demand for excellence, and experience as a mom harmonized with the music and vision of Up with People to help bring a brilliant idea to a wider audience. If anyone wonders how it was done, just remember the voice on the microphone in the dark saying “That was great. Let’s do it again.”
Lynne traveled the world, met and befriended people from different countries and backgrounds, and was constantly sparked by new ideas and creative challenges: four Super Bowl half times, a couple of Rose Parades, television specials in English and Spanish, a celebration with the Pope, and Up with People’s first tours of Japan, Russia, and China.
Up with People became her passion and the students in the program her joy, but she was honored most by the lives those students have led after Up with People and people they in turn have touched.
Lynne was strength, grace and determination embodied. Often the lone woman on Up with People’s largely male production and management team, Lynne was fearless and her vision was strong.
Our Dad still speaks with great pride about Up with People’s legendary productions, including, of course, four Super Bowl halftimes. He always pays great tribute to Lynne’s part of Up with People’s legacy, sharing stories of her famously strict rehearsals and unwavering standards.
Lynne was a personal friend to all of us, but her bond with our Mom, Betty, was especially close. Lynne and Betty traveled together, and enjoyed spending time going to movies, shopping, and just sitting and talking when Lynne lived in Tucson.
We will remember Lynne as a special part of our Up with People family. She will be missed.
Music director, Herb Allen, show director, Ralph Colwell, and I met with Lynne in California in early ’71. By the end of the whirlwind ’60s, when the novelty of productions with casts of hundreds was not so new anymore, and we were piecing our shows together, heading into the ’70s we knew we needed an overhaul and expert help. Coincidentally Lynne was the dance teacher of Herb and Jane Allen’s daughters, and we thought she might be the help we needed. And indeed we were impressed not only with her credentials as a professional dancer, choreographer, and instructor, but also with her warm, engaging, “can do” persona and her genuine interest in the Up with People (UWP) project. We unanimously decided to invite her on board. It was one of the best things that ever happened to UWP.
Working alongside Ralph on the ’71 show in Warwick, New York, Lynne’s artistic impact was immediate. She had the uncanny ability to move large numbers of performers on stage in a seamless, cohesive way interlaced with great choreography—the same genius behind our four Super Bowl halftime shows. This was the beginning of three decades of our working with Lynne, and even more importantly a lifelong friendship. She was always involved in conceptualizing the new shows with us. Though she never wrote a word of lyrics or a note of music, she inspired many. For this, she became a member of the UWP Songwriters Hall of Fame. I am deeply grateful to Lynne for her relentless advocacy for the “artists”, and in particular for us songwriters. I recall one time in Mexico City on national TV, she performed an interpretive dance to our song, “Save the Dancer”. It was done so beautifully as a silhouette behind a scrim. It made me think, I may have never created a dance step, but in the words of the song, Lynne “saved the dancer in us all”…
From professional dancer to dance teacher to staging a football field full of cast members moving in unison, Lynne’s talent burst forth onto the Up with People scene in 1971. With a unique ability to mold mostly amateur young people into a coordinated stage look with stunning choreography she helped propel Up with People into a new era of show professionalism.
However, show talent was only part of what made Lynne special. She enthusiastically “bought into” the mission of Up with People, which supported all she did with the performances. She was able to help young people grow as performers and at the same time help develop them into better people and world citizens. As a show co-director she was part drill sergeant and part loving mother and was loved by all except when she made casts do exercise crunches.
A memory of mine that will stand out forever is the time Lynne agreed to come out of retirement to stage and choreograph a group seniors, mostly in their 80s, who were part of a walking and exercise program I started in Spokane and N. Idaho called Striders. The group was preparing to do a presentation at a convention and she got them all moving to old-time rock music arranged by Pat Murphy while using strength bands.
Rest in peace dear friend.
awesome story too! I admired Lynn always for her dedication and tremendous creativity and talent in the world of dance! she helped mold me forever.
Lynne had the innate ability to visually create pure magic on stage. I’ll never forget the excitement of going into dance rehearsals where she would share and show how ideas were developing for songs we were writing. She possessed that rare visual genius of finding ways to bring the fun and whimsical content of a lyric to life visually. I personally appreciated and learned so much from her “do it again“ attention to detail; knowledge that, to this day, I continue to apply not only in my professional life, but life in general. What a high honor and profound privilege to have had the opportunity to have known one of the “greats”. Such a major influence on the lives of so many all over the world.
I will forever remember her light, her glow, her spirit, vision, passion and conviction throughout all of our endeavors through the years.
Thank you Lynne. 🙏 💞
Lynne will forever live in our hearts as the master of dynamic change. Her incredible journey with Up with People began—quite literally—in the dark. At that time, the show she was brought in to energize opened with a song, followed by a blackout in between each number. Over the years and across the globe, Lynne pulled the production out of those dark stages and into the light, transforming it into a vibrant, visible, and deep expression of hope and possibilities for tens of thousands of international students.
For over forty years I (Ken) was honored to work alongside Lynne on so many productions around the world—stadiums, concert halls, and television specials. On a smaller—but no less memorable—adventure, Lynne dragged Frank Fields and me to a famous Los Angeles (LA) dance studio…to get the singer/songwriters to, well, move. There we were: two guitar-huggin’ guys in jeans and sneakers, flailing around like confused giraffes in a room full of seriously talented LA dancers, all decked out in Capezios, tights and legwarmers. That image is permanently tattooed on my heart!
One of the most memorable was the Up with People 50th Anniversary celebration. Lynne and I shared what I’d call a legacy production relationship, and she warmly welcomed a third creative partner into that bond—my business and life partner, Maris. That collaboration became yet another beautiful example of “dynamic change.”
We will always honor Lynne—not only for her extraordinary creative genius but for the integrity, ingenuity, love, and light she brought to everything and everyone in her life. We’re pretty sure Lynne’s energy is still choreographing…and somewhere out there, stars are in tighter formation and hitting their marks as the angels answer her call: “From the top: five, six, seven, eight!”
We love you Lynne!
This really makes me really sad.
Lynne was for me the image of UWP…a true inspiration to so many young people.
She was beautiful inside and out.
I got to know her better later after leaving the road.
She called a spade a spade and you always knew where her head was at.
I enjoyed the special times we spent together when she came back after many years to share her secrets and assist our young staff in making miracles happen with no resources but great spirit.
God bless you dear friend…looking forward to seeing you again where the roads come together❤️
I first met Lynne in that Warwick, NY high school gym when, at age 17, I had just joined Cast ’71B and she had us walking around the gym to see which of us could actually walk in time to the music😊–hint: not too many! She probably wondered just what she had gotten herself into!! Her vision transformed the UWP show from a group of students mostly standing in place on a set of risers while singing with some minimal hand movements into a professional musical stage show. I was fortunate to have worked with Lynne as her first on the road assistant choreographer surrogate and worked closely with her to stage the show during 5 summer stagings and the first two Super Bowl halftime productions. Her grace, patience, incredible creative vision, problem solving skills, and ability to find humor in some of the most stressful situations were a wonder to watch and try to absorb and learn from. Lynne lifted people up and had an uncanny ability to make them believe they could do/be more. On so many levels, I believe that was her life’s work and mission, and she leaves a long legacy of inspiring thousands of young people to stretch (figuratively and literally!) to reach new heights both in UWP and after. My heart goes out to her family–Roger, Bob, and Melissa as they grieve this tremendous loss and honor her incredible life and memory. I loved her dearly and she will be greatly missed.
I did not get to know Lynne until a couple of years prior to the 50th, but I knew something of her influence. I learned about clumping. I learned that while I thought I could move pretty well in those years, I would have never made one of her dance troupes. While I was prez of the UWPIAA, we honored Lynne and inducted her into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. One may ask, but she was a dancer, and a producer, not a songwriter. Eric Lentz said it best, “Lynne inspired a lot of songwriters.” We put on a special tribute to Lynne on the Wednesday night prior to our usual Thursday reunion launch when in Tucson. I was amazed at the number of dancers who wanted to come and pay tribute—60, I think. For that evening, Lynne invited a couple of high school friends who had never seen what she did with UWP. Thanks to Bonnie Knight (who I believe was her first dance captain) and Vickie Law for their major role in making that night happen. I just got out of their way. Pam and I decided to stay over on Sunday night just to veg out from the reunion. Lynne also stayed that night. We invited her to dinner along with three others who had stayed over. It was there that I got to spend some time and get to know her. I peppered her with questions, many about the Super Bowl halftimes shows, of which I knew little. I remember two stories, (1) when she first learned of UWP being awarded the first show in 1976, she laid out a miniature football field on her kitchen table and began creating, and (2) years later after the fourth show in 1986, she ran into an executive for Disney who bragged to her that he had been instrumental in producing three Super Bowl halftimes shows. Lynne told him that she did four. When I wrote the book, “The Poems of Paul Colwell,” I knew I needed to interview Lynne. It was then, and well as interviews with Paul (of course), Ken Ashby, Pat Murphy, and others, that I learned the scope with what she meant to UWP, and the critical transition in 1971. There was no doubt that we needed Lynne to be one of the producers, along with Ken Ashby and Maris Segal, of our epic 50th. They along with reunion leaders, Terry McCreary and Vickie Law did an amazing job. Thank you Lynne from the grateful UWP alumni nation. Keep dancing.
Linda, (one of her “shirts”) and I send our love to Roger and the entire family. Lynne was a force, exuding passion, energy, and a devotion to excellence. We are all transformed by her. I am sure she is dancing with the angels right now.
Bruce & Linda Lowe Erley
Lynne, well I called her mom after spending lots of time with her and her son who hosted me in LA for about 3 weeks. She was thoroughly an amazing person who helped me throughout my UWP years to become the person I am now… you will be missed Mom.
As a family, may you find peace in your memories and in her legacy. While she dances in heaven, she will always dance in our hearts. She influenced so many and leaves a trail of love and movement. Whenever I attend any performance, I always have a flashback to Lynne–seeing her smile, and hearing her voice coaching. And then, the lights come up, the music swells, and the dance envelops my soul. I was blessed to have her touch my life.
Working with Lynne as a student, then as a Dance Captain for Up with People taught me the power of not just “Do it again” but that hard work will show, even if it’s just become muscle memory. She made an impression on me with the Olympics performance “Festa Humana” in 1996 in Atlanta. It is one thing to teach 8-10 dancers a number, but to incorporate 140 students, some of which were not dancers, to move synchronized… while at the opening ceremonies… well this was Epic! I will remember her smile, and her laugh. I recall valuing her compliment of my improvement in dance from staging more than anything because to me she was the BEST. Rest in peace, and always point your toes!
Love, Jessie Gilman Gustaitis
’94C, ’95E, & ’96E
I remember the day we met. My love and prayers are with her family. Her daughter Mel was working with us during our first staging. Cast E 1981. Mel was fun, and so friendly. Lynne had such a great smile, and laugh! I can truly say I learned how to be on stage from Lynne and my other teachers in UWP. Such a professional. So detail oriented. She would encourage me to go and work on a section of a dance, over and over, until we got it! Hard work and dedication. What a team we had working with us. Our cast had 2 stagings with Lynne. I loved all of it! It was fun to have special conversations with her and the Colwell brothers about their time living in San Clemente my hometown. We shared some fun private conversations. I will miss her dearly. She impacted my life greatly and so many other others. A beautiful added bonus was that she and Humberto were part of our Branson cast in 2009 and my daughter Hilary was part of that cast and trained with Lynne and Humberto as well. Such a beautiful experience. We are so grateful to be a part of Up with People. We love you, Lynne.
Lynne Morris changed my life! She came into my life when I needed someone to believe in me, and in so doing, helped me believe in myself. It was that belief, that pushed me to BE ME onstage. I didn’t have the “pretty” voice, nor was I an “elegant” dancer. What I did have, was “character,” and she encouraged my ability to translate–whatever that was–to the audience.
I appreciated that “let’s do it again” work ethic. She had the ability to visualize & produce “macro” and bring out gems of “micro” in all of us!
I was honored to know her beyond Up with People, & considered her a friend. Although, I thought of her as the Mother I always wished I had.
(My love goes out to Roger & Mel)
Lynne was a beautiful & unique Soul on this Earth, that touched so many lives throughout her journeys. She LOVED what she did.
She is the inspiration for “The Spirit Of The Dancer,” that I wrote with Alex in 1986 & performed for Coca Cola in Japan.
Her Spirit will 4EVER be with me!
CHUKKI
UWP Cast 85D, ’85E, ’95C, CAP Cast ’05, Super Bowl XX
As a redneck athletic 19 year old I was stunned and not so sure UWP knew what it was doing after I was selected for dance at staging in 1980. I remember telling my parents, “Wow have they made a mistake. I can’t dance.” I was right; I could not, but then Lynne got a hold of me. Learning to dance changed my life, my sense of self and has added decades of fun to my life. I have Lynne to thank for it. She would not know me from Adam’s housecat but she changed my life and I will never forget her. Thank you Lynne.
I remember being in a rehearsal for a special show in Germany, probably in September of 1993, when Lynne pulled me aside to coach me on the art of interacting with the audience while singing a solo. The skills she taught me that day stayed with me into and through my now 30+ years teaching career—I use those skills to connect with my students every single day. Rest well, Lynne, and thank you for all the performance skills and passion you taught so many of us over your long career.
Because of Lynne, after my year, ’76A, I began running 🏃🏽♂️ to stay in “UWP shape”! So from January 1978, for 31 years, I ran 6 miles every-other-day‼️ And over the years when I visited for a few minutes w/ Lynne at reunions, I’d thank her for her inspiration, finger pointing, & strong “encouragements” which changed my life as part of my UWP experience!
May you rest in Eternal Light and Peace, Lynne 😔😓❤️🩹💞💖
Although I benefited from Lynne’s direction within the chorus my first year on the road, I personally grew closer to her my last two years in UWP as Finance Manager. When Lynne would visit the casts on the road, she was always happy to see me so she could hand over all of her traveling receipts to organize and get ready to turn in. It was usually a challenge but always a pleasure to take one task off of her usually long To-Do list.
Lynne was a blessing to UWP. Our show was great because our energy was real and we learned from Lynne how to project that positivity. No pretense, no star performers, just hard work. We wanted to make her proud of us every night….and in 1973 it was a show damn near ever night. 14 days in Rome & 13 shows.
She’s likely teaching Shine Man to her friends in heaven…Shine On Lynne!
Cast B ‘73-‘74
Working with Lynne on numerous projects taught me vividly how one person’s dedication, talent and energy can elevate all around them. She will be missed and forever appreciated.
A true legend. During our rehearsals for the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans, it was impossible not to admire Lynne Morris’s unwavering dedication, discipline, and love for the work. She poured herself into every detail, ensuring that a performance destined to be seen by over one billion people reflected the standard she lived by: absolute excellence. She didn’t just direct us, she inspired us to rise to her level. Thank you Lynne for all you contributed to our experiences. My sincere condolences to the Morris family and UWP.
Kieron Sweeney
Cast A ‘85
As a musician cast member (and announcer) of ’75C and E who never got to dance, I have to admit I only came to appreciate Lynne’s superb choreographic talent after Up with People when I married a former member of the New York City Ballet who worked 7 years with George Balanchine and choreographed and set his ballets on a wide range of dancers from young students to company professionals as a ballet instructor for most of our 36 years of marriage. Balanchine is often remembered for his quote, “see the music, hear the dance”. Unlike a composer or arranger like Herb, who had staff paper, a piano, and a fair number of professionally trained musicians in the ranks to perform, revise, and check his work, Lynn had to create or re-create to help audiences “see” Up with People’s music in real time—and unless she used lab notation to write it down (unlikely)—it was all from memory—performed by some, perhaps many who had never danced before at all, much less professionally. Considering these challenges she faced and the remarkable results she produced (I was on the bandstand for UWP’s first Super Bowl performance in 1976) she truly should be recognized as brilliant and the perfect match for the unique artistic vision required to help the world “see” Up with People’s music, and inspire its composers to keep creating more of it. Thank you Lynne, may your legacy long be remembered and my condolences to your family during this time. Scott Austin
Thank you for making me believe in myself when I didn’t, for pushing me to go the extra mile, but above all, for your loving iron hand with the velvet glove that always held me up.
So long, my beloved General Lynne Morris… 💖😢