The line of Black artist-educators in my family extends back to my grandparents on both sides. I come from a long line of dancers, directors, painters and musicians, all dedicated to the education and survival of both the arts and artists.

I began teaching as a company member with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and with Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project. Representing these world-class companies, I taught masterclasses to multi-generational dance and non-dance populations across the United States and in South Africa, China, and Spain. I entered higher ed as an adjunct instructor at Long Island University, Brooklyn in 2005. I transitioned to the full-time tenure-track position of Assistant Professor in Dance in 2010. I stayed two years at LIU and then got the same position at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where I have been ever since, moving up the ranks to Full Professor.

Over my years in higher ed, I have taught courses in

• Dance History

• Modern Dance Technique

• Choreography

• Dance Improvisation

• Dance Career Preparedness

• 20th century Post-Modernism (Honors curriculum)

I have guest lectured at:

• Yale University

• Princeton University

• Kennesaw State University

• University of Minnesota

• SUNY Brockport

• Colorado College

• University of South Florida

• Ground Grooves Channel (GG TV)

• St. Paul’s School

As a repetiteur for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, I have re-staged the following works:

• D-Man in the Waters

• Continuous Replay

• Spent Days Out Yonder

• The Gift/No God Logic

• Love Re-defined

As a teacher, I am dedicated first to fostering a trustworthy environment for learning and then building an active and educative exchange between teacher and students.

At Loyola Marymount University, I have served in the following leadership positions:

• Director of the Educational Partnership between LMU Dance and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Co. (2015 - )

• Steering Committee for President Thomas Poon’s 5-year University Strategic Plan, representative for the College of Communication and Fine Arts (2026-27 )

• Director of Scholarly and Creative Practice in the inaugural year of the Center for Faculty Development (2024-25)

• President’s Cabinet Associate (2024-25)

• Faculty Representative & Presenter for President Timothy Snyder’s “Beyond the Bluff” University Capital Campaign in New York, Chicago, and Phoenix (2023-25)

• Dance Department Chair (2019-2025)

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

I served as Chair of LMU Dance from 2019 - 2025. During my two terms:

• I led the conversion of the dance program from a 3-unit curriculum to a 4-unit curriculum and the creation of an innovative liberal arts dance education that consists of three interlocking BA degree programs (BA in Dance, BA in Choreography and Performance, BA in Dance Pedagogy and Social Action). The new degree options allow student choice, are professionalizing and mission-based, and meet the changing needs in the field

  • For the BA in Dance Pedagogy and Social Action, I worked with LMU’s School of Education on a cross-college curriculum that allows dance students to graduate with the California State Teaching Credential in Dance, a minor in Education, and a pipeline into a 4+1 program for an additional MA in Education

• On behalf of the dance program, I applied for and received seven internal grants exclusively for curriculum development and departmental programs (5 Curriculum Assessment Grants; 1 Inclusive Excellence Grant for Program Implementation; and 2 BIPOC Initiative grants)

• I led successful crowdsourcing campaigns and cultivated donor relationships resulting in over $250,000 in support for student programs over the six years of my tenure as Chair

• I successfully reversed enrollment trends that had been on a steady decline between 2014 - 2019. Between 2021 - 25 there was a 91.5% increase in applications for the major and a 10% increase in enrollment

• Through a commitment to proactive recruitment, hiring practices, and diverse programming, the racial diversity of dance faculty increased by 50% between 2019 - 2025.

I started the following programs for LMU Dance:

• The LMU Dance - Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Educational Partnership- a bicoastal partnership between the two institutions grounded in dance and social awareness. For over ten years, students have performed Jones/Zane repertory, received exclusive coaching and lectures from Bill T. Jones, taken annual workshops with Jones/Zane Company members, participated in summer production and arts management internships as well as dance intensives at New York Live Arts

• Community Dance Project (CDP) – a program that takes college students into under-resourced, local public schools to present common core themes through dance teaching and performance

• SHIFT Speaker Series: Moving (Beyond) Oppressive Systems in Dance – an annual artist-activist speaker series comprised of “takeover” events in which regularly scheduled classes are re-directed to interactive and embodied work in diversity, equity, and inclusivity, ensuring unanimous participation. Guests included:

  • Misty Copeland

  • ContraTiempo

  • Gerald Casel/Dancing Around Race

  • Suchi Branfman/Dancing through Prison Walls

  • Jawole Willa Jo Zollar

As Dance Chair, I recognized the shift in the academic field of dance to embrace commercial work and job training and I understood LMU’s unique position, being based in Los Angeles, to lead the field in this respect and to meet student need. I hired Geri Brown, a commercial arts and education leader dedicated to inclusive practices in Hollywood and the larger dance industry. With Geri, we instituted:

• The Equitable Commercial Dance Program (ECDP) – a four-year mission-based program that puts students in direct engagement with socially-minded choreographers, agents, and directors in the commercial dance industry

• Senior Industry Showcase (SIS) – the culminating showcase for an audience of L.A. dance industry professionals to help launch senior dance majors’ performance careers

• The Career Catapult Initiative (CCI) – an advising initiative to bolster core curriculum with elective courses, co-curricular activities, and extra-curricular experiences that create comprehensive career-training pathways from first year through senior year. We launched CCIs in dance education, concert dance performance, and commercial dance performance.

• Summer Unlocked - a summer internship program from first year through senior year that places dance students in companies, organizations, and businesses for practical skill-building and career bridges. 

• I am a certified Prosci® Change Practitioner

• I successfully led the LMU Dance Department through Covid-19 with 90% of the students remaining in the major during 2.5 semesters of remote instruction

• I successfully managed LMU Dance Department’s transition from one BA in Dance on a 3-unit curriculum to three different BA degrees in dance on a 4-unit curriculum (BA in Dance, BA in Choreography and Performance, BA in Dance Pedagogy and Social Action). Management entailed:

  • Surveys and information gathering from students, faculty, and outside sources in pre-planning stages

  • Leading the full-time faculty committee in the designing and development of the new curriculum

  • Writing successful proposal documents for both the University curriculum committee and the NASD accreditation (National Association of Schools of Dance)

  • Consistent and transparent department-wide messaging about upcoming changes to students and faculty

  • A tiered roll-out of co-curricular changes and internal and more nimble course adaptations

  • Interactive information sessions with current students the year before implementation and comprehensive advising in the first year of roll-out

  • External marketing and advertising