TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Guest Artist-Adjunct Faculty, Duke University (2024-2026): Advanced Contemporary (DANC 210), Beginner Ballet (DANC 120 and Advanced Ballet (DANC 320)

Guest Artist-Professor, University of Missouri-Kansas City (2023): Guest Artist teaching Modern I, Modern II, World Dance

Lawrence Ballet Theatre (2017-23): Beginner-advanced Ballet and Modern 

Assistant Professor of the Practice, University of Kansas (2021-22): Full-time professor teaching Modern II, Modern III, Choreography II, and advisor of seniors for capstone choreography projects.

Friends of Alvin Ailey (2020): Teaching residency at Paseo Performing Arts High School, setting work and teaching contemporary modern.

University of Kansas (2019): Workshop residency teaching advanced contemporary and improvisation

University of Kansas City-Missouri (2019-21): Advanced Contemporary and Modern 

H.A.L.O (2015-19): Movement Therapy for all ages

American Dance Center (2018): Intermediate-advanced Ballet, intermediate Pointe 

Kansas City Ballet School (2018-20): Intermediate-advanced Jazz and Modern 

Kansas School of Classical Ballet (2018-20): Intermediate-advanced Modern

Em’s Spotlight (2011-14): Beginner jazz, beginner ballet, beginner hip hop for children in underserved communities

Crescendo Conservatory (2017-18): Advanced jazz, advanced modern, advanced and adult ballet

Teach: Afro-Caribbean Fusion with Contemporary, Contemporary, Ballet, Modern, Floorwork, Improvisation, Dance Composition, and Professional Development.

TEACHING STATEMENT

At the heart of exceptional teaching lies the ability to lead with clarity, empathy, and purpose. In my experience as an educator, I have found that building trust—regardless of the student group—begins with transparent communication. I consistently articulate lesson plans, semester objectives, and the rationale behind the methodologies we use, while fostering an environment grounded in mutual respect.

Though my specific goals shift depending on the course, student demographic, and level of training, the core principles of my teaching practice remain consistent. I strive to foster artistic growth through creative exploration and critical inquiry, while promoting high-quality movement through disciplined practice and performance. My classes are designed to build physical stamina and endurance through targeted somatic and technical exercises, and to support retention and application of material through structured movement sequences. I encourage students to cultivate intention and focus in order to deepen their individual performance quality, and I help them enhance their ensemble and partnering work by refining their proprioceptive awareness.

My pedagogy is deeply informed by Black Studies, particularly the reclamation of cultural memory through embodied knowledge and the spatial insights of Black geography. I center Black histories, lineages, and practices that have often been erased or silenced in dominant narratives of dance and performance. By engaging with the body as both an archive and a site of resistance, students explore how space, land, and movement intersect with Black identity and liberation. This approach affirms the body’s capacity to carry ancestral memory and reimagine futures, especially when taught in dialogue with place-based histories and geographic consciousness. In doing so, I challenge students to think critically about how race, power, and spatial politics shape performance and pedagogy alike.

One of the most transformative methodologies I employ is peer learning. By engaging students in collaborative processes—discussion, group work, and reciprocal feedback—they become active participants in one another’s learning. This approach encourages a dynamic of mutual exchange where each student contributes to the collective growth of the class. It also fosters autonomy, helping students develop personal accountability, self-discipline, and a deeper connection to their unique artistic voice.

In all of my teaching, I strive to create a space where students feel empowered to take risks, ask questions, and explore their full creative potential. Through intentional, embodied practice grounded in both technique and theory, I support them in cultivating technical excellence, critical consciousness, and expressive freedom.