CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS

Updated July 30, 2024

Certified Professional Teachers have studied Umfundalai intensely, have performed with the technique's professional company, Kariamu & Company: Traditions, and/or have completed NAAADT's M'Singha Wuti and Professional Training Programs. They have "active" certification to teach Umfundalai at professional levels which include but are not limited to professional dance companies, college courses, dance conference attendees, etc.

This Adinkra symbol, Adinkrahene, is attached to the images of the teachers who serve on Umfundalai's Uongozi Leadership Circle.

This Adinkra Symbol, Musuyidee which means "good will" is attached to the images of the teachers serve on Umfundalai's Council of Elders.

Click on any of the images below to see the Certified Umfundalai teacher who is working in your state.

BEVARA ANDERSON, MFA (She/Her)

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Bevara “Enzi” Anderson is a professional dance artist from the Maryland coast. Ms. Anderson focuses on the embodied research that lives within Umfundalai, house footwork, Horton, contemporary ballet, improvisation, and many other contemporary movement styles. Anderson is a graduate of The Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts where she participated in the International Association of Blacks in Dance conference and performed at the Kennedy Center for the Ellington School of the Arts 40th anniversary show with the singer Ledisi. She also participated in Mike Malone’s Black Nativity and was featured in the first issue of Black Dance Magazine. She received her BFA from Temple University in 2018. While studying at Temple, she presented her first work at the Piazza Del Popolo at the Rome Temple Campus and became the president of the all-styles company D2D: Dare to Dance. She is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Anderson is now rendering dance work based in narrative, abstraction, meditation, and continues to consider the experience of joy as a form of resistance in the Black American community. Her first mainstage work premiered in November 2020 at the Tryon Festival Theater and was a clear representation of her perseverance as an artist during the year’s health pandemic. A founding member of the Katherine Smith Dance Ensemble, Anderson performed with Kariamu &Company: Traditions from 2014 to 2019. Bevara is of the final generation of dancers to study under the direct tutelage of Dr. Kariamu Welsh, and holds this feet with pride as she continues to share Dr. Welsh’s technique, Umfundalai.

STAFFORD C. BERRY, JR., MFA (Fluid Pronouns)

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA

Baba Stafford C. Berry, Jr., MFA, is an accomplished artist, educator, activist, and scholar of African-rooted dance, theatre, and aesthetics with an extensive background in arts and education. He has studied performing arts in the US and in Guinea West Africa, and he has toured nationally in the US, and internationally to London, England, and the Caribbean. He is a certified teacher of the Umfundalai Contemporary African Dance Technique and a licensed Zumba® Instructor. Baba Berry was Associate Artistic Director of Baba Chuck Davis' internationally acclaimed African American Dance Ensemble (AADE) for 14 years; Assistant to the Choreographer of Kariamu & Company: Traditions in Philadelphia for 5 years; former Co-Director of The Berry & Nance Dance Project; and former Faculty at the American Dance Festival.
Baba Berry’s artistic work has toured internationally and is concerned with black male discourse, black folks’ embodied epistemologies, and “making space” for African American, LGBTQIA+, “weirdos,” and disempowered communities. He has won several choreographic and residency grants from: Durham Arts Council (NC), North Carolina Arts Council (NC), Greater Columbus Arts Council (OH), Taft Museum of Art (OH), Bloomington Arts Commission (IN). In addition, Mr. Berry has served on various arts boards nationally.

BIANCA BONNER, M.Ed. (She/Her)

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Bianca Bonner was raised in the Bronx, NY where she began dance training at Ruth Williams Dance Studio and later with Mary Barnett, former Associate Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in ballet, jazz, modern, and African dance, Kariamu Welsh, Charles “Chuck” Davis, and more renowned dance instructors. She holds a BA in Broadcasting and Mass Media and an M.Ed. in Dance from Temple University in Philadelphia.

Bonner toured with Chuck Davis’ African American Dance Ensemble to national and international venues and served on the board of the Charlotte Dance Festival. She was named Best Choreography at the Charlotte Emerging Dance Awards, a choreography award from the North Carolina Theatre Conference for Studs Terkel’s Working, and a John W. Parker Award for Excellence in Directing from the North Carolina Theatre Conference for Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Bonner was the Director of Education and Community Engagement at Charlotte Ballet and is currently an educator for Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.

LEANNA BROWNE (She/Her)

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

Leanna Browne is a dancer, teaching artist, choreographer, and educator. She holds a BA in Psychology and Special Major in Dance & Black Studies from Swarthmore College. Leanna’s introduction to Umfundalai was through Oluko C. Kemal Nance during his tenure at Swarthmore. Some of her training includes the Umfundalai Teachers’ Intensive, Nanigo, Zenon Dance Zone, Philadanco Summer Intensive, and Penumbra Theatre’s Summer Institute. In 2017, Leanna became a M’Singha Wuti-licensed teacher in Umfundalai. Currently based in the Twin Cities area, she has worked with various artists and companies such as BLAQ, Leslie Parker Dance Project, Contempo Physical Dance, Jonathan van Arneman (AJ), Threads Dance Project, Ryan Parent, and Erinn Liebhard. As a teaching artist, Leanna has taught children, youth, and adults in different community-based, after-school, and summer programs. These include the BELL Xcel summer program and the YMCA School Success program at Maxfield Elementary and independent classes at CO-MOTION Center for Movement. During the 2020-2021 program year, she was selected as a Momentum: New Dance Works artist. Leanna’s work explores areas such as dance for social change, her Afro-Caribbean heritage by way of Montserrat, healing, joy, and transformation.

JULIAN DARDEN. (He/Him)

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Julian Darden studied performance and choreography at the Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a teaching artist, he has worked with Philadelphia’s youth as an Education Assistant at the Lenfest Center, and a Mentor/Dance Instructor with Upbeat Dance Center, Elkins Park School, Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Eugenio Maria de Hostos Charter School, The Village of Arts and Humanities, and both Folk Arts Cultural Treasures Charter School and Conwell Middle School through the Pennsylvania Ballet. As a performing artist, Darden danced with D2D: Dare to Dance Co., Kariamu & Company:Traditions, and the Nance Dance Collective. Some of his recent credits include performing with the Stella Maris Dance Ensemble in Kingston, Jamaica and the Philadelphia Fringe Arts Festival in 2016, 2017, and 2019.

JESSICA FEATHERSON, MFA (She/Her)

CAPITOL HEIGHTS, MARYLAND

Jessica C. Featherson is an interdisciplinary performer, creator, and educator. She received her MFA in Dance from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) as part of its inaugural cohort. In addition to dance, she is the creator of the wellness lifestyle brand, WellBody WellSoul. She looks forward to continued collaborative and independent projects that merge her artistic and wellness practices. Jessica received her BFA in Dance from Temple University (Philadelphia, PA) with a minor in Latin American Studies and has had extensive study and practice with the contemporary African dance technique, Umfundalai. She performed with Kariamu & Company: Traditions for several seasons under the direction of the late Dr. Kariamu Welsh and Dr. C. Kemal Nance. Jessica has performed with NYC-based companies, Laurie M. Taylor/Soul Movement and Eryc Taylor Dance at festivals such as Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out, Harlem Stage E-moves, and the International Festival Avante Garde in Merida, Mexico. Her interest in arts management landed her a position with the New York Dance and Performance Awards aka The Bessie's, where she served as Assistant to Senior Staff and Development Assistant. She is an original cast member of the theatrical production, "The Clothesline Muse," a collaboration with Dr. Kariamu Welsh, Grammy-nominated jazz singer Nnenna Freelon, and visual artist Maya Freelon. Jessica has studied abroad in Mexico and Brazil, and is especially focused on the relationship between music and dance in specific cultural regions. She has also traveled to Havana, Cuba with choreographer Ronald K. Brown to study folkloric and contemporary dance under the auspices of the Joyce Theater Foundation travel program. Jessica has been on faculty at Ballet Hispanico's School of Dance, Rutgers University, and currently serves as adjunct faculty at Prince George's County Community College and Richard Wright Public Charter School for Media Arts and Journalism.

JOSEPHINE HEARD, MEd (She/Her)

PHILADELPHIA/PENNSYLVANIA

Josephine Heard is a long-time Kariamu & Company Traditions performer and professional Umfundalai teacher. A founding member of National Association of American African Dance Teachers (NAAADT), Heard has a plethora of professional experiences in managing finances. Chief among them has been assisting buyers, sellers, and investors in the southeastern Pennsylvania housing market. Heard also owns Andika Mobile Notary LLC. As a certified loan signing agent and mobile notary, she has facilitated the signing of deeds, refinances, HELOCs and other transactional documents pertaining to real estate. Heard holds a BA in Integrated Arts from the Pennsylvania State University.

ERIN BRYCE HOLMES, MS, LCAT, BC-DMT (She/Her)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Erin Bryce Holmes, MS, LCAT, BC-DMT, apprenticed with Urban Bush Women, was a principal dancer with Kariamu & Company: Traditions, African American Dance Ensemble, Tania Isaac Dance, Dance Theatre X, Denovo, Ephrat Asherie Dance and with Bill T. Jones developing FELA! She co-led, as a member of Black Batey, the plenary event for the ADTA/NDEO collaboration and the Expressive Therapies conference closing. She is a visiting instructor at various institutions such as Pratt Institute, Drexel University and Antioch University. She presents choreography throughout the east and west coast. She is a performer; Ase Dance Theater Collective; Dance Movement Therapist; Interfaith Medical Center, certified Umfundalai instructor, and director; Bryce Entertainment, LLC. Erin currently volunteers for the Brooklyn Walk Committee of the New York City Alzheimer’s Association and is a board member of the American Dance Therapy Association.

DARA MEREDITH, MFA (She/Her)

SPRINGFIELD, PENNSYLVANIA

Dara J Meredith, an Atlanta native received her B.F.A. in Dance and is the University of the
Arts recipient of the highest honored Stella Moore Award. She received her M.F.A. at Temple
University and was awarded the Rose Vernick Choreographic Achievement Award. Dara has
had an extensive performance career touring with Total Dance Theater in Senegal, West Africa,
Brian Sanders’ "Junk", “Black Nativity”, and Sonia Sanchez’ “Living Legends” tour. She is the
former Assistant Artistic Director, Principal dancer, Choreographer, and Rehearsal Director for
Eleone Dance Theatre and has also choreographed for Bad Boy’s “Danity Kane”, Grace Dance
Theater, and CAPA of Philadelphia musicals. Dara co-founded DCNS Dance Intensive and has
taught and choreographed for the West Chester University, Drexel University, Temple
University, University of the Arts, and Pennsylvania State College. She received a "Best
Choreography Award”" from National Dance Showcase, Fringe Festival’s “Rocky Award", the
“Ellen Foreman Memorial Award” from Drexel University, the “E Award" from Eleone Dance
Theatre, and the “Audience Choice Award" for the highly competitive International Dance
Festival in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2020 Dara was commissioned by the Delaware Art Museum
to create, “The Bridge of Our Roots”, her own full-length evening choreographic response, to
celebrated painter, Eldzier Cortor’s “Southern Souvenir No. II”. Dara is currently an Adjunct
Faculty member at Drexel University, Temple University, and a full time dance educator in the
Philadelphia Public School System. She has a Professional Certification in the contemporary,
pan African,Umfundalai technique, and is certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. She is a
proud wife and mother of three!

SHAVONNE MUNIR, MA (She/Her)

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Shavonne Munir is a Philadelphia native, a loving wife and a boy mom with a BS in
Kinesiology (sports medicine) from The Pennsylvania State University. She also
received her Masters in Holistic medicine, all while managing the Fitness and
Recreation department at the Salvation Army Kroc Center. Loving to learn, she is
now a ADMI Medical School 2025 candidate at Boise State University. She has
been dancing for 29 years and is professionally trained in ballet, modern, jazz and
African dance (Umfundalai). She has received most of her early training at the
New Freedom Theatre, in Philadelphia, and has traveled locally, nationally and
internationally through dance and fitness opportunities. She has since trained
and performed with Dance Theatre of Harlem, Eleone Dance Theatre, and
Kariamu & Company. She was blessed to be a principal dancer of Grace Dance
Theater for over 11 years.
Being an established dance instructor and fitness specialist around the city of
Philadelphia, she loves nothing more than combining her love for dance, fitness,
wellness and children into an educational, fun, and active forum. Munir has been
afforded the opportunity to work with various organizations, educating and
teaching about fitness, holistic health and the importance of living a healthy
lifestyle. As a fitness children’s book author, Munir enjoys the opportunity to talk
with young people, and adults alike, to spread her “Fitness is Fun” message. This
led her to form FCG Training and Wellness LLc., in which she does just that.
She is a proud member of Beta Delta Zeta Grad Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta
Sorority Incorporated, by way of the Mighty Mu Eta Chapter (PennState
University). She prides herself on giving grace, forward mobility and grit. “Little
girls with dreams become women with vision!”

TINA MULLONE GRIFFITH, MFA (She/Her)

RHODE ISLAND

Tina Mullone (BA, MFA) is Assistant Professor of Dance at Bridgewater State University and a New England board member for the American College Dance Association. She is a certified M’Singha Wuti instructor of Umfundalai contemporary African dance technique, Pilates mat instructor, and dance education consultant. She has performed in Texas, Louisiana, Philadelphia, Virginia, New York, Germany and Mexico. Her training background is in Agrippina Vaganova technique, Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Katherine Dunham, Umfundalai contemporary African dance, various dances from Africa and the Diaspora. To highlight training, she studied at Dallas Black Dance Theatre, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco Dance School, Urban Bush Women, Katherine Dunham Institute and the American Dance Festival. In addition to a number of outreach programs and studios, Tina taught at Texas Ballet Theater School, Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth and Texas Christian University. Tina is co-director of M2, a performance art duet based in Monroe, LA. For 11 years, she commuted from Louisiana to Texas to continue her professional career as a performer with Beckles Dancing Company, and CD/FW (as Associate Artistic Director). Tina’s current research interests are centered around the following: African Diaspora dance, dance as a conduit for social change, African- Americans and the spaces that define/confine, the presence of spirituality in dance, Black feminism in movement & visual art, arts + education=what? and movement based therapy as a result of trauma. Tina is humbled and excited to begin this next journey with Umfundalai. All praises to Mama Kariamu, the master teachers and those who continue to keep the flames burning.

ANGELA PITTMAN, MFA (She/Her)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Angie Pittman is a New York-based dancer-choreographer whose works sits in the Black Radical Tradition. Her choreographic work uses dance, text, and sound to illuminate nuanced and experimental portrayal of Black dance. Angie has had the pleasure of being able to create collaboratively with A Sef, Jasmine Hearn, Jonathan Gonzalez, Athena Kokoronis, and Anita Mullin. She holds a MFA in Dance and Choreography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a graduate minor in African American Studies and is a certified Professional teacher of the Umfundalai technique. As a dancer, she has danced in work by Larissa Valez-Jackson, MBDance, Ralph Lemon, Tere O’Connor, Cynthia Oliver, Anna Sperber, Donna Uchizono Company, Jennifer Monson, Kim Brandt, Tess Dworman, Antonio Ramos, C Kemal Nance and many others. As an educator, she has taught at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Movement Research, MoMA, Sarah Lawrence College, Marymount Manhattan College, and is currently an Assistant Arts Professor of Dance at NYU: Tisch School of the Arts.

TABATHA O. ROBINSON, EdM (She/Her)

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

Tabatha Robinson, EdM received her Bachelor in Fine Arts Degree in dance and Master’s degree in Dance Education from Temple University. For over 20 years, she has built her career as a teacher, choreographer, performer, curriculum specialist, and arts advocate. She continues to train, teach, choreograph, and speak about dance education throughout the country. Tabatha has performed and choreographed throughout the East coast as a guest artist for the Seventh Principle Performance Company. For three years, she was a company member with Kariamu and Company and is a Professional certified Umfundalai teacher. Tabatha founded and was the artistic director of the Monarch Dance Company based in the Lehigh Valley, PA for over 20 successful seasons. Tabatha is also a former column writer for Dance Spirit Magazine. Her choreography has also been highlighted internationally at the 2012 London Olympics. Images of her work and writing have been presented in the Philadelphia Dance Collective and Dance Spirit magazine, as well as the Community Education Center, the PA Theater Guide, and online publications. She currently serves on the board of the National Association of African American Dance Teachers and the development coordinator for Umfundalai teacher training. She is currently the director of dance and the Performing Arts department chair at Lick-Wilmerding high school in San Francisco, California and a guest teacher for Broadway Dance Center in NYC and ODC Dance Commons in San Francisco, CA. Tabatha is currently in the final stages of completing her Doctorate in Education with a concentration in Curriculum and Organizational Leadership.

TYLER ROSS

CAPITOL HEIGHTS, MARYLAND

Tyler Ross , born and raised in PG County, Maryland, is an Afro- Indigenous movement artist, choreographer, and dance educator. Ross holds a BFA in Dance Education from Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance. Within her time at Temple University, Tyler joined collegiate dance organization ,D2D: Dare to Dance, and transitioned from Event Coordinator to President. In the past few years, she has been a company member to Urban Artistry with Junious Brickhouse, Bmore Houseful with Esperonto Bean, Laura Edwards Dance Company (LED), MOTUS Company with Diana Matos, Ladies of Redemption, MoDance Work with Monique Walker, and Kariamu & Company: Traditions with Dr. Kariamu Welsh . Ross held her M’Singha Wuti Instructor certification from 2016-2024. Honoring this privilege, Ross received her Professional Certification within the Umfundalai Technique in June 2024. As one of Dr. Kariamu Welsh’s last generation of dancers, Tyler educates young, fresh minds of age the legacy of Umfundalai throughout the DMV. Throughout the process of achieving her Professional Certification, Ross served as Programs and Communications Specialist alongside Mama Monique for the National Association of American African Dance Teachers (NAAADT)

Tyler strives to educate the next generation of artists as a dance educator within prestigious Institutions and curators in the performing arts such as the Dance Institute of Washington, the Washington Ballet, the Kennedy Center, Culture Shock DC, Waldorf Senior Recreational Center, and Abundant Dance.

As a movement artist within Black Dance and African Diasporas, Tyler encourages the DMV community to gain knowledge of street dance culture through teaching Hip Hop and House dance classes, participating in battles, and performing an array of dance techniques throughout the USA.

JAMIE SHAKUR, MA (She/Her)

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

Jamie Shakur, MA is a dance educator, scholar and former performer from Brooklyn, NY with over twenty years of experience. She has certifications in K-12 Dance and Umfundalai African Dance. Shakur has served as dance faculty at several dance schools in NYC, Philadelphia and the Raleigh/Durham area. Some of her performance credits include Kariamu & Company: Traditions, African American Dance Ensemble and Urban Bush Women Dance Company. Shakur was a grant recipient of Tony Bennett: Exploring the Arts, Capezio Ballet Makers, and Arts Achieve. She chartered National Honor Society for Dance Arts Chapters at two Wake County Public Schools. Shakur has presented dance workshops and scholarly research at NDEO, Collegium of African Diasporan Dance and Dancing Our Africa conferences. She is also the contributing author of Iwe' Illanan: The Umfundalai Teacher's Handbook.

ERICKA SQUIRE, MFA (She/Her)

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

Ericka Squire, MFA, a native of Florida, situates her creative and academic work in dance, anthropology and African Diasporic studies. Currently, she serves as a Professor of Dance, Adjunct at Palm Beach Atlantic University, a Resident Artist/Instructor with The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and as the Manager of Arts and Cultural Education with the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County. Squire has a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Central Florida, an MEd from Temple University (Philadelphia, PA) and an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University. She has performed professionally with the Bohemian Ballet Company Fl.), and the U- Turn Dance Company in Orlando, FL.
As a choreographer/storyteller, Ericka is interested in the body—how and why it moves/becomes moved and how to excavate its stories. Thus, when engaging in her process movers are taken through ‘Body Speak’, a choreographic-incubator crafted by Ericka that seeks to unearth the language, intellect and stories and nuances of the body in order to create works that promote dialogue and evoke change. In 2014, Ericka began Natural Movers//Dance Project. In 2016, Ericka founded The Natural Movers Foundation—an organization that seeks to enrich the cultural landscape of Palm Beach County by offering master classes and workshops; and a performance platform for choreographers.

SHEILA A. WARD, PhD (She/Her)

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA

Dr. Sheila A. Ward is presently a tenured Professor in the Department of Health, Physical Education and Exercise Science at Norfolk State University. She is Co-Director of and performs professionally with Eleone Dance Theatre of Philadelphia, PA. She holds a B.S. in Physical Education with an emphasis in Dance from Indiana University, M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from Temple University, and MPH with a concentration in Epidemiology from Eastern Virginia Medical School. She is a licensed PreK-12 Virginia Educator in Dance Arts, Health and Physical Education, and Health and Medical Sciences. Integration of her degrees in exercise physiology, epidemiology/public health, and dance has served as the foundation to promote, ‘Health Empowerment through Cultural Awareness,’ the guiding principle from which she conducts scholarly activities related to chronic disease prevention and management. She is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), a Registered Kinesiotherapist, and a Certified Instructor for both the Umfundalai African Dance Technique and the Katherine Dunham Technique. She is currently on the Editorial Board of the Physician and Sportsmedicine, a reviewer for JOPERD, and Chair of Grants & Research for Black Women in Sport Foundation. She is the Project Director for the NSU Health and Wellness Initiative for Women, a Roster Artist for the Virginia Arts in Education Residency Program, Virginia Commission on the Arts, and Past-VP of Dance, Virginia Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. She has served as a reviewer for the Virginia Commission on the Arts Virginia Arts on Tour and most recently, a panelists for two New Jersey State Council on the Arts programs, general program support for professional dance organizations and an arts education special initiative.

Dr. Ward has successfully received state, federal, and private funding for research and program implementation including authoring and implementing twelve (12) dance-related grants such as $40,000 from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through Dance Advance Award for the reconstruction of “Americana,” a signature work of the legendary Ms. Katherine Dunham and $96,000 to acquire and present a new work by Dianne McIntyre. Her presentations and publications on the international, national, state, and local levels are extensive and varied such as the publications of African-centered Dance: An Intervention Tool for HIV/AIDS Prevention, Health and the Power of Dance, and African Dance Aesthetics in a K-12 Dance Setting: From History to Social Justice. She was the recipient of Norfolk State University’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Scholarship and most recently the recipient of a Virginia Department Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant related to High Impact HIV Prevention Efforts, Monitoring, and Evaluation in Hampton Roads.

She began dancing with Robert Pemberton, Jr. and Rodney Williams in Richmond, VA. She performed and trained with The Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco) and Philadanco II. At Indiana University, she was a member of the African American Dance Company and the IU Dance Theater. Dr. Ward was featured in Dance Teacher Now and Upscale Magazine and was an Honoree of the Virginia Peninsula ACT-SO Program and the recipient of Mayoral Citations from the City of Philadelphia for her contributions to the Philadelphia arts community. Dr. Ward is a Herman C. Hudson Alumni Award Recipient, African American Arts Institute, Indiana University for her “outstanding career as a dance artist, educator and scholar.”

ERRIN WEAVER, MA (She/Her)

CLEVELAND, OHIO

Errin Weaver is a choreographer, community activator, and the Executive Artistic Director of Mojuba! Dance Collective (@mojubadance), an African contemporary dance company dedicated to exploring spiritual and cultural dance traditions of the African Diaspora to restore community wellness, share and validate the Black narrative experience, and reestablish cultural connection, based in Cleveland, Ohio. Errin Tennessee State University, on a university performing arts scholarship, and then relocated to Chicago where she performed with the renowned Muntu Dance Theatre, under the direction of Amaniyea Payne. She now holds a Masters in Public Service from DePaul University and an MFA in Choreography and Interdisciplinary Studies from Wilson College.
Currently the visiting guest artist in dance at Cleveland State University, Errin has taught, been in residency, and sat on panels regarding sacred dance rooted in the Gospel tradition and cultural dance forms extensively. Through her work, she has created the Black Choreographers Incubator which supports and nurtures Black choreographers, hosted and taught at conferences and festivals such as the International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference, Ohio Dance Festival and others, and become a published author with her piece about decolonizing dance writing and criticism in ThINKing Dance.
Errin is certified to teach Umfundalai Contemporary African Dance technique, is in the professional certification process for Katherine Dunham technique certification, and has worked with such notable choreographers as Abdel Salaam, Jeffrey Page, Monique Haley, Ronald K. Brown, and the late Baba Chuck Davis.

THE COUNCIL OF UMFUNDALAI TEACHERS

CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS

Updated July 30, 2024