Umfundalai 's Certified Professional Teachers

Berry is a Professor of Practice in both African American and African Diaspora Studies and Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance at Indiana University.  He was Associate Artistic Director of Baba Chuck Davis' internationally acclaimed African American Dance Ensemble (AADE) for 14 years;  Berry was awarded the 2021 IU Global Popular Music Team Research Grant . 

• Uongozi Leadership Circle

• Umfundalai Council of Elders

 Bonner is a former professional dancer, award-winning choreographer, educator, and entrepreneur. With degrees from Temple University, she’s toured globally, taught at top institutions, and launched a luxury bakery and fashion boutique. Based in Charlotte, she balances artistry, business, and motherhood with grace, passion, and community-centered impact.

Brown is  the Program Manager for the North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship (NSBCF). She supports community wealth building initiatives that honor and reclaim the legacy of Black cooperative economics and invite alternate ways of being.  She is also a dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist with a passion for using dance to build community and promote social change. Browne holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Special Major in Dance & Black Studies from Swarthmore College.

Stephanie Charles is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she earned her BFA in Dance in 2021. She has performed works by esteemed choreographers including Endalyn Taylor, Danzel Thompson-Stout, Bevara Selkridge, Dr. C. Kemal Nance, and the late Dr. Kariamu Welsh. Stephanie is currently a dance teacher, choreographer, and a proud company member of BĀLA Dance Project.

Darden studied performance and choreography at the Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University (Philadelphia, PA) where he currently teaches Umfundalai. He also teaches adult dance classes at Urban Movement Arts and Range of Motion Philly (2018-2023).  He has performed with D2D: Dare to Dance Co., Berry & Nance Dance Project, Kariamu & Company:Traditions, and the Nance Dance Collective. 

Malani Harrell holds a degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University Long Beach. She has trained underneath Debbie Allen Dance company and the  Continuous Motion Dance Academy. She attended many conventions and intensives, including JUMP, Radix, and MAIN events. In her college years she was especially active. She trained under Danzel Thompson-Stout standing as her mentor. She has performed in numerous productions including “S P A C E” and the MFA performance piece choreographed by Danzel Thompson-Stout. I

Josephine Heard is a long-time Kariamu & Company Traditions performer. She is a founding member of National Association of American African Dance Teachers (NAAADT) and sits on its Executive Board.  Heard holds a BA in Integrated Arts from the Pennsylvania State University.​

• Umfundalai Council of Elders

Holmes  apprenticed with Urban Bush Women, was a principal dancer with Kariamu & Company: Traditions, African American Dance Ensemble, Tania Isaac Dance, Dance Theatre X, Denovo,  and Ephrat Asherie Dance. 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. Holmes is a board member of the American Dance Therapy Association.

Nia Khan is a Chicago native and alumna of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance. She has dance training in a number of Western dance forms, and has recently been professionally certified to teach the Umfundalai Technique under the guidance of Oluko “Baba” C. Kemal Nance. She currently resides in Chicago and offers Umfundalai classes throughout the year. 

Meredith is an Adjunct Faculty member at Drexel University, Temple University, and a full-time dance educator in the Philadelphia Public School System. She 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 holds a B.F.A. in Dance from the University of the Arts and an M.F.A. from Temple University.

Mullone is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Bridgewater State University and a New England board member for the American College Dance Association.  She has performed in Texas, Louisiana, Philadelphia, Virginia, New York, Germany and Mexico. Her training background is in Agrippina Vaganova technique, Martha Graham, Jose Limón, Katherine Dunham, Umfundalai, various Africanist forms.  For 11 years, she performed with Beckles Dancing Company. 

Robinson holds a BFA and an EdM in Dance  from Temple University.  She serves on the Executive Board of the National Association of African American Dance Teachers . 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. 

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Elisandra Mairym Rosario (a.k.a. DJ MEDUSA) is an artist, activist, and curator of space, vibration, and frequency. Elisandra was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, which along with their experience as DJ, influences Rosario's attraction to social dance cultures. Medusa began their disk-jockey journey as a collegetown DJ in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. They continued DJing in Michigan while achieving their MFA in Dance at University of Michigan, Ann-Arbor. Elisandra Rosario and Homie Hangz were awarded the Spirit of Detroit Award for "exceptional achievement, outstanding leadership, and dedication to improving the quality of life." 

Samuels-Smith studies Umfundalai at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia under the tutelage of Dr. Xllyehma Mills.  She currently works with gifted high schools students in the Norfolk public school system.

Bevara Selkridge is an Assistant Professor of African Diasporic Movement at Columbia College Chicago and presents her artistic work with her project-based company BĀLA Dance Project. After its premiere at the Tyron Festival Theater in March 2022, the company has presented A Balm of Joy: The Film, a feature-length dance. Anderson performed with Kariamu & Company: Traditions from 2014 to 2019 and is one of the final generation of dancers to have studied directly with the late Dr. Kariamu Welsh. With pride, she continues Dr. Welsh's legacy, as a certified professional Umfundalai, teacher. Anderson holds a BFA in Dance from Temple University and an MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois Urban-Champaign (UIUC).

Erica Rae Smith is a choreographer, educator, and artist-scholar whose work explores connections across the African Diaspora. She holds a BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Bowie State University and as College Preparatory Modern Dance Faculty at The John Carroll School in Bel Air, Maryland.   Most recently, she was selected as a choreographer for the 2026 ICONS Choreographers Collective at The Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, DC. 

Squire is a choreographer, educator, and arts leader, and Florida’s only certified Umfundalai instructor. Founder and CEO of Natural Movers Foundation and Artistic Director of Ericka Squire//The Dance Company, she champions African diasporic dance, Horton Technique, and storytelling through choreography, teaching, and community engagement, shaping Palm Beach County’s dance landscape while supporting artists locally and regionally.

Ward is  a tenured Professor in the Department of Health, Physical Education and Exercise Science at Norfolk State University. She is Co-Director of and performs  with the 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. 

• Uongozi Leadership Circle

• Umfundalai Council of Elders