TEACHERS WORKSHOP
Uprooted Teachers Jazz Dance Workshop is an in-depth pedagogy of jazz dance with industry professionals – exploring an authentic way to teach the roots of jazz dance.
Led by the industry’s finest educators and facilitators, these inspirational jazz dance workshops explore the historical roots of jazz dance to provide greater context and understanding of the art form for teachers of all ages around the world. From African dance to Afro Latin Fusion, AfroBeat to Social Dance, no stone is left unturned as jazz dance is reintroduced at grass roots level.
Join Our Vibrant Community
Connect with fellow dancers and educators as you explore the rich tapestry of jazz dance. From lively discussions to collaborative classes, our workshop fosters a supportive and inclusive environment where creativity thrives and connections flourish.
Faculty
Thomas F. DeFrantz directs SLIPPAGE: Performance|Culture|Technology, a research group that explores emerging technology in live performance applications, currently in residence at Northwestern University.
DeFrantz received the 2017 Outstanding Research in Dance award from the Dance Studies Association. DeFrantz believes in our shared capacity to do better, and to engage our creative spirit for a collective good that is anti-racist, anti-homophobic, proto-feminist, and queer affirming. DeFrantz acted as a consultant for the Smithsonian Museum of African American Life and Culture, contributing concept and a voice-over for a permanent installation on Black Social Dance that opened with the museum in 2016.
Books include Dancing Revelations Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture (2004), Black Performance Theory, co-edited with Anita Gonzalez (2014), Choreography and Corporeality: Relay in Motion, co-edited with Philipa Rothfield (2016), and the Routledge Companion to African American Theater and Performance co-edited with Kathy Perkins, Sandra Richards, and Renee Alexander Craft (2018).
Creative: Queer Theory! An Academic Travesty commissioned by the Theater Offensive of Boston and the Flynn Center for the Arts;fastDANCEpast, created for the Detroit Institute for the Arts; reVERSE-gesture-reVIEW commissioned by the Nasher Museum in response to the work of Kara Walker, January, 2017.
Recent teaching: University of the Arts Mobile MFA in Dance; Juilliard, Movement Research, ImPulsTanz; New Waves Institute; faculty at Hampshire College, Stanford, Yale, MIT, NYU, University of Nice. In 2013, working with Takiyah Nur Amin, DeFrantz founded the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance, a growing consortium of 350 researchers. slippage.org.
Catherine Foster is a professional dancer, dance educator, choreographer, freelance makeup artist, and cultural consultant. She received her dance training from the DC Youth Ensemble (DCYE), the BaltimoreSchool for the Arts (BSA), and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.
She was a finalist and 2nd place winner in the National Arts Recognition/YoungARTS, in Miami, Fla., and is a recipient of the Astaire Award for Best Broadway Female Ensemble. She has worked with and performed the works of noted choreographers, including Donald Bryd, Bill T. Jones, Hinton Battle, Darrell Grand Moultrie, and Abdel Salaam.
Company Credits: The Fred Benjamin Dance Company; Forces of Nature; Camille A. Brown and Dancers (Principal Dancer). Recording Artists: Alicia Keys, The Roots, Jazmine Sullivan, Seun Kuti, Davido, Angelique Kidjo, Lauryn Hill. Film/TV: TEDx/TED Talks; Black Girls Rock (BET);
Netflix Originals: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Assistant Choreographer); NBC /Amazon prime comedy series HARLEM (dancer/actor). Broadway/Off-Broadway: FELA! (original cast) produced by Jay Z and Will Smith; Once on this Island (Assistant Choreographer); Ain’t No Disco (Assistant Choreographer). Catherine is currently in her second season at The Metropolitan Opera, performing in Terrance Blanchard’s CHAMPION: An Opera in Jazz. A dance educator for over 10 years, Catherine regularly teaches in New York City and internationally. Catherine has performed throughout North America to as far as Central and South America,Europe, and Africa. Catherine gives thanks to her ancestors, mentors, and loved ones for her success and guidance!
"Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances."- Dr. Maya Angelo
Robin Gee, Professor of Dance at UNC Greensboro, holds an MFA in Dance Choreography and Performance from Sarah Lawrence College. She specializes in African and Modern dance techniques, as well as dance for the screen. Ms. Gee has performed with several New York-based dance companies, including Ballet Bagata, Maimouna Keita Dance Company among others.
A dedicated researcher and advocate for dance documentation and preservation, she has received numerous grants and awards, including the West African Research Association’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in African Research, the AAUW Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, the U.S. Fulbright Scholars Award, Fulbright Specialist Award, the Hayes Award and the NC Choreographers Fellowship.
Ms. Gee is also the Director and Creator of the Greensboro Dance Film Festival. Her latest project, What’s Bred in the Blood and Bone, continues to screen worldwide.
Maurice Watson is a dancer, choreographer, and educator with over 20 years of dance experience. He holds an MFA in choreography from the University of Iowa and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). As a dancemaker and teacher, his movement research focuses on jazz dance and choreography rooted in the black dance vernacular, utilizing musicality, groove, and individuality as the driving force.
Watson has choreographed and taught nationally and internationally for universities, summer programs, anddance studios across the United States, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
Chanon Judson is the Co-Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed Urban Bush Women (UBW). UBW galvanizes artists, activists, audiences and communities through performances, artist development, education and community engagement. As a legacy bearer, Chanon stewards the continuum of UBW’s methodology and repertory, as well as innovates new creative works and practices alongside Co-Director Mame Diarra Speis. Original works include Hair and Other Stories and Haint Blu.
Other directorial and choreographic credits include "Priestess of Twerk” (Irondale, Nia Witherspoon), “Chronicle X” (The Shed, Nia Witherspoon), “The Hang” (HERE Arts, Taylor Mac), Cannabis! A Viper Vaudeville (La Mama, Talvin Wilks), “The Invention of Tragedy” (Flea Theatre, Meghan Finn), “It’s Not so Bad in My Brain” (New Perspective Theatre), “Prometheus Bound” (The Tank, Ran Xia), , “Brett and Ashley” (New Perspective Theatre).“ Orlando (Bard University, Ran Xia), and directoral fellowship with New Perspective Theatre and Chicago Director’s Lab
As a performer and collaborator, Chanon has worked with Mickey Davidson, Kwame Ross, Barak adé Soleil, Talvin Wilks, Sita Frederick, Allyne Gartrell, and Sandra Burton. With credits that include A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (Taylor Mac), God’s Trombone (Craig Harris), Cannabis! A Viper Vaudeville (Talvin Wilkes, Grace Galu, Baba Israel), Cotton Club Parade (Warren Carlye), Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Concert (Glenn & Brian), and the Tony award winning musical Fela! (Bill T. Jones)
Sekou McMiller Is a world-renowned Choreographer and Director at the forefront of a new movement in the dance and music world. His explosive energy on and off stage, has earned Sekou broad recognition worldwide.
Sekou has performed and choreographed for Top Latin artist such as Gilberto Santa Rosa, Willie Colon, Cheo Feliciano, Johnny Pacheco, Tito Rojas, Tito Nieves, PitBull, and the pop icon MADONNA. A recent recipient of fellowship with The Alvin Ailey Foundation’s New Directions Choreography Lab and the City University of New York (CUNY) Dance Initiative, Sekou’s choreographic works have been featured throughout North America and abroad in over 30 countries.
Sekou can be seen in the Warner Bros theatrical feature "In the Heights" (2021) directed by Jon M. Chu and in the newly released documentary "Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance". Currently, Sekou is a Professor of dance at Marymount Manhattan College, The Ailey School, Joffrey Ballet School, Ballet Hispánico, and NYU: Tisch School of the Arts.
In addition, Sekou is a curator and project director at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.
Lynn Simonson is an internationally respected educator of Jazz Dance. She is the creator of Simonson Technique, an organic approach to movement, that prepares the body to dance in a way that is anatomically intelligent and somatically aware. Her call to jazz dance grew out of a deep love for jazz music and a need to express that music in movement. Lynn was on faculty and co director of Morelli Ballet, Inc., NYC, 1972-82. She created and directed The Jazz Project for Jacob’s Pillow, 1983-89 and, a founding co director of Dance Space Center/Dance New Amsterdam, New York City, 1983-2013, which housed Simonson Technique and Simonson Method of Teacher Training (which she continues to present yearly). Simonson has received awards from American Dance Guild, N D E O, Dance Magazine and National Dance Association of USA. And, honored for lifetime achievement in dance by Encore International Festival, 2003, Boston Youth Moves, 2003, and Dance New Amsterdam 2005.
Christine Kiernan Fisher, the 2020 National Dance Education Teacher of the Year, brings 25 years of teaching experience bridging professional dance and education. She holds an MFA in Performance and Choreography from UNC Greensboro and is dedicated to fostering both artistic excellence and strong pedagogy in every learning environment.
As a performer, Christine has worked with 2B Tribe Dance Theater, Jan Van Dyke Dance Group, Informall Theater Company, and John Gamble Dance Theater. Her choreography has been featured throughout the Southeast at venues such as the Greensboro Fringe Festival, American Dance Festival’s Acts to Follow, NC Dance Festival, and NC Dances. She has also received choreographic commissions from The Sun Valley Ballet (Idaho) and the Power Company (SC).
She has taught at institutions including Columbia College, UNC Greensboro, Weaver Academy for Performing and Visual Arts, and Durham School of the Arts. In public education, she has served as Lead Dance Teacher for both Durham Public Schools and Guilford County Schools. Currently, she is adjunct faculty at UNC Greensboro and UNC Charlotte, where she teaches and supervises dance education student teachers. As a doctoral candidate and graduate research assistant at UNCG’s School of Education, she is completing dissertation research on visions of high-quality dance instruction—work that aims to further enrich the field of dance education.
