About The Instructors:

Dianne McIntyre (Choreographer/Director/ Narrator) McIntyre celebrates 52 years as a dance-maker and founder of her first company of dancers and musicians, Sounds in Motion. The company toured throughout the U.S. and abroad, and the Harlem-based Sounds in Motion studio was, for many years, a central hub of creative activity with classes, studio performances, rehearsals and a gathering place for the “culture crowd” to explode with ideas. She has choreographed for her own and other dance companies, several Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, three operas, 35 regional theater productions, a London West End musical, feature films, television productions, stage movement for recording artists and, so far, created five original full-length dance dramas. McIntyre has had choreography and teaching residencies in universities and festivals, and continues associations with American Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow where she has been co-director with Risa Steinberg of the Hicks Choreography Fellowship Program. In 2024, her new piece In Tune was developed at the ADF Footprints program. Highlighted concert works include Life’s Force; Take-Off from a Forced Landing, based on her mother’s stories as an aviator; and Their Eyes Were Watching God, based on the Zora Neale Hurston novel. In 1991 after extensive research, she recreated dance pioneer Helen Tamiris’ epic 1937 work How Long, Brethren? Works for the screen include Beloved, Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper and Miss Evers’ Boys (Emmy Award nomination). Inspired to create work derived from real life narratives, McIntyre has conceptualized and directed her own “dance-driven dramas” that have appeared in both dance and theater venues. Notable works are Open the Door, Virginia! from 1950s civil rights activism, and I Could Stop on a Dime and Get Ten Cents Change: A Ballroom Drama, her father’s life stories. Awards include being a 2022 Dance Magazine Award honoree, a 2023 Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Award, 2020 United States Artists Doris Duke Fellowship and 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient. Other honors include John S. Guggenheim Fellowship, three Bessie Awards, two AUDELCO’s, one Helen Hayes Award, National Black Theatre Teer Pioneer Award, Def Dance Jam Community Butterfly Award and The International Acclaim Legendary Artist Award from IABD. She is a recipient of Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from SUNY Purchase and Cleveland State University. McIntyre has worked in collaboration with master music innovators Olu Dara, Lester Bowie, Max Roach, Sharon Freeman, Butch Morris, Amina Claudine Myers, Cecil Taylor, Don Pullen, Kysia Bostic, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Abbey Lincoln, Hannibal Lokumbe, Ahmed Abdullah and many others. She acknowledges the influence of directors and playwrights with whom she has worked, including Bartlett Sher, Marion McClinton, Regina Taylor, Des McAnuff, Jonathan Demme, Douglas Turner Ward, August Wilson, OyamO, Ntozake Shange, Avery Brooks, Rita Dove, Joe Sargent, Woodie King, Jr., Irene Lewis, Oz Scott and Ricardo Khan. A dance alum of The Ohio State University, her mentors include Elaine Gibbs Redmond, Gus Solomons Jr., Louise Roberts, Vera Blaine, Helen Alkire and Richard Davis.

Brianna Rhodes is an Ohio native and graduate of The Ohio State University Department of Dance. She formally danced as a fellow with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Currently, she is working as a freelance dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher throughout Columbus, Ohio. Alongside dance, she is a poet, a spokeswoman for Aunt Flow (a free feminine product company), a model, and a small film actress. As a teacher, Brianna is driven by the Black dance experience. She teaches children a fusion of Black dance styles along with their history as a catalyst for growth and expansion of the entire body, mind, and soul. Her dance talents span across concert, street, and commercial dance. Her professional career has taken her nationally and internationally to places like New York City, Bermuda, and Brazil. All around, Brianna creates from the point of view of a young, Black, Queer artist, who serves as a vessel for all. She uses her art to provide healing, storytelling, and comfort especially in spaces where it is needed the most. Brianna is inspired by the African Proverb “Ubuntu” which serves as a reminder to help those who come after while remaining true to the ones before.

Kamryn Vaulx is a multifaceted dancer currently living in NYC, by way of Memphis, TN. She is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College where she earned a BFA in Dance with a concentration in Choreography. In Memphis, TN, Kamryn began her dance training at 3 years old. She has trained for years in styles such as jazz, contemporary, hip hop, tap, ballet, modern, West African, and flamenco. She is currently dancing with Project Tag New York, a contemporary company under the direction of Iraq native, Hussein Smko. She is also a part of other companies in NY such as SHINSA, under direction of Korean native, Bo Park, and LA based dance company, The Motus Company, under the direction of Portugal native, Diana Matos. Kamryn has worked with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Company. Kamryn has also had the opportunity to work with other choreographers such as Ronald K. Brown and Fredrick Earl Mosley. Kamryn has had the opportunity to perform on stages like AFRO PUNK and SummerStage Festival NYC with pop artist Rodney Chrome and also dances for Brazilian pop artist, Tatiana Lima. With her love for direction and choreography, she has presented original pieces such as Lost Then Found and Or•chard at Arts on Site. With her versatile dance background and curiosity for the art of creation, she aspires to share the intersections that are within dance styles and cultures while also connecting to her roots as she experiences the present and future.