Dance/USA

🎉 Dance/USA is proud to welcome @michelekumibaer as our new Executive Director! ⁠ ⁠ An advocate, arts leader, grantmaker, facilitator, coach, and lifelong dancer, Michele brings an extraordinary range and a genuine commitment to a thriving dance ecosystem. ⁠ ⁠ A new chapter begins! 💫⁠ ⁠ Read the full announcement at the link in bio! 🔗 ⁠ ⁠ 📸 @eddierhea // #DanceUSA #ArtsLeadership #DanceCommunity #NonprofitLeadership #DanceAdvocacy⁠ ⁠ [Media Description: A carousel of three slides featuring green graphics with a transparent bubble background and white lines and dots decorating the top right and bottom left corners. The first slide contains white text that reads "Announcing Dance/USA’s New Executive Director," on top, a photo of Michele, a mixed East Asian woman with short, black hair wearing a black dress and standing strong among a cluster of green bamboo shoots that stretches overhead, and white text below that reads, "Michele Kumi (久美) Baer." The next two slides contain quote excerpts from Michele in white text as well as white Dance/USA logos in the bottom right corner.]

We are thrilled to announce the 25 recipients of the Round Three Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists (DFA)! ⁠🎉 ⁠ The 2025 Dance/USA Artist Fellows are:⁠ ⁠ Tonya Marie Amos ⁠ Arthur Avilés ⁠ Leila Awadallah ⁠ Carol Bebelle aka AKUA ⁠ Rashida Bumbray⁠ Dakota Camacho⁠ Yanira Castro ⁠ Murielle Elizéon ⁠ Ani / Anito Gavino ⁠ Kevin Lee-Y Green⁠ Kayla Hamilton ⁠ India Harville⁠ Cal Hunt⁠ Umi IMAN ⁠ Quynn Johnson ⁠ Kwikstep aka DJ KS 360⁠ Kerry Lee ⁠ Gesel R. Mason ⁠ Lucy Salazar ⁠ Aguibou Bougobalo SANOU ⁠ Kenneth Shirley ⁠ Nadhi Thekkek ⁠ Sage Ni'Ja Whitson ⁠ Tamara "Ṣàngóbámikẹ" Williams ⁠ Pioneer Winter ⁠ ⁠ DFA honors dance and movement-based artists with sustained practices in art for social change. Selected by a national peer-review panel, each Fellowship includes a $31,000 grant that may be used at the artist’s discretion.⁠ ⁠ The DFA program is made possible with generous support from @dorisdukefdn . 🙏⁠ ⁠ Learn more about the 2025 Dance/USA Artist Fellows and their work at @danceusaorg ! 🔗⁠ ⁠ #DanceUSA #DFAFellowships #DanceArtists #SocialChangeThroughDance #MovementArtists #EquityInDance #DorisDukeFoundation⁠ ⁠ [Media Description: A carousel of eight graphics. The first three graphics contain a blue and green background with white lines and blue dots decorating the edges, as well as a white Dance/USA logo. In the middle of the graphics is white text containing information regarding the DFA finalists. The rest of the slides contain the same decorated outlines and logos, as well as headshots of each of the Round Three DFA finalists.]

📣 Have you signed up to join us for a conversation with our new Executive Director, @michelekumibaer ?⁠ ⁠ Michele has been sitting with 3 core questions: ⁠ ⁠ 1. What does a future where dance is truly thriving look like?⁠ 2. How do we collectively, as a field, evolve, in order to make that future possible?⁠ 3. How will a national service organization for dance support those evolutions and make them possible and real?⁠ ⁠ 👉 Forward Stance: Engaging the Field is a virtual series inviting Dance/USA members and the broader dance field to connect directly with Michele as she shares her vision for the organization’s future. ⁠ ⁠ Dance professionals, join us! ⁠ ⁠ Register for a session at @danceusaorg ! 🔗⁠ ⁠ 📸 photo of @michelekumibaer in second slide by Tiye Rose // #DanceUSA #DanceLeadership #ArtsAdministration #DanceCommunity #PerformingArts⁠ ⁠ [Media Description: A carousel of 6 blue graphics with white text and white Dance/USA logos that contain essential information regarding the upcoming Forward Stance tour. The second slide features a photo of Michele Kumi Baer speaking into a skinny microphone during ABQ's Dance Connect conference. She is wearing a gray cardigan, a black shirt, and using her hands while speaking.]

Meet the Round 3 DFA Artist Fellows! Today we’re celebrating Kwikstep aka DJ KS 360 (he/him). Hip-Hop Dancer/Choreographer/Actor/DJ/Artistic Director/Events Producer Gabriel “KWIKSTEP” Dionisio was born and raised in New York City. By 1992 he had received a Bessie award for collective choreography with the Rhythm Technicians and founded the internationally recognized Full Circle. In 1996 Kwikstep and his wife Rokafella established Full Circle as a non-profit and internationally acclaimed Hip-hop collective known as Full Circle Productions aka Full Circle Souljahs (@fullcirclesouljahs ). Kwikstep is an international icon in breaking and is best known for his smooth style, versatility and signature head spins. As a sought-after teacher and mentor, Kwikstep teaches Hip-Hop technique along with the history and meaning behind Hip Hop as a culture. He has judged multiple @redbull dance events as well as The Battle of the Year in Germany. Stateside, Kwikstep provides options to at-risk teens of today who, like Kwikstep, survive through the challenges of street life. Kwikstep saw the decline of the NYC club scene and in 2009, he began Behind The Groove (@behindthegroovenyc ), an open music dance party for the underground street and club dance community to connect and flourish. For 15+ years with Behind The Groove, Kwikstep has put bodies in motion. Recently the gathering has offered nourishing food to further support the community. DJ KS-360 has spun at popular events and NYC hot spots such as @lprnyc , @deluxxfluxxnyc , @houseofyesnyc , @danceislifenyc , The MainStage in Central Park for @summerstage , @guggenheim , and the Times Square Edition in collaboration with @danspaceproject and @timessquarenyc . Learn more about Kwikstep at @djks360 . Meet all the Round 3 DFA Fellows at the link in bio. Supported by @dorisdukefdn . Image descriptions in the comments. #DanceUSA #DFAFellowships #SocialChangeThroughDance #MovementArtists #DorisDukeFoundation⁠

📣 Join us for an online, artist-led conversation on DeafDisabled leadership as a model for well-being in dance with @thegreatdancerah , @beamfred , @uniquethedeafdancer , and @deafenpointe ! ⁠ ⁠ 📆 Monday, May 18 | 8:00 – 9:00 PM EDT⁠ 💻 Online Event⁠ 💲 FREE and Open to the Public⁠ ⁠ @thegreatdancerah and panelists will lead "Deaf/Disabled Access as Artistic Practice: DeafDisabled Leadership and Well-Being in Dance," as part of our Centering the Artist series, exploring how access can function as artistic methodology and sustainability practice.⁠ ⁠ Learn more and save your spot at @danceusaorg ! 🔗⁠ ⁠ (Thank you to the @wallacefdn for their partnership in presenting this series in 2026. 🙏)⁠ ⁠ #CenteringTheArtist #DanceWellness #DeafDisabledLeadership #AccessibleArts #DanceUSA⁠ ⁠ [Media Description: A carousel of 4 beige graphics with Dance/USA logos and stylized design, including blue text and blue circles that contain essential information regarding the upcoming "Deaf/Disabled Access as Artistic Practice: DeafDisabled Leadership and Well-Being in Dance" event.]

📣 @danceusaorg Artist Fellows in the news! ⁠ ⁠ Three of our Round Three Dance/USA Artist Fellows were interviewed for @stanceondance :⁠ ⁠ 👉 @umi_iman_movement discusses how home became a central part of her practice, and how the community org she co-founded, @sequoiaascension , creates space for other Afro-Indigenous dance artists to learn about their culture.⁠ ⁠ 👉 @justquynn discusses how sand dancing has become a central part of her practice, how she approaches teaching literacy and math through tap dance. ⁠ ⁠ 👉 @ani_malayaworks discusses AniMalayaWorks, an ongoing collaboration with their daughter, malaya_ulan, as well as how their work bridges the Pilipinx diasporic experience.⁠ ⁠ There's so much more in each of these rich conversations. ⁠ ⁠ Read them in full at the link in bio! 🔗⁠ ⁠ 📸 courtesy of @stanceondance ; from left to right in slide 1: Umi IMAN by Paige Mitchell, Quynn Johnson by Jonathan Hsu, and Ani / Anito Gavino by Rachel Keane // #DanceUSA #DFAFellowships #DanceArtists #SocialChangeThroughDance #StanceOnDance⁠ ⁠ [Media Description: A carousel of 4 graphics with a blue and green background with white lines and blue dots decorating the top right and bottom left edges, and white text. On the first slide are 3 photos of the featured artist fellows with white text underneath them, and the following slides are individual quotes from the featured artists.]

📣 @danceusaorg is proud to launch the Forward Stance: Engaging the Field tour—a virtual series inviting Dance/USA members and the broader dance field to connect directly with our new Executive Director, @michelekumibaer ! Through open dialogue and collective reflection, the tour aims to foster deeper engagement, surface shared priorities, and give life to the path ahead. Some sessions below are for members only, while others are open to all. Join us for our first session on May 19, and find details about future sessions @danceusaorg ! 👇 ⏩ Forward Stance: Engaging the Field 📆 Tuesday, May 19 ⏰ 2 - 3:30pm EST 👉 For Artistic and Executive Directors of Dance Companies with budgets larger than $3 million Sign up at the link in bio! 🔗 🎥 @danceusaorg Executive Director, @michelekumibaer // #DanceUSA #DanceLeadership #ArtsAdministration #DanceCommunity #PerformingArts [Media Description: A 55-second reel of Michele Kumi Baer speaking to the camera in a selfie video. She is wearing a textured gray t-shirt with a small microphone attached to the top of it. She is in a room with teal walls and a large tan fan hanging in the background. There is white text in a blue textbox that reads, “Dance Professionals, Join Us!” that appears for 6 seconds before disappearing. Below the text is black text in a white textbox that contains the closed captioning.]

For months, our dear dance field has been mourning the loss of artist, educator, and leader Toni Pierce-Sands, who has had an indelible impact on the dance ecosystem, both nationally and internationally.⁠ ⁠ Last weekend, @michelekumibaer ​joined former Dance/USA Board Chair and @tudance Executive Director @abdosay22 to gather with family, friends, colleagues, and community members from near and far in Toni's home of St. Paul, MN to honor her legacy and celebrate her life's work and impact. ⁠ ⁠ @tudance hosted two evenings of performances, tributes, archival footage, and a gallery of iconic photographs of Toni at the O'Shaughnessy. ⁠ ⁠ The event was moving, powerful, and poetic—a testament to the leadership that Toni embodied everywhere she went. ❤️⁠ ⁠ Toni's legacy lives on at Dance/USA in many ways, and most recently, through our Advocacy efforts. Director of Government Affairs @ujimacultural drew on ongoing conversations with Toni—about how dancers understand power, care for themselves and one another, and navigate institutions with both discernment and courage—in the creation of multiple advocacy resources, including our Dance Advocacy Toolkit. ⁠ ⁠ We've included a tribute to Toni inside the toolkit in honor of her insights and generosity.⁠ ⁠ #ToniPierceSands #DanceLegacy #DanceCommunity #TUDance #HonoringArtists⁠ ⁠ [Media Description: A carousel of two photos. Slide 1: A framed photograph of Toni teaching students at the TU Dance School, adorned with a lei of primarily white flowers, sits in the lobby of the O’Shaughnessy in honor of her legacy. Slide 2: A moment captured from the O’Shaughnessy theater as archival footage of Toni dancing over the years played to a full house. Illustrated is Toni performing the iconic Ailey work, Cry; arms stretching overhead and chest open, Toni embodies the beauty and power of this solo originated by the late Judith Jamison.]

Meet the Round 3 DFA Artist Fellows! Today we’re celebrating Gesel R. Mason (she/her).

Gesel R. Mason is a choreographer, performer, educator, and artist scholar who believes in the power of art to cultivate compassion, inspire dialogue, and ignite social transformation. She is Artistic Director of Gesel Mason Performance Projects and Professor of Dance at the University of Texas at Austin (@utaustintx ). Mason’s work spans performance, scholarship, and archiving, engaging dance as a means to question assumptions, challenge systems of inequity, and reimagine possibilities for connection and care. Committed to supporting and celebrating African American artists and communities, her current multi-year project, Yes, And, asks: “Who would you be, and what would you do, if as a Black woman you had nothing to worry about?” Supported by the National Performance Network (@npnarts ) and New England Foundation for the Arts (@nefa_1976 ), and Texas Performing Arts (@tpapresents ), the work premiered at @danceplacedc (Washington, DC) and @fuseboxlive (Austin, TX), and continues to evolve with communities across the U.S. and the Caribbean. A 2019 @rauschenbergfoundation Artist-in-Residence and 2026 @creative_capital State of the Art Prize winner for Texas, Mason’s choreography has been presented at the John F. Kennedy Center, @amerdancefest , @batesdancefestival , @jacobspillow , and at museums and cultural centers across the United States. Learn more about Gesel at @geselm .

Meet all the Round 3 DFA Fellows at the link in bio. 🔗

Supported by @dorisdukefdn . Image descriptions in the comments. #DanceUSA #DFAFellowships #SocialChangeThroughDance #MovementArtists #DorisDukeFoundation⁠

📣 Join us for an artist-led conversation on sustainable Black dance futures with @kevinleeygreen ! ⁠ ⁠ 📆 Thursday, May 7 | 1:00 – 2:00 PM EDT⁠ 💻 Online Event⁠ 💲 FREE and Open to the Public⁠ ⁠ @kevinleeygreen will lead "Weathering the Body: Cultural Memory, Burnout, and Building Sustainable Black Dance Futures," as part of our Centering the Artist series, inviting fellow independent artists into an inquiry around well-being as resistance, and questions including: ⁠ ⁠ 👉 What does it mean to create dance as an act of cultural survival? ⁠ 👉 And how do artists sustain themselves while holding history, trauma, community expectation, and institutional precarity in their bodies?⁠ ⁠ Learn more and save your spot at @danceusaorg ! 🔗⁠ ⁠ (Thank you to the @wallacefdn for their partnership in presenting this series in 2026. 🙏)⁠ ⁠ #CenteringTheArtist #DanceWellBeing #ArtsInCommunity #DanceUSA #ArtistSupport⁠ ⁠ [Media Description: A carousel of 4 beige graphics with Dance/USA logos and stylized design, including blue text and blue circles that contain essential information regarding the upcoming "Weathering the Body: Cultural Memory, Burnout, and Building Sustainable Black Dance Futures" event.]

📣 Dance/USA members get access to peer networks like the Inaugural Dance/USA LGBTQ+ Network, co-chaired by DeMarcus Akeem Suggs (@demarcusakeem )!⁠ ⁠ This network exists to increase visibility and provide space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer + arts administrators, choreographers, dancers, and multidisciplinary artists to discuss issues in the field and the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ people. This network is open to LGBTQ+ people and allies, regardless of role or membership type.⁠ ⁠ As Co-Chair, DeMarcus serves as an ambassador and liaison between the LGBTQ+ Network, his organization, and Dance/USA, working collaboratively as a peer leader to keep Dance/USA connected to what's happening across the field.⁠ ⁠ Ready to connect with LGBTQ+ artists and administrators nationwide? ⁠ ⁠ Become a Dance/USA member and join the network at the link in bio! 🔗⁠ ⁠ Learn more about DeMarcus:⁠ ⁠ DeMarcus Akeem Suggs is a dance artist, cultural strategist, and creative entrepreneur serving as the inaugural Director of Creative and Cultural Economy for the City of Memphis. Passionate about building a vibrant, equitable, artist-driven arts sector, Suggs is the Founder & Framework Culturist of @kuumbuntu , LLC, and has held roles with @midamericaartsalliance , @alternateroots ,@nccakron , @daytonlive365 , and @neosdancetheatre . An alumnus of @belhavenu , @uakron , @theequityalliance , Dance/USA Leadership Institute, and the Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellowship, he proudly serves on NCCAkron’s board.

📣 @danceusaorg Artist Fellows in the news! ⁠ ⁠ @bronxtimes featured three Fellows from the Bronx:⁠ ⁠ 👉 @kayla_hamilton903 , founder of @circleo_org , an organization dedicated to Black disabled artists⁠ 👉 @djks360 (Gabriel Dionisio), a DJ, hip-hop dancer and choreographer ⁠ 👉 Arthur Avilés, co-founder of the @baadbronx ⁠ ⁠ 🗣️ "As part of the Dance/USA cohort, the opportunity to learn from other longtime Bronx artists has been invaluable, [Hamilton] said. 'To be alongside them in this award does something to my heart and spirit. When I’m like, oh, can I keep going? Look at Arthur and Kwikstep. And yeah, you can, girl!'"⁠ ⁠ Read more of this article by @em_and_magpipe at @danceusaorg ! 🔗⁠ ⁠ 📸 Screenshots courtesy of @bronxtimes // #DanceUSA #DFAFellowships #DanceArtists #SocialChangeThroughDance #BronxTimes⁠ ⁠ [Media Description: A carousel of 4 graphics with a blue and green background with white lines and blue dots decorating the top right and bottom left edges. In the middle of the graphic is white text that reads, "DFA Artist Fellows In the News!" in all caps. There is a screenshot of the Bronx Times article with the three artists and a Bronx Times logo below it, and a white arrow. The next slides are all individual screenshots of the 3 artists with a quote and captioning.]