Five Questions with Knicks City Dancer Dana
Knicks City Dancer Dana began her dance training at age two with her first performance coming just one year later. She danced for most of her life at the world renowned Broadway Dance Center in Manhattan New York.
At Lehigh University she continued to dance, becoming the university Dance Team’s choreographer the very first semester of her freshman year. She was Team Captain for three years and the team won a gold medal along with best hip hop and best precision at NYCDA with her original Choreography.
After graduating with a BA in Behavioral Neuroscience, Dana began purusing a dance career full-time. She’s been an instructor for twelve years and have taught all ages and levels in hip hop, street Jazz, modern and ballet. She’s taught for Triple Essence Dance Studio (Brooklyn), Ronnie Clifford School of Dance (Bethlehem, PA), Elite Dancentre (Rockville Centre, NY), Oceaside Dance Conservatory (Oceanside, NY), Rider University, NYU, and the NJ Emerald’s Semi-pro team.
1. Behavioral Neuroscience is not a major most folks would associate with Dance. Why did you choose it?
I wanted to take advantage of a unique program that Lehigh offered. Originally, I had intended on studying biology and I took neuroscience as an elective. I ended up being really good at it and finding it fascinating so I decided to stick with it. I chose not to study dance because I wanted to have a safety net outside of the entertainment industry. You never know what life has in store and god forbid I ever get injured I wanted a reliable degree to fall back on.
2. You’ve had a chance to travel the world, what are some of the more memorable places you’ve danced?
I would have to say that of all the places I have danced that performing at Madison Square Garden, in my hometown New York, has been the most memorable. I am a New Yorker born and bred so it was the ultimate rush to get out there in front of all those fans and represent this great city. I love to travel and I have been blessed enough to travel around the world to some truly beautiful places. I have loved every place I have been and performed but there’s no place like home.
3. What sort of organizations or dance teams could benefit from having you as a Guest Choreographer?
I do a lot of choreography for studios, university dance teams, competitions, semi-pro teams, pro-teams and dance conventions. I think I could work with any type of team or organization and make the experience beneficial. My choreography is completely original and ranges in style from hip hop to street jazz and everything in between. I have been a choreographer for a long time and teaching is something I love to do and as a choreographer I am a chameleon. So, I find that I can do great work for any dancers at any age or skill level because I adapt well to the needs of any organization. No matter what people that work with me are guaranteed to have a lot of fun.
4. What do you enjoy most about teaching/choreographing?
The thing I enjoy most about choreographing is watching other dancers have fun doing my work and performing my piece. I love when people love what they are dancing because that comes through in their performance. It’s always amazing to watch something that starts as a few ideas come to life on a team or a group. It’s cool too because a lot of the time when I am teaching I learn so much by seeing how my students and other dancers use the material they are given. I am always really inspired by the people I work with.
5. What have you got planned next? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Right now I am doing a lot of big choreography jobs. I will be going on a countrywide tour beginning at the end of March in Baltimore working with teams and organizations all over America that will conclude with a major convention in Tampa in the fall. I plan on taking each day as it comes and performing and teaching as much as possible. This is my life’s work and I always feel blessed by every new opportunity. I plan to relocate to LA by the end of next year to try my luck on the west coast.
In five years I will have achieved some more of my bigger performance goals and danced at some more big venues. I would like to have opened a studio on the east coast and still be blessed enough to perform and teach every day.
