Photo: Alan Vincent
Biography
Danielle Lydia Sheather, Canadian born dancer, choreographer, artist, and educator, considers herself a life-long learner and an arts advocate. Her professional training includes Bates Dance Festival, the Katherine Dunham Educators Workshop, Paul Taylor Winter Intensive, Limón Spring Studies Program, Horton Pedagogy Workshop, Centre National de la Danse in Pantin France, Off Jazz Stage d'été in Nice France, and One Body One Career Countertechnique Intensive in Melbourne Australia. She has performed both nationally and internationally in various settings from commercial to concert dance on both television and stage including national commercials for Busch Gardens Williamsburg and the International Dance Festival at the Duke on Broadway.
Photos: Ed Flores
Her choreographic works are an artistic expression of human consciousness through the medium of physical exploration and she has enjoyed successful collaborations with other artists including harpist Rachel Knight and visual artist Ruben Ramirez. Danielle's choreography has been showcased at various venues and festivals including Baryshnikov Arts Center (NYC), WAXworks at Triskelion Arts (NYC), WHITE WAVE DUMBO Dance Festival at the Gelsey Kirkland ArtsCenter (NYC), Dixon Place (NYC), Stevie Eller Dance Theater (Tucson, AZ), McGinnis Theater (Greenville, NC), The Capitol Theatre (Salt Lake City, UT), The Randall L. Jones Theatre (Cedar City, UT), The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre (Cedar City, UT), and Le Regard du Cygne (Paris, France).
She has also been commissioned to create works for Zodiaque Dance Company and Zodiaque Dance Ensemble, Flatlands Dance Theatre (Lubbock, TX), and Verve Dance Company (Glendale, AZ). Danielle's work NEVER, the less was selected to participate in the 2022 Inaside Chicago Dance Choreography Competition. In February 2024, her work, I Knew a Man was showcased at WHITE WAVE presents the SoloDuo Dance Festival at Dixon Place in New York City.
Ofliminal Noise
Choreography: Danielle Lydia Sheather
Dancer: Lauren Cheree
Photography: Asher Swan
As scholar, Danielle is interested in exploring the neuromuscular/psychosomatic connections that exist between the mind and body in order to develop sound anatomical alignment, injury risk reduction techniques, and longevity in the career. She has previously participated in the Dance Science and Somatics Conference in Buffalo, NY with a round table discussion on the integration of somatic practices employed in the ballet classes optimizing functional turnout.
In addition, Danielle along with Dr. James D. Walters co-hosts the podcast, The Dance UP! Shining the light on cultural competency between dance and healthcare for better communication and care.
With respect to Dance History, she is firmly interested in refuting the ahistorical narratives that have been utilized to uphold power dynamics within the field and helps students identify dance as a cultural practice regardless of the genre they are studying. Most recently she partnered with the New York Public Library Jerome Robins Dance Division and the Topaz Museum in Delta, UT. Her scholarship has been sought out by honors student Charlotte Bariteau at Western Kentucky University and she was interviewed for NDEO’s Behind the Curtain Blog for Shannon Dooling-Cain’s What is Jazz Dance? entry alongside Associate Professor Amy Vankirk from Radford University and Pat Taylor of Jazz Antiqua Dance and Music Ensemble.
She is also keenly aware that preparation for the field is key and has contributed her own post to NDEO’s Behind the Curtain Blog, You Major in Dance? That Must be Fun: Advocating for Financial Literacy in College the Dance Curriculum.
She is currently serving as Assistant Professor at Southern Utah University. She developed and wrote the curriculum for the progressive jazz dance track in order to represent a more equitable education allowing the study of jazz dance to now be on par with both ballet and modern dance training. It continues to be the first program of its kind in the state of Utah where the study of jazz dance at multiple levels is now a required curricular component to earn an undergraduate BA or BS degree in both the Dance and Dance Education track. She has been awarded the SUU Distinguished Scholarly/Creative Activity Award, three Curriculum Innovation Grants two in the area of Undergraduate Research and one in the area of Diversity & Global Learning, and was nominated for Professor of the Year in 2021. She enjoys teaching master classes for Dance Masters of America's Teachers Training School, the Student Honors Intensive Program, and DMA Nationals in Anaheim, California. She has also taught for the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program in Cedar City, UT and serves as the Development Manager for INTANGIBLE ROOTS owned by Professor E. Moncell Durden.
Photos: Carl Modica
Danielle has previously served as Clinical Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo, Guest Artist and Instructor at East Carolina University and is an ABT® Certified Teacher in Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She is also a certified Yoga Instructor (RYT 500hr, ERYT 200hr) and has taught for Dharma Yoga, New York Yoga, Sonic Yoga all located in NYC. Congruent with her desires to pursue life long learning, Danielle has also completed the Dance Education Lab Facilitator in Training Program and the Dance Education Lab Teacher Certificate Program. Additionally, she has completed teacher workshops with Progressing Ballet Technique Teacher Training.
Photos: Marc Farrior
Booking Inquires
Interested in booking Danielle for a teaching engagement or choreography?