Creating in Jazz | Program Director
July 21 – July 27
Bessie Award winner and New York Times critically acclaimed Breakout Star of 2021, LaTasha Barnes is a multi-hyphenate Tradition-bearer of Black American Social Dance from Richmond, VA. A dynamic educator, performer, and choreographer, Barnes is globally celebrated for her musicality, athleticism, and infectiously joyful presence throughout the cultural traditions she bears: House, Hip Hop, Waacking, Authentic Jazz, and Lindy Hop, among them. Her expansive artistic, competitive, and performative skills have made her a frequent collaborator to Dorrance Dance, Timbre Arts Group (Singapore), Ephrat Asherie Dance, and many more. Her leadership and business acumen have placed her in positions of service as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Ladies of Hip-Hop FestivalⓇ, Vice President of Marketing & Outreach for the International Lindy Hop ChampionshipⓇ, Co-Director of the Black Lindy Hoppers Fund and HellaBlackLindyHop Performance Troupe, Board Member of the Frankie Manning Foundation, and a contributing member to the NEFER Global Movement Collective.
Expanding the scope of impact for the communities she serves, LaTasha completed her self-designed Master’s Degree in Ethnochoreology, Black Studies, and Performance Studies at New York University Gallatin School in 2019. Her thesis and continuing dance research are working to bridge the gap between communities of practice and academic cultural dance research, performance, preservation, and pedagogy, as well as expand the reach of dance as a healing tool for US military veterans like herself. In concert with these efforts, she is deeply honored to be a part of the Brain Trust developing the ground-breaking stage production SW!NGOUT, bringing the passion and power of Lindy Hop and its community to the concert stage. She is honored to be the visionary and Artistic Director of the intergenerational and intercommunal cultural arts experience, The Jazz Continuum, supported by Guggenheim Works & Process and Jacob’s Pillow in 2021. This two time Bessie Award winning exploration has recently been presented by the Joyce Theater (2022), Celebrity Series Boston (2023), Bates Dance Festival (2023), and was awarded a NEFA National Dance Project Grant. In support of the dialogue surrounding cultural art forms, LaTasha is a contributing author to the 2022 National Dance Education Organization Ruth Lovell Murray Book Award winning text Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century (2021). Ensuring future artists and dance scholars maintain authentic cultural context as they move through the world bearing forth Black dance traditions, LaTasha is honored to serve on the faculty of Arizona State University School of Music, Dance & Theater as Assistant Professor of Dance.
Across all her efforts, LaTasha’s eternal purpose is to inspire fellow artists and arts enthusiasts to champion æffective artivism through cultivating an authentic sense of self and intention in their creative expressions and daily lives.
Click here to view all artist faculty.