About the Artist
danah bella is an award-winning choreographer and dance filmmaker who has performed and presented her work throughout the country and internationally. She is the artistic director of d a n a h b e l l a DanceWorks, a modern dance company focused on reclaiming evocative movement as social practice, a founding member of Colectivo Caliban, an artist collective that transgresses disciplinary borders through sound and movement, and currently serves as the founding chair of the BFA Dance program at Peabody Conservatory. Since its launch in 2018, bella has led the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance program with an intentional focus on interdisciplinary studies, social justice, and a wide variety of movement, performance, and choreography opportunities for every student. She has worked in higher education since 2002, teaching modern dance practice, Functional Awareness® Movement practice, and dance theory. bella has received many accolades for her arts and education work, including most recently the Baltimore Sun‘s 25 Women to Watch (2018), Maryland State Dance Educator of the Year Postsecondary Education (2021), and Musical America‘s Top 30 Professionals of the Year (2022). She holds an MFA in performance from the Ohio State University and a BA in Dance from the University of California in Santa Barbara.
