A native of Madison, WI, Imani credits her early training to her mother, Karen Smith-English, and the Madison Professional Dance Center’s performing company. She has received scholarships from The Wisconsin Dance Council, The Anthony Quinn Foundation, Dance Chicago, and was also awarded the Rahm Emmanuel Scholarship to attend intensive programs at River North Dance Chicago. Ms. English is a 2014 graduate and Valedictorian of the Chicago High School for the Arts. There, she performed repertoire from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Muntu Dance Theater, the Joffrey Ballet, and performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Memoria. Upon graduation from ChiArts, Imani joined DanceWorks Chicago in 2014 and in 2016 joined Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s DBDT: Encore! where she spent two seasons. During that time, she also performed with the Dallas Opera in Samson & Dalila and most recently with the Tony Award winning Dallas Theater Center in their production of the Broadway musical Hairspray. Throughout her career, Imani has performed works by renowned choreographers such as Harrison McEldowney, Kristofer Storey, Demis Volpi, Christopher Huggins, Jennifer Archibald, Tahehiro Ueyama, among others. Ms. English and has been on the faculty of the Dallas Black Dance Academy, The Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, Steps Dance Center, and The Madison Professional Dance Center. She has also taught for prestigious summer intensives in the Chicago area including The River North Chicago summer program, “Made In Chicago” Dance Intensive presented by The Auditorium Theater, DanceWorks Chicago’s Dance360 program, and the Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Summer Intensive. Imani has been a ballet instructor at The Chicago High School for the Arts for the past two years and a modern instructor for Visceral Dancer Center’s youth and adult programs since July of 2020. Most recently, Imani humbly joined the faculty of Extensions Dance Center.