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Imani English

Bio

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.  

Instagram

It’s #tilttuesday ! “To be yourself in a world It’s #tilttuesday ! “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Reflecting back on the incredible memories and har Reflecting back on the incredible memories and hard work of our amazing artists from Starbound last weekend and excited to see them all shine on the stage again this weekend at Energy!
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#dance #dancers #dancestudio #dancing #dancersofinstagram #dancecompetition #hardwork
Some of our Chicago City Classical Ballet dancers Some of our Chicago City Classical Ballet dancers attended and had a great time @universalballetcompetition a couple of weeks ago. It was our first year attending and WOW!  The talent was incredible and the classes were so fun and enlightening.  Highlights include Bianca, Lincoln & Ava placing in the overalls and Fiona, Bianca & Lincoln receiving multiple scholarships including a full scholarship to The Rock School summer program for Mr. Lincoln! Congratulations, dancers!!
Congratulations to our dancers who attended @artis Congratulations to our dancers who attended @artistssimplyhuman this past weekend!  Incredible and confident performances, lots of fun and inspiration in classes and all of you scholarship finalists!  We are so proud of you!
Some highlights include Technical excellence to @meli.lawler for her solo “Persist” choreographed by @hannaelisabeth , outstanding choreography to @_nicole_noe for her solo “In My Time” choreographed by @itsrickyroo AND  @shayna.sharpe_ , @emgov.8 & @_nicole_noe becoming ASH apprentices!  Also love spending time with Extensionite @sasha.zitser who is traveling as part of the ASH company this year!  Thank you for an amazing weekend @artistssimplyhuman !!! ❤️⭐️
Until next time @nycda ❤️ Some highlights from Until next time @nycda ❤️ Some highlights from our weekend included Mini critics choice: “Alloy” by Lizzie Mackenzie, Teen Critics choice and the highest score of the weekend (.5 from a perfect score at 299.5!!!!). “The Healer” by Lizzie Mackenzie & Jackie Nowicki and Senior critics choice “Finding Your Light” by Imani English.  So many overalls and scholarships to boot and we are so PROUD of our company dancers.  Let’s keep it going, we’re just beginning 💪🏼🔥.
It’s been 2 weeks since NYCDA. We are still fly It’s been 2 weeks since NYCDA.  We are still flying high from the experience and we have been enjoying the constructive and very thoughtful critiques from the competition. Thankyou @nycda!! Wishing our dancers good luck at @artistssimplyhuman and @universalballetcompetition this weekend!  Here are some great shots by @evolvephotovideo from our performances at NYCDA ❤️
1 dance, 1 dance & media, 1 design & architecture, 1 dance, 1 dance & media, 1 design & architecture, 1 kinesiology &  dance and 1 nursing…. Who’s who and where will they land?! Comment below!
Let your light shine for the world to see! ✨✨. Let your light shine for the world to see! ✨✨. Happy Saturday, friends and fam…Vibes are 🙌🏻🙌🏻
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