Charmaine Warren

About Charmaine

I am a performer, historian, consultant and dance writer. I began the online series “Black Dance Stories” in June 2020 as a platform for Black dance creatives during the Covid pandemic, but it has been my charge to support Black dance creatives for years. I am the founder/producer and artistic director for “Dance on the Lawn:” Montclair’s Dance Festival which ran for 10 years, a co-curator for Harlem Stage’s dance series, EMoves for 11 years, and the lead curator for Dance @ Wassaic Project Festival for more than nine years. In 2019 I became the Producer of DanceAfrica at BAM.

After performing for many years with major New York dance companies, I joined the internationally known, New York-based, dance/theater company david rousseve/REALITY in 1989 – 2000. I received a 2017 Bessie Award Recipient for “Outstanding Performance” as a member of Skeleton Architecture Collective. I was the recipient of the 2021 “Angel Awardee.” I currently perform with Jasmine Hearn.

I write on dance for The New York Amsterdam News, and over the years The New York Times, Dance Magazine and other print media. I have been published in the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History, Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAM: The Complete Works, Steven Serafin, editor., and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Playbill. My most recent article was for The Kennedy Center’s CENTER Magazine – “The Nutcracker Remix/es.”

I am a former faculty member at Hunter College, The Ailey School and the Alvin Ailey/Fordham University dance major program, Sarah Lawrence College, Kean University, Duke University and Howard University. I hold a Ph.D. in History from Howard University, a Master’s Degree in Dance Research, Reconstruction and Choreography from CUNY, and Bachelor’s Degrees: Speech & Theatre/Dance; and English from Montclair State College.

I was a member of the New York Dance and Performance Awards Committee (BESSIES) for more than ten years, and also a member of the Steering Committee for four years.