Associate Professor Keith Saunders from the School of Classical & Contemporary Dance at TCU will be giving a presentation talk as part of the 2023 WVU Summer Dance Academy titled: Arthur Mitchell and the Dance Theatre of Harlem: Ballet, Inclusivity, & Social Change through the Arts.

Professor Saunders has practiced the art and science of ballet as a performing artist, teacher, rehearsal director, repetiteur, coach, company director, director of education programs, lecturer, adjudicator, and consultant over a 49-year professional career. A long-time dancer and ballet master with Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) under the direction of Arthur Mitchell, he has taught all levels of ballet while serving on the faculties of the DTH School, the BalletMet Dance Academy, the New Ballet School (Ballet Tech), Steps NYC, the 92nd St. Y, the University of Wyoming (Guest Artist-in-Residence), and the Snowy Range Dance Festival. He has choreographed works at the student, university, and professional levels, and taught innumerable workshops and master classes in studios, schools, colleges, and universities across the United States and abroad. In 2017, Saunders earned an MFA in Dance from Hollins University of Roanoke, VA. He joined the faculty of the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University in 2018.