“I am what we are together, I am not here to stay; I may weep, and gnash my teeth, and wring my hands but I am gone, forever in process.” This amalgam of words which come from the principle of Ubuntu and from the mind of Maya Angelou, form the basis of Quentin’s dance praxis: collaboration, liminality, virtuosity, and ephemerality.
QUENTIN WILLIAM SLEDGE
DANCE
QUENTIN WILLIAM SLEDGE
DANCE
“I am what we are together, I am not here to stay; I may weep, and gnash my teeth, and wring my hands but I am gone, forever in process.” This amalgam of words which come from the principle of Ubuntu and from the mind of Maya Angelou, form the basis of Quentin’s dance praxis: collaboration, liminality, virtuosity, and ephemerality.
QUENTIN
SLEDGE
A professional dancer from Chicago, Illinois, Quentin began his training in 2009 under the watchful eye of Mr. Homer Hans Bryant who danced with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. In 2014 he began dancing commercially in Atlanta with Daryl Foster, Cici Kelley, Juel Lane and Stephan Wilson all while training at Gotta Dance Atlanta. After a year of intense training he joined the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) in 2014.
He has performed at the Joyce Theatre, the David H. Koch stage in New York City’s Lincoln Center and also the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia.
Mr. Sledge was a featured soloist in the 2016 revival of Donald McKayle's "Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" which was awarded a Bessie for Most Outstanding Revival of a Modern Classic.
DANCE REEL
TEACHERS + MENTORS
Quentin has been fortunate to study with a host of master teachers, such as Julie Nakagawa, Jodie Gates, Drew Jacoby, Nan Giordano, Anna Marie Forsythe, Ebony Williams, Stafford C. Berry,Yin Yue, Brian Friedman, Crystal Perkins, Baye and Asa, Andrea Miller, Crystal Glass, Kevin Iega Jeff, and Daniel Roberts. His mentor is Dr. Thomas Talawa, founder of the Talawa Technique.
CHOREOGRAPHY + CREATING
Quentin has worked with notable choreographers such as Mr. Donald McKayle, Francesca Harper, Donald Byrd, Ray Mercer, Ron K. Brown, Juliano Nunes, Ohad Naharan, Rennie Harris, Alice Clock and Florian Locker, James Vu An Pham, Ethan Colangelo, Ella Rothschild, and Tom Weinburger. He has also had the privilege of performing iconic modern works such as Rainbow Round my Shoulder, Esplanade, and The Stack Up.
EXPERIENCE + EDUCATION
Quentin is a recipient of three Montgomery County arts grants for outstanding choreography, and is a resident choreographer for the Dayton Dance Initiative. He is a certified teacher of the Lester Horton modern dance technique and the Talawa African and Caribbean peoples dance technique. By combining his modern and African background with contemporary improv practices he choreographed using a method he calls DoubleAI or African American Improv.
CHOREOGRAPHY REEL
