Arts Directory

About

Dance Matters is composed of the Artistic Director, Erin Leigh, and five performers whose background in dance education and expertise in a variety of dance styles provide rich movement experiences for students of all ages. Leigh has an MFA in Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She currently teaches dance at the College of Charleston and is a teaching artist with Engaging Creative Minds in Charleston, SC where she frequently teaches dance integrated residencies in the Charleston County School District. Leigh is former dancer and teaching artist with the Dance Theater Collective, an Ohio contemporary dance company, and her work has been presented at the College of Charleston as well as several other venues including Food for Thought (Cleveland, OH), the University of Southern Mississippi, the Alabama Dance Festival, Awakening: Motion (Charleston, SC), Free Verse: Charleston Poetry Festival, and the Sound and Music Computing Conference (Limassol, Cyprus). As a contemporary dancer, her expertise is in Bartenieff Fundamentals, release techniques, and contact improvisation. Her teaching credits include Coker College, the University of Southern Mississippi, the Governor’s School of Virginia, the American College Dance Festival, the Charleston County School of the Arts, the Savanah School of the Arts and several studios, community centers, and programs. In addition, Leigh has over 20 years’ experience teaching dance integrated units and teacher workshops in a variety of schools, colleges, and conferences including the Franciscan University of Steubenville, the Hershey Montessori Farm School, Young Audiences of Greater Cleveland, the Creative Teaching in the Arts Institute at the College of Charleston, Engaging Creative Minds, the Palmetto State Arts Education, Charleston Gaillard Center, and the South Carolina Dance Association.
Dance Matters is a member of the Engaging Creative Minds and City of North Charleston artist rosters. Company dancers regularly teach, perform, and choreograph throughout the Charleston area and are facile in a range of dance forms including modern/contemporary, ballet, musical theater, jazz, hip-hop and ballroom. Dance Matters residencies can be tailored to meet any type of mover or learning experience in ways that are engaging, physically dynamic, and joyful.