Featuring Jendaya Dash

THE ARTIST.

Jendaya Dash was born and raised in Queens, NY where she began her dance training at the age of 12 at an after school program called “The Me Nobody Knows” with Daryl Richardson. She then went on to continue dancing in high school at Benjamin N. Cardozo where she met Carolyn Devore. 

Soon after meeting Ms. Devore, Jendaya enrolled in Devore Dance Center and was introduced to Obediah Wright who taught her traditional modern techniques and Teresa Aubel who taught her ballet.  After graduating high school Jendaya worked as an Apprentice Dancer with Balance Dance Theater for a year while attending LaGuardia Community College. Once she finished her first two years at Laguardia CC she then transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in the fall of 2012.

While attending Sarah Lawrence, Jendaya mainly focused on dance, anthropology, and Africana studies. She studied with dance professors such as Barbara Forbes, Nina Goldman, Sarah Rudner, Emily Divine and Rose-Ann Thom as well as poetry/literature with professors such as Rachel Eliza and Alwin Jones.

Shortly after graduating from Sarah Lawrence, Jendaya joined the Rod Rodgers Dance Company as an apprentice dancer under the Artistic Direction of Kim Grier-Martinez and became a full company member in 2015. During that time Ms. Kim took Jendaya under her wing as her mentor and hired Jendaya to work alongside her as an assistant teaching artist. Jendaya continues to dance with RRDC and has been a soloist in the company since 2016.

When Jendaya isn’t rehearsing with Rod Rodgers, she works as a freelance dancer on jobs ranging from experimental performance art, to jobs that require traditional modern/contemporary styles. She has worked with various choreographers such as Nathan Trice, Stephen Agisilaou of Vertical Lines, and Mee Jung of iKada Contemporary Dance Company, to name a few. She’s also worked for fashion brands as a model/dancer for Totokaelo x Issey Miyake, Puma x JahnKoy, and Pharrell x Adidas. Jendaya has also appeared in music videos for Roxiny, Dana Levinson (“Falling”), DEC3 (“Put Some South in Your Mouth”), Mazzi & S.O.U.L. Purpose (“Here Come The Girls”), Kashaka (“Shabbas Gospel”). 

In addition to her performance career, Jendaya also works as a dance instructor for the Rod Rodgers Youth Program, a freelance photographer, and an emerging choreographer. She has choreographed 2 original ballets thus far (“Dimensions Within” and “The Gathering”), along with various independent music videos and short dance films.

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