Stephanie Guiland

I have 38 years of onstage professional experience, primarily in NYC, 21 concurrently in fitness, and 30 working with middle and high-school-aged students and young children. My 30 years of teaching experience includes Dance Theater of Harlem's Dancing Through Barriers program, Disney’s Lion King Cub School, W.R.Arts/ Director for the Young Performers Company focusing on Middle School students, W.M.A.A.C. Middle School Initiative, NYC private and public school Arts and Education programs, and Adjunct Dance Professor at Long Island University in Brooklyn. NY, for ten years. I’ve continued working with children and youth in Seattle since relocating from NYC in November 2020. As a School Director, I enjoy working regularly with middle—and high-school-aged students. This opportunity exists in after-school programs, in-school residencies, and The School of Spectrum Dance Theater’s youth programming. I am an ACE-certified Personal Trainer with numerous certifications in fitness and dance. I joined The School of Spectrum Dance Theater as its School Director in January 2021, hoping to connect with and encourage inclusivity in our B.I.P.O.C. community. As a native New Yorker, I danced with the highly respected contemporary dance company Donald Byrd/ The Group for ten years. I am a founding member of Complexions Contemporary Dance Company. I explored musical theater on Broadway in Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple, where I was the Dance Captain and a Swing. My roles for the First National Touring Company of the same production included the above responsibilities and Associate Choreographer duty. I also performed for Disney’s Broadway Company of The Lion King. In addition, I worked in commercial dance with various music artists touring the USA and Europe. I’ve worked as Mr. Byrd's rehearsal director and assistant on numerous projects for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cincinnati Ballet, and Equity Workshops for The Color Purple and White Noise. The most recent Ailey ballet I worked on with Mr. Byrd premiered in 2019. The ballet Greenwood is about events during the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. Dedicated Education Administrator adept at working with teachers and educational professionals to improve lesson plans and curriculum. Well-versed in childhood education strategies.

• National Society of Arts and Letters, Ballet Competition, Second Place Award/ NYC 1988
• National Arts Recognition and Talent Search (Currently known as Young Arts) New York State Level II Award / 1989
• Presidential Scholar Nominee/ LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts
• Actors Equity Association joined in 2005
• Creator of KickMyAssets fitness and private dance coaching -Fitness with a main focus on cross-training for high-level dance utilizing traditional equipment as well as the TRX training systems and other methods of training

Please note that my interest in fitness peaked in 1994 after sustaining a potential career-ending ACL tear. After surgery and physical therapy, I was exposed to the need for cross-training and supplemental strengthening. Since then, I have become certified as an American Council on Exercise personal trainer and have managed six more work-related knee surgeries! Each recovery time would give me more information and a deeper understanding of the body and how it works biomechanically. I found joy in sharing this information with my peers upon returning to the stage each time and with various clients over the years. In 2015, I started up my own fitness company named KickMyAssets. It focuses on fitness, wellness, private dance coaching, and reintegration into dance after injury. As a mother of an active little girl and daughter of an equally feisty mother, I also find children's and senior fitness interesting. My latest interest is in how dance integrates with brain activity and how it affects neurodivergent people or those who may have suffered a brain injury. I am confident that dance benefits the brain at any stage of life. Keeping this in mind, my other goal is to encourage, nurture, help develop, and strengthen the B.I.P.O.C. dance and arts community in Seattle.

I have 38 years of onstage professional experience, primarily in NYC, 21 concurrently in fitness, and 30 working with middle and high-school-aged students and young children. My 30 years of teaching experience includes Dance Theater of Harlem's Dancing Through Barriers program, Disney’s Lion King Cub School, W.R.Arts/ Director for the Young Performers Company focusing on Middle School students, W.M.A.A.C. Middle School Initiative, NYC private and public school Arts and Education programs, and Adjunct Dance Professor at Long Island University in Brooklyn. NY, for ten years. I’ve continued working with children and youth in Seattle since relocating from NYC in November 2020.

As a School Director, I enjoy working regularly with middle—and high-school-aged students. This opportunity exists in after-school programs, in-school residencies, and The School of Spectrum Dance Theater’s youth programming. I am an ACE-certified Personal Trainer with numerous certifications in fitness and dance. I joined The School of Spectrum Dance Theater as its School Director in January 2021, hoping to connect with and encourage inclusivity in our B.I.P.O.C. and B.I.Y.O.C. community.

As a native New Yorker, I danced with the highly respected contemporary dance company Donald Byrd/ The Group for ten years. I am a founding member of Complexions Contemporary Dance Company. I explored musical theater on Broadway in Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple, where I was the Dance Captain and a Swing. My roles for the First National Touring Company of the same production included the above responsibilities and Associate Choreographer duty. I also performed for Disney’s Broadway Company of The Lion King. In addition, I worked in commercial dance with various music artists touring the USA and Europe. I’ve worked as Mr. Byrd's rehearsal director and assistant on numerous projects for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cincinnati Ballet, and Equity Workshops for The Color Purple and White Noise. The most recent Ailey ballet I worked on with Mr. Byrd premiered in 2019. The ballet Greenwood is about events during the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.

• IG BodyBalletConnection
• IG Kickmyassests

• Sharon Nyree Williams, Interim Executive Director, Spectrum Dance Theater, storyteller@sharonnwilliams.com
• Donald Byrd, Artistic Director, Spectrum Dance Theater, Dansbyrd@gmail.com
• Ruthlyn Salomons, Dance Supervisor, Disney’s The Lion King (NYC), Ruthlyn.Salomons@disney.com
• Lakey Evans-Peña, Associate Director of The Ailey School Horton Pedagogy (NYC), Lakey88@aol.com
• Nicole Guiland, Executive Director and President, WRArts, wrnicky@gmail.com