E. Gaynell Sherrod

E. Gaynell Sherrod is an associate professor of Dance + Choreography. She serves as the interim executive director of the Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco). She is a Fulbright-Hayes scholar wherein she traveled throughout Brazil to study African-derived spiritual dance forms. Her artistic and theoretical works are steeped in the pedagogy of dance, music and theater out of the African Diaspora cultural traditions. Sherrod began training with Kariamu Welsh Asante and Pearl Reynolds, studying African-derived dance forms and the Dunham technique. She has served on the dance faculty at the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, and subsequently pursued a career in dance performance. She has spent 15 years performing, touring and teaching with such groups as Philadanco and Urban Bush Women. As the Director of Dance Education for New York City public schools (2000-2003), she designed and implemented professional training initiatives for dance educators, teaching artists and classroom teachers. Sherrod earned her doctorate and M.Ed degrees in dance performative research and pedagogy from Temple University, and her BA in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.