Assistant Professor
Danielle Bower is a dance educator, choreographer, and performing arts leader with more than 25 years of experience working with dancers and emerging artists nationally and internationally. Currently serving on the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Dance, she holds a Master’s Degree in Performing Arts Leadership and Management from Shenandoah University and received her undergraduate degree in Dance from the University of the Arts. She also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business.
Bower’s professional performance career includes work with SynthesisDANCE, Montazh Performing Arts Company, Bermuda Dance Company, and various freelance choreographers in New York City and Philadelphia. As an educator, she has taught at Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, and Peridance in New York City, as well as at pre-professional dance programs and institutions throughout the United States. She has taught and set choreography for hundreds of schools and programs nationally and internationally, and has served as a guest teacher, choreographer, and adjudicator at studios, festivals, conventions, and educational programs across the country.
As a choreographer, Bower has created works for dancers and companies throughout the United States, with her choreography receiving numerous awards and recognition. She has also choreographed television commercials and has worked extensively with emerging artists in both studio and educational settings. Her artistic practice explores the intersection of movement, musicality, individuality, and human connection.
Bower also brings extensive leadership and arts administration experience to her work in higher education. She served for more than 10 years as Artistic Coordinator and Performance Company Director at Rock School West, where she played an integral role in the development of the school’s programming and artistic initiatives. She has also served as a manager at Broadway Dance Center and as School Programs Assistant for Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Most recently, she served as Assistant Artistic Director at Grier School in Pennsylvania for 11 years, where she taught, choreographed, contributed to program development, and coordinated lighting for performances.
As a dance educator, Bower is known for technical and inspiring classes that challenge both the body and mind. Her teaching encourages dancers to embrace vulnerability, connect deeply to musicality, develop artistic individuality, and discover what makes them unique as artists and humans. She is committed to creating learning environments that cultivate technically capable, thoughtful, resilient, and expressive artists while preparing students to navigate the evolving professional landscape of dance and the performing arts.