Laura E. Ellis

Laura E. Ellis is a Lecturer in the Department of Theatre & Dance at California State University, East Bay. She is a renowned dancer, choreographer, and educator with over three decades of experience in the performing arts. Her career spans performance with acclaimed companies like Dimensions Dance Theater and LAZARUS/Dance, where she received critical acclaim and awards. Ellis is deeply committed to arts education and has pioneered programs for youth, including a dance initiative for the Los Angeles Sickle Cell Disease Research Foundation and residencies with the San Francisco Arts Education Project.

Education: Mills College (B.A.), with foundational training at the Young Saints Performing Arts Academy.

Research & Performance Interests: Ellis specializes in African, jazz, modern, hip hop, and tap dance techniques. Her choreographic works, such as When Strength Is My Weakness and i that is we, blend cultural narratives with technical mastery. She emphasizes the intersection of dance with social justice and African American cultural expression.

Awards & Grants: Recipient of the Isadora Duncan Dance Award (2009), CA$H grant, and grants from the Creative Work Fund, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and Irvine Foundation. She co-founded the Black Choreographers Festival, honored with a Best of the Bay Award in 2009.

Teaching & Administration: Ellis teaches dance technique, choreography, and theater at CSUEB, The Athenian School, and UC Berkeley’s Young Musicians Program. She serves as Executive Director of the YS Scholarship Foundation and the African & African American Performing Arts Coalition (AAAPAC), advocating for equitable opportunities in the arts.