PMT Dance Studio Faculty Profiles

Darcy Naganuma

Contemporary Dance

     Darcy Naganuma is the Artistic Director/ Founder of Naganuma Dance, a contemporary dance company based in New York City.  Known to bring high velocity, ferocious movement, innovative partnering, and evocative visual imagery to the stage, the ensemble is comprised of performers from around the world.  Born and raised in Lihue, Hawaii, Darcy holds a B.F.A. and Dance Education certification from the University of Utah. Her choreography, ranging in theme from genetic mutation to gender dynamics in Japanese culture, has been presented in Hawaii, Salt Lake City, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York.

     Naganuma heads the modern program at the school of the Westchester Ballet Company in New York. Her teaching experience includes workshops at SUNY Purchase, the Utah State Dance Conference, Salt Lake Community College, and Repertory Dance Theatre. She has appeared in works by Ron K. Brown, Doug Elkins, Alwin Nikolais, Viola Farber, Linda Diamond, and Donna White. She was featured in the premiere of a new Repertory Dance Theatre LINKS work, and, since her move to New York City, has danced with Opus Dance Theatre and Hydroflo Dance Company. In 2005, she had the opportunity to choreograph commercials that appeared on both the MTV and VH1 networks.

Teaching Schedule:

Section 3.7 - Open Contemporary Dance - Tuesday 5:00-6:30pm

Class Description:

     This challenging, highly explosive class will expand your artistic and technical boundaries. Engaging a movement vocabulary that is at once aggressive, sensuous, virtuostic, and spirited, you will be pushed to move with intention, clear articulation., and an appetite for space. Darcy’s style can best be described as a fusion of techniques, drawing from the modern and postmodern genres, ballet, martial arts, and jazz.  She creates an atmosphere of support and high energy, where dancers are called to take risks and unleash their unique voices.

     “I encourage students to try something new in every class. Growth springs not from stagnation, but from change. My classroom is a laboratory--a place where focus, energy, momentum, and phrasing can be explored within the structure of an exercise. Learning a sequence of movement is one task. Infusing that sequence with motivation and life is another. My ultimate hope is that the students I teach will find their own voices.”

Read more about Darcy’s teaching philosophy and company at www.naganumadance.com.