PBA Faculty and Alumna Share How Dance, Community Service Shines Christ’s Light

Just down the street from Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA), the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts will host its annual National Dance Day on Saturday, Sept. 21, offering free classes to people of all ages and levels.

Two PBA dance faculty and one alum will teach at the event, sharing how dance can be a powerful vessel to not only promote well-being-but also engage the community through servant leadership.

Ericka Squire grew up in Palm Beach County and began serving in her church's dance ministry at a young age.

As a Palm Beach Ballet trainee and member of the high school dance team, Squire always pictured dance in the traditional sense-a short ballet career-not realizing a long-lasting career was possible. In college, Squire saw "Aida" on Broadway, forever changing how she viewed dance.

After earning her bachelor's in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Central Florida, Squire moved back to South Florida to work in fashion buying and visual merchandising. Soon after, she was asked to choreograph and design costumes for Suncoast Community High School's production of "Aida."

"I realized if I could only do one thing, it would be to choreograph," she shares.

This realization brought her to Temple University to earn her master's in dance education. Since 2014, she's served as an adjunct professor at PBA, teaching classes including hip-hop, jazz, ballroom and modern. She has also managed PBA's student choreography showcase and guest choreographed for the dance ensemble.

"The students have a hunger I haven't experienced at any other school," she says. "You don't need to push them to use their body as a vessel-they already understand that because of their faith."

It's this same faith that drives Squire, who will lead African dance at National Dance Day, to bring a soul-first mindset to class.

"All things happen physically because they're happening spiritually," she says. "That means we can get to the root of what's happening. It plays out in my heart posture."

Adjunct professor Larry Albright didn't start dancing formally until college. His hip-hop teacher took an interest in him, encouraging Albright to take additional classes in New York.

After earning his degree in hip-hop culture in 2003, Albright began teaching and performing. He has choreographed for artists such as Sean Kingston and opened for artists including Ricky Martin and Sean Paul.

Albright joined PBA in 2014. In addition to hip-hop, Albright also choreographs for the dance ensemble and teaches jazz.

For PBA alumna Kori Epps, movement began at an early age. While living with her missionary parents in Brazil, she trained at a state ballet school in Rio de Janeiro. When it was time to pick a college, Epps says she knew she wanted to attend a Christian school with dance.

She earned her bachelor's in dance performance in 2004-PBA's first class of dance majors. Epps later earned her MFA in dance at the University of Wisconsin, where her eyes were opened to the richness of the field-beyond common techniques like ballet or modern.

She also performed with Demetrius Klein Dance Company, Palm Beach County's first modern dance company, for nearly 15 years.

"I loved dancing and had been around such serious ballet-but I knew I wasn't going to be a ballerina," Epps shares. "Dance is so much bigger than these techniques. I knew that rigor was not going to be passed down from me."

As her career progressed, Epps moved further away from performance and technique. It became her mission to discover why so many people find dance difficult or awkward. She began teaching in 2010, helping people of all ages and levels overcome those inhibitions. Her dance class at the National Dance Day event will follow this model.

Albright, who will teach hip-hop at the National Dance Day event, has a reputation as one of the area's only hip-hop teachers with clean music.

"The movement I teach is based on the music of the times and the social unrest at that time as well," he shares. "Now there are so many Christian hip-hop artists. It's a way for people to understand Christ; I can let the music and messages permeate."

Squire, who launched Natural Movers Foundation-a local nonprofit that offers dance programs for professionals and the community-also loves using outreach to serve others, especially as a young Black woman.

"Everything I say or do reflects the organizations I'm part of," she says. "When [people] see my faith or how I treat them, it's the Lord shining through."

Epps currently teaches at The Foundations School in West Palm Beach-using dance integration to instill academic concepts. She also leads the Kravis Center's Every Body Dance program for adults with disabilities.

"Giving back has always felt [part] of who I am," she reflects. "All dance is liturgical. This is my body that God made, and I'm moving it. If all dance is liturgical, seeing people move at any level is God's glory."

Albright's advice to those interested in attending National Dance Day? Just get out there. After all, like he experienced in college-you never know where it could lead.

"Come with an open mind and try something you haven't done before," he says. "You may see something you've never seen before. It may spark a new interest."

To learn more about the Kravis Center's National Dance Day, click here.

To learn more about PBA's dance programs, click here.

Photo: Ericka Squire, Kori Epps, Larry Albright

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