Saroya Corbett

Saroya Corbett is the chair of History and Theory curriculum and the co-treasurer for the Institute and the for Dunham Technique Certification. She is also a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Williams College and on the steering committee for the Coalition of Diasporan Scholars Moving (CDSM). Saroya received her Ph.D from UCLA in Cultures and Performance, her MFA degree in Dance from Temple University and her BA from Spelman College in economics.

In 2014, her chapter “Katherine Dunham’s Mark on Jazz” was published in Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches, which focuses on Katherine Dunham’s contribution to the evolution of jazz dance. The dance companies in which she has performed for are the Katherine Dunham Museum Workshop, the Spelman College Dance Theatre, Kariamu and Company, and Flyground.  She has also served as an instructor for the Spelman College Children's Drama and Dance Program, the Katherine Dunham Museum Children's Workshop, Studio Dionne, Drexel University and Temple University. Her choreography has been featured on Spelman Dance Theatre, CityDance Ensemble, and dance artists of Philadelphia.

In addition to her work in the Dunham Legacy, Corbett’s research explores Black social dance genres as a foundation to construct histories of the everyday lived experiences of Black people. Her dissertation specifically focuses on dance team culture in southern Louisiana and at historically Black colleges and universities.