Imani English

A native of Madison, WI, Imani English credits her early dance training to Jean Adams, Karen Smith-English, and the Madison Professional Dance Center. She has received scholarships from The Wisconsin Dance Council, The Anthony Quinn Foundation, Dance Chicago and was also awarded the Rahm Emmanuel Scholarship to attend intensive programs with River North Dance Chicago. Ms. English is a 2014 graduate and Valedictorian of the Chicago High School for the Arts. There, she performed repertoire from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Muntu Dance Theater, the Joffrey Ballet and performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Memoria. Imani has performed works by renowned choreographers such as Harrison McEldowney, Kristofer Storey, Demis Volpi, Christopher Huggins, Jennifer Archibald, Tahehiro Ueyama, Kevin Iega Jeff, Nicole Clarke Springer, among others. Imani joined DanceWorks Chicago in 2014 and in 2016 joined Dallas Black Dance Theatre's DBDT: Encore! where she spent two seasons. During that time, she also performed with the Dallas Opera in Samson and Dalila and most recently with Tony Award winning Dallas Theater Center in their production of Hairspray. Ms. Imani and has been on the faculty of the Dallas Black Dance Academy, The Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, and Steps Dance Center, and has been a part of the faculty of summer intensives presented by Chicago dance companies, including River North Chicago’s summer program, DanceWorks Chicago's Dance360 program, and Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s youth training program. Most recently, Imani has joined the faculty of the dance department at The Chicago High School for the Arts. In addition to teaching dance, Imani also serves as a pilates apprentice as oneBody studio.