Sydnie is originally from Baltimore, MD, where she became interested in music and dance at a young age. She is the most happy and satisfied when she is immersed in dance, fulfilling her perpetual desire to move and know more about movement. Sydnie recently earned her MFA in Dance with an emphasis on Choreography from the University of Iowa, not long after she received her BA in Dance and Africana Studies from Barnard College at Columbia University. Sydnie’s creative and research interests lie at the intersections of modern dance, movement in the African Diaspora, Christianity, womanism, and literature.

Sydnie is a versatile dancer with diverse training and performs modern dance professionally. Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times writes of her performance in David Parker’s Nut/Cracked Redux, “I won't soon forget… the woman who stood in the center of a sea of floor-bound bodies, allowing her arms to bloom up and open luxuriously in a gracious, centuries-old convention with radiant pride and pleasure.”

Over the past few years Sydnie has been developing a repertoire of choreography, which she presents with her own company of performers. Thematically, Sydnie’s work often reflects interests in black cultures and the personal histories of women as they relate to the human experience. She frequently uses voice and text in her work and seeks to actively engage the audience.

In addition, Sydnie is a dance educator who teaches modern, jazz and West African dance, most recently to undergraduates at the University of Iowa. She is currently on faculty at Brooklyn Ballet where she teaches classes in Afro Modern and Afro Modern Workout. She is also the dance instructor for the pre-school, after school and teen programs of the Grosvenor Neighborhood House branch of the YMCA.

While dancing, choreographing and teaching are Sydnie’s most immediate professional ventures, her skills extend beyond the creative. She is a writer and researcher who earned honors for her Barnard College senior thesis, “Dancing Black Christianity: Revealing African American and Ghanaian Cultural Identity through Movement in Christian Worship.” Other skills include office administration and management, customer service, guiding tours, and event planning.

Sydnie currently resides in New York City, and when she isn’t dancing or envisioning new choreography, she is writing, listening to music, cooking and traveling.