Britt Stewart, The First Black Female Pro On “Dancing With The Stars”, Launches Share The Movement

Britt Stewart, best known as the first Black female pro on "Dancing With the Stars," has announced a new non-profit organization benefiting dancers who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Share the Movement's mission is to increase diversity in the professional dance community by providing financial, educational, and inspirational support to promising young BIPOC dancers.

Share the Movement board members worked together remotely this past year to form this organization. STM board members held weekly zoom sessions and calls, speaking directly with over 75 professional BIPOC dancers, choreographers and educators from the commercial world, dance companies and Broadway.

"We learned so much through our countless conversations," Stewart says. "During those calls, we kept hearing members of the dance community express the importance of creating a world where young BIPOC dancers have more opportunities to see professional dancers who look like themselves".

STM plans to offer complimentary classes taught by professional BIPOC teachers either virtually or in-person to underserved communities who likely have not had the opportunity to experience high-caliber dance training. They will also be partnering with high-quality dance studios in areas with diverse populations to offer promising young dancers scholarships.

Due to COVID restrictions, STM's first initiative will be to offer scholarships to BIPOC dancers who require financial aid in order to attend high-caliber virtual summer dance intensives. Applications for scholarships are currently being accepted.

Share the Movement has also created a Community of BIPOC professional dancers, choreographers and educators who work alongside Share the Movement to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the dance community. Members of the STM Community include Gaby Diaz (SYTYCD Season 12 winner), Ahmad Simmons (Broadway's Hadestown and West Side Story), Tracy Shibata (The Masked Dancer - Women in Black), and many more.

Other members of the Share the Movement board include dancer and choreographer Kate Harpootlian as the Executive Director, dancer/choreographer and TV producer Pam Chu as the Secretary, arts manager Brad Bauner as the Treasurer, live entertainment producer, Nikole Vallins as the Media Relations and Fundraising Director, choreographer and educator Ashley Lindsey, Broadway star Daniel Gaymon, and professional dancer Chantelle Good as Programs Director.

Learn more at https://www.sharethemovementnow.org,

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