Andre Tyson

Andre Tyson, a native of Greenville, North Carolina, trained at the School of the Garden State Ballet and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater/Joan Weill Center for Dance before rising to become a Principal Dancer and Company Teacher with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. He has performed on major stages worldwide, earning recognition as a commanding presence in contemporary dance.

A certified Melt Method and Pilates instructor, Tyson grounds his choreographic and pedagogical practice in physical intelligence and artistic rigor. His work has been commissioned by companies ranging from Ailey II to Milwaukee Ballet and is internationally sought for its virtuosic movement language, emotional accessibility, and timely cultural resonance. His creative reach spans concert dance, commercial theater, film, television, and digital media, supported by multiple choreographic grants and academic honors.

Tyson’s global career includes teaching at leading festivals throughout Asia and Europe, assisting legendary choreographer Talley Beatty, and shaping dance education through senior leadership roles. He served a decade as Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts and later as Assistant Dean of the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at California Institute of the Arts. A former Howard Gilman Fellow, Tyson continues to teach, create, and curate while cultivating the next generation of artists.

My teaching is grounded in strong, traditional dance training with an emphasis on technical clarity, body awareness, and an understanding of how movement functions. Rooted in Horton technique, my classes draw from contemporary methods, classical ballet, and somatic practices such as yoga, Pilates, and floor barre. This integrated approach develops strength, flexibility, musicality, focus, and efficiency, while encouraging students to understand not only what they are doing, but why it works.

Central to my pedagogy is helping dancers develop an intelligent, personal relationship to their bodies. I encourage critical thinking, experimentation, and malleability to support safe, sustainable, and expressive movement. I cultivate a supportive yet disciplined environment, offering direct feedback, clear imagery, and specific corrections while honoring individuality and artistic voice.

I have expanded the traditional Horton structure into a dynamic format I call ACoHo (Andre’s Contemporary Horton), which initiates class through traveling movement to build coordination, stamina, spatial awareness, and adaptability from the outset.

Ultimately, my teaching extends beyond technique. I aim to support students in exploring creativity, identity, and humanity through movement—fostering curiosity, risk-taking, and full presence. Healthy training, physical awareness, and holistic care are central to my work, guided by a deep respect for the art form and a belief in each student’s capacity to grow, discover, and express themselves with confidence and integrity.

Creative work, for me, begins with inquiry—an active engagement with questions rather than answers. Thinking, critically, curiosity, and problem-solving shape my process, grounded in the belief that a single idea can be perceived and transformed in countless ways. Informed by cultural exposure, rigorous training, and lived experience, my work is guided by authenticity, imagination, and a deliberate suspension of disbelief that allows ideas to evolve beyond the literal and into layered, open-ended meaning.

Creativity in my practice is essential rather than ornamental. I am driven by a need to explore, interrogate, and give physical form to ideas through the human body, treating embodiment as a site of knowledge and discovery. Whether the work is cathartic, investigative, or revelatory, it emerges from the pairing of thought and action—ensuring that concepts are not merely contemplated, but fully realized through movement as inquiry and response.

My practice moves fluidly across mediums, including language, drawing, digital manipulation, objects, and movement, often converging through choreography and interdisciplinary collaboration. I draw on compositional principles as flexible scaffolding rather than constraint. Central to my process is excavation: deconstructing movement through improvisation, somatic awareness, and biomechanical analysis, then rebuilding it with clarity and purpose. The work ultimately exists as a dialogue between intellect, body, and the unknown.

Leadership, to me, is an active and evolving practice rooted in listening, understanding, action, and accountability. It is earned through example—by modeling integrity, purpose, and high standards while remaining open, adaptable, and willing to grow. Effective leadership is not about perfection, but about maximizing strengths, recognizing limitations, and creating environments where others are empowered to succeed.

My leadership has been shaped through assuming diverse roles that strengthened my ability to collaborate, delegate, and make clear, thoughtful decisions. Grounded in curiosity, empathy, and respect, my approach values diversity, equity, and inclusion as essential elements of any creative or educational space. Whether teaching, mentoring, choreographing, or working within a community, I foster trust, encourage critical inquiry, and support the development of confident, expressive, and thoughtful artists.

I view leadership as a living practice—one expressed as much through creativity as through administration. My pursuit of excellence reflects a deep commitment to personal growth as an artist and educator, evident in the guidance, mentorship, and integrity I bring to every institution I serve. This vision-driven, collaborative approach fuels my ability to inspire, instruct, and lead with clarity, compassion, and purpose.

Diversity is the living mosaic of human experience—shaped by history, identity, culture, and perspective—and I am both formed by that mosaic and committed to its necessity. Throughout my work as an artist, educator, and leader, I have seen how environments lacking representation restrict imagination and limit potential. Conversely, spaces that embrace difference expand creative possibility, strengthen communities, and more truthfully reflect the world the performing arts aim to engage.

Authentic diversity is neither symbolic nor performative; it requires meaningful inclusion and equitable opportunity. Diversity acknowledges difference, inclusion actively welcomes it, and equity ensures fair access and support—especially within systems where imbalances persist. Recognizing that individuals do not begin from the same place is essential to building structures that are responsive, accountable, and just.

As an instructor and educator, I work to cultivate environments where individuals are seen, respected, and supported artistically, intellectually, and professionally. This commitment is grounded in honesty, humility, and active listening, with diversity understood as an ongoing practice rather than a fixed outcome. When equity and inclusion are embedded into creative and institutional cultures, individuals are empowered to contribute fully, strengthening the collective and enriching the future of the arts.

Our inner call to move and dance, while expressed in highly personal and individual ways, is universal in its essence. The self, extending itself, becomes an agent for change that further bestows and perpetuates the renewed possibility for the continuum of eco-systems of movement and life. Projecting oneself forward through a mind body connection of a physical action frees us from rationality devoid of didacticism. We witness aspects of our collective divinity in the celebration of the human form. The evolution of the human condition is an intriguing prospect that informs my life and my art making.
 

Art, dance, choreography, instruction, community and the systems they intersect can serve as a spiritual re-indoctrination through physical exploration that give us renewed perceptions that broaden our outlook of the world and the interrelationship of those systems. Dance can promote investigations that contribute to critical thinking and a reaffirmation of the self. Movement encodes a new world order to the planet with a shared purpose and a stratagem for dialog, compassion, creativity, spirituality and excellence. Inexplicably our inner monologues often find their most eloquent expressions via the language of dance. With joy and sometimes through pain, the range of subtleties and complexities of the human experience are revealed through dance. Dance decoded is my pursuit...this is MyDanceology.