Thea N. Grier - a Brooklyn, New York native, is an alumnus of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High school for Music & Art and the Performing Arts, and Rutgers University, where she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Cum Laude) in Dance, and Masters in Dance in Education (Ed.M), PK-12 Teacher Certification. Thea has worked under the tutelage of well-renowned artists and educators whom she credits for the artistic growth that has manifested throughout her dance journey. She has also studied at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Apollo Theatre, and the New Jersey State Prudential Arena and Performing Arts Center, amongst others. Under the direction of Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens, Thea received her ABT© certification in Pre-Primary- Level 3 in 2016, and joined the American Ballet Theatre’s community of artists and educators, through Rutgers University’s Extension Division, during their 2016-2017 season. She was also appointed as a core facilitator of arts instruction to youth, 9-17 years of age, during Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts Summer Conservatory in 2017. Nested in a spirit of stewardship toward agendas which service endeavors of dance, and other related educational and social outreach, she has also served as a fitness and administrative assistant for Rutgers University’s Dance and Parkinson’s Program, sponsored in partnership with the New Jersey Parkinson’s Disease Information and Referral Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. Thea’s zest to support the remarkable endeavor of enriching the lives of students through the dance discipline, spawns from the rewards she has derived from her identity as dance artist first. Thea continues to explore the air she inhabits as artist and educator.