Sonia Dawkins

Sonia Dawkins, founder and artistic director of SD/Prism Dance Theatre, is a graduate of The University of the Arts and earned a Master’s in Dance/Kinesiology & Choreography from SUNY Brockport. A faculty member at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle (the first African American female teacher, 12 ½ years) and Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., she has also been an Artist-in Residence at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre School; University of North Carolina School of the Arts; University of Oklahoma; Cincinnati Ballet School; and Jones-Haywood Dance School.

She has performed extensively with choreographers and companies in the United States and the National Dance Company of Jamaica. Her national and international choreography credits include: Village Theatre (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, My Heart is a Drum); Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre (Pullman Porter Blues); Seattle Repertory Theatre (Three Musketeers, Brother Size, The Breach); Seattle Children’s Theatre; Pacific Northwest Ballet; Nevada Ballet; Seattle Theatre Group (Dance This); and Broadway Bound (13 the Musical, Bye Bye Birdie, God Lives in Glass). She choreographed her dancers to perform at the Iliev Foundation at the Bulgaria Dance Festival and the Mexican International Festival. At Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, she choreographed and coached winning participants in the Youth Grand Prix and the Young Arts Recognition.

Ms. Dawkins has received the Gypsy Rose Lee Award for choreography for Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, 2019; Brother Size, 2011; and was nominated for the same award for Pullman Porter blues, 2012. A recipient of the New Directors Choreography Lab from Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation, she has also been selected to present a new musical at the New York Theatre Barn. She has served on the faculty of Ballet Academy East, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet summer intensives, as choreographer and faculty at SLK Ballet, and is very honored to have choreographed an excerpt of the world premier ballet on PHILADANCO, Pieces of My Heart, based on unpublished poetry by August Wilson. SD/Prism has presented workshops at dance schools in Barcelona, 2017-2019, at Studio Harmonica in France, 2017. She served as a Judge for the World Cup Dance Competition in 2019. Currently, Ms. Dawkins serves on the Dance/Film Association Board; is a member of the Stage Directors, Choreographers Society; and teaches at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre School/Fordham University.