Valerie Winborne

Areas of Specialization

Dance and Theatre Education, Human Vernacular Dance, Theatrical Dance Works, Gifted Education,  Healing Work

Courses Taught

Jazz, Modern, History of Dance, History of American Vernacular Dance

Background

Valerie A. Winborne is a versatile artist with a dynamic, three-decade career as a dancer, choreographer, repetiteur, actor, dance/movement therapist, educator, and presenter. She toured internationally with the acclaimed Urban Bush Women and played a pivotal role in bringing Jawole “Willa Jo” Zollar’s Shelter to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, at the request of Judith Jamison.

Winborne has collaborated and/or performed with esteemed choreographers including Marlies Yearby, Ronald K. Brown (Evidence Dance Company), David Rousseve, and Carl Hancock Rux, while also presenting her own choreographic works at prestigious venues such as Danspace Project and Performance Space 122 in New York City. She was a featured performer in the Off-Broadway production of The Story of Josephine Baker and has contributed extensively to the work and theatrical production as Summer Director for Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, as well as Movement Coach/Rehearsal Director for his internationally acclaimed opera The Temptation of St. Anthony.

As a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist (R-DMT), Winborne has facilitated healing workshops for a wide range of communities—including survivors of trauma, women living with cancer, seniors, and anyone navigating emotional and physical recovery of any kind. She is the creator of Strategic Chat® and Cohesion Performance Training® (CPT), two innovative therapeutic approaches that blend somatic practices, creative engagement, and structured dialogue to promote healing outside traditional therapy settings.

An accomplished educator, Winborne served as Adjunct Professor and Artistic Director of Norfolk State University’s Dance Theatre, and as Department Chair of the Gifted Dance Education program at the Edward E. Brickell Academy for Advanced Academics and the Arts at Old Donation School in Virginia Beach. She has been recognized with multiple awards for excellence in dance education, curriculum development, and for leading a long-term research study demonstrating the positive impact of dance education on academic achievement.

Winborne’s research explores the dynamic interplay between community, place, and identity through vernacular and folk dance traditions. She investigates how embodied cultural practices serve as living archives that preserve historical memory, express social values, and reinforce a sense of belonging, highlighting dance’s vital role in sustaining cultural continuity and resilience across generations.