Teddy Kern
Teddy Kern’s [Class Schedule] [Event Calendar]
These days you can find Teddy as acting Artistic Director and offering her special brand of workshop at YOU SHOULD BE DANCING...! (412 8th Ave, 4th fl)
Call 212-244-0011 for information - or sign up on line at YSBD's Online Store
Teddy Kern is a master teacher, dance stylist and choreographer. She has been on the faculty of the Dance Division of Baruch College, The Butler School, Westside Dance Project, and is co-owner and Artistic Director of Dance Manhattan.
Born in Oklahoma, Teddy started dancing at age 4 and began teaching at age 14. She began teaching Swing in Kansas City and danced in the jazz and blue's club , developing her smooth style as a result of the blend of East and West Coast influences in the Midwest. She began to choreograph musical theatre productions through her college years, moving to San Francisco where she owned her first studio, while attending graduate school.
Drawn to New York in the 1970 to pursue acting, broadcasting, theatrical and opera choreography. She continued teaching and choreographing throughout the country. She co-founded the American Swing Dance Championships, the first national Swing event to bring east and west coast dancers together to teach, compete, and collaborate in one venue. She was a member of the New York Swing Dance Society Board of Directors prior to opening Dance Manhattan with then partner, Elena Iannucci.
She holds gradute Degrees from the Universities of Kansas and California, and is a frequent author on articles of social dance, exercise, and dance history for professional journals. Her choreography is represented in the Dance Archives of the Library and Museum of Performing Arts in Lincoln Center. She has been a faculty member of the Juilliard School's American Opera Center, Eastman School of Music Division, Butler School of Dance, Institute for Social Dance Studies, Dance Masters of America, and Professional Dancer Teachers Association. She is a board member of New York's Women in the Arts and Media Coalition.
She has choreographed for the Santa Fe Opera, Kansas City Lyric Opera, Eastman Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera, and Chautauqua Opera, where she remains an artist-in residence every summer. Teddy has taught Master classes for the Young Artists Programs at Hawaii Opera Theatre, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has choreographed for Broadway, Off Broadway, cabaret, the annual Viennese Opera Ball and the Debutante Cotillion at the Waldorf Astoria.
In 2004 Teddy was inducted into the Living Legends of Dance.
Videos
Teddy and favorite partner, Andrew D'Angelo, dance a smooth swing ... infused with a little Foxtrot!
Teddy and best buds John Festa & Debbie Elkins in a vintage swing!
Teddy Choreographed NYC's Viennese Opera Ball at the Waldorf for 26 years! Here's the team from 2005.
Checkout this TimeOut New York featurette, narrated by Teddy, about the FREE Monthly Guest Nights that made our dance school so special. 2011: TimeOut New York Guest Night Video
