Gregory King
Gregory King is a culturally responsive educator, performance artist, activist, and movement maker. He holds a doctorate in Interprofessional Leadership from Kent State University, an MFA in Choreographic Practice and Theory from Southern Methodist University, and a certification in Arts and Culture Strategy from The University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.
King has performed with prestigious companies including The Washington Ballet, Erick Hawkins Dance Company, New York Theatre Ballet, Donald Byrd/The Group, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, New York City Opera, and on Broadway in Disney’s The Lion King. As a choreographer, his work has been presented at renowned venues such as The Joyce Theater, Playhouse Square, and The Kennedy Center.
His academic career includes teaching roles with Texas Ballet Theater and Boston Ballet, as well as faculty appointments at Temple University and Swarthmore College. At Kent State University, King was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor, where he also directed the Kent Dance Ensemble for five years.
A prolific dance writer, King contributes to Dance Magazine, Jacob’s Pillow, Gibney, ThINKingDANCE, The Philadelphia Dance Journal, BroadStreet Review, and CHOICE Review. His activist work has received national recognition, including citations in the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture’s resource guide, Art Became the Oxygen. He has authored chapters in Stages of Reckoning (Routledge), African, Caribbean and Black People’s Resilience During COVID-19 (Demeter Press), and Caribbean Men in the Arts (Cambridge Scholars Publishing).
King launched the Decolonizing Dance Writing: International Exchange Project—a $13,000+ initiative that brings together artists from Peru, Colombia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Ghana to reimagine dance education and critique through non-Western frameworks.
He is the recipient of multiple honors, including an Excellence in Teaching Award, a Faculty Recognition Award, and the Outstanding Creative Contribution Award from the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Kent State University. He has served as a Provost Faculty Associate and keynote speaker at institutions including Indiana University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Montclair State University, and the University of Auckland, where he led conversations on institutional support for BIPOC faculty and students.
King has also served on the dance review panels for the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts and was nominated for a Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio.
He currently serves as the inaugural Assistant Provost for Faculty Development at California Institute of the Arts and is the Founding Director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Innovative Learning.