Hailed in reviews as “a perfect example of his generation of male dancers… Technically superb and artistically infallible,” Dr. Iquail Shaheed is a Philadelphia-based artist, activist, and the executive artistic director of DANCE IQUAIL! through which he creates new works and programs that centers on Blackness, Justice, and Joy.
Dr. Shaheed has worked with internationally acclaimed companies such as Philadanco, Compagnie Thor (Brussels), Sean Curran Company, Ronald K Brown/ Evidence, and the Fred Benjamin Dance Company. He has also appeared in various Broadway productions including The Lion King, Hot Feet, and Super Fly. As an educator, Iquail preserves the Horton Technique by serving on faculty at The Ailey School, NAISDA Dance College in Australia, and is the second Black man to receive tenure and promotion to associate professor at Goucher College since there inception in 1889.
Among his many honors are awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, MAP Fund, National Performance Network, the Philadelphia Dance Award – “The Rocky,” and the Marion D. Cuyjet Award.
Dr. Shaheed received his training as a scholarship student at many prestigious schools including the Philadelphia Dance Company – Philadanco, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, The Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance, Paul Taylor School, The Juilliard School and Pennsylvania Ballet, among many others. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ballet performance from the University of the Arts, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Choreography from Purchase College. Dr. Shaheed is also the first Black Male to earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree in dance from Texas Woman’s University.
He proudly serves on the board of directors for the International Association of Blacks in Dance, where he was the elected board treasurer. He is a board member with Dance/USA and the Stockton Bartol Rush Foundation.
