Dianne Maroney-Grigsby

Dianne Maroney-Grigsby is Director of Dance at Grambling State University (GSU), one of America's Historically Black Universities (1983-2020) where she is also Artistic Director and Choreographer of Grambling's world-renowned OrchesisDance Company (1983-2020). Dianne also continues to serve as instructor and choreographer for the Theatre Department at Louisiana Tech University (LTU…1984-2020). A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Dianne left for New York in 1973. After receiving a one-year scholarship from Arthur Mitchell at Dance Theatre of Harlem, she was accepted to the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, touring extensively with that company. Dianne also performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In 1983, after ten years with the Ailey organization, Dianne left her positions with Ailey as soloist, Assistant Artistic Director of Ailey II (under Sylvia Waters), and full-time faculty member at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center to become Artistic Director of OrchesisDance Company at Grambling State University (GSU). Dianne received her BA degree from Grambling State University and her MA degree in Theatre from Louisiana Tech University and continues to direct, teach, and choreograph for both universities. Dianne also served as Artist-in-Residence for the Louisiana Dance Foundation for 33 years during which time she and LDF Artistic Director, Carol Anglin, collaborated on more than 100 dance projects. Dianne taught for LDF's Summer Dance Festivals from 1983-2016 and set numerous award-winning ballets on LDF'S resident dance company, Louisiana Dance Theatre (LDT), including I Won't Let Go of My Faith, World Hunger, Red, Red II, Obsessions, Lacrimosus, Immortalis, Apotheosis, Many Different Roads, I Believe I Can Fly, Long As I Got King Jesus, Believe, Tangazo, (commissioned by the Shreveport Symphony), Aftershock, H.O.P.E, August Ascending, Imagine, and more. Louisiana Dance Theatre performed Dianne's choreography in Russia, Austria, Canada, and throughout the U.S. in Chicago, IL; Washington, D.C.; Orlando, FL; statewide in Louisiana; and throughout Texas in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Galveston, Amarillo, and Abilene. LDT performed Dianne's choreography at Jazz Dance World Congresses at the Kennedy Center in 1996 and in Chicago in 1994 earning the Silver LEO Award for her choreography, Red. Her ballet, Apotheosis, was also selected and performed by LDT on the Gala performance of Regional Dance America's first-ever National Festival at Jones Hall in Houston as well as the RDA/SW 2014 Gala performance at the Eisemann Center in Dallas, TX. LDT received Gala status at the 2006 RDA/SW Festival for their performance of Dianne's Lacrimosis at the Dorothy Chandler Woodland's Pavilion in Houston. Obsession and Lacrimosus were named to RDA's National Choreography Plan. Dianne's choreography, AfterShock, dedicated to the people of Haiti, closed the Gala Performance with a standing ovation at the 2010 Regional Dance America/SW Festival in San Antonio, TX at the historic Municipal Auditorium- the largest stage in the state of Texas. LDT also received a standing ovation for Dianne's H.O.P.E. at the 2011 Regional Dance America/SW Festival at the Wortham Center in Houston, TX. Louisiana Dance Theatre attended the 2012 Regional Dance America National Festival in Montreal, Quebec where they received another standing ovation at Place des Arts Theatre for Dianne's August Ascending. From 1983-2016, under the direction of Maroney and Anglin, LDF/LDT and Grambling's OrchesisDance Company were recognized as Louisiana's artistic ambassadors for the state of Louisiana. The 1995 Living Legend recipient and director of Orchesis have taken the 60+-year-old company to a new level. As an ambassador for Louisiana, Orchesis has performed in Japan and throughout America from New York to California. Orchesis was featured in Proctor and Gamble national TV commercials, live appearances with recording artist Vickie Winans, and with the GSU Tiger Marching band in the hit movie, Drumline. Dianne was hired in 2007 by Denzel Washington to choreograph The Great Debater, in which she also appeared. Having hosted the Black College Dance Exchange twice at GSU, Dianne and Orchesis traveled to New York City in April 2011 where they attended the annual Exchange held in her former 'home,' with faculty from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and Broadway. Orchesis and Dianne were featured in a documentary on ESPN-U in 2011. Dianne set her choreography on Dallas Black Dance Theatre's 2nd Company in 2013 where she is a frequent guest artist. Many of her students have progressed to become professional dancers, teachers, and choreographers. Dianne was guest instructor at the 2014 International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) in Dallas, TX and for the 2013 & 2015 Regional Dance America/SW Festivals where her choreography, Imagine, performed by Louisiana Dance Theatre, was selected to open the RDA/ SW 2015 Gala Performance in her home state in Monroe, LA! Dianne served as a celebrity judge for Seasons 2, 3, and 4 on Lifetime Television Show, Bring It, where she has had yet another opportunity to guide and mentor in dance and in life. Recording artists, Beyonce, recently invited Grambling State University's World Famous Tiger Marching Band and OrchesisDance Company to perform at a private Coachella event, celebrating her Netflix special. After 33 years of artistic partnership, Dianne joined her colleague, Carol Anglin, in 2019 for an important collaboration at the University of Oklahoma where the two jointly taught and staged Dianne's signature choreography, I Believe I Can Fly, on the Summer Intensive students for which the cast of 28 received two standing ovations. Dianne was scheduled to direct and host the 2020 Black College Dance Exchange at GSU in March, which was canceled due to COVID-19. She looks forward to Orchesis Dance Company's twelfth annual performance of Dance His High Praise in April 2021 presented by Extensions of Excellence (Vincent Williams, Artistic Director) and held at Shreveport's historic Strand Theatre.