BIOGRAPHY

Penny Godboldo is a former Co-Director of the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification. Currently, she serves on the Technique Committee. Since 2018, she has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and was awarded the Kresge Fellow award in the same year. Before joining the University of Michigan, she had worked as a tenured Associate Professor and directed the Dance Education program at Marygrove College in Detroit for 18 years. During her tenure, she also served as Chair of Dance.

Penny Godboldo earned her Ph.B. degree in Education from Wayne State University and holds an M.A. in Humanities in English from the University of Detroit, with a focus on Dance/Theater through Marygrove College. She received training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance School, Broadway Dance Center, Steps Dance Studio, and the Martha Graham Schools in New York City. Professor Godboldo has led three study trips to Benin, West Africa. In 1996, she traveled to Cuba for the first of three research and training experiences in traditional and popular dances. She has presented papers on "Dance in Religion" at two KOSANBA conferences at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and Boston University.

Godboldo received her certification from Miss Katherine Dunham in 1993 and then became her Demonstrator for one of the first International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) conferences held in Denver. She has performed in Dunham's iconic works in St. Louis and Buffalo, N.Y. Additionally, she has taught the Dunham Technique in various countries such as Japan, Benin, West Africa, and Dimona, Israel. One of her proudest achievements is teaching at the CHAF Conference, La Danse Haitienne: Histoire et Traditions, held in Port-au-Prince in 1997.

She received her initial training in the Dunham Technique from Clifford Fears, a former member of the Dunham company. Later, she trained with several other master teachers, including Talley Beatty, Madame Lavinia Williams-Yarborough, Tommy Gomez, Miss Pearl Reynolds, Walter Nicks, Miss Lucille Ellis, and Vanoye Aikens. Moreover, she underwent extensive training in Haitian folkloric dance with Monsieur Louines Louinis.

Godboldo has been a teacher for thousands of schoolchildren in Michigan for the last 40 years. She trains teenage girls in the Dunham Technique in Detroit's Mexican Town and serves as the Artistic Director of the Liturgical Dance Ministry at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, where Rev. Charles C. Adams is the Pastor. Additionally, she offers weekly online classes for Cumbe Diaspora Dance.

Ms. Golboldo holds the position of Artistic Director at the P.G Institute. The institute offers dance and music lessons to both youth and adults residing in the Detroit community. Additionally, Ms. Golboldo is the Director of the Detroit Legacy Project, an organization that aims to promote the contributions and influence of notable figures such as Madame Katherine Dunham, who have significantly impacted the art and culture scene in Detroit and beyond.

Early Training Years

Penny Godboldo’s early training began at the Beverly Varner School of Dance and later in ballet at the Kronk Recreation Center under the direction of Eleanor Cattron.

She later trained in the Dance Program at Mackenzie High School and performed with the Detroit Public Schools East Side All City under the direction of Garth Fagan.  Her early training in Dunham Technique was with Detroiter Clifford Fears, a featured dancer with the Katherine Dunham Theater, which toured the world. 

Godboldo trained in the Russian Method with Balletmaster Iacob Lascu and modern dance with Stephanie Katz and Alana Barter at Marygrove College, Receiving a scholarship at the prestigious Alvin Ailey School in NYC (where she met and trained with Madame Lavinia Williams and Joan Peters), she also trained at the Graham School, Steps, and various other training centers in New York.  While earning certification in the Dunham Technique at the Dunham Seminars in Saint Louis,over a 20 year period she had the privilege of  being mentored by Miss Katherine Dunham and receiving training by original Dunham Company members:  Tommy Gomez, Vanoye Aikens, Lucille Ellis, as well as Theo Jamison, Keith Williams, Ruby Streate, Michael Green and others from SIUE Dunham Training program.