Stephen Shynes // About the Artist

STEPHEN SHYNES is an interdisciplinary artist from Washington, D.C. He began his early dance training at Duke Ellington School of Arts and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Montclair State University, where he was a recipient of the Choreographic Excellence Award in 2016. Shynes was also the second runner up in the American College Dance Association to perform his work “M-a-rgin” that same year.

Professionally, he has performed works by Bill T. Jones, Jose Limon, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Antonio Brown Dance, Larry Keigwin, Nathan Trice Rituals, Earl Mosley Diversity of Dance, and the Windmill Factory. His television credits include POSE and the Sesame Street TV series “Helpsters”. Stephen's choreography has been presented at the Martha Graham Studio, Triskelion Arts, SMUSH Gallery, The Joffrey Ballet School, Orange Dance Festival, In Full Color, NOoSphere Arts, The Tank, ACE Hotel, County Prep Theater, 92nd St Y Theater, Chez Bushwick, and others. He has served as a choreographer and teaching artist at The Apollo Theater, TRI-C Dance Academy, Gallim DanceMark Morris Dance Group, Montclair State University, The Public Theater, and several studios in the Tri-state area.

Shynes has since ventured into creative directing , producing, and choreographing for film and live performance. In 2019, he was awarded the CHIRP residency in Jersey City, NJ and founded theLAB by Artists of Color, a platform for artists to share our stories in our own voices. theLAB has produced “Color Stories”, a showcase for established and emerging choreographers and “It’s BIGGER Than Me,” a film on the black experience during the pandemic. This allotted Shynes the opportunity to present his work in film festival and headline the We Are Nature Wildflower Festival curated by CreateART. The festival took place on a rooftop in Brooklyn, New York, where he was asked to choreograph and creative direct an evening of dance alongside a live music band, Momentum Humans.

In June of 2022, Shynes received his certificate from the "Made in NY" Production Assistant Training Program. He has worked as a PA and Location Assistant on various productions such as VMA’s, NBC’s The Blacklist, CBS Finding Your Roots Documentary, Steven Soderbergh’s The Pendulum Project, The Players Tribune Audi X BPC Shoot, and The MET Live Art Productions.

He is currently the teaching artist at The Apollo, preparing for his upcoming residency at Triskelion Arts, and a freelance creative artist in New York City.

Photos by Whitney Browne

STEPHEN SHYNES

choreographer |