Makayla Church Rosenberger
Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance, Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA.
Education:
Bachelor of Arts in Dance, K-12 education concentration UNC Charlotte (2018)
Master of Fine Arts in Dance, Texas Woman’s University (2025)
Hometown: West Jefferson, N.C.
Makayla Church Rosenberger is a dance artist and educator who works as Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA.
Describe your current activities.
I teach a curriculum that offers a variety of movement-based practices, theory, and interdisciplinary projects for students to engage with. Along with my role as a professor, I am also the Director of the Helen McGehee Visiting Artist Program, which is named after a former principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company who had a lasting impact on the dance program at Randolph. Additionally, I actively perform and collaborate in the Roanoke, Viriginia, community. Most recently, I premiered a new work at a community event called “When Truth Takes the Stage” hosted by The Blinded Truth Podcast and Mental Health in Motion.
What has been your pathway from UNC Charlotte to teaching at Randolph College?
After graduating from UNC Charlotte, I worked as a middle and high school dance educator. In 2019, I revived a new dance program at Hopewell High School in Huntersville. While working in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, I collaborated with several other Charlotte alumni as a co-author of the CMS Dance Curriculum Guide that was released in 2021.
In 2022 I moved to Denton, Texas and earned my Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Texas Woman’s University (TWU) in 2025. While in Texas, I taught undergraduate ballet courses and worked as the recruitment coordinator for TWU’s Division of Dance. In my last year at TWU, I worked as an Adjunct Professor of Teacher Education supervising student teachers in dance. While working in teacher preparation, I collaborated with Dr. Ilana Morgan to create classroom posters that were distributed to educators in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
I also joined the Greater Denton Arts Council as a professional member, receiving artists grants, producing multidisciplinary performance events, and teaching community classes. In 2024 I was awarded the Greater Denton Arts Council’s HEART Award, which is given to one ‘community member who has demonstrated creative excellence.”
In the summer of 2024, I completed the Alvin Ailey Horton Teacher Training Conference; I share the knowledge gained with my current students at Randolph.
From 2024-2025 I served on the Advisory Council for the National Dance Education Organization where I worked to represent graduate students and served as an adjudicator for scholarship applications.
How did UNC Charlotte shape your next steps?
The department gave me a toolbox or backpack of skills that I continue to hone. I have been able to use skills learned in school in many ways: thinking quickly on my feet; adapting to new situations; and trying different movement styles, and taking on new opportunities. There have been very tangible applications and outcomes.
In 2018, you received the state-wide Outstanding Student Teacher of the Year Award from North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Can you talk about what that did for you?
I was surprised when I got that award. When you teach the arts, your colleagues may see your work, your subject area, as less important. Getting that award so early in my career gave me the confidence and credibility to move forward as a beginning teacher. It gave me the sense that what I am doing is valuable and that I am doing a good job, even when it feels like I am not.
What advice do you have for current dance students?
Try all of the opportunities that are available to you, even those things you are less comfortable with. That broadens your toolbox. I think back to my experience in Tamara Williams’s ring shout-inspired piece. I was not familiar or comfortable with the movement vocabulary. However, it challenged me and helped me find more groundedness in my dancing. The experience also helped me learn new histories.