ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Irishia Hubbard

Irishia Hubbard is a Lancaster, South Carolina native that began her dance training at the age of three. She has been trained in many styles including tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop, contemporary, West African, modern, and flamenco. Also notably, she has appeared on tv shows such as Paula Abdul’s Live to Dance. Other influential choreographers that she has worked with include, Donald McKayle, Sheron Wray, Shaun Boyle, Lisa Clark Schemling, and Greg Chapkis. Irishia has emerged as a choreographer and had created work for various studio performances including Barebones Dance Theater’s Unplugged. She has choreographed musical theater plays for Vanden High, Grease (2011) and Little Shop of Horror (2012). As well as choreographed for music concerts, including the sci-fi rock opera Zolk Tizzer. Furthermore, she has premiered her newest work “Sacred Matters” at both the Blaktina and Nebula Dance festivals. Her choreography has been praised by prestigious dance critics such as Jeff Slayton. Irishia graduated in 2016 from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in Educational Sciences and B.F.A. in Dance Choreography. While completing her undergraduate studies she was awarded the first scholarship by modern dance legend Donald McKayle, for her choreography and dance performance. Concurrent with her achievements in performance and choreography, Irishia has maintained a deep passion for dance pedagogy made evident in her creation of Shining Stars in 2015. She has been teaching throughout California for over 6 years and currently teaches at West Coast Dance Project and Focus Dance Center for youth classes and competitive teams. Her other roles include choreographing for Orange County based dance company JazzXchange and as Artistic Director for Shining Stars.