As a movement artist based in San Antonio, TX, Tanesha Sumerset Payne (she/they) performs, creates, educates, and advocates for all things dance. Tanesha is the founder and artistic director of sumRset dance, a professional contemporary dance company based in Bexar County. She holds a BFA in Dance Studies from Texas State University and graduated Summa Cum Laude with her MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University. While she values academia and the doors it has opened for her, she draws equal inspiration from her life experience that helps develop her creative processes and affective presence on and off the stage. She is passionate about the communal nature of dance and the simple fact that it allows our bodies to speak. Her appreciation for humanity fuels her passion for movement and supports her love of collaboration.