CHARLES O. ANDERSON, a native of Richmond, VA, is artistic director of dance theatre X, a critically acclaimed Afro-contemporary dance theater company he founded in 2003 in Philadelphia. He was formerly associate chair of The Department of Theatre and Dance and head of the dance program at The University of Texas at Austin.  Charles became Head of the Department of Dance at The Ohio State University in June 2022. He has performed for such choreographers as Ronald K. Brown, Sean Curran, Mark Dendy, and Joy Kellman. He received his BA from Cornell University and his MFA in Dance from Temple University where he was mentored by Kariamu Welsh and Brenda Dixon Gottschild. As an undergraduate, he was also a three time full-tuition scholarship student at the American Dance Festival. Anderson describes himself as an artist, an activist-educator, and institutional change-maker—a kinetic storyteller. He is moved to create dance theater that bears witness to human experiences through the cultural lenses of the African Diaspora. Among his achievements in Afro-contemporary choreography and dance theater, Anderson was selected as one of “The 25 Artists to Watch” by Dance Magazine and is a Pew Fellowship in the Arts recipient. His professional work has been presented nationally and internationally receiving  support  from such foundations and organizations as The National Performance Network, The Pew Foundation for Arts and Heritage, The Independence Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, and The Philadelphia Cultural Fund. In 2018 he was the first Texas-based independent artist to receive the prestigious National Dance Production Grant awarded by the New England Foundation for the Arts for his critically acclaimed evening-length work (Re)current Unrest which premiered in 2020 as a dance film due to the pandemic. He has had residencies with MANCC, NCCAkron, and the American Dance Festival among others. Anderson also nationally serves as an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism consultant  for university dance programs investing in anti-racist approaches to creating dance curriculum and training. To learn more about Anderson and his current projects visit www.charlesoanderson.me.