Jason Staten

Jay is a BFA graduate of Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. He started his dance training at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington DC and also trained at The Rock School of Dance Education and The Washington School of Ballet. Jay has danced with Donald Byrd's Spectrum Dance Theatre and was a principal with the Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco.) Jay has appeared on NBC'S TV series Smash, PBS’s A Fourth of July Celebration both choreographed by Joshua Bergasse: Apollo Club Harlem, director and Choreographer Maurice Hines; and on Italian TV show Amici, choreographed by Daniel Ezralow. He toured internationally with the musical Virtuosity directed by

Vivian Reed, and Dallas Theatre Center’s Production of Stagger Lee the Musical. Jay was the Dance Captain for Super Fly the Musical directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones, and Dreamgirls at Dallas Theatre Center.

Jay was most recently seen in New York City Center’s Encores production of Cabin in the Sky directed by Ruben Santiago Hudson and choreographed by Camille A. Brown, and as a soloist on Broadway in After Midnight directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. Jay danced in the Broadway workshops of Shuffle Along, directed by George C. Wolfe and choreographed by Savion Glover and the Radio City Music Hall’s Spring Spectacular, directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle.

Jay also has a great love for the business side of dance as well, working as a Development Associate, a Tour Manager, and The Co-Founder and First Artistic Director of D3, Philadanco’s pre-professional Children’s Company all the while dancing for the company. Jay was former Artistic Director for Best Dance and Talent Center and Elite Dance, both located in St. Louis, MO as well as First Class Dance Studio in Temple Hills, MD. Jay is currently a Judge and Master Teacher for Youth American Grand Prix, the Track Specialist for the International Association of Blacks in Dance Annual Conference and Festival. Jay also dances for Camille A. Brown and Dancers and is also working on Camille A. Brown’s Choreography team re-staging her works at universities and theaters across the country.

Jay is the Founder and Creative Director of Bring it to the Marley-DC. Currently finishing Season 6, this project culminated in an event where over 300 children from dance studios across the East coast came to perform all together in one show. This project aims to give kids more on-stage performance experience, but its main objective is to foster community. It also provides dance scholarships and aid to its participants. This event is held in the Washington, DC area with plans on adding Chicago, IL to the Bring it to the Marley Family in late 2021. Making its debut in August of 2020, Jay’s social-political dance company for children Movement-X By Jay Staten is a company that cultivates its members artistically and socially. Teaching youngsters the art of dancing on stage, on camera, and in photographs.