Candace Thompson-Zachery

Candace Thompson-Zachery, born in Trinidad and Tobago and now local to Brooklyn, NY, operates between the spheres of dance, cultural production, and fitness and wellness, with a focus on the Contemporary Caribbean. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Adelphi University, and a Master of Arts in Performance Curation from the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance from Wesleyan University.  

Candace has had an established career as a performer, choreographer, fitness professional, cultural producer, teaching artist, community facilitator and Caribbean dance specialist. In addition to her work in these areas, she leads ContempoCaribe, an ongoing choreography and performance project, and is the founder of Dance Caribbean COLLECTIVE, an organizational platform for Caribbean dance in the diaspora that spearheads the New Traditions Festival in Brooklyn, NY. 

Candace has presented, performed and taught at major venues including: Queen's Hall (T&T), John F. Kennedy Center, New York Live Arts, Brooklyn Museum, and The Ohio State University. She was an inaugural member of the Dancing While Black Fellowship Cohort 2015/2016, was an awardee of Adelphi University's 2017 - 10 Under 10 program, and a Dixon Place Artist-in-Residence for fall 2017. 

Candace has worked as a cultural producer and strategist on several notable projects. Most recently these include: the Caribbean Theater Project at the Martin E. Segal Theater, New York Caribbean Carnival for WIADCA Inc. (NY) and the performance series for Look For Me All Around You by curator Claire Tancons for the Sharjah Biennial 14. Candace has been recently appointed Manager of Justice, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives at Dance/NYC, a non-profit umbrella organization for dance in New York City.