Curtain Call Arts takes pride in its artistically diverse staff. We have an impressive roster of accomplished artists, choreographers, educators and performers, who bring professionalism, enthusiasm and creativity to every setting they encounter. Our educators have a passion for teaching and a commitment to cultivating each student.

Artistic Director

   Zakiya Atkinson is the artistic director of Curtain Call Arts. The K-12 certified arts educator received her BA in Communications and Theater from Temple University and her MA in Dance Education from New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. The artist, educator, and choreographer has accumulated a global perspective of the arts and is committed to utilizing it as a way to foster the cognitive, artistic, and social growth of children, adolescents, and adults. Ms. Atkinson has done arts outreach for various populations and communities and recently traveled to Uganda where she performed, conducted workshops and created new works for orphans and students, while studying Ugandan dance and culture.

   Passionate about the benefits of an arts education, Ms. Atkinson has developed and implemented arts education program curriculums for early childhood, elementary, and secondary schools throughout the east coast. She has an extensive performance background that includes dance, theater, music and television, and has traveled internationally performing and presenting new works. Ms. Atkinson's choreographic works have been commissioned for stage, festivals, and film and in 2010 she founded and fused Zaman Dance Theater Collective, the resident dance company of the JCC MetroWest (West Orange, NJ).

   The artistic director is currently an adjunct professor in the Kinesiology Department of William Paterson University and has served on the faculty of City University of New York, JCC MetroWest, Dance Innovations, Irbys Dance Center and Memorial High School, where she recently created a dance program and curriculum for the performing arts department.

   Zakiya Atkinson is a member of Dance New Jersey and NDEO-National Dance Education Organization.