Candice Michelle Franklin
Creator of Jazz Ain't Dead®
Biography
Dance Artist, Choreographer, Music Producer, Executive in Arts Leadership
Dance Activist and Creative Director specializing in Live Concerts and
Theatrical Events featuring Jazz Dance, Historic Jazz Dance,
Street Dance Styles and Jazz Music reimagined.
Candice Michelle Franklin, born and raised in the world of live jazz music and jazz dance, is a New York–based professional dancer, choreographer, and music producer. She is the Artistic Producing Director of her own live urban jazz music and dance production, JAZZ AIN’T DEAD®, as well as the Artistic Director of Cumbe RISE, an open community dance company and performance workshop series produced by Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance.
Miss Franklin holds a B.A. in Dance from the University of Kansas and received her conservatory training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Committed to deepening her knowledge of jazz and jazz-adjacent forms, Franklin has traveled internationally to study and perform. Her training includes the DVIDA rhythm syllabus at the Ballroom Dance Teachers College of New Mexico and Afro Brazilian Zouk with world-renowned artists Carlos and Fernanda. She twice traveled to Swing's Camp Hollywood in Los Angeles and Sweden's renowned Herräng Dance Camp, on full fellowship as a legacy dancer for the Al Minns Next Generation Project in Lindy Hop, studying under the direction of Denise Minns-Harris, world-renowned duo Marie N'diaye and Felix Berghäll, and legendary jazz dancer and film choreographer Chester Whitmore. She continues her dance education as an ongoing IDTC certification candidate in the technique of Katherine Dunham.
A 2024 NYSCA grant recipient, Franklin’s choreography has been presented by Cumbe, Jazzmobile, Lincoln Center’s Summer in the City, Yale University, Joyce SoHo, Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, Harlem Arts Festival, Harlem Summerstage, BAMcafé Live, NYC Department of Education DECC, Webster Hall, and MTV/Viacom. Her choreography has also been presented at several casinos such as Turning Stone, Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Borgata, and Caesar’s. Moreover, her choreography includes work for recording artists Courtney El, Art Auré, Bollywood recording artist SHAKTI, and Grammy Award–winning artist Macy Gray.
Franklin teaches extensively as a dance educator for the Departments of Education in New York and New Jersey and serves as an instructor for special dance education projects with DEL Dance Educators Lab, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and The Joyce. She has presented at leading jazz conferences, including Uprooted and The Legacy Jazz Conference in León, Guanajuato, Mexico. Her teaching is also featured in Urban Stomp, a 2025–2026 installation at the Museum of the City of New York.
Currently, Miss Franklin is on faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, Kean University, and the Joffrey Ballet School, where she also serves on the audition tour team. She performs as one-half of the electric Lindy Hop duo, "#SammyandCandy," partnered by Frankie Manning Ambassador, Samuel Coleman. Franklin holds an MBA in Music Business from Berklee College of Music/SNHU, is a founding member of iDANZ Inc., a proud SAG-AFTRA member, and continues to produce, choreograph, and teach throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Biography Updated January 2026
CANDICE MICHELLE FRANKLIN
Dance Educator, Specialist in Jazz Dance and Historical Jazz Dance
Technique Specialties: Studio Jazz, Dunham-Informed Jazz, and Dunham Foundational Syllabus
Additional Dance Expertise: Musical Theatre, Historic Jazz Vernacular, Commercial Jazz,
Afro Contemporary Jazz, Latin Jazz, Salsa On2, East Coast Swing, and Lindy Hop
The Legacy Jazz Dance Conference in León, Gto, Mexico
List of Dance Education Appointments
College University Adjunct Positions
Sarah Lawrence College -John Jasperse, Dance Department Chair
Kean University -Rachel Evans, Theatre Department Chair
University of Massachusetts - Amherst -Dr. Paul Anthony Dennis, Dance Department Chair
Conservatory
Joffrey Ballet School (New York, NY) -Era Jouravlev, Ballet Trainee Artistic Director
Joffrey Ballet School Jazz & Contemporary (New York, NY) -Angelica Stiskin, Artistic Director
Pro Arte Dance (Vancouver, BC, Canada) -Astrid Sherman, Artistic Director
DOE Department of Education Dance Teacher Workshops
Teaching NYC Public Schools Dance Teachers for their Professional Development
DOE DECC - Dance Educators Collective Concert (Instruction and Choreography Commission) -Shirlene Blake, Director of Dance for NYC Public Schools
DOE Dance Educator’s Lab -DEL at 92nd Street Y -Jody Gottfried Arnhold (Founder), Erin Lally (Director), Ann Biddle (DEL Professional Learning Curriculum Consultant)
DOE Dance Educator’s Lab -DEL at Gibney Dance -Shirlene Blake, Director of Dance for NYC Public Schools, Jody Gottfried Arnhold, Director, Susan Thomasson, Master Instructor Facilitator
Arts Institution Dance Education Programming
The Joyce Theater Dance Education
Yale University
National Jazz Museum in Harlem
Museum of the City of New York
Lincoln Center Summer for the City
The Apollo Theater
Harlem School of the Arts
YAFFA Arts
Greenwich House Music School
College Master Classes
Yale University
Webster University
University of Kansas
Department of Education Public Schools Residencies
High Schools
High School for Contemporary Arts (Bronx, NY)
The Global Learning Collaborative High School (New York, NY)
Talented Unlimited High School (New York, NY)
Cicely Tyson High School of the Performing Arts (East Orange, NJ)
Union County Academy for Performing Arts UCVTS (Scotch Plains, NJ)
Middle Schools
Vancouver School of Arts and Academics (Vancouver, WA)
L.S. 584 Intermediate School P10X Autism Program (Bronx, NY)
Elementary Schools
P.S. 304 Early Childhood Lab School P10 Autism Program (Bronx, NY)
P.S. 333 The Longwood Academy of Discovery P10 Autism Program (Bronx, NY)
P.S. 26Q Rufus King (Queens, NY)
P.S. 87 William Sherman Elementary (New York, NY)
P.S. 20 Anna Silver Elementary School, Lower East Side (New York, NY)
P.S. 123 Mahalia Jackson School, Harlem (New York, NY)
Private School Guest Teaching
The Putney School
The Stony Brook School
Marymount School of New York
Citywide Public Community Performance/Instruction
Jazzmobile - City Artist Corps Grant
Jazzmobile -Jazz on the Great Hill
Jazzmobile - Senior Community Residency Tours (Multi-years)
Lincoln Center Summer for the City (Multi-years)
Harlem One Stop (Multi-years)
Harlem Summerstage (Multi-Dates)
Harlem Arts Festival
New York City Transit Museum - New York Public Library
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture - New York Public Library
National Jazz Museum in Harlem -Jackie Robinson Park
New York City Multi-Cultural Arts Festival -(Multi-Dates)
Fort Greene Park Conservancy Dance Series
Jazz at Governor’s Island X Cumbe Center for African Dance
Flushing Town Hall
Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAMcafé Live
Conferences
IABD International Blacks in Dance Conference (Multi-years)
Uprooted -Broadway Dance Center (New York, NY)
The Legacy Jazz Dance Conference (León, Guanajuato, Mexico)
Studio Appointments
Cumbe Center for African & Diaspora Dance (Brooklyn, NY)
Uptown Dance Academy (New York, NY)
Friends Dance Academy (Long Island, NY)
Studio Residencies
Joffrey Ballet School Miami (Miami, FL)
Center for Performing Arts Methuen (Boston, MA)
Dance Prodigy Booking/Infinity Dance Company (Lyndon, WA)
Pro Arte Dance (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
Mauro Youth Ballet (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Jovan Miller Productions (Seattle, WA)
Wyckoff School of Dance (Wyckoff, NJ)
Young Dance Academy (Milwaukee, WI)
Next Step Dance Studio (Milwaukee, WI)
Expressions Dance Studio (West Union, IA)
N'Ferno Performing Arts Center (Baltimore, MD)
Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center (Bronx, NY)
Together We Dance (St. Louis, MO)
Pinx Academy of Dance (St. Louis, MO)
Angela Floyd Schools (Knoxville, TN)
Suzanne's Main Street Dance Centre (Detroit, MI)
Full Studio List Upon Request