Keith "Skip" Costa

On Faculty since 2013, Skip Costa has made huge strides for artistic innovation within his InterARTS™ approach to dance/movement studies and excellence within University teaching standards and achievements. His 2015 choreographic work was selected for the South Region Gala Concert by the prestigious American College Dance Association (ACDA), the highest Nationally recognized Dance organization at the post-secondary level. In Spring 2015, he was also selected by his peers from Universities within the South Region of ACDA to serve on the National Board of Directors for a 3-year appointment giving Southeastern Louisiana University an opportunity for artistic exposure and National recognition with over 400 universities with institutional membership. In 2022, he was awarded Southeastern's President's Excellence Award for Artistic Activity which is the highest honor a faculty can receive from his university. 

Costa is the National Director and Owner of NEW YORK LOS ANGELES DANCE PROJECTS as well as the Founder and Artistic Director of SKIP COSTA.COREmovement PROJECT, NYLA DANCE National Youth Performance Project, the Southeast Dance Festival, and the off-Broadway theater experience ROCK STARS NYC combining live rock music and dance featuring Justin Tranter, collaborative songwriter for Fall Out Boys, Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez just to name a few, and opening band for Lady Gaga’s “Monster Ball World Tour”. Skip has been a featured dancer with Mark Dendy Dance (Choreographer of Broadway's TABOO), David Rousseve/REALITY, The Kennedy Center's Washington Opera under artistic direction of Placido Domingo & The Hamburg Ballet, The New Orleans Ballet Association, Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Katie Duck/School for New Dance Development Amsterdam, Anna Halprin, Barbara Dilley, Diane Butler, and Carol McDowell. He has choreographed Off & Off-Off Broadway dance projects at Times Square Theater, The Tribeca Playhouse, The Richard Ellner Theater, and the American Theater of Actors as well as for the American Dance Guild, The Elan Awards (honoring Jerry Mitchell and Anne Reinking), DRA, Urban Artworks 7, DancenowNYC, Jennifer Muller/The Works HATCH Series, DUMBO Arts Festival, RedEye Theater(MN), New Dance Group, Coming Together, University Settlement, 92nd Street Y, The Best of Broadway Dance Center, and various NYC studio showcases. He has taught and lectured for numerous high schools, colleges, and universities within the US and has taught/performed with his dance company within the US, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe. In Manhattan, he was on permanent faculty at Broadway Dance Center, Steps, Peridance/Capezio Center, Ballet Arts, New Dancer Group, and Dance Space (now Gibney Dance Center) and has taught at Millennium Dance Complex in Los Angeles. He has also served as Acting Director of the Uptown Performance Series at The Bridge For Dance for numerous years which was highlighted by The New York Times.

He has studied with a wide range of choreographers/performers including Anna Halprin (Somatic Movement), Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (BMC-Body Mind Centering), Elaine Summers (Kinetic Awareness), Nancy Starke Smith (Contact Improvisation), Barbara Dilley (Improvisation), Meredith Monk (Voice & Movement), Rachel Rosenthal (Performance Art), Katie Duck (Instant Composition-School for New Dance Development Amsterdam), Eiko & Koma (Butoh), Lisa Kraus (European Dance Development Center), Michael Parmenter (New Zealand Dance Company), Maida Withers (Cunningham), Bill T Jones, Ralph Lemon, Li Chiao-Ping & David Rosenberg (Dance, Film, & Mixed-media Performance), Diane Madden (Trisha Brown), Lynn Simonson, Robert Small (Murray Louis), Laura Glenn (Limon), Jim Lepore, Douglas Nielsen, James Martin, Gloria Newman, Rennie Harris, Sara Shelton Mann, Rosalind Newman, Diane Butler, and Carol McDowell (Graham) just to name a few.

He has an MFA in Dance (Choreography & Performance emphasis) from The George Washington University and a BA in Theatre (Dance & Directing emphasis) from Southeastern Louisiana University.  He also holds a post-graduate certificate in Movement Studies from The Naropa University. 

He is currently Director of Dance and is an Instructor of Contemporary Dance, Choreography, and Performance at Southeastern.  He serves as the Artistic Director and Faculty Advisor for our resident dance company Dance Performance Project and our resident improvisation dance/movement company DPP2.  He also serves as Faculty Advisor for our Xi Chapter of XTE, Chi Tau Epsilon, a national honor fraternity for Dance majors and minors as well as received over $255,000 in grants for Southeastern's contemporary dance program.