Keith Skip Costa

On Faculty since 2013, Keith "Skip" Costa has made huge strides for artistic innovation within his SURRENDERING Technique™ and InterARTS™ approaches to dance/movement studies and excellence within university teaching standards and achievements. His 2015 and 2023 faith based choreographic works were 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 3 years, 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.

Costa is the National Director and Owner of THE PURPOSE Dance Conventions and Showcases as well as NEW YORK LOS ANGELES DANCE (NYLA DANCE) and has been a featured dancer with David Rousseve/REALITY, Mark Dendy Dance, 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 holds 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 companies Dance Performance Project, Dance Performance Project-Improv, Dance Performance Project-Worship, Dance Performance Project-Alumni which performs yearly at Columbia Theatre. He is also the Artistic Director and Faculty Advisor for the Southeastern Worship Arts Collective.

He has served 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.