Satchel Joseph is a 21-year-old New
Orleans dancing sensation; a raw
electric force to be reckoned with
on the contemporary dance scene. Now in
her senior year at Tulane University, dance
is what Satchel is majoring in, along with a
closely related field - kinesiology, the study
of the mechanics of body movements.
On a recent Saturday morning we met
and discussed her world, from being a
young black woman in the industry to her
favorite dance projects to simply enjoying
life and the support system she has
from her parents, one of whom is LeBron
Joseph, better known as “LBJ” from his
shows on WYLD radio and WGNO-TV
(“News with a Twist”).
In the words of Satchel, “My resumé is
long…okay!” Her talents have taken her
far and wide and she has danced on music
videos with some of today’s top vocalists,
including Beyonce’s “Sorry” and Drake’s
“In My Feelings.” She won Big Freedia’s
Dance-Off contest and secured a spot
on Freedia’s “Shake Team,” in addition to
working with local artist, Boyfriend, who
she termed “a super bad-ass feminist
singer/rapper.”
From the outside looking in, the world
of dance may appear as glitz and glam,
but Satchel has a more realistic view
of the movement art form: “It’s a lot of
discipline,” she said. “The biggest misconception
about being a dancer is that it’s
just super fun. It is fun but it’s much more
(work) than most people realize,” she is
quick to add.
Growing up in the Gentilly neighborhood
as the oldest of three children,
Satchel began taking dance lessons at
By Morgan Davis
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEBRON "LBJ" JOSEPH
the age of three with Dierdre’s School
of Dance in uptown New Orleans. She
studied there until she was 12 and then
began lessons at Gentilly’s Passion Dance
Center, with whom she also performed
in numerous Mardi Gras parades. While
growing up she attended many performances
staged by the New Orleans
Ballet Association and other local dance
companies.
Satchel went on to attend Benjamin
Franklin High School and the New
Orleans Center for the Creative Arts
(NOCCA), and she graduated from
both. Today, entering her final semester
at Tulane, she is studying dance and working
on her senior dance project under the
seasoned tutelage of longtime professors
Barbara Hayley and Alice Pascal Escher.
“They are both so great. I love working
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