Saleemah E. Knight is a dancer and choreographer who has performed with Beyoncé. To grow in her career, she channeled inner strength and self-love.

• Saleemah E. Knight is an accomplished choreographer working to make the dance industry more inclusive.
• Knight reflected on her journey in the dance world, telling Insider, "I'm walking in my truth."

Saleemah E. Knight remembers the first time she felt like she had a place in the dance industry. She was 12 years old and landed a gig as a dancer in the premiere production of "The Harlem Nutcracker," the brainchild of the world-renowned choreographer Donald Byrd.

It was a pivotal moment for the aspiring performer, who felt appreciated as a Black dancer in a field that often favors whiteness. "Donald selected me out of hundreds of little kids," Knight told Insider. "It gave me that first moment of really feeling like, 'Wow, I'm valuable in this community.'"

Knight, who started dancing at age 3 as a rehabilitative treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, said working with Byrd helped her see the sort of impact a leader in dance could make. "It was such a big moment where he basically took a very European theme — 'The Nutcracker' — and placed bodies of color at the center of it," she said.

About five years later, Knight was awarded a full-ride scholarship to the University of Arizona after completing a master class at the school's Jazz in AZ showcase, where she earned praise from the likes of Sherry Zunker — a dancer, choreographer, and artistic director — for her choreographic contributions. Knight graduated early and magna cum laude, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Arizona's School of Dance in 2005. She then received a graduate fellowship to complete her Master of Fine Arts at the University of California, Irvine, in 2013.

A dance protégé since her youth, Knight is now skilled in multiple genres of dance, including ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap, modern, and hip-hop. Since 2014, she's been a professor at the University of Southern California's Glorya Kaufman School of Dance — a program she helped build from scratch — where she teaches jazz dance technique and courses related to dance history, popular culture, and cultural practices.

She also designed and instituted courses like the Origins of Jazz, World Perspectives on Dance, and Dance in Popular Culture to explore relevant cultural concepts in dance.

Coping with grief and pursuing fulfillment

Whenever Knight speaks to young hopefuls in the performing arts, she emphasizes that her career has not been linear. Her professional journey is akin to a continuous dance — equal parts choreographed and improvised — filled with leaps of faith and piqués that have propelled her across different stages of life.

Her success didn't come without missteps and wobbles, but Knight continued to give herself grace, keeping in mind that she has the right and capability to pursue her passions. She channeled this mindset in 2008 when her mother encouraged her to audition for "The Lion King" on Broadway, just two weeks after her father, Leonard G. Knight, died.

"It was a really dark period for me," Knight said, adding that she initially declined to audition as she dealt with grief. But the day before the audition, Knight's mother gave her another gentle nudge, and Knight knew that her father would want her to go for it.

"The next morning, I got up at 8 a.m.," Knight recalled, fighting back tears. "I put my unitard on, and I went to the audition." There were thousands of dancers in attendance, vying for a coveted spot in the production. "In my head, I'm like, 'I'm so broken. I don't think I can do this,'" she said.

But Knight found a way to push forward: "I looked up, and I said, 'Dad, give me strength.'"

She went into the audition, giving it her all, and ended up booking the job. She performed in the production for three years and played six parts, including a featured role as a lioness. To this day, she believes that securing a spot in the show was an ordained accomplishment.

"My dad's initials were LK, and 'The Lion King' was the first job I got after he died," Knight said. "The story is about losing your father and coming of age. It was another moment where I felt like I'm supposed to be here. I'm walking in my truth. I'm on the right path."

Letting her light shine

As Knight acquired more notches on her belt — including performing with Beyoncé at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, providing movement coaching for dancers performing with Wiz Khalifa and Daddy Yankee, and appearing in the award-winning 2020 documentary "Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance" as a historian — she noticed a shift in some of her friendships that left her at a crossroads.

"There were some experiences where people were supposed to be there for me, and I thought that they were rooting for me, but they ended up being kind of destructive," Knight said. "It felt like they wanted me to dim my light. I had to basically say, 'This is not worth it. I don't think this friendship is serving me very well, and it's clear that you can't be supportive of me in this new phase of life. So I think it's best if I just walk away from it.'"

It wasn't an easy decision, but it was necessary for personal growth, Knight said. "Part of my self-love is being able to say no to things that aren't serving my energy in that moment," she added.

Making dance more inclusive

Protecting her peace, Knight said, has allowed her to be more present in both her personal and professional life. It's also helped her stay focused as she works to make dance a more inclusive space.

"The work that I do as a professor is amazing," Knight said. "Yes, it's a title, and it's an honor, but I do it to push my field forward so that we can evolve and grow." She added that she hopes to decenter whiteness and dismantle racial hierarchies in dance while expanding the knowledge and curriculum of comprehensive cultural dance "outside of the Western canon."

One way she expands and preserves cultural awareness is by incorporating historical lessons into her dance classes. For instance, during a contemporary jazz master class in 2021, Knight taught a group of young dancers how to do a lively step that originated from the Lindy Hop, a genre of dance popularized by a group of Black performers during the Harlem Renaissance.

"Norma Miller, Billy Ricker, all these people I mentioned the other day, Shorty George, all are a part of this crew of Lindy Hoppers," Knight told the class. "These are the people that created these dances."

In other courses, Knight has discussed topics like the commercialization of hip-hop and the appropriation of classical Indian dance and Bollywood culture.

Knight has also formed "natural connections" with the young women of color who take her dance classes and feel like they can be their authentic selves. "There's a 'strong Black woman' trope that we see quite a bit," Knight told Insider. "I want to show them that we don't have to be that all the time. It's okay for us to be soft and have fun."

For Knight, fighting for more inclusivity in dance also extends into an oft-taboo topic in the performing arts and media industries. "If I could shout this through a megaphone all over the world, I would: Give choreographers credit for their intellectual property," she said, noting that choreographers are often credited as "miscellaneous crew," even in dance-centric films and TV shows.

It all goes back to Knight's mission to inspire other creatives, especially marginalized folks, to follow their passions, recognize their worth, and forge their own paths — one rhythmic step at a time.