Francis Taylor, Sr. Writer
Genell Price, Dance Instructor
Genell Price is currently partnered with five locations in Southern California including the Academy for Early Learning in Inglewood, Creative Hands and Kaos Network in Leimert Park, Minds N Motion on Slauson, and Mandela Village in Compton, to provide learning and dance instruction for young people.
Price got an early start in her unwitting plan to become a dance instructor. By the time she was five years old, she and her brother tap danced for then, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and she remembers to this day the pleasure he expressed in watching her perform. By the time she was nine years old; she danced for the Joffrey Ballet Company and performed in the Nutcracker for two consecutive years.
She continued on her early dancing quest and for one year was a soldier at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and was an angel at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center. “The Cerritos experience was my first exposure to racism,” Price explained. “That predominately white dance company was not used to seeing a young and talented African American dancer and they did not accept and welcome me graciously.”
When Price was 13, she began assisting Mrs. Blackwell, her dance instructor, by teaching small children between the ages of three and five at Blackwell’s Dance Academy, where she had been receiving dance lessons from the age of four. She was taught ballet, tap, jazz, baton, and gymnastics.
While attending Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, Price taught dance lessons for her campus dance teacher because the teacher was pregnant. By the age of 18 she was partnered with 10 schools throughout Southern California and has been the stage Manager for Santa Monica College Synapse Dance Company under the direction of Linda Gold.
Price graduated from West LA College with an Associate Degree in Behavioral Arts Social Sciences in 2017. She is a former case manager for Tessie Cleveland Community Services Corporation. Also the same year she earned an A.A. Degree in Business Administration. Currently enrolled at El Camino College, Price will earn a Child Development Certificate and later transfer to Cal State Los Angeles where she plans to major in Business Administration and Minor in Theater Arts & Dance.
Now, with over 50 private clients enrolled in Priceless Dance Productions from Inglewood, South Central, Leimert, and Compton, Price is making a positive difference in the lives of young people throughout Southern California.
