VPA Dance Department Faculty
The VPA and Comprehensive dance department at Northwestern High School consist of two dance faculty members and a dance resource support teacher:
Mrs. S. (Sandra Atkinson, MA), & Mr. B. (Bayardo Martinez, MFA)
Sandra C. Atkinson, MA
VPA Dance Chairperson
Sandra C. Atkinson is the Chair of the VPA Dance Department at Northwestern HS where she teaches, mentors, and creates work for the VPA Dance Students. She is also the Founder/Artistic Director of Light Switch Dance Theatre where she creates socially conscious multidisciplinary work to be performed in non-traditional spaces. She is most known for her work The Girl Child Project, RedLines, Cool Aid, and NEST for LSDT.
She has a B.A. in Dance from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and an M.A. in Performing Arts: Dance from American University. Sandra currently choreographs works at Montgomery College (Rockville, MD), Black Rock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD), and City Ballet (Hagerstown, MD). Her teaching/choreographic credits include American University (Washington, DC), Goucher College (Baltimore, MD), Community College Baltimore County (Essex, MD), American College Dance Festival, Washington Ballet School, Dance Place (ReVision Dance Company class), and for Equinox Dance Company. Sandra has and continues creating works for Agora Dance Company, Equinox Dance Theatre, Jane Franklin Dance Company, Next Reflex Dance Collective, City Ballet, American University, and Montgomery College Dance Company. Sandra has performed professionally with Next Reflex Dance Collective, Peter Dimuro, Jane Franklin Dance, Carla & Company at Dance Place, and Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.
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In 2012, Sandra was awarded the Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship from Montgomery College and in 2020 she received the Distinguished Alum Award for Dance at UNC Charlotte. She is currently serving on the Dance SLO/Assessment Committee and CVPA Curriculum Committee for PGCPS. As well as, serving as a Judge for the Helen Hayes Awards through TheatreWashington. Sandra also serves as President of the Maryland Dance Education Association.
Sandra's theatre work includes choreography for Glass Mind Theatre Company (Baltimore, MD) production of Midsummer Night's Dream, Fells Point Corner Theatre's (Baltimore, MD) production of Durang Durang, Strand Theatre's Production of One Glitz Wish (Baltimore, MD), Montgomery College's production of HONK! , RENT, Godspell, Conference of the Birds (Rockville, MD), Notre Dame of Maryland University's production of Love and Information (Baltimore, MD), Montgomery College's Production of Bat Boy: The Musical, Richard Montgomery High School Production of Guys and Dolls (Rockville, MD), Montgomery College's Production of Avenue Q (Rockville, MD), Montgomery College's Production Urinetown: The Musical (Rockville, MD), Richard Montgomery HS's production of The Little Mermaid, and Montgomery College's of Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play. Her most recent work includes choreography for Blueberries for Sal at Adventure Theatre and Oliver!: The Musical at Richard Montgomery High School. Sandra's most recent work was as Director for the Kennedy Center REACH Parade and Moderator for Ronald K. Brown/Arturo O'Farrill at Strathmore Music Center (N. Bethesda, MD).
Bayardo Martinez, MFA
VPA & Comprehensive Dance Faculty
Bayardo Martinez Jr. [he/him], is a Maryland native who began his dance journey as a competitive Latin ballroom dancer. He studied vocal music education at CUNY Queens College, where he also received extensive dance training with Marshall Davis Jr., Carlos Fittante, Carolyn Webb, and Edisa Weeks. He earned an A.A. in dance performance from Montgomery College, where he protracted his training with Sandra Atkinson, Ralph Glenmore, and Gail Minor-Smith; special dance works with Alice Howes, Alvin Mayes, Gaye Meyers, Shannon Quinn, and Silvya Soumah.
Bayardo received his B.A. in dance performance, choreography, and education from the University of Maryland (College Park), where he adapted various modern dance styles into his own dance proficiency. There he created works and studied with Crystal U. Davis, Maura Keefe, Alvin Mayes, Sara Pearson, Kendra Portier, Mané Rebelo-Plaut, and Patrik Widrig. He was a Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Scholarship Recipient, American Collegiate Dance Association (ACDA) Scholarship Recipient, and became a member of the Delta Chi Xi Honorary Dance Fraternity Incorporated.
Bayardo graduated summa cum laude from Saint Mary’s College of California with an M.F.A. in dance (creative practice) and stage management, where he presented and published his thesis work, “Reflexiones Mosaico: Impacting Future Perceptions From Introspective Mirrors”, an analysis of colorism, discrimination/racism, and the lack of educational resources that students of color experience and receive in public schools.
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With his background in Latin ballroom, social, and traditional dance styles, Bayardo served as coach and choreographer for Magruder Rumberos, a Latin dance competition team at Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland for the past eight years. He has led the team to victory by winning first place in dance categories that include group and solo works at The Music Center at Strathmore and Millenium Stage at The Kennedy Center. He founded the Magruder Dance Company as the artistic director and choreographer, where he staged dance works for social change.
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In addition, Bayardo is an “Elite Lambda”, serving as vice president of the Gamma Epsilon Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area Professional/Graduate Chapter of La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Fraternity Inc. He strives to make an impact in arts education by increasing the participation of dance for people of color. Bayardo also serves as the Dance Education Advocacy Lead for Maryland Dance Education Association.
Bayardo (Mr. B) currently works as a dance faculty member at the Jim Henson Academy of Visual and Performing Arts at Northwestern High School. He educates, mentors, and produces dance works for students in both VPA and Comprehensive dance programs. Aside from teaching, Bayardo creates work and performs in the Washington D.C. area.