Growth & Personal Impact

Vanessa is a kind, warm, and encouraging choreographer and mentor who has made a real impact on my life. I have danced with Vanessa Isaac since 2014, initially in person for 5 years and more recently in her virtual live classes as I have moved to Baton Rouge, LA.

While in graduate school, dancing with Vanessa helped me to cope with the intense stress of academia. I always left her classes feeling grounded, rejuvenated, and ready to take on life’s challenges. Vanessa also creates a beautiful and supportive community through dance. That community made me feel immediately welcomed and cheered me on as I made it through various milestones and setbacks of earning my doctoral degree.

Vanessa’s deep knowledge, effusiveness and enthusiasm are infectious as she shares her energy and love of her art form with her students every single time she shows up to the studio. Her dedication to her craft and to sharing dance with her students is astounding.

I came to Vanessa with years of dance experience under my belt, but under her tutelage I have been able to grow. I have grown stronger and more graceful in my dancing as I continue to learn from Vanessa’s musicality.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to dance with Vanessa these past years and I look forward to continuing to dance with her from afar for years to come. Vanessa, her hard work, and her caring spirit have truly changed my life for the better.

Nikita Carney, PhD
Professor of Sociology and Dancer
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Nikita Carney, PhD is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Louisiana State University. Her areas of expertise include race, gender, migration, and ethnography. Alongside her academic work, she is also a dancer.