Tammy Stanford is founder and faculty of dance at the Mississippi School of the Arts. She holds an Ed.S licensure in Dance and Theatre K12, MFA in Dance from Montclair State University, BFA in Dance from the University of Southern Mississippi. Stanford’s dedication to dance in Mississippi public education has been recognized by the University of Southern Mississippi AIM award for outstanding career achievement in dance, Thad Cochran Distinguished Arts Educator from Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education, and the Dance Career Award by Fini Dance New York/Italy.

She is chair of Mississippi’s Arts Learning Standards for Dance, chair of Mississippi’s (K12) Dance Partnership, founder/coordinator for the regional Dance Festival hosted by MSA annually, formerly a Mississippi Arts Commission Teaching Artist, current mentor teacher for National Dance Educator’s Organization, chapter sponsor for MSA’s National Honor Society of Dance Arts, ambassador, choreographer, and dance composition instructor for Fini Dance New York/Italy International Dance Festival and Gala, and contributing editorial writer for Fini Dance Magazine.

Ms. Stanford creates dances through her improvisational process she calls “unraveling”. She uses this process to research phenomenological and sensory investigations of poetic imagery. She shares this process with her dancers and helps them develop their own creative practice in addition to training them in classical and contemporary dance forms.

Her dance works have been selected for various state, national, and international festivals and galas.