Amy Bramlett Turner received her early training from Edmond Cooper and Andrea Pierkowski in

Hot Springs, Arkansas. She completed her BFA in Ballet and Modern Dance as a Nordan Fine Arts

Scholar at Texas Christian University in 2011 and her Masters of Arts in Dance Education at the

University of North Carolina- Greensboro in 2019. She is a proud honors graduate of Hot Springs

High School, where she returned to build the Hot Springs School District’s 7-12 Dance Studies Program

in 2014 in order to give back to the very community that raised her.  She also holds the title of

Secondary Arts Coordinator for the Hot Springs School District where she works to unite all secondary

art programs and coordinates shows, events, and collaborations within the school and the community.

 

Amy truly believes dance has the power to create change- change in the student, relationships, the

audience, oneself, and in social injustice. She works tirelessly to use dance education to build student,

organization, and community partnerships within Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.  Since 2014,

Amy has been an Artist in Education with the Arkansas Arts Council and the Dance Director for

Hot Springs School District’s 7-12 Dance Program of over 160 students yearly, and where she is the

founder of the Hot Springs Dance Troupe. These young dancers study ballet, jazz, and modern during and after school and have performed frequently in the Hot Springs community with organizations such as the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, Oaklawn Racing and Gaming, Hot Springs Rotary clubs, and countless other community organizations and fundraisers.  

 

In this position, Amy has led the program to fundraise over $100,000 for dance shoes, costumes, class materials, workshops, and attendance of performance tours in order for students to have access to a quality dance education without exclusion because of financial means. In addition, she continuously trained the Hot Springs Dance Troupe and led them to raise over $45,000 to be able to take thirteen dancers to perform with the Stars of Tomorrow performance tour in Austria, Germany and Italy in 2018, and again raise the funds again to be able to take ten dancers again in 2022. She is now working to train and fundraise for the next generation of students to attend the Stars of Tomorrow tour in Austria in 2025.  Her dance troupe is only the third public school dance program in the United States to be invited on this tour in its history. The Hot Springs Dance Troupe is consistently sought after in Arkansas to perform her original choreography, specifically her works inspired by social justice themes. 

​

As the current President of the Arkansas Dance Network (ADN), Amy has successfully led the organization to become the state-affiliate of the National Dance Education Organization. As president, she has led ADN to connect dance educators and programs across the state of Arkansas by establishing the first annual Arkansas High School Dance Festival (2019) and the first annual Arkansas Dance Teacher Professional Development Day (2020) and the first annual Arkansas Middle School Dance Festival with the ADN Board in spring 2022.

​

Amy believes in giving back to her community and works consistently to ensure that she is constantly bringing new classes, performances, and choreography to her students and all community partners including Summer Dance Intensives with featured guest teachers, community-wide workshops, and elementary workshops to involve younger students in performance opportunities. 

​

Throughout her professional performance and teaching career, Amy has been a proud ambassador of Hot Springs and Arkansas, and always planned to return to her hometown to help mold the youth into active community members and citizens of this world. Her lifelong goal is to establish a legacy of dance experiences and knowledge to her hometown and connect dance students and educators across the state and world. She believes dance can help students define their individual voice, increase self-confidence and develop a sense of belonging.

​

Amy looks forward to a life dedicated to growing as an educator, human artist, and leader in the field of dance and arts education for Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.