Gayle McKinney-Griffith Memorial Scholarship Fund

Gayle began dancing at a young age. She attended Carnegie Hall’s Showtime for children in New York and Froman’s Professional Ballet School in Connecticut. In high school she was dance club president, and received Connecticut College Dance Scholarship to study with professional dancers during the summer. After graduation she went on to attend Julliard, where she pursued a degree in Ballet before leaving to become one of the founding members and first Ballet Mistress of the Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem. During her time with Dance Theatre, Gayle traveled extensively and performed for audiences like The Queen Mother, Mick Jagger, and Stevie Wonder. Gayle was invited by Lewis Johnson to serve on the skeleton crew for the Wiz, and performed with/trained Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russel, and Diana Ross. She served for several years as a faculty member at Indiana University South Bend, where she was invited to help create the dance department. For the rest of her life Gayle would share her immense talent and love of dance with young performers around the world. She was a beloved instructor ‘Ms. Gayle’ to some of the youngest dancers at the Dance Extension in Waterford, Ballett Studio Marlen in Berlin, and was a guest ballet instructor at Connecticut College.