Meet Tanesha Payne

We were lucky to catch up with Tanesha Payne recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tanesha , thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

For me, creativity isn’t something I visit occasionally — it’s something I move through, and something that moves through me. The practices that keep my creativity alive are the ones that keep me connected to my body, my community, and my inner landscape.

Movement improvisation is at the heart of it. When I move, I’m not just generating choreography; I’m thinking, processing, listening. My body holds so much information, and improvisation gives me a way to sift through it. My daily journaling practice works the same way — each morning I “brain dump” my stresses, anxieties, ideas, and to-dos so that I start my day with more space to be present, embodied, and open. That ritual, paired with meditation and physical movement, helps me begin each day with clarity instead of clutter.

I also find a surprising amount of creative energy in simple, repetitive tasks — laundry, sorting cards or coins, anything that lets my mind wander. Those moments of mindlessness often become moments of insight because they give my ideas room to breathe.

My inspiration comes from many places: community stories, social justice issues, and everyday humanity. When I am teaching or collaborating, I’m pushed to explain concepts in new ways, and those new perspectives feed my own artistry. Viewing other art, reading, and witnessing people’s vulnerability all spark something in me. Community, especially, plays a huge role in my creative life. Their stories, curiosity, and willingness to be seen inspire me. Having a witness — someone to hold and reflect the work — is essential. Collective meaning-making creates shared understanding, appreciation, and respect, which is something our world desperately needs more of.

Protecting space for creativity is a practice I’m still learning. I’m getting better at saying no to things that don’t align with my passions — a challenge for me, because I genuinely love people and collaboration. But I’ve realized that my creativity dissipates when my energy does, so I’m practicing boundaries and envisioning a future where I can schedule dedicated creative blocks.

When I feel creatively blocked, I step away. I go for a walk, or I move freely until something shifts. I remind myself that creativity is a facet of who I am — not the entirety of my being. That perspective helps me release pressure and return to the work with softness.

My life as a teaching artist deeply informs my creative practice. Teaching forces me to return to the foundational elements of the art form again and again, which gives me a more nuanced, layered understanding. Explaining one concept to many different types of learners refines my clarity and expands my vocabulary — both of which become invaluable in the studio and rehearsal room.

Creativity is not optional for me. It is the way I understand the world and share that understanding with others. When I go too long without a creative outlet, it shows up in my body as tension. Movement becomes the only way through.

If creativity had a physical sensation, for me it would begin as tension — a tightness inside. As I begin to move, that tension shifts into a tingling, like a colander sifting through ideas. The ones that don’t belong slip through the holes; the ones that resonate stay behind. Those are the ones I polish with a little more elbow grease and shape into something worth sharing.

Creativity is my compass, my release, and my way of connecting. It keeps me alive — and I try to honor it by staying open, embodied, and willing to move.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am a movement artist who educates, creates, and advocates. My work is rooted in a deep belief that movement is one of our most powerful tools for understanding ourselves and each other. As a dancer, I move to feel, to process, to reflect, and to share stories that live in the body. As a choreographer, I create work in collaboration with dancers who are willing to release themselves to the process and move with honesty. As a teaching artist, I use movement to facilitate learning for people of all ages. And as a leader, I direct a professional dance company of twelve artists who create experiences designed to support the well-being of our community.

My artist statement says it best: I am a mover. I am a creator. I am an advocate. I am an educator. Each of these roles keeps me seeking humanity in movement. There is nothing more beautiful to me than honest movement carved by experience. I create work based on personal investigations that evolve into expressions of the human experience, and I am passionate about making dance approachable while maintaining its integrity. My ambition is to transform performance spaces into havens where performers and spectators can thrive.

My work is guided by several missions.
For sumRset Movement, our mission is to increase the visibility, accessibility, and appreciation for contemporary dance in San Antonio. As an educator, my teaching philosophy centers on meeting each person where they are. I strive to create spaces that acknowledge multiple truths and allow learners to explore themselves as critical thinkers and moral citizens through space, energy, and time. In all my roles, my goal is to remind people that the world needs exactly what they have to offer.

I founded sumRset Movement because I saw — and felt — a void in my community. I dreamed of being a choreographer with a professional dance company since I was seventeen years old. Life took its turns, but twenty years later, that dream is alive and breathing. What makes sumRset Movement unique is our use of improvisation as a core element in both creation and performance. The name itself carries meaning: it is my maiden name, but it also reflects our process — some of our work is set, and some of it is not.

More importantly, I want this company to serve the city of San Antonio. My hope is that sumRset Movement offers a space for people to connect, learn, heal, be present, witness, and dance. We envision a vibrant and inclusive dance culture that inspires, connects, and uplifts communities through the transformative power of performance and collective artistry.

What excites me most right now is that the work is resonating. People are responding with curiosity, enthusiasm, and gratitude. We’re receiving meaningful feedback from our engagements, and it confirms what I’ve always felt: there is a real hunger for embodied, community-rooted art in San Antonio. I love connecting with people across the city, learning their stories, and witnessing their connection to dance. Creatively, I’m looking forward to developing a new work this year and revisiting repertory pieces as we prepare for our first evening-length performance.

Professionally, my focus is on building a sustainable nonprofit and positioning sumRset Movement for long-term impact. The next major milestone is our first evening-length show, which we will be building toward steadily. Readers can follow our social platforms to witness this journey, learn about upcoming events, and find ways to move with us.

At the core of all of this is a simple but urgent desire: to help my community reconnect with their bodies, live more embodied lives, and support their overall well-being. Movement is a doorway to healing, understanding, and togetherness. My purpose is to keep that doorway open.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, three qualities have been the most impactful in my journey: collaboration, improvisational thinking, and staying open. These three threads have woven themselves through every part of my personal, artistic, and professional life.

Collaboration has been with me from the beginning. As the middle child of five, working with others wasn’t optional — it was the rhythm of my childhood. Learning how to listen, negotiate, share space, and support each other became a natural part of who I am. That sense of “we” over “me” is still at the center of my artistry and leadership. I’ve learned again and again that community creates the conditions for creativity, and that meaningful work is rarely done alone.

Improvisational thinking was something I practiced long before I knew to call it that. Improvisation showed up in my dance training, on the softball field for over a decade, in motherhood, and honestly, in life. Every moment of uncertainty became an opportunity to use what I knew, trust what I had, and respond to what was in front of me. Improvisation taught me how to adapt, pivot, and create possibility — not just in the studio, but in the world.

And the third, staying open, is a lesson gifted to me by one of my early professors, Lebritia Sindija. She encouraged me to explore movement in all its forms and warned me against boxing myself in. She told me that once I could look beyond labels, I would be powerful — and she was right. My openness has been shaped by everything from skating and cooking to cross-stitching and paddle boarding. Each new experience teaches me something about myself, and those teachings inform the way I love, lead, and create.

My advice for those early in their journey is to practice curiosity. Ask “why” before you rush to solve. The more questions you ask, the more information you gather — and the more your own lived experiences have room to rise up and shape your ideas. Curiosity is the doorway to creativity.

Learn how to work with people. Collaboration isn’t just a skill; it’s a mindset. I would hire a team player over a phenomenal technician any day. Technical skill creates form, but collaboration creates possibility.

And finally, find the everyday movements in your life — the small, ordinary moments — and use them as practice grounds for openness, adaptability, and connection. Creativity doesn’t only happen in the studio or on the stage. It happens while cooking, walking, folding laundry, laughing with loved ones, navigating conflict, or trying something new.

These qualities aren’t static; they are lived, practiced, and embodied. And when you nurture them, they will absolutely shape what is possible in your life and work.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Absolutely. Collaboration is at the heart of everything I do, and sumRset Movement thrives when we are in relationship with others. We are always looking to connect with community organizations, movement artists, funders, and people who have access to rehearsal or performance spaces. These partnerships help us expand what’s possible and deepen our impact in San Antonio and beyond.

The collaborators who feel most aligned with our work share a few key values: curiosity, openness, an equity mindset, a community-centered approach, and a genuine collaborative spirit. We gravitate toward people and organizations who believe in the power of movement, value shared leadership, and are excited about creating experiences that support collective well-being.

We are open to a wide range of collaborative opportunities — workshops, community residencies, co-created performances, and interdisciplinary projects that blend movement with other art forms or community practices. If it supports connection, creativity, and embodied expression, we are interested.

If you’re reading this and feel drawn to collaborate, I would love to hear from you. You can connect with me through Instagram or email — reach out, introduce yourself, and let’s explore what we can create together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://taneshapayne.com
• Instagram: @tanesha_payne1 & sumrset_movement
• Facebook: @taneshapayne01 & sumRset.Movement
• Linkedin: tanesha-payne

Image Credits

Personal Photo: Major Rivers
Additional Photos:
1. Ruby City – Family Day (Photo by
2. Imani Winds Collab (Photo by Chris Stokes
3. NWV Workshop (Photo by Brittany Lopez)
4. Quilt Session (Photo by Jennifer Martinez)
5. Panel (Photo by Richard Payne)
6. Me w/ Kids (NEISD)
7. Unbound (Photo by Grace Featherston)
8. CIMI Presentation (Photo by Kate Hadfield)