Miss Angie B

 
Angela Photographed in Studio Detroit’s first location on Lafayette in Downtown Detroit.

Angela Photographed in Studio Detroit’s first location on Lafayette in Downtown Detroit.

ANGELA BLOCKER-LOYD

A native Detroiter, national award-winning performer, Angela Blocker-Loyd began dancing at age 4 and grew to become an esteemed dance instructor by age 15, after learning from several Detroit-based dance studios including Wendy’s School of Dance, Freedom Dance Expressions and Fem Fatale Dance Studio.

Throughout her career, she has built an impressively decorated dance resume.  Angela has worked alongside distinguished entertainment industry leaders such as New York “Harlem Nutcracker's” Donald Byrd; actor and choreographer, Savion Glover; singers Mandy Moore and Ginuwine; Dance Theater of Harlem creator, Arthur Mitchell; the late Marcus Belgrave; Bill Summers; Debbie Allen; and actresses Robin Givens & Drew Sidora. Additionally, she has also performed in notable productions including the Cincinnati Ballet Nutcracker; the Univer Soul Circus; a host of stage plays including, Church Girl, My Brother Marvin, Why do Good Girls like Bad Boys, When Men Pray, For Colored Girls, Ebony Magazine’s, “A Day with Gregory Hines” and the Broadway-touring stage play, “Pride & Joy” (The Marvin Gaye Story), where she also served as the Assistant Choreographer. Most notably, Angela danced as lead principal dancer for the late Aretha Franklin.

Despite her acclaim working with celebrities, Angela makes time to enrich every community she encounters by successfully managing various local performing arts programs. Currently, she serves as the Director of Liturgical Arts at all Triumph Church’s campuses in metro-Detroit and she directs several dance programs throughout Detroit Public School Community District. However, her strongest point of pride is her award-winning dance studio, Studio Detroit Dance Center,  located in Hazel Park, MI. When Angela is not in Detroit, she also teaches and performs in Atlanta. Through these endeavors, she affords her students travel, competition, philanthropic, scholarship and employment opportunities while encouraging them to explore the arts and pursue their dreams.

Angela has earned several industry accolades throughout her career. The Michigan Chronicle recognized her as 40 Under 40 (2018), Who’s Who In Black Detroit (2018) and as an International Women’s Day Honoree (2018). Moreover, she earned recognition for her choreography work for Detroit’s All City Dance Concert, Clark Atlanta University’s Coronations, Miss Georgia & Miss Fulton County pageants in Atlanta and California’s United Methodist Church Women’s Conference.

Of all her accomplishments, Angela is most proud to be a wife, mother and daughter. She lives by the mantra “either find a way or make one” and she encourages all of her students to use it daily. Angela holds this mantra close as she  embarks on her new endeavors to expand her studio with a possible second location to offer opportunity to marginalized groups impacted by the Flint water crisis.

 

Photographer: TBA