Norma Porter is a journalist, dancer, educator and arts administrator. She is the Founding Publisher and Editor of Black Dance Magazine. Norma also serves as the Dance Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator, Freshmen Dance Advisor and instructor for the Freshmen Seminar in Dance course at Temple University. As a dance artist, Norma trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Maryland Youth Ballet and American University. Norma teaches dance workshops and choreographs for the GrassROOTS Community Foundation, and performs at Temple and with Bessie-nominated artist Lela Aisha Jones|Flyground.
Norma is currently developing two areas of focus: 1) critical analysis of the quality and frequency of media coverage of Black dance and 2) intergenerational working relationships between Black women in dance. She recently moderated a panel discussion on Black Dance in Magazines at the International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference in Dayton, OH in January 2019, and presented on Black women challenging racial, cultural and aesthetic norms in dance at the Amplify! Black Women of the Movement Symposium hosted by the African American Museum in Philadelphia, PA in March 2017. Norma has served as a humanities advisor for The Documentary History Project for Youth for several years at the Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia, PA, where she assisted student participants with finding sources, developing interview questions and editing their documentaries.
Norma is an active member of the National Association of University Women and the International Association of Blacks in Dance.
Norma holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Journalism and a dance minor from American University.