DR. PATRICIA AK ASANTE’-DYE is a native of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, was educated on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York. She is the Founder and Managing Director of Passing Ancestral Knowledge Along (P.A.K.A.) Theater Dance Company–Foundation, founded in 1993. Through P.A.K.A., Dr. Dye carries forward a pedagogical legacy rooted in ancestral knowledge, cultural heritage, embodied learning, and community. Central to P.A.K.A.’s pedagogical foundation is the teaching philosophy and practice of Dr. Charles “Baba Chuck” Davis, whose pedagogy Dr. Dye experienced, studied, and embodied through her service as his assistant and dance captain beginning in 1988.
Dr. Dye earned her B.F.A. in Dance Performance from Adelphi University, her M.A. in Dance and Dance Education from New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and her Ed.D. in Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
As a dance educator, Dr. Dye has received numerous honors, including the Dance Teacher of the Year Award from Dance Teacher Magazine (2020) and the Outstanding Dance Educator Award from the New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA) for Pre-K–12 Dance Educators (2022). Her experiences with Baba Chuck Davis provided firsthand engagement with his approach to Dunham technique, cultural heritage, and African diasporic traditions. His pedagogy became a foundational legacy embedded within P.A.K.A.’s approach to embodied learning, cultural transmission, and community-building. Dr. Dye continues to honor and extend this legacy through her teaching, mentoring, scholarship, and artistic practice.
Building upon the legacies of Charles “Baba Chuck” Davis and Katherine Dunham, Dr. Dye conducts Dunham-based technique and cultural heritage workshops at colleges, universities, and cultural institutions. Her work creates spaces where ancestral knowledge is embodied, preserved, shared, and passed along to future generations.