So grateful to have Todd Bailey at AZHC. He is indeed a treasure! Check out this excerpt from AZ Republic 9/27/2024.
From the glamour of Monte Carlo to the deserts of Arizona, dance has taken Todd Bailey across the world. The professional dancer and educator has now returned to Arizona and works at the AZ Historical Society as a special projects coordinator, but his journey has taken twists and turns like a winding canyon road in his home state.
Bailey was born in Mesa in 1967 and raised in the Valley.
“I’m a Gen X kid from the ’70s, running around these desert streets trying not to burn my feet and all that,” Bailey said. His grandparents moved from Mississippi in the 1940s and raised his mom and her three sisters in the Washington- Escobedo neighborhood.
Bailey attended school in south Mesa, where he was homecoming king in 1985. Although he grew up in a segregated area of the Valley, he looks back at his childhood fondly.
“Education was really, really, really a big deal in the family and also the arts. My mother is a gospel singer, they call her ‘Joyce the Voice’ Bailey,” he said.
This exposure and love for the arts from a young age set him on the path he is still on today. For Bailey, it’s the reason why he became involved in dancing at all.
“Her musical and arts interests kind of filtered to me and I became a professional dancer, I grew up dancing at Tempe Dance Academy,” Bailey said.
After beginning his career in the Valley, he started his journey across the world; first to San Francisco, then New York City and Atlantic City. He worked in Monte Carlo as well.
After 25 years of dancing and being on the road, Bailey retired from professional dancing and came back to the Valley.
He has worked for the Arizona Historical Society for about 6 years, where he is the special projects coordinator.
In this role, he has organized many events and worn many hats. One such program is the society’s annual Juneteenth Celebration.
The event is hosted at the Arizona Historical Society and is organized in conjunction with the Black Family Genealogy and History Society, and the Arizona State University Library.
Jessica Salow, assistant archivist of Black Collections at ASU has known Bailey for the last five years and has worked side by side with him on the Juneteenth Celebration for the last three.
For her, Bailey has been a source of inspiration and a connection to the community around her.
“Working with Todd is an absolute delight, it’s a pleasure. Every time I am in conversation with him, every time I collaborate with him on a project I learn so much from him and I am very inspired and in awe of who he is,” she said.
