Sanni Small

Sanni Small (she/they) is a queer and neurodivergent musician, educator, composer, and deejay. Originally hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Sanni began her academic career studying opera at the Stetson University School of Music, and eventually relocated to NYC to pursue a Master's degree in musical theater at NYU Steinhardt. Over the past decade, Sanni has worked as both a classroom and studio teacher in the subjects of music, dance, theater, and STEM, and continues to enjoy performing in concert and theatrical ventures around the city. 

Sanni has a keen interest in the subjects of music psychology, music/performance as a tool of feminism, and neurodivergence in theatre. Sanni's long-term solo music project, "Kaldwin", aims to explore the nuanced sensations and traumas of both the neurodiverse and AFAB experience in America. Kaldwin's debut EP, Venus Pastoral, charted on the Indie Queer Radio Top 10 in Fall 2022. Sanni also writes for the theatrical stage, and is currently in the process of composing a rock-musical adaptation of Euripedes' Medea. 

Why Performance Studies?

I was drawn to the PS program at Tisch because, while the program places a strong emphasis on research and academia, it also celebrates the wide umbrella of performance and artistic mediums, and encourages the diverse learning methods and projects that scholastic artists wish to pursue. The faculty are very accessible and specialize in an array of subjects that stretch beyond the world of the arts into things like psychology, gender studies and the classics, and that is something that is highly attractive to a student like myself.