BioSAM BLACK was born and raised in Berkeley, California. He began studying tap with Katie Maltsberger at the age of nine, and grew up watching MMDG perform at the company’s West Coast home, Cal Performances. He attended the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, where he performed dances by Mark Morris, Bronislava Nijinska, Sean Curran, and Kevin Wynn. He graduated magna cum laude in 2006. He spent a semester studying abroad at the Rotterdamse Dansacademie in The Netherlands, and danced with David Parker, Takehiro Ueyama, and Nelly van Bommel upon returning back to New York. While still a student at Purchase, he understudied and eventually performed L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato with MMDG at Lincoln Center. He was hired as an apprentice with MMDG in 2006 and became a full company member the following year. Sam started teaching company class a few years into his time with the company. He began teaching Dance for PD in 2010 and has led classes and workshops for that program around the world. He has taught master classes and/or workshops at such universities as The Juilliard School, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and The Rambert School (London), among others. He has set Mark’s dances on professional dance companies (Cincinnati Ballet), universities (Case Western Reserve University), and high schools (Alabama School of Fine Arts). He is on faculty at the School at the Mark Morris Dance Center, where he teaches a weekly advanced ballet class. An original cast member of Mark Morris's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Metropolitan Opera, he re-staged the opera there when it was brought back for the 2019-20 season. He continued to dance with the company until 2019, when he became the Rehearsal Director. Sam was Company Director from 2021-2024.