I am a dance-maker whose work fuses contemporary ballet and jazz dance. Also involved in Stage Direction for Opera, I am a newly appointed Assistant Director for Chautauqua Opera. My work as the Founder of South Chicago Dance Theatre (SCDT) includes serving as the organization’s Resident Choreographer, Executive Director, and Artistic Director. I am the founder of an enduring Choreographic Diplomacy™ project that began in 2018 and presently spans the creation and presentation of new work with artists in Seoul, Korea; Arnhem, Netherlands; and Columbia, South America. Here, art making is a tool I use to engage with diverse people to build collective experience, develop empathy in cross-cultural relations, and understand the importance of global citizenship. In 2022 I was named the “South-Side Diplomat of Dance” by the Chicago Reader.

I am the daughter of a celebrated Chicago-based saxophonist. While my father and I were estranged for much of my life, I see myself reflected in reviews written about his work and the ways in which he’s described as a composer and performer. In my dance making, I’ve always had a vested interest in rhythm and musicality, and my creative process centers around an exploration of how to create both dissonance and harmony with sound. Showcasing form, energy and architecture, my work derives from my subconscious, exploring disparate ideas from multiple vantage points such as movement invention, investigation of emotion, irony, and showmanship.

Though my work stems out of my experiences of living in the Black, female corporeal body, I am ultimately interested in the deconstruction and transcendence of race and in employing movement to build community. Using contemporary dance, I wish to reflect upon the human condition, challenge notions of perspective, and increase opportunities for interconnected sensibilities throughout the global community.