Dance Educator | Choreographer

 Frist Art Museum (Nashville, TN) Cut to the Quick exhibit opening. 

Fists in the Air is a choreographic exploration inspired by the raised fist of resistance from the 1968 Olympic games by track athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith. This piece explored the historical significance of stepping into their posture, stance, and tension during the Olympic medal ceremony. This piece gained renewed context in consideration of recent peaceful protest marches for social change in 2020.

“Show me a man willing to fight beside me, my hand in his, the color of courage. There is no mountaintop worth seeing without us. Meet me in the trenches where we lay our bodies down, in the valley of a voice. Say her name” - Aja Monet

This is a contemporary ballet piece designed to map the movement exploration in qualitative contrasts of symmetry, balance, and gravitational play.

Of Sand & Salt is a visual investigation of retracing Senegal’s coastal beauty through a dark history of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The work unveils the pursuit of diasporic liberation and reclamation. This coastal voyage explores natural beauty in the salt mines of Lac Rose, and ultimately the lasting image of Goree Island’s “Door of No Return”. The choreography explores freedom in athleticism and rhythmic percussion, paired with the contrasting fluidity in anguish and containment. 

At the seat of fear is the amygdala; the reason why we are afraid of things outside of our control. So, the choice is to stay within, on the cusp, or to simply explore the uncharted.