Creator.

Communicator.

Thank you for visiting my website. A little about me:

I like to think of myself as a dance intellectual. Bridging the mind and the body, with a little bit of spirit in there too. I’m based in the SF Bay Area, operating in the fields of performance, choreography and writing. My research-based work explores the intersection between dance, race and embodiment.

I hold an A.B. from Harvard University in Social Studies and African American Studies. My thesis Interstitial Existence: Katherine Dunham and the Power of Performative Identity won the Kathryn Ann Huggins Prize. I also received the Cornel West Prize for best overall performance (as indicated by thesis and GPA) in the African American Studies Department.

My choreography has been commissioned throughout the SF Bay Area by Dance Mission Theater, the Black Choreographer’s Festival, the Stapleton School of Ballet, Mark Foehringer’s Dancing in the Park, Masquers Playhouse and the Museum of African Diaspora where I helped to launch dance in the museum.

I’ve been fortunate to perform at the Joyce Soho in New York, Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts, and the Cairo Opera house in Egypt. Most recently I’ve worked with Joanna Haigood’s Zaccho Dance Theater (aerial/dance theater), Mark Foehringer’s Dance Project (contemporary ballet) and Ruth Botchan Dance Company (modern). I’ve also performed in regional theater with roles in musicals like Cats, Rent, Merrily We Roll Along, Chicago and the play The Women.

What I like to do best is communicate, creatively and otherwise. I’ve always been a writer and a talker, a performer and a dancer. I express myself in whatever medium I can.

I’ve written nonfiction articles with Conscious Dancer and InDance. My serialized fiction appeared for three years in Berkeley Hills Living magazine. I’ve taught dance students throughout California and I’ve served on the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee.

Currently, I am artist-in-residence at Western Sky Studio in Berkeley and working on my first non-fiction book about the Black Panther Party. I look forward to getting to know you.

With love,

Jetta