A dance intellectual, Jetta Martin is a Bay Area choreographer, performer and writer. Jetta’s research-based work explores the intersection between dance and race, music and literature, jazz and art. She is an honors graduate of Harvard University in Social Studies and African American Studies.

Jetta’s choreography has been commissioned 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 she launched dance in the museum.

In acknowledgement of her extensive performance career, Jetta received “Best Contemporary Dancer 2011-2013” from BayAreaDanceWatch. Her touring highlights include the Joyce Soho in New York, Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts, and the Cairo Opera House in Egypt. Most recently she has worked with Joanna Haigood’s Zaccho Dance Theater, Mark Foehringer’s Dance Project and Ruth Botchan Dance Company.

Beyond the stage, Jetta’s literary contributions include nonfiction articles with Conscious Dancer and InDance. Her serialized fiction appears in Berkeley Hills Living magazine. Her thesis Interstitial Existence: Katherine Dunham and the Power of Performative Identity won the Kathryn Ann Huggins Prize. She also received the Cornel West Prize for best overall performance (as indicated by thesis and GPA) in the African American Studies Department. She has taught dance students of all ages from Richmond to Brisbane, and has served on the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee.

Jetta is currently artist-in-residence at Western Sky Studio in Berkeley.