The Beginnings

Loremil Machado Afro Brazilian Dance Company (Afro-Brazilian)
My first experience with Loremil (to whom I owe my devotion to Bahia) was upon graduating high school. For two consecutive years we performed at Jacob’s Pillow, followed by Lincoln Center Out of Doors. The amazing artistry of his company members have forged membership to many Afro-Brazilian dance companies through the years. (Magda Silvana - New York Museum of Natural History, book of photography Chester Higgins Jr., "Feeling the Spirit") .

Capoeiras of Bahia/Dance Brasil (Afro-Brazilian)
 “Dance Explosion New York City” at Avery Fischer Hall was my first performance with Jelon Vieira. It was a memorable experience, as we were costumed in “Carmen Miranda” fashion by the Broadway costumer Bernard Johnson. I was later invited to teach the Horton dance technique in Salvador Bahia, to my alum, Dance Brasil.

Forces of Nature (Contemporary)
I met Diane Harvey during Broadway days of “The Wiz” when I snuck in to the theater to mimic choreography for my 9th grade graduation. She and her husband Abdel Salaam have enhanced my technique with dance dynamics and precision.

Alfred Gallman’s Newark Dance Theater (Contemporary)
Ballet trained dance company, for Alfred, my feet could never point enough. The remedy: to have the largest girl sit on my pointed ankles between rehearsals.

Blue Mercury Dance Company (Modern)
Loris Beckles protégé of the Alvin Ailey school, placed me in a program with some of the best dancers of New York City. My only regret, the 8am rehearsal schedules.

Lavinia Williams/Rhema Sterling (Afro-Haitian)
I thank these women for my formidable training in Haitian Folklore and the Dunham technique. I have since worked with numerous Haitian dance companies, including Serge St Juste (Dance Africa), and in their honor, expect to offer pedagogy in the Afro-Haitian experience.

Djoniba Mouflet Dancers and Drummers (Senegalese)
I encountered Djoniba during my final years with Loremil Machado. Djoniba was a new arrival to New York, proposing the greatest threat and admiration of an African warrior. It was this aesthetic I garnered from working in his company.