Julio Jean is a renowned master Haitian dance teacher and choreographer. He blends traditional Haitian forms with modern and contemporary dance to create compelling movement narratives. His extensive career of over 20 years includes work with Katherine Dunham and performances of his company’s choreographies at Alvin Ailey and Central Park’s Summer Stage. Julio studied with Lavinia Williams, a company member of Katherine Dunham, at the National School of Arts in Haiti. In 1989, he moved to New York City and worked directly with Katherine Dunham, teaching traditional Haitian dance for her teacher trainings. He has been a guest teacher at Webster University in Saint Louis and Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany; and has taught workshops in San Francisco, Milwaukee, and at the Dance New England Dance Camp in Poland, Maine. Currently, Julio teaches in New York City and at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Julio is also a songwriter and composer of traditional Haitian music; he released the album: “Kenbe la,” which encompasses the panorama of traditional Haitian music.

Danys “La Mora” Pérez is a master of Afro-Cuban folkloric dance from Santiago de Cuba, and has special expertise in the unique styles of her native region of Oriente province. La Mora was a member of Cuba’s national folkloric ballet company, Cutumba, for 18 years, and was granted the designation of primera bailarina and primera profesora by the National Dance Commission of Cuba. She is the founder and artistic director of Oyu Oro Afro-Cuban Experimental Dance Ensemble in New York City.

KD Is an international artist, educator and choreographer based in Brooklyn. Working in dance, movement and aerials, KD has lived a life dedicated to embodiment through movement arts. More information can be found at her website: www.kdmovement.space

Rachel Tavernier is a world-renowned Master Dunham Teacher who also specializes in Ballet and Haitian Folklore. Rachel trained directly under Katherine Dunham in Port-au-Prince, East St. Louis and New York. She also studied with former Dunham Company members and master teachers, Vanoye Aikens, Lucille Ellis, Tommy Gomez, Pearl Reynolds, Talley Beatty, Walter Nicks, Archie Savage and Theodore Jamison. In 1999, Katherine Dunham named Rachel a master teacher in Dunham Technique. Rachel earned her teacher certification from the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification in 2000. As an instructor and a consultant, Rachel was a collaborator on the 2002 Library of Congress documentary about Dunham Technique. Presently, Rachel is on the board of directors at the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC) as chair of the Technique Committee. She is an integral member of IDTC, contributing to the annual Dunham Technique Conference as a visionary, organizer and teacher.

Penny Godboldo is a dance artist and a teacher in the Katherine Dunham Technique. For the past five years, she has held the position of Co-Director of the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification. She is a 2018 Kresge Artist Fellow and an adjunct faculty member in the dance department at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Penny trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She incorporates her pedagogy as teacher and her larger philosophical view that dance is life. It is a methodology developed through extensive research in dance history. Her work is informed by her travel to Haiti, Cuba, Benin, Brazil, Japan, China, England, Scotland and other countries, during her role as chair of the Marygrove College dance department for nearly two decades. Penny travels internationally, choreographing, leading workshops and educating students.

Ms. Eloi is a seasoned Haitian Dance specialist, artist, commissioned choreographer, culture worker, educator, and published scholar. As a dean's fellow at the University of California at Rivers, she is a doctoral candidate in Critical Dance Studies where she is focusing on African Diaspora pre-colonial cosmology, epistemological ontology, and indigenous studies. As a first-generation Haitian, she is an embodied master Haitian Folkloric Dance professor, teaching songs, context, and history while giving the relevant steps. She has trained in Haitian dance with many master teachers including Madame Gauthier, Florencia Pierre, and Ramses Pierre, and studied drumming with Frisner Augustine and Yagbe Onilu. Ms. Eloi has toured as a professional Haitian artist extensively locally, nationally, and internationally, with groups like Groupe Petit La Croix, Project Reconnect, Chouconne, NY, and her own ELWAH Movement Dance Theater. She has also choreographed the 97 Yanvalou Dance Tribute to Katherine Dunham: A Living Birthday Card and the Dunham conference in Oakland, California. She loves collaboration and has worked with the National Theater of Ghana, Carijama festivities in Haiti, along with multiple organizations in the Oakland and San Francisco Bay Area where she uses Haitian dance as a healing modality. Ms. Eloi has conducted fieldwork on Haitian dance in Haiti since 1997 (ten trips). To understand the lineage of Haitian dance she went to Ghana and Benin, to find the detailed connections between Haitian and other African Diaspora dances. In Benin, she interviewed linguists and worked with the Beninoire conservatory of dance and music to understand the langaj in Haitian Kreyol songs. She has recently presented her scholarly research on the Haitian Dance Gede Maskawon at multiple conferences including Dance Studies Association (DSA), and has been asked to speak at Stanford University, UC Berkeley as well as many other Universities, Colleges, Schools, and Arts Organizations. She has taught at the National School of the Arts in Haiti, (ENARTS) and has conducted extensive studies of Haitian dance culture, focusing on lineage to African and Haiti's diaspora. She is one of the creators of the year-long online dance conference entitled Back to the Root: The Healing and Spiritual Power of the Spine and the Pelvis in African Rooted Dance (BTTR). Ms. Colette is extremely active in her field of African Diaspora dance and is sought out to share her knowledge and teach dance in, conferences, community events, private events, ceremonial events, and studios. Currently, Colette is preparing to conduct research in Nigeria.

Keith Tyrone Williams, a proud native of East St. Louis, Illinois, has performed, directed and choreographed throughout the United States and extensively in Europe. As Artistic director, Keith directed, choreographed, and produced “The Ties That Bind”, a riveting theatrical work performed by his company, Innervison Dance Theatre. He has directed Twenty Six Pebbles and Counting, The Colored Museum, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Once on This Island, Five Guys Named Moe, The Wiz, and served as choreographer for St. Louis Black Rep, (Raisin, Black Nativity, Death and King’s Horseman).

He most recently received the honor of Arts Educator of the Year (2018) from Arts and Education Council of Greater St Louis. Keith is also a distinguished recipient of the NAACP Award for his contributions to the cultural arts and Arts -In –Education, Eminent Educator Award/PHi Delta Kappa ,African American Heritage Award/Links inc., 2019 Marquis Inaugural Award, and a 2014 St. Louis Regional Arts Commission Fellow

As an arts educator, Keith was recently featured in I Am East St. Louis Magazine honoring natives who defy the negative stereotypes associated with the city. Keith is very proud to be among the few people certified by Katherine Dunham to teach the world renowned Dunham Technique. . Keith holds a BS/Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville), Master of Arts in Directing, MFA/Directing with an emphasis in Arts Management (Lindenwood University).

“To Whom Much is Given…..Much is Require

Penny Godboldo trained at the Alvin Ailey School in NYC. She incorporates her larger philosophical view that dance is life — a methodology developed through research in dance history – into her pedagogy as a teacher. Her work is informed by travel to Haiti, Cuba, Benin, West Africa, Brazil, Japan, China, Italy and most recently Israel and her role as chair of Marygrove College Dance Department for two decades. She began her studies in Dunham technique in Detroit at age 14 with Clifford Fears, mentored by Madame Lavinia Williams in NYC and Haiti. She continued her mentorship with Katherine Dunham for 21 years as her demonstrator in St. Louis, Denver, Detroit, and Port au Prince, Haiti and performed in Dunham repertory: “Shango,” “Adagio” and “Americana.” Godboldo trained with Dunham Masters: Talley Beatty, Lucille Ellis, Vanoye Aikens, Pearl Reynolds, Tommy Gomez and certified teachers Theo Jamison, Keith Williams and Ruby Streate.