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FOLA AFOLAYAN | ADMINISTRATIVE & ARCHIVE ASSOCIATE
2019- Present Fola Afolayan is a theatre artist based in Philadelphia. Her work explores the connection of history of the African Diaspora to current day events. Her solo show Diaspora Crossroads has been performed at The Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference, SoLow Fest in Philadelphia, and at Louisiana State University. Folaranmi has also workshopped the show as an artist in residence at 1812 Productions in Philadelphia. She earned her BFA in Theatre from North Carolina A&T State University and her MFA in Acting from Louisiana State University. |
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OJEYA CRUZ BANKS | MOVEMENT ARTIST
2019- Present Ojeya Cruz Banks (PhD) is a dancer-anthropologist-choreographer. She works as an Associate Professor of Dance at Denison University. Her research is inspired by her African and Pacific Islander American lineages from Guåhan/Guam to Alabama, Kentucky and Louisiana. For over a decade, she worked as a Senior Lecturer for over a decade at the University of Otago in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Cruz Banks’ research and teaching focus on Black/African and indigenous Pacific dance education, freestyle, choreography, and performance. Her choreographies and publications include topics such as West African dance (Guinea & Senegal) and Pacific Island dance as source of somatic practice, spiritual well-being, and decolonization. Ojeya’s short dance film titled Tåno/Land premiered at the 2016 Pacific Arts Festival and in 2018, her dance film collaboration Original Spaces: Black/African/Pacific Intersections was selected to be shown at the Gibney center in NYC. Her dance film Ocean in our Blood: Black Atlantic Blue Pacific will premiere at the Pacific Dance Festival in Auckland, New Zealand June 2020. |
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SURYA SWILLEY | MOVEMENT ARTIST
2019- Present A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Surya Swilley is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Johnson C. Smith University where she received a BA in Dance and a BA in Communication Arts. In 2011, she received a scholarship to attend the Garth Fagan SummerMovement Institute. She is an alum of the American Dance Festival and has served as the assistant rehearsal director to Michelle Gibson. Additionally, she is an alum of the Urban Bush Women’s Summer Leadership Institute. Through a multilingual approach to movement, Swilley addresses a gamut of personal and systemic topics, including her spirituality, sexuality as well as social justice and injustice in her work. She has been honored to work and study under great artists including Candace Jennings, PJ Pennewell, Shani Collins, and LaTanya Johnson. Swilley is a Level 1 Embodiology practitioner, a movement methodology created by Dr. S. Ama Wray. She has performed with Lela Aisha Jones|FlyGround, Martha Connerton/Kinetic Works and Kariamu and Company. In addition to being a videographer, Swilley holds an MFA in dance from Temple University where she was admitted as a Future Faculty Fellow in the fall of 2017. |
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AYA RAZZAZ | ADMINISTRATIVE & ARCHIVE ASSOCIATE
2018-2019 Aya Razzaz is a choreographer and performer from Syria, Palestine and Jordan based in Philadelphia. Aya’s work lives in the intersection of social justice and performance, and revolves around the somatic experiences and narratives of Arab refugees. Aya continues to investigate where displacement lives in the body and how we, as a society, view, carry and disregard refugees in our communities. |
 photo credit: Julieanne Harris
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ZAKIYA L. CORNISH | MOVEMENT ARTIST
2017-Present Zakiya L. Cornish is a New Orleans native currently residing in Philadelphia. Classically trained in West African dance, she worked as a New Orleans-based independent performer and teaching artist for several years and is well known as a stellar teacher of traditional and contemporary African dance classes across the country. Her graduate research at Temple University entailed an exploration of the intersections of African American identity and West African Dance. Zakiya is a former member of Lela Aisha Jones | FlyGround and Kulu Mele African Drum and Dance Company. Through her connections with these companies, she has worked with Tony-award winning choreographer Jeffrey Page and the renowned Ron K. Brown of Evidence. Zakiya’s choreographic work focuses on traditional and contemporary dance and music of the African Diaspora. |
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AIGNER PICOU | MOVEMENT ARTIST
2016-present Aigner Picou started dancing at a young age. She studied ballet, modern and african from elementary school through high school. In college, she focused her training on modern and african dance and performed with both ensembles. Most recently, |
 photo credit: Amari Ross
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ARIELLE PINA | ADMINISTRATIVE & MARKETING ASSOCIATE
2015-2019 Arielle Pina is a Philadelphia-based artist hailing from Boston, MA. She explores topics of equality with collaborators of many disciplines to create a cohesive, diverse body of work. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from The University of the Arts, and received The Nadia Chilkousky Nahumck Award for Creativity and Dance-Making. She also attended the Headlong Performance Institute, a post baccalaureate in hybrid performance. Since graduating, she has shared her work at dance venues and film festivals in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Belgium and Paris. |
 photo credit: Rocco Peditto
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AMANDA L. EDWARDS | MOVEMENT ARTIST
2015-Present Amanda L. Edwards is from Mount Vernon, NY. She began her training at The Dance Theatre of Harlem, where she participated in the Community Program, Summer Programs, and the Pre-Professional Program. She attended Earl Mosely Institute of the Arts during the summers of 2013 and 2014. She graduated from The University of the Arts with honors in May 2015. Amanda participated in the Nomad Express Choreography Lab for three weeks in Burkina Faso, West Africa during summer 2016.She has worked with choreographers such as Iquail Shaheed, Jen McGinn, Olivier Tarpaga, Esther Baker-Tarpaga, Kim Bears-Bailey and Meredith Rainey. Amanda is currently a dancer with Dancespora, Putty Dance Project, Lela Aisha Jones | FlyGround, and Klassic Contemporary Ballet Company. |
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JULIE B. JOHNSON | ADVISOR, STRATEGIST
2013-2016 Julie B. Johnson is a dance artist focused on intersections of creative practice, community interaction, and social justice. She is interested in dance taking place in and out of the studio, on and off the stage, and anywhere in between. Julie is a Dance Lecturer at Spelman College and serves as an editor of The Dancer-Citizen, an online scholarly journal exploring the work of socially engaged dance artists. She is thrilled to work with Flyground as an advisor and strategist, and also as a member of the coordinating committee for Flyground's initiative, Dancing for Justice Philadelphia. Julie earned her PhD in Dance at Temple University where her research focused on meanings and experiences of 'community' in a West African dance class in Philadelphia. |
photo credit: Julieanne Harris
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PATRICIA "PEACHES" JONES | MOVEMENT ARTIST
2011-Present Patricia “Peaches” Jones is a movement artist specializing in dances and rhythms of the African Diaspora. She has been honored to study diasporic movement, rhythm, and culture for over 20 years with amazing artists and teachers from Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Cuba, Brazil, and the United States. In addition to her artistic practice, Peaches worked in public health for over a decade dedicating her time towards her other passion for healing communities. Currently, Peaches dances Lela Aisha Jones | FlyGround and Kulu Mele African Dance and Drum Ensemble, Philadelphia’s premier African dance ensemble. Additionally, she is working to develop choreography, classes, workshops, and experiences that utilize the healing properties of diasporic rhythms and movement to cultivate physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being for individuals and community. |
photo credit: PC Chrirsk Photography
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DANIELLE CURRICA | MOVEMENT ARTIST
2011 Danielle Currica is Guyanese American movement artist. Beginning her training in Memphis TN, she attendied Virginia Commonwealth University. That summer she would begin working with Philadelphian dance companies DanceTheaterX and idiosynCrazy productions, and later with choreographers Meredith Rainey/Tania Isaac, Kate Watson-Wallace, and Megan Mazarick. She received a 2015 Rocky Award for her dance and admin work with organizations <fidget>, Dance/USA Philadelphia, Ars Nova Workshop, and Headlong. Joining Peek-A-Boo Revue in 2009, she would elevate to choreographer and soloist- Sophie Sucré. Featured with NY based Brown Girls Burlesque in 2012, she has since headlined The Burlesque Hall of Fame, Philadelphia, New York, and Colorado Burlesque Festivals, Philadelphia Pin-Up Peep Show, and the 2017 Munich Burlesque Festival. In 2012, Danielle helped establish the Philadelphia Burlesque Academy, as teacher and mentor to the local professional burlesque community. |
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DENEANE RICHBURG| MOVEMENT ARTIST
2009-Present Deneane Richburg is the founder and Artistic Director of Brownbody. As the creative home for Richburg’s choreographic work, through Brownbody, she honors the complex narratives of U.S. based Black diasporic communities by taking participants on journeys that disrupt assumptions, ideologies, and disenfranchising popular narratives around blackness. As a modern dance choreographer and former competitive figure skater, Richburg is interested in pushing the boundaries of creative expression on the ice via engaging these narratives as a framework in which somatic based movement exploration occurs. Richburg blends different movement worlds and creates work for both the ice and the stage. Richburg received her MFA in dance and choreography from Temple University in 2007 and Working alongside Lela Aisha Jones, she co-founded The Requisite Movers. Richburg has had the honor to dance for a number of artists/companies including, Chris Walker, Dr. Kariamu Welsh, and Lela Aisha Jones | Flyground. |
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SAROYA CORBETT | MOVEMENT ARTIST
2009-2016 Saroya Corbett is a certified Dunham Technique instructor. She has a Masters in Fine Arts degree in Dance from Temple University and a Bachelor of Arts from Spelman College. Her dance ability can be attributed to being well trained under professionals like Katherine Dunham, Vanoye Aikens, Glory Van Scott, Tommy Gomez, Ruby Streate, and Kariamu Welsh. Throughout Saroya’s performing career, she has performed with the dance companies, Kariamu & Company and Flyground, and presented her own work through Saroya Corbett Dance Projects. In 2014, Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches was released by the University Press of Florida, which included Saroya as a chapter author. She serves as the history and theory chair for the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification and she serves on the steering committee for the Coalition Diasporan Scholars Moving (CDSM). |