I am an Afro-descendant of Haitian heritage, a story-teller, a healer, a mover who dances for the liberation of humanity and who uses her research to inform, preserve and share culture that nurtures our being.
My work is about beauty and healing. Beauty is an ultimate state of completion and wholeness, and healing, the process that takes us there. My work seeks to support people in reaching their state of wholeness through creativity. Through elegance and exuberant power, I seek to make my performances communicate the depth and richness of the stories I tell. Merging dance and research serves to share stories with the general public that are generally under-explored or locked away in libraries is at the core of my work.
I started dancing at a young age and only realized well into my adulthood that dancing and performance were a part of my destiny. After years of denying myself a consistent movement practice, I returned to my purpose in 2017 when I received an opportunity to move into the path of professional dance and perform both locally and internationally. From then on, I committed myself to building my skills in technique, flexibility, contemporary and traditional dance styles, movement, theatre, choreography, story-telling, music, vocals, and in developing teaching and production skills. With my insatiable curiosity for knowledge and history, I began to think of my research as an added skill to my performance career.
As a commitment to social transformation and justice, I approach my work with the idea that knowledge is power and a tool of liberation. The pieces and performances that I create and take a part in share messages about restoring balance and care in peoples’ lives. While I aim to spark reflection through the social, cultural and political commentaries of the stories I choose to engage with, I also hope to help manifest a world where we make amends with the past, live in more complete ways in the present and collectively lead towards a more balanced future.
In rhythm, I invite us all to “explore, heal and manifest”!
Zila/Emilie
