Website

https://www.adesolaakinleye.com/

About

Adesola Akinleye, PhD, is an artist-scholar (choreographer, performer, writer, and teacher). She began her career as a dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem Workshop Ensemble (USA) later working in UK Companies such as Green Candle, and with Carol Straker. She is an Associate Professor at Texas woman's University and has been a Guest Artist and Research Affiliate at MIT, and Theatrum Mundi Fellow. Over the past twenty years she has created dance works ranging from live performance that is often site-specific and involves a cross-section of the community to dance films, installations and texts/book. Her work is characterized by an interest in glimpsing and voicing peoples lived experiences through creative moving portraiture.

Adesola foundered and co-directs DancingStrong Movement Lab. including triip (turning research ideas into practice) to cultivate a unique multi-generational, multi-disciplinary ensemble and creative space for the creatation of new works. A key aspect of her process is the artistry of opening creative practices to everyone from architects, ballerinas to women in low wage employment to performance for young audiences.

Adesola's most recent books include (re)claiming ballet (2021) an anthology focusing on the contributions and long-standing artistry of Black and Queer ballet. Dance, Architecture and Engineering (2021) a monograph about choreography as Place-making and in conversation with people in other spatial practice disciplines. Navigations: scoring the moment (2022) a short monograph published by Theatrum Mundi, introducing a lexicon for transdisciplinary collaborations across dance and other spatial practices.