An Artist Talk with Akela Jaffi and Emily Ames as part of the multidisciplinary project KUVV. They will discuss their responses to the prompt: “How does your familial lineage live in your physical body today, and how does that contribute to your sense of home as it relates to your identity?”

Akela Jaffi is a writer and dancer currently residing in DC. Her movement work has been largely centered around ritual, using dance as a way to pay homage to the passings of life. She has been training, choreographing, and creating for the stage for 15 years, and is still learning new things about dance at every turn. While movement provides a connection to the ego, the extrovert and the performer within, writing has served as a connection to spirit and bloodline. She believes in art as a healing medium, and hopes to create work that permits deep conversation with the self, both for the audience and the creator.

Emily Ames is a dancer, choreographer, and collaborator who tries to add sequins and a touch of irreverence wherever she can. She graduated in 2018 from the University of Maryland with degrees in dance and history. When not at her 9-5 at Studio Theatre, Emily dances for Heart Stück Bernie and Britta Joy Peterson. Emily’s choreography has been presented at the NextNOW Fest, the American College Dance Association, UMD’s Second Season series, and supported by Dance Metro DC. Past artistic highlights include: destroying abandoned classrooms with Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s blessing, throwing a post-apocalyptic party courtesy of Monstah Black, and touring Sinaloa, Mexico with PEARSONWIDRIG DANCETHEATER.