what i do...
neila ebankhs [she/her/hers/fi har]
(b. 1976, Kingston, Jamaica)
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As a movement, video, & textual artist living and working in Kingston, Jamaica, my focus is the kind of self-inquiry that blossoms into larger, shared questions of identities, social concerns and being, always through the prism of Caribbean ‘culturealities’.
My making processes are immersive and consist of
ideating & percolating while completing everyday tasks;
copious amounts of improvisation [movement, text, musical, drawing];
gathering of sounds, information, research;
making of props and costumes by hand
and behind-the-scenes documentation of process.
For me, choregraphing & making work are multi-hyphenate experiences and so I often dance my physical works, learn the editing skills for my film-based ones, sketch and craft cotume ideas; and record & edit sounds used to create soundtracks.
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Video Credits: sometimes i forget... (c) 2020 x neila ebanks
"sometimes i forget how to dream and then my feet, they remind me that I am the dream." n-ae
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choreography + movement + camera + editing x neila ebankhs @neilaebankhs
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soundtrack = 'oshun' x freetown collective (acapella version by muhammad muwakil @anyanwuchild)
July 2020
what i’ve done...
I have an MA in Physical Theatre from Royal Holloway University of London and the University of Surrey [UK], a BSc. in Sociology from the University of the West Indies, [JM] and a Certificate in Dance Theatre and Production from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts [JM].
I was the first recipient of the Commonwealth Connections Residency for Dance in 2011, through which I worked with KasheDance and bcurrent in Toronto, Canada.
I was also awarded a Flair Distinguished Woman 2020 award for my work in the Performing Arts in Jamaica.
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Image: Dance CoLab with Michael Sean Harris @ The Jamaica Dance Umbrella, 2016
Dancer: neila ebankhs
Image Credit: Tivar Seiveright
what i’ve also done...
Founder & Artistic Director of Jamaican dance aggregation eNKompan.E™
Director of Studies of the EMCVPA School of Dance
Works created on:
Continuum Dance Project [Trinidad & Tobago]
Stella Maris Young Adult Dance Ensemble [Jamaica]
University Dance Society [Jamaica]
DanceWorks [Jamaica]
L’ACADCO: A United Caribbean Dance Force [Jamaica]
Dance Theatre Xaymaca [Jamaica]
ASHE Performing Arts Company [Jamaica]
Movements Dance Company [Jamaica]
Company Dance Theatre [Jamaica]
National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica [Jamaica]
Represented Jamaica at:
Bienal de Danza del Caribe [Cuba]
Caribbean Educative Arts Festival (Barbados)
Tobago Contemporary Dance Festival [Trinidad & Tobago]
Skjoldungefestival [Denmark]
COCO Dance Festival [Trinidad & Tobago]
CARIFESTA XIII [Barbados]
OUTBURST Queer Arts Festival [Ireland]
WILD Conference [England]
RE/IMAGINE QUEER FUTURES Exhibition [United States]
NEW WAVES! [Trinidad and Tobago]
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Image: No Mourning, No More (c) 2016 & 2020 x neila ebankhs + Lee Rose
Dancers: Continuum Dance Project
Image Credit: Still from edited video (neila ebankhs)