Jenise Akilah Anthony, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, is an international dance educator, choreographer, and performing artist widely recognized for her work in African Diasporic forms. She is Associate Professor of African Dance at SUNY Brockport and Artistic Director of the Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble, where she curates annual African-based productions.

 

Anthony began her training with recognized Trinidadian dance companies, including Eugene Joseph Dance Theatre, Les Effort Dancers, Beverly Hinds Dance Theatre, Metamorphosis Dance Company, and the Caribbean School of Dancing. She earned her B.S. in Dance, summa cum laude, from Coppin State University, where she was named Most Outstanding Dancer and founded the annual Liturgical Dance Conference. She holds an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University, where she received both the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award and the Excellence in Teaching Award.

 

Her professional credits include work with Dance Place (D.C.), Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn, Trajectory Dance Project, Carey Dance Project, and Dallas Black Dance Theatre. She was also Principal Dancer for Bandan Koro African Drum and Dance Ensemble and served as Neiman Marcus Lead Teacher at the Dallas Black Dance Academy. Her choreography has been presented at major venues including the ACDA Gala, DanceAfrica Dallas, World Dance Alliance Assembly, COCO Dance Festival, Rochester Fringe Festival, and Denton Jazz Festival. In addition to national and international presentations, she has been commissioned to curate several productions across New York State.

 

Anthony is the founder of Echoes of Africa, an international collective that bridges community and concert performance through African-rooted movement. As a member of the New York State Dance Force, she has curated productions featuring guest artists such as Marie Bassé-Wiles, Youssouf Koumbassa, Mouminatou Camara, Naila Ansari, and Urban Bush Women—often in collaboration with Professor Emeritus and longtime New York State Dance Force member Jackie Davis.

 

Her choreographic work has received national and international recognition, including presentations at the WULA Drum and Dance Retreat, Women in Dance Conference, Ballet Merveilles de Guinea (West Africa), Continuum Dance Company (Trinidad), Dance X (Belize), and Dream Chasers (Cayman). A dedicated mentor, Anthony recently guided Caymanian student Cassied Davis Quintero in receiving the inaugural Garth Fagan Legacy Award.

 

Her teaching and creative work are rooted in a movement vocabulary she terms modern Afro-Caribbean—a fusion of Horton-based modern, traditional African, and Caribbean forms. Passionate about cultural exchange, she thrives in environments where students welcome unfamiliar movement experiences and engage deeply with movement, rhythm, and cultural traditions.