About JAE

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About JAE

Jean Appolon, Director

JAE Dancers

About JAE

JAE Board

Media Kit

JAE Company

JAE Boston Company

Telling Haiti's story

Based in Boston, JAE is a Haitian contemporary dance company, directed by Jean Appolon. Combining Modern technique and Haitian folkloric dance, JAE brings a new artistic vernacular to its audiences. With its dynamic repertoire, JAE educates audiences about Haitian culture, traditions, history and current issues. JAE fulfills its mission to preserve Haitian folkloric culture while constantly enlivening the art form in a way that is vital, accessible, inspiring and educational. JAE is comprised of dancers from diverse backgrounds, each of whom who are committed to JAE’s mission to use dance to share Haitian culture. For more information or to book a performance, please click here.

Appolon’s Boston-based Haitian contemporary dance company has performed both at major venues in Boston and beyond, and in city parks and community spaces in free performances accessible to the public. JAE also has performed at many colleges and universities, including Harvard University, Lesley College and Wheaton College. JAE has been fortunate to share the stage with celebrities such as Danny Glover, Henry Louis Gates and Edwidge Danticat, and to collaborate with community partners such as Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) and Central Square Theater.

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About Afro-Haitian Dance:

Afro-Haitian dance has greatly influenced the Modern dance world, largely through the research and exposure of Modern dance icon Katherine Dunham. Haiti captured Dunham’s heart in the 1930s, when she arrived as a dancer and anthropologist to study the country’s culture, history and, particularly, its dance. Dunham, in turn, captured the hearts of Haitians by making the dances of Haiti and the Caribbean internationally known. Now, the “folklorization” of Haitian dance allows both religious and social dances to travel and be performed in the secular context of the proscenium stage. Jean Appolon Expressions is not strictly a Haitian Folkloric company, but rather seeks to preserve Haitian folkloric dance and music through contemporary interpretations.

JAE has performed at the Boston Center for the Arts, the Institute for Contemporary Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Harlem School of the Arts, numerous community festivals and several universities, just to name a few.

Repetoire:

VWAYAJ - Vwayaj is an interdisciplinary production that meditates on the “lakou” and its loss in the Haitian imagination in a way that also speaks to a universal condition. Where can we find belonging? Where is home? Does it exist in the rhythms of Rara music and the undulating arms of Yanvalou? Learn more.
ANGAJE - Angaje means "to engage" and is a meditation on different forms of social oppression, including violence against homosexuals - a growing problem in Haiti. Learn more.
Anacaona - Anacoana is a story of strength and resilience of the different groups of people first brought to Haiti, inspired by the icon of early Haitian history.
Ibo - The Haitian folkloric dance, Ibo, originated in the Igbo nation of Nigeria. Ibo expresses the pride of the Igbo people, who preferred death to enslavement. Ibo is especially relevant for Haitians who were the first enslaved people to stage a massive revolt, led by Toussaint Louverture in 1791. This slave rebellion resulted in Haiti being the first independent nation in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the first black republic in the world. The characteristic movement of this dance represents breaking the chains of slavery.

Jean Appolon

In addition to being the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Jean Appolon Expressions (JAE), Jean Appolon is a successful choreographer and master teacher based in Boston and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Appolon received his earliest training and performance opportunities in Port-au-Prince with the Viviane Gauthier Dance Company and the Folkloric Ballet of Haiti. Appolon continued his dance education in the U.S. at the Harvard and Radcliffe Dance Program (1995-1996, Boston, MA), Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (1996-1998, New York, NY) and the Joffrey American Ballet School (1998-2003, New York, NY), where he graduated with a B.A. from a joint degree program offered by The New School.

Appolon has also performed with Elma Lewis Productions (Black Nativity), Marlene Silva, North Star Ballet Company (Fairbanks, AK), Black Door Dance Company (Miami, FL), and the Atlantic City Ballet Company.

Jean Appolon teaches regularly at Boston Ballet, UMASS Boston and The Dance Complex (Cambridge, MA), among other locations. Beginning in 2006, Appolon conceived and has since directed a free annual summer dance course in Port-au-Prince that serves young, aspiring Haitian dancers who do not have regular access to dance training. The 2019 Summer Dance Institute is being held in Lawrence, MA for the first time, in partnership with the Izizwe Dance studio and Bread and Roses.

Appolon’s Boston-based Haitian Contemporary dance company has performed at major venues in Boston and has toured to Washington, DC and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. JAE also has performed at many schools and colleges, including Harvard University, Lesley College and Wheaton College. JAE has been fortunate to share the stage with celebrities such as Danny Glover, Henry Louis Gates and Edwidge Danticat, and to collaborate with community partners such as Central Square Theater and Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción.

Support, Media, Recognition & Memberships:
Since 2012, Jean Appolon and JAE have received funding support fromThe W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The National Performance Network, FOKAL, The Boston Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cambridge Cultural Council, Eastern Bank, Haiti’s Ministry of Culture and many individual donors. Appolon’s Boston-based company is one of the three inaugural dance companies to be part of the Boston Center for the Art’s expanded Performing Arts Residency Program. Appolon was a 2014 Dance Resident at Boston Center for the Arts and received the Green Street Studios New Works Program Award in 2013. Also in 2013, Appolon was nominated for a Brother Thomas Fellowship (awarded by The Boston Foundation), and honored by The Art of Black Dance and Music.

Appolon has been the subject of feature articles and interviews in The Boston Globe, Dance Studio Life Magazine, World Vision Report, The Boston Haitian Reporter, Le Nouvelliste and NPR, and has received significant coverage by Haiti’s television and radio stations.

Appolon is an Inductee of the Haitian Roundtable’s 1804 List of Haitian American Changemakers (2014) for his groundbreaking accomplishments in dance. Jean Appolon has been endorsed by E. Denise Simmons, Mayor of the City of Cambridge, for his positive contributions to the Cambridge community. Jean Appolon is a member of The International Association of Blacks in Dance and The Boston Dance Alliance.

JAE Dancers

Jean Appolon Expressions Dancers

JAE Dancers

Meghan McGrath

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, COMPANY DANCER

Meghan McGrath began her dance training in New Hampshire and studied under Barbara Mullin, Dee Keri, Matt Mattox Jr. and Bryan Steele. She received her BA in Psychology and Dance from UMass, Amherst and a M.Ed in the Creative Arts and Learning from Lesley University. Meghan is a founding member of the Jean Appolon Expressions dance company and has performed with Boston-based BoSoma Dance Company and Austin Allegro Dance. She is also an early childhood educator, with over 10 years of teaching experience and a passion for bringing the arts and movement into the classroom. Meghan has her yoga certification through Yogaworks NYC and enjoys weaving this practice into her early childhood classroom, as well as volunteering with Hands to Heart Center.

Mcebisi Xotyeni

COMPANY DANCER

Mcebisi Xotyeni, of Cape Town, South Africa, is a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer. He began dancing with the outreach program Dance For All, where he trained extensively in ballet, African, contemporary, and hip hop. He was awarded a full scholarship with Dance For All and eventually began working for the professional dance company iKapa Dance Theatre. He has also worked with leading companies in South Africa such as Cape Town City Ballet, Suede Productions, and Sibonelo Dance Project. He has performed for numerous festivals and has collaborated with international artists for performances and outreach projects.

Lonnie Stanton

COMPANY DANCER

Lonnie Stanton is a Northern California native, based in Boston. She graduated with honors from the Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Dance. She is thrilled to return from NYC and have the opportunity to work with students at the School of Classical Ballet and Pembroke School of Performing Arts, as well as perform with Jean Appolon Dance Expressions and Prometheus for her 7th season with the company. She has also performed with the Boston-based groups Ballet Rox, Bosoma, Zoe Dance, Angie Moon Dance Theatre, and Anna Reyes Dance. She worked with NYC-based Kinesis Project Dance Theatre for their 2015-2016 season focusing solely on site-specific performance. She has a growing passion and purpose in sharing dance in unconventional, often outdoor spaces where a broad audience can be reached. Lonnie has produced movement for a film for Neoscape (advertisement), Moe Pope (hip hop artist), Linda Tegg (photography), and Tamara Al- Mashouk (film artist). Her teaching credentials include Ballet Academy East and Brookline Ballet among others. She is a 200-hour certified yoga instructor through Yogaworks. Her work in public schools has been especially rewarding bringing dance education into the classroom through Notes in Motion and the New York City Ballet.

Meghan Riling

MEDIA + MARKETING DIRECTOR, COMPANY DANCER

Meghan Riling grew up dancing in Connecticut and moved to Boston to study at Boston University, where she joined the Dance Theatre Group and got very interested in choreography and improv dance. Since graduation, she has performed and/or choreographed for the Harvard-Radcliffe Modern Dance Company, the CRLS Modern Dance Company, and Luminarium Dance Company. She now co-directs Calamity Co Dance, which performs goofy modern dance pieces, produces casual modern and pop art variety shows, and maintains an art-centric lifestyle blog. She is also the dance coordinator of Art City Cambridge. Outside of dance, she was one third of the indie pop band One Happy Island, which played around the country and did some brief tours in the UK. After teaching high school math for a number of years, she has started working full-time on her doctorate in Math Education at Boston University.

IJ Chan

COMPANY DANCER

IJ Chan is a dance artist and educator born, raised and now based in Boston. After graduating from James Madison University with a B.A. in Dance and Journalism (2015), she joined KAIROS Dance Theater, and started dancing with JAE in May 2018. She is also currently dancing with McKersin Previlus/Lakaï Dance Theater and Jennifer Lin. I.J. is interested in intersecting the Asian-American narrative into her own choreographic work, as well as diversifying her training through different workshops and masterclasses in various genres of dance. In addition to performing, she is passionate about bringing quality dance instruction to low-income and minority youth populations within the city.

Alyssa Holley

COMPANY APPRENTICE

Alyssa Holley began her dance training at the young age of 5, studying under different companies and dancing on a competitive level until the age of 18. Alyssa attend Sewanee: The University of the South where she majored in Chemistry and minored in Mathematics, Dance, and Asian Studies. While in college, Alyssa trained under the instruction of Courtney World, focusing mainly on modern and tap techniques. While at Sewanee, Alyssa composed pieces for a semi-professional dance concert, DanceWise, and studied under renowned artist such as Bill Evans and Madia Cooper-Ashirifi. Alyssa also participated in the American College Dance Association (ACDA) while in college, where she was featured in pieces that received the highest honor at the conference. Currently, Alyssa works for Dell Technologies as an Emerging Technology Specialist in Boston while continuing to further her love for the art of dance.

Velouse Joseph

Velouse Joseph studied dance with Jean at the Jean Appolon Summer Institute in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and recently moved to Massachusetts, where she is now dancing with the company.

Jean-Sebastien Duvilaire

GUEST PERFORMER

Jean-Sebastien Duvilaire (Baba-Seb), is a young Haitian artist who admires and practices dance as a way to make this world a better place. He believes strongly in the use of the performing arts to trigger social change. He has a strong background in African and Afro-Haitian dance and training in classical ballet, modern, and contemporary dance. He’s worked with many artists globally and still travels to teach, choreograph, and collaborate in performances with other upcoming artists. He recently moved to Boston, and as a new community member, he is ready to share his energy, while dancing with JAE. Outside of JAE, Jean-Sebastient continues to teach and choreograph, enjoys music, spirituality, and runs a small cacao processing company in Haiti called Tahomey.

Eboni Baptiste

GUEST PERFORMER

Eboni Baptiste is an enthusiastic dancer/actress/choreographer with a passion for the Arts. Her devotion to the art of dance contributed to her success in obtaining her Bachelor of Arts from Dean College. Two of her greatest achievements have been the choreographed productions of “Once on this Island ” and the play, “Xerona @ Wheelock College.” Eboni’s talents are multidisciplinary. She has performed with many dance troupes and theater companies within the Boston Area. Her love for the stage was witnessed playing the leading role of Zora Neale Hurston in the Jacqui Parker play “Feathers On My Arm.”

JAE Board & Staff

Jean Appolon Expressions Board

JAE Board

Aug 17, 2016

Jean Appolon

Aug 17, 2016

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, COFOUNDER

Read Jean's full biography here.

Aug 17, 2016

Nov 2, 2016

Daniel Koff

Nov 2, 2016

BOARD MEMBER

Daniel Solomon Koff is a design consultant who creates shared social, cultural, and multi-sensory experiences. His work ranges from urban placemaking to interactive installations, from the downtowns of old industrial cities, to the galleries of contemporary art museums. Koff has a Masters in Design Studies with a concentration in Art, Design, and the Public Domain from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In college he earned a dual bachelor's degree in Social Design and History with a minor in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis.

Nov 2, 2016

Nov 7, 2016

Dana Hiniker

Nov 7, 2016

GRANTS AND DEVELOPMENT

An avid world traveler, Dana is passionate about advocating for public health nationally and internationally, as well as helping organizations achieve their missions. She is currently the Development Coordinator at Primary Care Progress (PCP), where she is responsible for growing PCP's fundraising and grant portfolio. She has worked with nonprofits that range in size, working on a wide variety of public health issues. These include assisting the business development team at the Union for International Cancer Control in Geneva, Switzerland, managing fundraising teams for a nationwide campaign to reduce the overuse of antibiotics on farms, and research on public policy at Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families in Washington, D.C. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Dana recently graduated from Boston University, where she studied International Relations and Public Health, and was a member of the Division 1 Women's Rowing program.

Nov 7, 2016

Nov 2, 2016

Raquel Cordoso

Nov 2, 2016

ASSISTANT SECRETARY (on sabbatical)

Raquel Cardoso is an art educator and artist who believes that we are most connected to ourselves and the world around us when we are creating, whether it be painting, dancing or making music. She has spent the last 16 years sharing this vision with her students with an emphasis on themes of social justice, honoring identity and each child's personal experience and voice. She immigrated to the U.S from Portugal when she was a child and has always felt connected to others who straddle two countries, cultures and families like herself. She is an avid traveler, taking full advantage of summers off, and has traveled to numerous countries, including southern Africa, Europe and South America. She was called to the strong sense of community and powerful and grounding movements of Jean's dance class 4 years ago and has never turned back.

Nov 2, 2016

Aug 17, 2016

Michel DeGraff

Aug 17, 2016

JAE ADVISOR
Michel DeGraff, born in Haiti, is Professor of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Michel dances as often as he can at JAE’s Afro-Haitian classes at the Dance Complex in Cambridge. On the scholarly and activist fronts, his interests concern the development and structures of Creole languages, with focus on his native Haitian Creole (“Kreyòl”) and on the uses of Kreyòl in research and education. Most recently, these interests have taken him to collaborate with MIT Sloan and Haitian colleagues. Two of Michelʼs recent projects in Haiti, both funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and with the support of Haitian leaders and educators, have explored some of the ways in which the strategic use of Kreyòl and educational technology improve Haitian students’ active learning. In the ongoing MIT-Haiti Initiative, Michel has enlisted the collaboration of colleagues at MIT and in Haiti to help make high-quality education accessible to the greatest numbers of Haitian students while strengthening the foundations of Haiti’s linguistic and cultural identity—in a spirit similar to JAE’s work in Haiti. A stronger and more vibrant Haiti must be rooted in the wealth of its linguistic and cultural soil, along the ideals embodied in JAE’s mission. Wi, se kon sa Ayiti ap djaye ak bèlte pou tout pitit li! For more information about Michel DeGraff’s projects, see http://mit.edu/degraff and http://haiti.mit.edu.

Aug 17, 2016

Nov 2, 2016

Nadège V. White

Nov 2, 2016

ADVISOR

Born in Haïti and raised in the United States and Canada, Nadège V. White works in the non-profit healthcare sector, has a keen mind for numbers and finance, is an amateur photographer, and has dabbled as a performer of Caribbean and West African cultural dances. An avid explorer of beauty, diversity, and truth, Nadège has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Canada. Her self-expression is a blend of quirky sense of humor and imagination, a deep respect for the inherent “efficiency” within us all, and a penchant for hopefulness.

Nov 2, 2016

Aug 17, 2016

Stephanie Scherpf

Aug 17, 2016

JAE ADVISOR, COFOUNDER

Stephanie co-founded Jean Appolon Expressions with Jean Appolon in 2011 and served as Executive Director for the organization’s first five years. Stephanie is a non-profit professional with nearly twenty years of experience in arts management leadership. She has held recent leadership positions with Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium and El Sistema USA at New England Conservatory. From 2005-2008, she lived in Maputo, Mozambique where she was the Founder and Project Manager of a grassroots project called “Dance for Life,” done in partnership with a local dance company and funded by foreign embassies and corporations. From 2000-2005, she served as the Director of Outreach and Education at Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB), one of Seattle’s largest arts organizations and one of the major ballet companies in the U.S. Currently a freelance consultant and writer, Stephanie received a B.A. in English Literature at the University of Virginia and an M.A. in English Literature at the University of Washington.

Aug 17, 2016

Francie Latour

Aug 17, 2016

JAE ADVISOR

Francie Latour is a writer, educator and diversity/inclusion practitioner. Her writing on race, culture and identity has appeared in the Boston Globe, The Root, Essence and Ebony, among other publications. She has appeared as a guest on NBC’s Today and on National Public Radio. In 2000, Francie’s essay on Haitian-American identity was selected for the anthology The Butterfly’s Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States, edited by author Edwidge Danticat. After 17-year career in journalism, Francie now works in higher education, coordinating a diversity initiative for undergraduates at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a leading center for biomedical research. Francie is also a co-founder of Wee The People, a new arts-based series for kids ages 3-12 exploring social justice and activism. Francie, who lives in Roslindale, is a mother of three and a daughter of Haitian heritage. Her mother was born in Les Cayes and her father was born in Petion-Ville.

Aug 17, 2016

Administrative & Supporting Staff

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