Who is Bashi Arts?
Our History
Bashi Arts is named after the late Nygiar Theodore Bashi Jordan, the "chief" of his Brooklyn tribe. The original forerunner, or Bashi, was like many talented kids from South Brooklyn who lacked the access to resources to develop, produce, and present their work. Despite these challenges, he still found the tenacity to create and give back to his community through his dedication to the arts.
Bashi Arts is known for its commitment to equity-driven dance-based research and pedagogy. Co-directors, Rachel DeForrest Repinz & Enya-Kalia Jordan, have led several research projects for nearly a decade centered on creating access for young artists, and have presented this collaborative work nationally and internationally since 2018. After individually and simultaneously developing two distinct artistic agendas and respective dance companies, Repinz and Jordan decided to form a collaborative partnership under the umbrella of Bashi Arts in 2018.
In this partnership, the two companies work together to develop performance and learning opportunities for professional and youth dancers, and continue to advance their research on radical approaches to dance pedagogy and the creative process.
Enya-Kalia Jordan
Rachel DeForrest Repinz
South Brooklyn & Poughkeepsie, NY — early 2000s.
Directors
Enya-Kalia Jordan, MFA, PhD ABD
Founder & Co-Director, Board of Directors — she/her
Enya-Kalia Jordan is a choreographer, dance studies scholar, and culture curator from Brooklyn, New York. She received a BA in Arts & Letters Dance from Buffalo State University and MFA from Temple University in choreography and performance. In 2023, she was named an “Artistic Visionary,” honored as Temple University’s 30 under 30 distinguished Alumna. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate at Texas Woman’s University, scheduled to graduate with her Ph.D. in dance studies in 2025. She is also the proud founder and artistic director of Enya Kalia Creations a movement-based artistic collective established in 2016. Enya Kalia Creations is 2023-25 recipient of the BAX & CUNY Dance Initiative Arts & Social Justice Residency at Brooklyn College. She has performed and presented choreography at iconic venues such as Conwell Dance Theater, BAAD! Ass Women in Dance Festival, La MaMa EstroGenius Festival, Bates Dance Festival, Brooklyn Art Haus, Movement Research at Judson Church, Klienhans Music Hall, United Nations Headquarters, and many more. She has previously served as faculty at the University of Mount Saint Vincent, SUNY Erie Community College, and the University of Virginia. Enya-Kalia has also been a teaching artist with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Abrons Center for the Arts, Notes in Motion, Dancewave, and many other distinguished cultural institutions across the East Coast. She has presented social justice research on interdisciplinary performance and restorative community practices at numerous conferences and festivals. Highlights include the Collegium of African Diasporic Dance hosted by Duke University, the International Association of Blacks in Dance, the Decolonizing Tertiary Dance Education Conference hosted by Stockholm University, and the Decolonizing Bodies: Biennial International Dance Conference hosted by the University of the West Indies. she has also conducted research in Tokyo, Japan; Guimaraes, Portugal; Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands; and Paris, France.
Rachel DeForrest Repinz, MFA, PhD ABD
Founder & Co-Director, Board of Directors — she/her
Rachel DeForrest Repinz is a visually impaired multidisciplinary artist-scholar based in Brooklyn, NY. Rachel’s work is rooted in the postmodern tradition and disability aesthetic lineage, weaving together movement, text, time, and sound as primary modes of inquiry through a Disabled worldview. Engaging access as creative praxis, experimental approaches to audio description, and improvisational time-based performance practices, her work takes an experimental, embodied, approach to accessibility.
Rachel received a BA and MFA in Dance from SUNY Buffalo State University and Temple University, respectively, and is a current PhD in Dance candidate at Texas Woman’s University. She serves as the Advisor of Dance and Disability for the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), and was awarded as a Dance/NYC ‘Disability. Dance. Artistry.’ Dance and Social Justice Fellow (2023). Rachel founded and artistically directs RACHEL:dancers (spoken as Rachel and Dancers), a multi-modal dance performance company, and co-directs Bashi Arts with Enya-Kalia Jordan. Rachel is on faculty in Temple University’s Dance Department, is an administrator for the Hunter College Dance Education programs, and serves as a Staff Writer and Editorial Board member for thINKingDANCE. Her artistic and scholarly work has been presented nationally and internationally. Some of her favorite venues include Judson Memorial Church (2025), La MaMa ETC (2024), Dixon Place (2024), the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (2024), Movement Research (2022), the University of the West Indies Barbados (2018), and the NDEO national conferences (2018, 2019, 2022, 2024). Rachel has worked with esteemed choreographers including Merián Soto, Heidi Latsky, Sidra Bell, Abdur-Rahim Jackson, Dr. S. Ama Wray, Awilda Sterling-Duprey, Carlos R.A. Jones, and as a principal dancer for Enya Kalia Creations, among others.
Collaborating Team
Joy Guarino, MFA
Field Advisor for Dance Education, Board of Directors — she/her
With a prestigious career spanning over 30 years, Joy Guarino is an author, community activist, and recently retired Professor of Dance and Director of Global Engagement at Buffalo State University. In her role as USA Representative for Dance and the Child International, she continues to pioneer opportunities for cultural exchange rooted in dance and the arts for students of all ages. She has been awarded for this work by NYSDEA with the Outstanding Dance Educator Award in 2019, in 2023 with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2024 by NDEO as the National Lifetime Achievement Awardee in Dance Education. She continues to advocate for high-quality, culturally relevant dance education rooted in community service.
Amanda Williams, LMSW
Advisor for Community Care & Engagement, Advisory Council — she/her
Amanda Williams is a licensed master social worker. She was born in Jamaica, obtained her master’s degree from Long Island University and her bachelor’s degree from York College. She conducted research, facilitated educational workshops, and has experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Amanda founded Guiding Pearl, a social service agency that provides mentorship, workshops, and psychotherapy to youth and adults. She has an extensive background working as a school social worker, mental health clinician for severely mentally ill patients and being and advocate for senior citizens. She is passionate about public speaking and her goal is to provide individuals in need with the empowerment and support required for them to thrive.
Jéan R. Michel, Jr., Esq.
Legal Counsel — he/him
Jéan R. Michel Jr. is a licensed Attorney in New York and New Jersey. He has experience in general civil litigation, corporate and insurance defense, bankruptcy, elder law, personal injury, and housing law. Attorney Michel also has extensive experience in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration.