Dr. Colette Marie Eloi is an accomplished folkloric dancer/singer, scholar, and arts administrator specializing in African and African Diaspora dance. She founded ELWAH Movement Dance and Research in 2005, engaging national and international audiences through performances, academic programming, and K-12 curricula that celebrate African-rooted dance traditions. A master Haitian dancer and Vodou song archivist, Dr. Eloi has conducted extensive fieldwork in Haiti, the US, Africa, and Latin America. Her work bridges cultural dance practices and scholarship, drawing from her rich artist experience hailing from the Oakland and San Francisco Bay area. Dr. Eloi earned her PhD in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California, Riverside. Her dissertation explores FESTAC ’77, the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture held in Lagos, Nigeria, emphasizing its significance as a Pan-African cultural and dance-critical event. Her innovative concepts, such as the "sovereign body" and "corporeal footnoting," redefine how African-rooted dances are analyzed in post-colonial contexts. She co-authored a chapter for the Anniversary Edition of The History of the African Diaspora by Cambridge University Press and holds a BA in International Relations - Development Studies from UC Berkeley. A sought-after choreographer, singer and lecturer, Dr. Eloi has shared her work on stages around the world as well as at universities, arts institutions, and community rituals and gatherings. Her commitment to bridging academic and cultural spaces continues to illuminate the transformative power of African-rooted dance as a tool for social change.
This event is funded by the Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme Grant and the Ohio Hispanic Heritage Grant, with support from The Ohio State University Department of Dance, the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design, the Latinx Studies Program and the Center for Latin American Studies.
