About Jornae

SUZETTE GILREATH:

"Observing. Nourishing. Abundance."

Suzette Jornae Gilreath is a Twin Cities native. Born and raised in Minnesota, she is currently a dance artist based in MN. As of May 2020, she received her B.A. in Dance and American Sign Language from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Jornae is a virtuosic, versatile, and curious mover. She began her dance training at Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists and TU Dance at the age of 16. She is classically trained in Classical Ballet, Contemporary Ballet, Modern and African, with experience in street style Hip-hop, and Heels. As an alumna of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities' Dance Program, she has been taught under the instruction of Carl Flink, Toni Pierce-Sands, Ananya Chatterjea, and Erin Thompson. Through her dance training, she has obtained a greater understanding of the relationship dance has with the world, globally and internationally.

Over the past five years, Jornae has gained professional dance experience by training and performing with Twin Cities-based companies; Contempo Physical Dance and STRONGmovement, TU Dance, and JornaeDance. She has also performed works by Kenna Cottman, Sidra Bell, Gregory Maqoma, Leslie Parker, and Robert Moses. She had chosen to learn American Sign Language as a second language requirement and fell deeply in love with D/deaf culture and the language…ASL has shifted her artist praxis, and how she interacts with the world, ethnically, culturally, and spiritually. Jornae's work is approached through an intersectional lens. Through aligning her multitude of identities and practices, she cultivates composition and projects that focus on enlightening the world to see who they are, and how we are all connected to the source. Her mission is to transform, inform, and inspire through art and human exchange.