Jason K. Aryeh, assistant professor of dance, tells his story of challenge and transformation as a young African who grew up in a village where LGBT-identified individuals were perceived as deviant, and physical violence against them was commonplace. Aryeh shares experiences of well-intentioned friends who seek to “cure” him rather than accepting his identity. He tries various “treatments” before finally realizing “there was nothing about me that needed healing.”
Professor Aryeh is a native of Ghana, West Africa. He is a choreographer, performer, dance research scholar and movement educator. Aryeh earned a BFA is Dance and African Studies from the University of Ghana and MFA in Choreography and Performance from the State University of New York College at Brockport. He is Founder/Artistic Director of Africa Alive Dance Company, and has been featured as a soloist and choreographer in many colleges in the United States and Ghana and for various dance companies. He leads students to Ghana for a study abroad in Performance and Culture.
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