Jhia Louise Jackson (JJ) began dancing and cheerleading at a young age. Her formal dance training began at Dance Theater of San Ramon and continued after Debbie transformed the studio into Dance Fusion Co! Jhia earned a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, Sociology, and Ethics minor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a Master of Science in Bioethics at Columbia University in the City of New York. She is currently earning a Doctorate in Sociology at the University of California San Francisco and feels extremely grateful for those who have supported her through her academic and professional pursuits. As a choreographer, collaborating artist, costume designer, and performer, she has both shown her own work and participated in the works of others in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, New York City, Vermont, Florida, and beyond. She has worked across dance/artistic disciplines with artists such as: Ryan Heffington, Holly Johnston, Sonya Tayeh, Keshet Chaim Dance Company, Chad Michael Hall, Joya Powell, Jennifer Archibald, LEVYdance, Alexandra Pirici, RAWdance, Blind Tiger Society, Ronnie Reddick, and more. She frequently engages in arts-and-advocacy works with companies such as dNaga Dance and AXIS Dance Company, teaches youth and adult level classes throughout the Bay Area, and engages in student leadership roles. Her academic work and artistic practice always inform each other, thus leading her classes to be an opportunity to learn more about ourselves, our communities, our history, and our possibilities. As a teacher, she enjoys challenging her students to push themselves physically and creatively in order to stay engaged in dance as an on-going process and not a results-oriented practice. To learn more about her work, visit www.jhiajackson.com.