Ni’Ja has been a student and practitioner of indigenous African ritual and resistance forms for over ten years, creating and performing work that reflects the sacred in street, conceptual, and indigenous performance. Ni’Ja’s work engages a nexus of postmodern and African Diasporic performance practices, through the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and spirit.  Ni-Ja is a 2015 Bogliasco Fellow, 2013-2015 Movement Research Artist in Residence, 2014-2015 artist in residence at the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, and Creative Capital "On Our Radar" artist.  Ni’Ja’s creative and scholarly works include collaborations with leading artists in multiple genres such as Allison Knowles, La Pocha Nostra, April Berry, Marjani Forté and Darrell Jones, and with Brazilian and American organizations as a titled capoeirista. A noted innovating practitioner of the Theatrical Jazz Aesthetic and accomplished improviser, Whitson enjoys ongoing collaboration with award-winning artist Sharon Bridgforth, currently as a touring member of Bridgforth’s River See.  

COURSES TAUGHT:
Capoeira Practices