Bashi Arts Co-Founder & EKC Principal Dancer

Rachel DeForrest Repinz is a visually impaired multidisciplinary artist-scholar based in Brooklyn, NY. Rachel’s work is rooted in the postmodern tradition and disability aesthetic lineage, weaving together movement, text, time, and sound as primary modes of inquiry through a Disabled worldview. Engaging access as creative praxis, experimental approaches to audio description, and improvisational time-based performance practices, her work takes an experimental, embodied, approach to accessibility.Rachel received a BA and MFA in Dance from SUNY Buffalo State University and Temple University, respectively, and is a current PhD in Dance candidate at Texas Woman’s University. She serves as the Advisor of Dance and Disability for the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), and was awarded as a Dance/NYC ‘Disability. Dance. Artistry.’ Dance and Social Justice Fellow (2023). Rachel founded and artistically directs RACHEL:dancers (spoken as Rachel and Dancers), a multi-modal dance performance company, and co-directs Bashi Arts with Enya-Kalia Jordan. Rachel is on faculty in Temple University’s Dance Department, is an administrator for the Hunter College Dance Education programs, and serves as a Staff Writer and Editorial Board member for thINKingDANCE. Her artistic and scholarly work has been presented nationally and internationally. Some of her favorite venues include Judson Memorial Church (2025), La MaMa ETC (2024), Dixon Place (2024), the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (2024), Movement Research (2022), the University of the West Indies Barbados (2018), and the NDEO national conferences (2018, 2019, 2022, 2024). Rachel has worked with esteemed choreographers including Merián Soto, Heidi Latsky, Sidra Bell, Abdur-Rahim Jackson, Dr. S. Ama Wray, Awilda Sterling-Duprey, Carlos R.A. Jones, and as a principal dancer for Enya Kalia Creations, among others.

Company Coordinator & EKC Dancer

Rachele Domond is a professional dancer, choreographer, and holds her NYS License + Certification in Dance Education (PreK-12). In Fall 2025, she will begin her studies at New York University Steinhardt to receive a Master of Arts for Teaching Dance in the Professions: Dances of the African Diaspora.

Rachele began dancing when she was eight years old and has been teaching and choreographing for over 10 years; but has been in love with the art form for as long as she can remember. Introduced to many genres, her training initially consisted of Hip-Hop and Afro-Caribbean dance forms, but she is now proficient in a variety of styles, including but not limited to Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Lyrical, and World Dance. From Non-Profit organizations, NYC public schools, and private dance studios, Rachele has enjoyed teaching and choreographing many genres of dance to children of all backgrounds from 6 years old through high school. She has worked in a variety of communities to organize and choreograph dance shows and showcases, create dance curriculums, teach, and mentor young children through dance. She finds joy in using dance as a way to connect with and inspire younger generations. As a plus size Haitian-American woman, Rachele advocates for the inclusivity and representation of all bodies despite shape, size, and ethnic backgrounds in the world of dance!

EKC Dancer

Makayla Monét Peterson is a dancer, choreographer, scholar, teaching artist, and Founder & Artistic Director of Monét Movement Productions: The Collective. She is a 2020 Temple University graduate with a BFA in Dance. A 2019 Temple University Diamond Research Scholars Grant recipient, Makayla has presented research at national and international conferences. Her scholastic achievements earned her the Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance Rose Vernick Scholar Award. Choreographic presentations include Mare Nostrum Elements Emerging Choreographer Series, COCO Dance Festival, Collective Thread Dance Festival, Making Moves Dance Festival and more!

Makayla currently dances with Enya-Kalia Creations and OKRA Dance Company. Artistically, Makayla seeks create a space for artists to connect, share the unique voice of herself, her dancers, the communities she belongs to/represents, and become a pillar within the dance community.