About
Artist. Organizer. Dramaturg.Writer. Director. Choreographer. Educator. Performer. Scholar…
Jehbreal Muhammad Jackson
(Dr. Angel)
Jehbreal Muhammad Jackson (a.k.a Dr. Angel) is an artist, dramaturg, scholar, and organizer. She danced professionally with Dance Theater of Harlem before freelancing in New York, Mexico, and Europe. She is also a vocalist featured on Samora Pinderhughes's Transformations Suite, Grief, Venus Smiles Not in the House of Tears, and Black Spring albums (touring nationally and internationally). She is a performer in Pinderhughes's film Real Talk, and theatrical work I Hope This Finds You Well that both premiered at MOMA in New York City. She has also performed and recorded with many other artists including Jon Batiste, Kris Bowers, Joshua Crumbly, and Son Lux.
Jehbreal has served as assistant dramaturg under Julia Reinhard Lupton for UC Irvine's Shakespeare festival, and as primary dramaturg for Niala Telfar's "ICON" and Tethered Resident's evening length work Images. As a scholar, Jehbreal researches the histories and theories of ballet, ritual dances of the African diaspora, music, and race. She uses her findings as source material for her own artistic creations. Her dissertation research is titled Enfleshing the Void: Archiving the Black Kin-Aesthesis of Haitian Vodou in George Balanchine’s Agon. Jehbreal argues that Balanchine uses Haitian ritual dances to evoke the early modern French court and that the geometric dances of the court and classical ballet technique itself, are not just a product of the early modern European court, but rather of several cultural influences, including those from the African continent and diaspora.
As an organizer, Jehbreal works as a core leader with Qween Jean and her Black Trans Liberation Kitchen, feeding and clothing the Black and Brown trans community of New York every week. Jehbreal received a BFA in dance from The Juilliard School, an MFA in dance from UC Irvine, and a PhD in Theater and Performance studies at Columbia University.