Rachel DeForrest Repinz

Rachel DeForrest Repinz, MFA, PhD ABD is a visually impaired multidisciplinary artist-scholar based in Brooklyn, NY. Currently a Ph.D. in Dance candidate at Texas Woman’s University, 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. Rachel's dissertation study focuses on the presence of blindness in contemporary dance.

 

Repinz received a BA and MFA in Dance from SUNY Buffalo State University and Temple University, respectively. She serves as the Advisor of Dance and Disability for the National Dance Education Organization, and has been awarded as a Dance/NYC ‘Disability. Dance. Artistry.’ Dance and Social Justice Fellow (2023). In addition to her work at CUNY Hunter College, Repinz is an adjunct professor in Temple University’s Dance Department and serves as a Staff Writer and Editorial Board member for thINKingDANCE. Repinz founded and artistically directs RACHEL:dancers (spoken as Rachel and Dancers), a multi-modal dance performance company, as well as co-directs a collaborative performance arts project, Bashi Arts, with Enya-Kalia Jordan in South Brooklyn.

 

Repinz’s artistic and scholarly work has been presented nationally and internationally. Some of her favorite venues include Movement Research at Judson Church (2025), La MaMa Experimental Theater (2024), Dixon Place (2024), BAAD! (2024), Movement Research (2022), the University of the West Indies Barbados (2018), the NDEO national conferences (2018, 2019, 2022, 2024, 2925), the Philadelphia Youth Dance Fest (2021), and more. Repinz has worked with esteemed choreographers including Meriàn 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.