Lakisha Ashley

“My goals as a dancer are to grow, create, reflect, and share my inner self through dance poetry, always with passion, always on purpose.” Lakisha Ashley’s love for dance started at a young age but her formal training began at Skyline High School in Oakland, CA. She continued to perform in college and has studied Modern, Jazz, Haitian, Hip Hop, Ballet, Afro Samba and Praise. Her dance journey reflects her way of thinking and navigating her surroundings: varied, complex, diverse, always searching, reaching and exploring new ways to be a better version of self. She discovers life and understands the world through her lessons in dance. Her professional experience started with NUBA Dance Theater. She later joined Dance Theater of the Gospel and Xalt where she learned to infuse dance with the passion and purpose. Lakisha has taught classes danced in productions including Black Nativity at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco and in the stage play “Touched” inspired by one woman’s battle with Breast Cancer. Lakisha was connected to Haitian folkloric dance during her studies at San Francisco State University where she was encouraged to take Portsha Jefferson’s class at the Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts. After sneaking into the back of the class off and on for years, Lakisha joined Rara Tou Limen in 2018. She has enjoyed performing with company and being inspired by the beauty, grace and experiences of its members. She appreciates learning about Haitian folkloric dance and a powerful culture and history that allows her to use dance to connect, stretch, and share the context of a world that is so much bigger than the bubble that many are limited to.