Joslynn Mathis Reed

Joslynn Mathis Reed hails from Detroit Michigan. Her lifelong passion for dance has taken her on a journey that includes performing with Aretha Franklin as a teenager, studying West African dance in Ghana as an undergraduate, and teaching dance to a wide range of students over the years. In addition to leading workshops and intensives, she currently teaches ballet, modern, jazz, hip-hop, dance history, hip-hop culture, and advanced technique courses at several Bay Area colleges. Joslynn founded Mathis Reed Dance Company in 2014, presenting work that explores the black experience in America through a multicultural, multiethnic lens. She has performed and collaborated with Shinichi lova-Koga, Nina Haft, Wanjuru Kamuyu, Ana Marie and Sylvia Water (Alvin Ailey Company), Heather Stockton, Mills College Repertory Company, and California State University East Bay Repertory Company. Joslynn holds a B.A. in Dance/Theater Arts from California State University East Bay and an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Mills College.