Ofosuwa M. Abiola

Ofosuwa M. Abiola, Ph.D. Associate Dean of Research and Creative Endeavors Associate Professor, Africana Dance History VFH Master Artist Howard University (USA) Dr. Ofosuwa M. Abiola earned her Ph.D. in History from Howard University with a focus on Mandinka dance and cultural history. Her minor field was African diaspora dance and cultural history. In addition to articles, Dr. Abiola published the books, History Dances: Chronicling the History of Traditional Mandinka Dance (Routledge, 2019), Fire Under My Feet: History, Race & Agency in African Diaspora Dance (Routledge, 2021), and the textbook, Historical Perspectives on Dance in Africa (Intelligentsia Press, 2020). Dr. Abiola also published the digital refereed journal, Evoke: A Historical, Theoretical and Cultural Analysis of Africana Dance and Theatre. Dr. Abiola has been featured in books, newspapers and magazines, and on television broadcasts including ABC’s Good Morning Washington. Dr. Abiola received numerous grants, awards and fellowships including: the National Endowment for the Humanities grant (NEH), Council of American Overseas Research Centers Fellowship (CAORC), Department of Education grant, US Department of State grant, The Mary Ellen Multi-Country Research Grant, Howard University’s Outstanding Assistant Professor Award, an Outstanding Student Advisement Award (Howard University), Howard University Research Grant, and the George H. Bennett Fellowship, among others. Her artistic awards include: Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) Master Folk Artist Award, SeVAA Excellence in the Arts, VMEA Outstanding Contribution to Music, among others. She established The Wolf Trap National Park for Performing Arts’ first archives (the only federal park for the performing arts in the USA). She also founded the Africana Theatre and Dance Collection at Howard University’s Founders Library, and is Founding Director the Nankama African Dance Conference, where participants and presenters from Africa, the African Diaspora, the US, and representatives from the US State Department attended. Dr. Abiola's expertise is highly sought after. The US Department of State has invited her to serve as a panelist in the “African Dance in the Diaspora” festival in Recife, Brazil. She was invited to serve as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). She also served as an adjudicator for the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, an adjudicator and grant reviewer for the Washington DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, as a judge for the National Park Service’s (NPS) Fredrick Douglass Oratorical Contest, and a judge for the NAACP ACT-SO (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) National Competitions. After training at Mariam Harper’s School of Dance (NY), Robert Wright Dance School (NY), and the Dance Theatre of Harlem (NY), Dr. Abiola launched a 20-year career as a choreographer and solo artist on Broadway and off-Broadway venues. Dr. Abiola also trained in traditional African dance, drumming, and songs, with the Gambian National Dance and Music Troup, Omar Tamba, and Baba Chuck Davis. She performed throughout The Gambia, West Africa, with the Gambian dance company, Corichow. Dr. Abiola founded and served as Artistic Director of the African dance company, Suwabi African Ballet, for 15 years culminating in a 31-year career in field of dance, before she relocated to Washington, DC to obtain her Ph.D.