Cultural Consultant, Once on This Island
A native of Haiti, Djenane Saint Juste is a professional choreographer, dancer, actress, and vocalist with over 30 years of experience specializing in Haitian traditional dance and folklore. She received extensive training in Ballet, Hip Hop, Modern, Jazz, and Ballroom dance at the Institut de Danse JAKA, Institut de Dance Vivianne Gauthier, and Artcho Dance Company in Haiti. Her work has been documented in Making Caribbean Dance as well as Lavil: Life, Love, and Death in Port-au-Prince (Voice of Witness). In 2018, Djenane received the Award of Excellence from the Haitian Community of Minnesota and the NAACP. Her latest work is her first children’s book, The Mermaid and the Whale, published in August 2020. She is currently a teaching artist at the Saint Paul Conservatory for the Performing Arts, the Cowles Center, and COMPAS. Co-choreographer at the MN Opera for the Anonymous Lover production.