Abagail is a performer, choreographer, instructor, and educator with a focus in African based traditional and street dances. She specializes in Senegalese Sabar dance, Guinean Djembe dance, and a method of Afro Fusion Dance where she researches the intersections of her various practices. She also studies a wide range of African and Diaspora genres, such as traditional and popular Congolese dances, Dancehall, Coupé Décalé, Afro House, House, Kuduro, among other genres. Since 2004, she has traveled throughout West Africa including Guinea, Senegal, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast to study with renowned artists and ballet companies. She started her studies of African dance in the late 1990's, and continues to refine her craft by studying and working with masters in African dance and music from around the world.
Abagail is an international performer and teaching artist. In 2022 and 2017 she was a featured dancer for world renowned African artist, Youssou N’Dour, at Bercy Arena in Paris, France. Currently, Abagail tours internationally with singer, Gala Rizatto, as a choreographer and principal dancer, performing at major venues and stadiums around Europe. In the United States, Abagail has performed solo dance work at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and the Redcat/Disney Cal Arts Theater in Los Angeles. She has performed ensemble work at the San Francisco Yerba Buena Center, the Ford Theater, UCLA’s Fowler Museum, and the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, among other renowned venues.
As an educator and instructor, Abagail is currently lecturer in dance and dance faculty with Pomona College and AMDA College of the Performing Arts Los Angeles. She has taught workshops and residencies at the New York Film Academy in New York City, the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA, the University of California Los Angeles, and University of California Riverside.
In addition to choreography, performance, and education, Abagail is also a producer and creative director. She has directed full length dance productions for stage in San Francisco at CounterPulse and the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts in Oakland, California. She has choreographed for stage and camera, including music videos, commercials, and concert dance. Abagail was recruited by Hip Hop Films, a Canadian based BIPOC lead documentary production company, and is now a co-producer and a featured dancer in their upcoming dance documentary series, The Art of Dance: A Journey into Movement.
Abagail is forever grateful to her teachers from whom she's developed her craft, and would like to acknowledge the strong influences of dance and music from Guinea, Congo, Zimbabwe, Senegal and Mali, that have informed her dance foundation.