Biography

Jill Pribyl is an arts educator, choreographer, and dancer. She has been creating dance/theater works for over 20 years. Her works combine music, dance, drama, and video images and explore what it is to be human.

Jill has been living and teaching in Uganda for over fifteen years. She came to Uganda as a Fulbright Scholar at Makerere University in the Department of Performing Arts and Film in 2002 where she taught core classes, choreographed new works and conducted choreographic

research.

Teaching for over 20 years, Jill has served as an Associate Professor of Dance at Eastern New Mexico University before coming to Uganda. She has conducted professional development workshops in the arts for teachers in higher education in Egypt, Brazil, South Africa, Zimbabwe and throughout the USA. Most recently, Jill has written a creative arts curriculum for In-Movement/Art for Social Change, an organization that serves disadvantaged youth in Kampala, Uganda. Jill has taught children from ages 3 to 18 as well as adults. She believes that the arts can foster creativity, divergent thinking, and problem-solving skills.

Degrees: MA, Dance, University of New Mexico

BFA, Visual Art, University of New Mexico

CMA, Laban Institute of Movement Studies, NYC, NY

2010 - present

Teaching

2010 - present

Resident Director, NYU Study Abroad, Community building through teaching, creating, performing: Dance Education in Uganda, Kampala, Uganda (2006-present)

Associate Professor, Department of Performing Arts and Film, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda (2005-2015)

Arts Education Consultant, In Movement/Art for Social Change, Kampala, Uganda, (2005-2014)

Artistic Director, Kampala Ballet and Modern Dance School, Kampala, Uganda (2006-2010)

Associate Professor and Coordinator of Dance Studies, Department of Theater and Dance, Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, New Mexico, USA (1995 - 2005)

Selected Presentations/Workshops

National Dance Education Organization; Focus on Dance Education: Collaborations: A mosaic of Possibility, paper and practical presentation entitled: Cross cultural collaborative lesson planning: US pedagogy meets Uganda pedagogy, a working model, Chicago, IL, November 2014.

Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education, workshop presentation entitled: Kampala Landscapes of Movements and Sound: An interdisciplinary approach to the teaching of Music and Dance, Kampala, Uganda, August 2013.

Confluences 6: Dance in Education: paper presentation entitled: Who Are We Dancing For, co-presentation with Kristina Johnstone, University of Cape Town School of Dance, Cape Town, SA, July 2011.

Dance and Peace Festival, workshop and performance on peace building together with Grace Ibanda Flavia, Nairobi, Kenya, December, 2010

National Dance Educators Organization; Take a Bite of the Apple: Exploring Resources to Promote Best Practices, workshop entitled: Making Connections: Teaching African Dance Inside and Outside Africa, co-presented with Grace Ibanda Flavia, June 2009, New York City, NY.

Selected Choreography

To Serve, premiere 2015, Dance Week Festival, National Theater, Kampala, Uganda

Stop in the Name of Love, premiere 2014, Transmissions International Dance Festival, National Theater, Kampala, Uganda

Pressure Point, premiere 2013, Let Them Dance, a collaborative performance with the Norwegian College of Dance and the Dance Section of the Performing Arts and Film Department/MUK. May 2013.

Ground Nut, premiere 2011, State University of New York Dance Concert, Fredonia, NY.

Company Work

Okulamba Dance Theater, Artistic Director, Kampala, Uganda, 2003 - present.

aLANDdance, Artistic Director 1993-1994, Albuquerque, NM, 1993 - 2002.

Buen Viaje Dancers, a company comprised of dancers with and without disabilities, Artistic Director, Albuquerque, NM, 2000-2002.

New Mexico Contemporary Dance Alliance, Assistant Artistic Director (Bill Evans, Artistic Director), 2000-2002, Albuquerque, NM

Sugarbush Dance Theater, co-founder in collaboration with Jan Lee and Debra Landau, Albuquerque, NM, 1994-1999.

Elizabeth Waters Dance Workshop, Elizabeth Waters, Artistic Director, Albuquerque, NM, 1984-1993.