Hope Folarin

Dancer

Illinois native, Hope Folarin, was formally introduced to dance in adolescence when her mother forced her to take ballet lessons to improve her posture.  During the ensuing years, Hope’s relationship with dance was largely adversarial.  However, following the success of a summer long, self-taught, dance intensive in preparation for college parties, Hope discovered the magic of dance. While in college, she participated in the Mather Dance Collective and performed on the university’s dance team. In graduate school, she studied and performed vernacular jazz dance. Then, shortly after moving to Austin, Hope began to study West African dance under master dancer Jean-Claude Lessou. She previously performed with his group Afrique Gninze, and is delighted to now be part of Lannaya.