Today we’d like to introduce you to Jarrell Hamilton.
Hi Jarrell, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thank you so much Voyage Dallas Magazine for having me. My name is Jarrell Hamilton, a native New Orleanian, a mother, choreographer, actress, singer, dancer, educator, writer and Founder of JHINC.
My journey as an artist began at family gatherings. I was inspired whenever my older brother would dress up and perform Micheal Jackson or when my cousin would light up the stage for her dance recitals. Those moments really sparked the creative inside of me. I also remember one Christmas my parents purchasing a piano and the whole day I played on the piano. The combination of exposure, curiosity, and accessibility to the arts is what lead me to where I am today.
I am a seven-time Big Easy Classical Arts Award nominee, 2018 Best Ensemble (Ain’t Misbehavin’), 2016 Best Modern Presentation, and 2013 Winner for Best Contemporary Choreographer, Delta Sigma Theta Artie Award and National Performance Network Awardee. My recent credits: Netflix Tall Girl 2, Netflix I Am a Virgo, House That Will Not Stand (Marcus Gardley), City of a Million Dreams (Jason Berry) and Period Party film (Nicole Collins).
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road to my career has had it set of challenges and still has it set of challenges. I was born with a physical disability. The doctors told my parents that I would not be able to walk properly if not corrected. Some odd years later, this bright and precocious individual not only went on to be the fastest runner in her class but a dancer. That was only the beginning of my challenges.
At the start of my professional career, I found out that I was pregnant. Scared and unsure, I trusted the process. Along the way, God continued to show me that my daughter was going to be part of my evolution as a “Mother Artist Healer.” Sure enough, doors were open for me to perform roles for women with child, theatre organization created space for me to be with child and I was awarded a National Performance Network Award for my work in the artistic community.
Furthermore, my personal odyssey has led me to complete my first book set to publish the beginning of 2023. My self-help book is written to support women, females, mothers, daughters, sistahs, friends in defining what femininity looks like own their own terms and seeing themselves the way the Divine Creator sees them.
What’s next?
In the future, my plans are to expand my dance-theatre company De La SouL Dance Co and my non-profit programming Spark Initiative, an award initiative to support artist in the South with a $1ooo towards their artistic endeavors. Currently, in production for a Netflix film (which I cannot disclose at this point). And we are also working on a film project conceived my Nicole Collins, a meditation on female coming-of-age journey from menstruation to menopause.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Gason Asykin
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