Biography
Who is Dr. Goddess?
Short Biography
Affectionately known as "Dr. Goddess," Kimberly C. Ellis, Ph.D., is a scholar, artist, activist, creative organizer and entrepreneur.
As an award-winning poet, playwright and performing artist, she is presently on tour with, "Dr. Goddess!: A One Woman Show" and its sequel, the ensemble production of "Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail, a Spoken Word, Musical Comedy (Unfortunately) Based on a True Story" is now available on DVD.
Dr. Goddess is also the new guest columnist on BuddyTV.com for the Top Dance Show, "So You Think You Can Dance?" on Fox TV, which airs Wednesdays, 8pm / 7pm central. It showcases Jazz, African, Ballroom, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Ballet and Tap Dance and boasts celebrity judges Nigel Lythgoe, Debbie Allen, Mary Murphy, Mia Michaels. Adam Shankman and Tyce D'Orio. Be sure to visit: http://www.buddytv.com
In Spring 2009, Dr. Goddess completed an artist residency at the Banff International Center in Alberta, Canada, where she focused on her upcoming works, “She Put a Hammer in My Hand”, a show about women and home improvement and “Community Meeting” an ensemble, spoken word, musical comedy and the sequel to "Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail".
She most recently received the 2009 Thomas Merton Center’s “New Person” Award for combining art and activism with social media and the 2008 YWCA Racial Justice Award for organizing the successful “Raise Your Hand! No Casino on the Hill Campaign”, which laid the groundwork for the first Community Benefits Agreement in the State of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Goddess gives lecture performances, workshops and master classes throughout the United States and has done so in Jamaica, Ghana, China and Dubai, UAE. She also engages in local artist residencies for young people, including such places as the Urban League Charter School, the Hill House Summer Arts Camp, the Hill Dance Academy Theater and the Lighthouse Project at Westinghouse High School.
For more info on Booking the Show, classroom visits, lectures, workshops and residencies, Contact Dr. Goddess Arts, Education and Management Co.!, call: 412-656-5878 or catch her on Facebook or MySpace!
To order Books, CDs, DVDs, other merchandise, please contact: sales@drgoddess.com or call: 412-656-5878.
Long Bio
Affectionately known as “Dr. Goddess,” Kimberly C. Ellis, Ph.D. is a scholar of American Studies with a specialization in African American Literature and History. She presently serves as the Executive Director of the Historic Hill Institute, a preservation organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Always a creative spirit, Dr. Goddess grew up immersed in the arts and developed a unique flair for performance that remained irrepressible, even in the (ebony and) ivory towers. Dr. Goddess is the fuller spiritual and artistic expression of Kimberly Ellis but also the name of her first multimedia, coming-of-age, one-woman, variety show. Thus, she joins her academic expertise with her artistic sensibilities to educate and entertain audiences about race, class, gender and sexuality issues, including mass consumerism, male/female relationships, globalization and the African Diaspora. Her work mines popular culture to break down boundaries, challenge stereotypes, and force the type of critical self-examination that leaves her audiences forever changed. Poised at the juncture of the academy and everyday life, Dr. Goddess promises to become one of the most important voices of the 21st century.
In graduate school, she continued her artistry as a choreographer, dancer and actress, working as a Dance Assistant for Lee "Aca" Thompson at the Artists Collective (created by the late Jackie McLean) in Hartford, CT and went on to create 14 dance theatre pieces for the Jahari Dance Troupe of Purdue University's Black Cultural Center (two of which were specifically chosen to showcase both the Groundbreaking and Grand Opening ceremonies of the new state-of-the-art facility) and starred in the New Directional Players’ production of “Middle Passage”.
In October 2003, Dr. Goddess won the "Pre Def-Jam Poetry Slam" at Dowe's on Ninth in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and went on to open for Def Poetry Jam Poets Mumz and Dana Gilmore during their performance in Pittsburgh at The Rosebud in the Strip District. She completed her script for "Dr. Goddess!: A One Woman Show" in June 2004 and, following some initial public showcases, launched the full production of the show in April 2005. In October 2005, Dr. Goddess won the Embodi Black Female Performing Arts Festival for her performance at the Inglewood City Playhouse in Los Angeles, CA and continued to impress audiences while sweeping the nation. In April 2006, she produced her show as "A Homegirl's Homecoming" at the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater with a grant from the Multicultural Arts Initiative of the Pittsburgh Foundation and received rave reviews! This show continues to be a hit and is still on tour, headlining with such notables as Stedman Graham at the National Black Herstory Conference in Atlanta and Spike Lee at the Harlem Renaissance Revisited Conference at UCONN.
Dr. Goddess has presented in plenary sessions and performed her poetry at the Gwendolyn Brooks Black Writers Conference on “Hip Hop, Spoken Word and Social Responsibility” in Chicago, IL and the National African American Student Leadership Conference at Rust College in Holly Springs, MS. She has also performed at the National African American Studies & Affiliates Conference and the University of Houston, Downtown Campus in Houston, Texas, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the Hip Hop Conference at Lehman College in Bronx, New York, the Boston Center for the Arts (produced by Up You Mighty Race Performing Arts Company), the National Black Herstory Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, New Jersey, the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater and was the featured performer at the Black Theatre Network's 20th Anniversary Conference in Louisville, Kentucky on July 27, 2006, a day which was also named "Dr. Kimberly Ellis Day" by proclamation of the Mayor of Louisville!
Dr. Goddess continues to lecture, give workshops and presentations, while touring two shows --- "Dr. Goddess!: A One Woman Show" and "Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail, a Spoken Word, Musical Comedy (Unfortunately) Based on a True Story"--- and expects to come to a city near you!
Dr. Goddess gives lecture performances, workshops and master classes throughout the United States and has done so in Jamaica, Ghana, China and Dubai, UAE.
For more info on Booking the Show, classroom visits, lectures, workshops and residencies, Contact Dr. Goddess Arts, Education and Management Co.!, call: 412-656-5878 or catch her on Facebook or MySpace!
To order Books, CDs, DVDs, other merchandise, please contact: sales@drgoddess.com or call: 412-656-5878.
