Makini is a choreographer, performer, and video artist, based between traditional lands of the Tutelo-Saponi speaking peoples and lands of the Lenape peoples, who grew up dancing around the living room and at parties with siblings and cousins. Makini’s early exposure to concert dance was through African dance and capoeira performances on California college campuses where Makini’s Pan-Africanist parents studied and worked, but Makini started “formal” dance training in college with Umfundalai, Kariamu Welsh’s contemporary African dance technique. Makini’s work continues to be influenced by various sources, including foundations in those living rooms and parties, early technical training in contemporary African dance, continued study of contemporary dance and performance, movement trainings with dancer and anatomist Irene Dowd around anatomy and proprioception, sociological research of and technical training in J-sette performance with Jermone Donte Beacham. Through artistic work, Makini strives to engage in and further dialogues with Black queer folks, create lovingly agitating performance work that recognizes History as only one option for the contextualization of the present, and continue to encourage artists to understand themselves as part of a larger community of workers who are imagining pathways toward economic ecosystems that prioritize care, interdependence, and delight.