Umi IMAN dances the Jingle Dress Dance against a white background, wearing a sacred regalia known as the Jingle Dress. IMAN’s dress, like others of its kind, is adorned with rows of metallic cones that create sound as she moves. The Jingle Dress Dance is a healing dance that originated with the Ojibwe people and is now embraced across many Native communities.

Creating a Home for Afro-Indigenous Dance

Afro-Indigenous Muslim dance artist Umi IMAN explores how home, identity, and community shape her work through Al Taw’am and Sequoia Ascension, using dance as a tool for cultural preservation, resistance, and belonging.

March 30, 2026 | Read Article

Perceiving and Being Perceived

Melanie Greene, a dancer, choreographer, writer, and podcaster currently based in New Orleans, explores the Black female experience through an Afro-futuristic lens, as well as the intersections of her performance and journalistic experiences.

March 4, 2024 | Read Article

Two dancers wrestle while three performers in the background look on, one playing a saxophone.

Using Dance to Understand the Effects of Police Violence

Dominic Moore-Dunson, a choreographer in Akron, OH, explores in his current work "inCOPnegro" how he will one day talk with his young son about police violence toward the Black community.

September 26, 2022 | Read Article

“Dancing to Tell the World That Our Lives Matter”

Chicago footworker MurdaMommy describes what she's doing to help her community get through the pandemic and protests by hosting online dance competitions and classes.

June 29, 2020 | Read Article

Diving into The World of Shadeism

Esie Mensah a dance artist in Toronto, Canada, discusses her work, SHADES, which examines the effects of colorism within the Black community, and her extensive process revisiting that theme from many different angles.

December 5, 2019 | Read Article