Ife’s thesis action is the curation of a documentary dance film entitled: Through Her Looking Glass: Emancipation of the Black Muse. The film follows Ife and dance company Ife Michelle Dance, as they investigate the residue of their individual and shared experiences as Black Women in the United States and develop an “Emancipated Spaces” as a place to protect and permission the Black Women.
Learn more: bit.ly/3BJLnYR
Ife Michelle, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, began her dance training through the North Carolina Performing Arts Academy at age seven. Her training through college (Fayetteville State University/Duke University) in traditional West African, contemporary, Horton modern technique, hip-hop, stilettos and couture/vouge dance styles.
In her pre-professional career, Ife has danced with multiple companies including KOFFEE Modern Dance Company, DialeKt Dance Company, Black Millennium Runway Troupe, SHAE Movement African Arts and 4Thirty-Two Dance Company, where she also served as a choreographer.
As a practicing choreographer and performance artist, Ife now runs a dance company, Ife Michelle Dance, whose mission is to challenge the misguided perceptions and understandings of Black Women through performative offerings. Additionally, Ife teaches community adult dance classes (The Nightcap) that create a space for Black Women to access ownership and agency of self through dance technique and choreography.
Dance Program