MARLOND. SIMMS-GUESTCHOREOGRAPHER

Marlon D. Simms is the artistic director of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) of Jamaica and the Dean of the School of Dance at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts where his specialisation is choreography, performance and dance education. He is a choreographer and dancer and has been an educator for over two decades He has performed, facilitated workshops and choreographed locally and internationally. He has also toured extensively with the NDTC and as a solo performance artist across the Caribbean, the Americas, Europe and Japan

Michelle Grant-Murray, a Georgia Peach and hybrid Florida Mango, is an independent choreographer, performer and Artistic Director of Olujimi Dance Theatre. She studied at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Clark Center, Jacob’s Pillow and influenced by notable artists and scholars such as Dr L’Antoinette Stine, Reginald Yates, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Carole Boyce-Davies, Donald McKayle, Michael Vernon, Rennie Harris, Nora Chipaumire and the legendary Miss Katherine Dunham. Michelle holds a BS degree in Dance Education from Jacksonville University University, MA degree in African Studies with a concentration in Pedagogy and Cultural Studies from Florida International University and MFA degree in Choreography from Jacksonville University

Michelle, Artistic Director of Olujimi Dance Collective (Theatre), has performed and presented her work in Europe, Asia, South America, the United States and the Caribbean. She is currently an Artist in Residence with Live Arts Miami where she has been commissioned to create a new work, “RoseWater ” This work explores the intersectionality of environmental racism, carbon footprint, water ethics, and land gentrification She is an Artist-in-Resident at Deering Estates and Miami Light Project

Michelle is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Dance at Miami Dade College where she is the Artistic Director of Jubilation Dance Ensemble.

Michelle is the founder and host of The Black Artist Talk, a conversation that dialogs the creative process, politics, and preservation of Black Artists in South Florida She is the Founder and Executive Director of the annual Artistry In Rhythm (A I R ) Dance Conference presented and sponsored by Miami Dade College.

She has developed and implemented Olujimi Dance Technique, a unique blend of contemporary and traditional modern dance styles infused with elements of African Diaspora Dance Movement forms The aim of this process is to develop the physical, mental and intellectual body from a humanistic perspective Additionally, Michelle has developed a unique choreographic process, Ancestral Dance Movement Memory (ADMM). ADMM explores movement that seeks to go beyond the collective memory of the present physical body and imagine the future utilizing the ecology of spirituality to reveal the essence of human nature. Currently, Michelle is researching the performative intersections of Eco-feminism, Ecology, and Sustainability which live in the antiquity of the Black Female Body

Michelle is committed to the developmental voice of the Black Female Artists