MIJKALENA SMITH

Mijkalena (Mijka) Smith is a Philadelphia-based dance artist originating from Elverson, Pennsylvania. Mijka earned her BFA in Dance from Temple University, graduating Magna Cum Laude of her class and receiving the Frances Bowden Award for Excellence in Dance. Trained in Ballet, Modern, African Diasporic, Hip Hop, and Improvisational techniques, Mijka has had the honor of studying under renowned dancers and choreographers such as Clyde Evans, Kyle Clark, Kun-Yang Lin, Merion Ramirez, Megan Bridge, Mark “Smart Mark” Boston and Shanika “QP.” Mijka currently works as a teacher, dancer and choreographer. Her current choreographic interest is in integrating poetry, movement, and music to create a rich artistic experience.

• Learn more about Mijka’s latest work through her Instagram @mijkalenasmith and website mijkalenasmith.com

JOLI MCTERRELL: Founder/ Creative Director of Her Roots

Joli McTerrell, better known for Her Roots, a grassroots dance movement designed to create a safe space for the unwatered roots of storytellers, creatives, and silenced bodies. Believes the stories of who we are, can be found in the rhythm of our heartbeats and in the shapes of strength, our bodies create. Received Bachelor of Arts, Journalism in the heart of Philadelphia and Masters of Arts in Higher Education. As a Black woman creative, has used the arts to fertilize the seeds of her garden. With over 25 years of arts education, through dance believes this is where she found her most authentic voice. Currently, a freelance photographer and storyteller have joined the multidisciplined creative voices as an art contributor. The use of dance education, her brushstroke, has allowed for Joli to be one of many to contribute to life’s canvas.

A proud mother of two daughters who too has committed and joined the Her Roots movement, Joli believes children deserve the right to create and recreate their own story through the arts.

“Through the gift of dance, I encourage joy in its rawest form. I vow to continue to create a space for art lovers to fill the space with their stories and unspoken journey of healing. There is no one way to tell your story but you must tell it. If not you, then who?”
Peace.

• View Joli’s Photography Portfolio

• Follow Joli on Instagram

• Listen to Love is Freedom: A Black Woman’s Podcast

ANNE-MARIE MULGREW: Founder of Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Company (AMM & DCO)

Known in the city since 1986 for its "visually arresting,"  "highly imaginative," dance theater works, Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Company, (AMM & DCO)  under the artistic direction of Philly native, Anne-Marie Mulgrew, has created 80 works for the company. These works have been seen in concert theaters, alternative spaces, site specific locations, schools, festivals, collaborative projects and for film and TV in the United States and Canada to critical acclaim.  Fusing modern dance, theater, music, technology and art, the company charms, provokes and informs audiences of all ages with its insightful and wacky views of the world. AMM & DCO consists of 5-7 professional dancers and esteemed peer collaborators.  Additional performers are used on a project basis to flesh out materials and involve new communities.  AMM & DCO believes in dance education and offers residency programs , classes, and workshops tailored to the needs of the community for people of all ages, skill levels, and backgrounds. 

“I am tempted to describe Ms. Mulgrew as our own Margaret Mead of Dance.” Philadelphia Inquirer

• Visit the AMM & DCO Website

• Check out the AMM & DCO Facebook Page

ANITO GAVINO: Founder of Malayaworks

Anito Gavino is a Filipinx movement artist, choreographer, educator, writer, cultural worker, and multidisciplinary storyteller native to the island of Panay, Philippines. Since immigrating to the United States in 2000, Gavino has danced professionally with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Kun Yang- Lin/ Dancers, Ananya Dance Theater, and worked with legendary choreographers such as Katherine Dunham, Eleo Pomare, Donald McKayle, Alonzo King, Diane McIntyre, Milton Myers, Ronald K. Brown, Antonio Hidalgo Paz to name a few.

In Philadelphia, she directs her project-based company Malayaworks where she utilizes dance, film and literature as vessels for inscription, community engagement, resistance, and spiritual journeys. Her identity as a mother and as a foreign-born immigrant is a driving force for her decolonial art activism. Currently, she is leading an all Filipino/a/x ensemble, merging Philippine folk and the indigenous warfare Kali as a modality used to inscribe Filipino-American resistance as integral to world history. Since the conception of Ani/Malayaworks in 2015, she has been supported by the MAPfund, Velocity Fund, Scribe Film Grant, Asian Arts Initiative, Career Transition Award, Dance Place, Fleisher Art Memorial, Barnes Foundation, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, Dance Place DC, National Performance Network, Small but Mighty Arts, Painted Bride, and Leeway Foundation. She hopes to continue the work of using dance as a conduit to inquiry and social change. Annielille is also a dance writer for thINKing Dance and an MFA graduate of Hollins University.

• Visit Anito’s Website