Misia Denéa

Misia uses art as a means for change and healing in her community, especially with young people of color. For the past six years, Misia has been a dance instructor in youth programs throughout Philadelphia and Maryland. Her mission is to use hip-hop and African-inspired dance as a tool for young people to be conscious of their bodies, and promote self-worth and confidence. Her work with young people includes Emancipation Navigation, a choreopoem she created with young women in the Girls Rites of Passage program at Huey Elementary School about a Black woman's sojourn into self-love, understanding her beauty and importance. Social change is an essential part of Misia's art, in which dance is her voice for educating audiences and sharing stories of marginalized people and communities. She created the Nzinga Arts Collective in 2003 to create a space for artists of color to come together and create art for social justice. She has worked with many progressive female artists in Philadelphia, including Montäzh, an all-female hip-hop performance group. She has created pieces to raise consciousness and money for organizations and issues ranging from MOVE, Critical Resistance, INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, and Mumia Abu Jamal to the HUGS shelter for battered women in Philadelphia. Recently, Misia collaborated with dancer and choreographer Sheena Johnson and playwright Daviná Stewart to create Movement from the Margins (MFM), a multi-media dance performance in response to Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing attempts to erase Black people and Black culture. Performances of MFM included a post-show Q&A and report back about on-the-ground conditions in New Orleans, inspiring people of color to find resources within their own communities to ensure less reliance on the U.S. government when 'Katrinas' devastate communities.

Misia will present “Emancipation Navigation” a choreo-poem sharing the story of a Black woman’s sojourn into self-love, by exploring beauty standards, the history of slavery, the connection to Africa and its impact on Black women. This piece is a collaboration with three poets and will be shared with young Black women at Huey, ages 10-14, to create dialogue and encourage self-acceptance.