Marsae Mitchell

Marsae Mitchell
Reflect.Black.Times

Marsae Mitchell’s original dance piece “Reflect.Black.TImes”  samples songs and interviews by Nina Simone and three original poems. The songs elaborate on how the institutions of white supremacy have affected and continue to affect people of color. The songs suggest resolutions. An excerpt from the lyrics in the song Blackbird reads “You ain't got no one to hold you. You ain't got no one to care. If you'd only understand dear, nobody wants you anywhere”. People of color have been subjected to trauma for over 400 years and this trauma inducing atrocities are still occurring today. The effects of this trauma include self-hatred, the desire to assimilate to the colonizer and devaluing ourselves.

The future of the melanated community is predicated on first learning to love ourselves then each other. The lyrics from Nina Simone’s song Image suggests that if melanated people lived in an environment likened to where our ancestors originated that we would see the beauty within ourselves, another nod to repatriation. The last two songs tell a story first of self-love and then allowing someone else to love you. The future MitchelI wants for her community is one of love. She believes Black love, Black families and Black education are the most revolutionary ways to negate the effects of white supremacy.

Watch “Reflect.Black.Times” below.

Marsae Mitchell is a dancer & educator. She studied with the Alvin Ailey School of Dance in New York, and later received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in dance from Marygrove College. While attending Marygrove, she received the coveted "Outstanding Dancer of the Year Award", an honor presented annually to a student who shows technical proficiency, leadership, commitment, and academic achievement. Marsae has performed and taught dance throughout the U.S. including California, New York and Texas. She studies and teaches several techniques including Ballet, Horton, Dunham, Contemporary & Tap. Marsae is the 2016 recipient of the Kresge Art Foundation's Gilda Award for her work as the lead choreographer & co-producer of "My Hair, My Story, My Glory," an artistic narrative on the history and culture of hair expressed through poetry, music, and dance. Marsae is also the 2020 recipient of the University of Michigan Rackham Merit Fellowship, SMTD Graduate Fellowship and Graduate Student Teacher Appointment. She is motivated by the belief that it is an artist's responsibility to engage, empower and educate.