Offerings

Solo or collaborative performance works grounded in African diasporic and Indigenous movement practices. These performances are embodied storytelling that invites viewers into Umi IMAN’s world. Each work can be aligned with the themes of specific events, with careful attention to cultural context, relevance, and intention. Performances are adaptable to theaters, galleries, conferences, museums, and community spaces.

Speaking engagements include group panels, lectures, and talks that center personhood, artistry, and lived experience. These conversations often explore navigating creative practice alongside spirituality, business, academia, community work, relationships, health, wellness, self-care, and more. 

This work includes producing and curating dance performances, interdisciplinary showcases, festivals, conferences, and retreats. The curatorial approach prioritizes cultural integrity, community accountability, and rest as a necessary part of productivity. Experience spans self-produced projects, museums, universities, international arts exchanges, and grassroots spaces, bringing together artistic vision and strong logistical leadership across projects of varying scales.

Educational engagements are offered across academic institutions and community settings. Teaching experience includes invitations to share work at universities such as Harvard, Yale, Emory, Spelman College, and the University of Minnesota, alongside facilitating community-based classes and workshops for all ages. Instruction spans beginner to advanced levels and integrates movement practice, cultural context, history, and mentorship, creating learning environments that honor ancestral wisdom and scholarship.

Consulting supports grassroots communities, organizations, and institutions seeking to move beyond symbolic gestures toward active engagement, cultural relevance, and accountable change. This work centers the needs of Black and Indigenous folks, artists, and other underrepresented communities, supporting organizations in developing the tools necessary to build meaningful and reciprocal relationships. One example is her training Beyond the Land Acknowledgement: Building Relationships with Indigenous Artists & Communities, which challenges extractive practices and guides institutions toward ethical engagement grounded in responsibility and repair.

Through independent practice and leadership with Sequoia Ascension, short-term community engagement programming, long-term residencies, and wellness-centered offerings are facilitated. Umi IMAN prioritizes collaboration with organizations for whom serving their community is a core pillar and who are committed to offering both short- and long-term support for people to create, study, explore, preserve culture, and rest. This work is supported by a strong skill set in grant writing, residency models, and impact-driven programming.