Michelle N. Gibson
Photo Credit: Doraze Legington
Michelle N. Gibson is a choreographer, cultural ambassador, educator, performing artist, and present candidate of Katherine Dunham Technique Certification. New Orleans Own incorporates much of the city’s culture in her teaching practice and choreographic aesthetic through lectures and workshops entitled The New Orleans Original BuckShop LLC. Gibson received her BFA in Dance from Tulane University and her MFA in Dance from Hollins University/American Dance Festival at Duke University. Michelle is also a alum of Xavier Prep High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.
Gibson is a long time educator, currently serving as faculty member for nine years with the American Dance Festival at Duke University and dance faculty at the Booker T. Washington High School of Performing and Visual Arts. Additional teaching credits include: Middlebury College,Spelman College, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , and Henderson State University just to name a few. Michelle has also choreographed for several theater companies and live entertainment organizations across the country.
Michelle’s choreographic works ranges from genres such as African Diaspora, Afro and Contemporary Modern, Afro Funk, Jazz, and her own New Orleans Second Line Aesthetic. Her latest choreographic work, Voices of Congo Square, premiered during New Orleans’ 2018 Tricentennial Celebration at the Orpheum Theatre and featured the rich culture and history of the Black Mardi Gras Indians.
As an freelance artist, New Orleans native, and presently living in Dallas TX Michelle is dedicating her energies, pedagogical practice, and performance based research geared toward cultivating the community and the world aboard.
"I had certain physical limitations that made me change the choreography for myself or made me more interested in choreography only rather than dancing. I have never been a person who wanted to just dance. I have always been interested in developing for other people." - Katherine Dunham
CHECK OUT MICHELLE’S WEBSITE
The New Orleans Original Buckshop
Michelle's current projects involve sharing her New Orleans culture through a series of workshops she’s coined The New Orleans Original BuckShop. The New Orleans Original BuckShop engages communities and participants in the culture and Diasporic traditions of Black New Orleans as pertains to the rooted history of the city, through dance, language, art and music. Using her Second Line Aesthetic in dance workshops, lectures, and demonstrations, with a focus on improvisation and the importance of New Orleans Brass Music, she acquaints participants with Second Line as a rooted spiritual impulse for the movement.