Michelle Grant-Murray, a Georgia Peach, hybrid Florida Mango fused with Texas Honeysuckle, is an author, choreographer, performer, Founder and Artistic Director of Olujimi Dance Theatre/Dance Collective, The Black Artist  Black Artist Talk. Artistry In Rhythm (A.I.R.) Dance Conference  and author of Beyond the Surface: An Inclusive American Dance History. She is Co-founder of the Florida Black Dance Artists Organization and a two-time recipient of the Artist in Residency program at the Historic Deering Estate and the MDC Live Arts 2020 LALA Residency. Michelle is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Dance at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus. Michelle’s love for the moving body as a radical expression of knowledge is visceral, vibrant, and vivacious. 

Her career has been impacted by her studies at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Clark Center, Jacob’s Pillow and influenced by notable artist and scholars such as Reginald Yates, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Christina Mann, Carole Boyce-Davies, Donald McKayle, Michael Vernon, Rennie Harris, Nora Chipaumire and the legendary Miss Katherine Dunham. Michelle holds a BS degree in Dance from Jacksonville University University, MA degree in African Studies with a concentration in Pedagogy and Cultural Studies from Florida International University and MFA degree in Choreography from Jacksonville University. 

Michelle, Artistic Director of Olujimi Dance Theatre, has performed and presented work in Europe, Asia, South America, the United States and the Caribbean. She has presented for the 45 Degrees Summer Intensive, the Smithsonian Institute, Urban Bush Women Summer Leadership Institute, served as an Artist in Resident for historic Deering Estate, the Live Arts Miami LaLa Artists in Residency program and conducted workshops, master classes and residencies at several universities, and dance institutions throughout the United States and abroad. Michelle is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Dance at Miami Dade College where she is the Artistic Director of Jubilation Dance Ensemble. Michelle is the host and brains behind The Black Artist Talk, a conversation that dialogs the process, politics, and preservation of Black Artist in South Florida. Michelle is the Executive Director of the annual Artistry In Rhythm (A.I.R.) Dance Conference presented and sponsored by Miami Dade College. Michelle, author of Beyond the Surface: An Inclusive American Dance History, is writer, scholar, performer, choreographer, educator and mentor.

She has developed and implemented Olujimi Dance Technique, a unique blend of contemporary and traditional modern dance styles infused with elements of African Diaspora Dance Movement forms, designed to chop at the core of physicality. ‘The aim of this process is to develop the physical, mental and intellectual body from a humanistic perspective; a perspective that values humanity, individuality, creativity and inventiveness.’ Additionally, Michelle has developed a unique choreographic process, Ancestral Dance Movement Memory (ADMM). ADMM explores movement that seeks to go beyond the collective memory of the present physical body and imagine the future utilizing the ecology of spirituality to reveal the essence of human nature. ADMM celebrates, heightens and authenticates the intuitive wisdom of the body. Michelle fuses sensuality, creativity, enthusiasm and zeal to live a life and create works that re-defines the corporeality of the body as a living, viable and moving portal.