THE HAUS OF GLITTER DANCE COMPANY

The Haus of Glitter works through movement and choreography, to shift the energetic center of the universe towards Queer Feminist BIPOC Liberation. In the work we share and co-create with audiences, we strive to embody ancestral liberation, healing, and love in every step and every breath of our creative process and pedagogy. Our choreography aims to reach beyond the stage and into the streets; into our homes; into our institutions; into our hearts.

Co-Founders + Co-Directors: 

Anthony "AM." Andrade

Steven "Sen" Choummalaithong

Assitan "Sita" Coulibaly

Matthew Garza

Trent Lee

Franchesca La Unica

www.hausofglitter.org 

@hausofglitterdanceco

THE YEREDON CENTRE

An Arts and Culture Center located in the Doumanzana neighborhood of Bamako, Mali. Founded in 2001, The Yeredon Centre is run by Seydou Coulibaly, a renowned Malian dancer and musician, and Michelle Bach-Coulibaly, professor of Theater Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University. The programming at Yeredon is designed to invite people from all over the world to study traditional Bamana dance, music, and culture straight from the source and provide resources to support Malian artists to remain local and retain traditional knowledge. For over 20 years, the Coulibaly family has hosted many artists, researchers, collaborators, and others interested in an all-inclusive summer program that includes language, history, dance, music, and textiles workshops.

Seydou Coulibaly, Co-Founder

Michelle Bach-Coulibaly, Co-Founder

Assitan Coulibaly, Legacy Arts & Education

www.yeredon.org

SEYDOU COULIBALY

Seydou Coulibaly is one of Mali’s leading dancers, teachers, and choreographers. He was named Mali’s #1 dancer in the final Biennale Arts Competition with his company Troupe Commune Quatre, before the coup d’état in 1990. He then founded and was artistic director of Mali’s nationally respected and award-winning Troupe Komée Diosée, which toured throughout Mali. Seydou now also works extensively in the US, where he teaches Mande dance, music and culture at Wheaton College, Brown University, the Dance Complex in Cambridge, MA and frequently visits schools throughout New England. Seydou also runs Yeredon, a cross-cultural school in Bamako, which aims to bring a greater knowledge of Malian culture to foreigners while preserving the work of Mali’s most talented artists. His film credits include Steven Spielberg’s Amistad, Mali Djembekan, Street Party in Lafiabougou, and numerous educational films on Malian music, dance and culture. Seydou’s djun-djun playing can also be heard on Mohamed Kalifa Kamara’s Africa Kanben

WEEKSVILLE HERITAGE CENTER

Weeksville Heritage Center is an historic site and cultural center in Central Brooklyn that uses education, arts and a social justice lens to preserve, document and inspire engagement with the history of Weeksville, one of the largest free Black communities in pre-Civil War America, and the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses.

www.weeksvillesociety.org

AJA

AJA is known across the globe as a radiant and revolutionary artist + rapper + performer + spiritual practioner from Brooklyn, NY. Aja is a passionate advocate for cultural and heritage preservation across the Afro-Latin diaspora and was the creative visionary for her latest album, Femme Queen Rage (2023), and numerous music projects since starring in RuPaul's Drag Race Season Season 9, Drag Race All Stars Season 3 and eventually, Legendary Season 2 on HBOMax. She is legendary on the kiki scene and a statement in the NY Ballroom scene for her stunning runway walk and enchanting fashions. Aja was the headline performer for The Haus of Glitter's 2024 Villains Ball in South Texas! 

@ajathekween

ARTURO MUGLER

Arturo Mugler is the New York Father of The House of Miyake-Mugler and a Ballroom Icon. As a world-renowned dancer + choreographer and the organizer of the internationally touring Vogue 4 Your Life teaching intensive, Arturo is celebrated across the globe for his genius artistry and contributions to the Vogue + Ballroom + Dance community. Arturo and The House of Miyake-Mugler were the grand champion winners of Season 2 on HBO's Legendary dance comeptition. Arturo played the theatrical lead in The Haus of Glitter's activist dance opera in New York City in September 2022 and has been a choreographer + mentor for The Haus of Glitter Dance Company since Summer 2022. Most recently, Arturo has worked as a choreography with Omari Wiles on a new off-broadway vogue + ballroom adaptation of CATS, the musical premiering in Summer 2024 in NYC. 

@arturo_thaengineer

OUSMANE "OMARI" WILES

Ousmane “Omari” Wiles is an African American West African and Vogue dancer. Wiles is best known as, legendary Omari NiNa Oricci, founder of The House of Nina Oricci [est. Oct. 2019] and Creative Director of Les Ballet Afrik dance company.

Wiles was born in West Africa Senegal. He began his training in West African dance at the age of 6 years old, under the tutelage of his mother and father, who owned a dance company. Wiles joined his mother (Marie Basse Wiles) and father (BaBa Olukose Anthony Wiles) and became the assistant director of the family company, The Maimouna Keita School of African Dance. Working with master African dancers, Ousmane evolved the skills needed to teach the art of traditional African dance. Venturing further into the world of dance, Wiles found himself learning, training and falling in love with other styles such as Hip-Hop, House, Modern, Jazz, and Vogue.

Through his involvement with the ballroom scene, his love and passion for Vogue (dance) grew. As his notoriety in the ballroom scene grew, it began to grow outside of the ballroom scene as well. Wiles has had the opportunity to work with many artists, featuring his range of dance. His choreography has been featured with Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, John Legend, Jidenna, and Rashaad Newsome and he has worked as a featured dancer, showcasing Afrobeats (with Goldlink, Jidenna, Maleek Berry, and Wunmi), West African dance (with Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, and Forces), and Vogue (with Rashaad Newsome, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Jennifer Hudson). Wiles has been published in Dance Magazine “Top 25 to Watch”, Korean Vogue, in a spread featuring Naomi Campbell, The Observer, Dance Mogul Magazine, and The New York Times. Wiles also appeared with his house (the house of Nina Oricci) as a contestant on Legendary Season 2 on HBOMax.

Wiles is now evolving his own style of dance with his company Les Ballet Afrik, blending African, Vogue, Modern, and House as one. He and his company have performed at the Joyce Theater, the Guggenheim, and the New York Metropolitan Museum.

@omari_wiles

ESSENCE

ESSENCE, also known as Nubian Néné, born in Montréal, is known in her community for her waacking and house dance styles, as a well-versed dancer, an out-of-ordinary and powerful choreographer, and her ability to wear many hats, such as host, judge, performer, director, and more. She has had in the last few years the opportunity to teach, judge and perform nationally and internationally.

Since 2014, Nubian is hosting the Ladies of Hip Hop dance competition and is well anchored in the Festival, presenting choreographic work, teaching and helping with the organization. In the Fall of 2014, she performed the 'Music Creates Opportunity' evening-length piece with the well-known 'Bboyizm Dance Company’, in Vancouver at the Cultch Theater, and since then she’s performed with the company in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and Peterborough, Ontario. In 2015 she co-creates the House dance duo Tout’seulensemble with Dominique Sophie which was presented in Montreal at ‘La 5e Salle (Place des Arts)’ part of the Canadian Festival 100lux. Fringe Festival, New Victory Theater, Gramercy Theater, and Lincoln Center, are just a few of the stages she’s graced.

Nubian latest choreographic work is a piece co-choreographed with crews Flow Rock/LEGZ called LEGADO, which is a BBoying/Bgirling piece honoring those who came before and who will come after. In 2017, she was accepted as a Lakou NOU resident, part of the Haiti Cultural Exchange program, and presented collaborative work featuring Brooklyn artists at her Crown Heights Creatives event, held in December 2017. Her goal is to constantly inspire through actions, words, and dance. Her mantra: “Let the music inspire you, let the inspiration come from the music. Let your dance inspire and be inspired by your dance.”

@nubiannene