Sekou McMiller

Originally from Chicago, Sekou boasts a unique and diverse background as a former Chief Financial Officer, accountant and professional classical flutist as well as an emerging Latin dance artist. Pioneering as a performer, choreographer and instructor at the forefront of a new movement in Afro Latin dance, Sekou’s unique fusion style has a strong Afro-Caribbean essence that is laced with many different dance techniques combined with an explosive energy. His choreographic and performance career has garnered him broad recognition worldwide.

Sekou’s diverse career ranges from performing off-Broadway to performing and choreographing for top Latin artists. He performed in both Celia: The Musical and Afro-Tango and choreographed for networks such as Bravo TV, NUVO TV and Good Morning America. Some of the Latin artists he has worked with include Gilberto Santa Rosa, Willie Colon, Ismael Miranda, Cheo Feliciano, Johnny Pacheco, Tito Rojas, Tito Nieves, PitBull, as well as the pop icon Madonna. Sekou was also featured in the documentary "Uprooted: the journey of Jazz Dance" (2020) and the upcoming Warner Bros theatrical feature "In the Heights" (2021). Sekou has worked with the Radio City Rockettes and was invited to choreograph for the Alvin Ailey School and Joffrey Ballet School. One of his many special projects include performing and choreographing for the United Nations Unveiling of the Monument the Ark of Return: honoring the victims of Slavery and lives lost during transit of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

Sekou was awarded the following choreographic residencies: The Alvin Ailey Foundation’s New Directions Choreography Lab for Winter/Spring (2017) hosted by Robert Battle and The Ailey School and the City University of New York Dance Initiative Residency at Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture at Hostos Community College (2017). Both residencies served in the development of a piece entitled “I’m-Pulse: an Afro Latin Jazz and Soul Experience”. This work was set to explore the rich history of collaborations between the African- American and Afro Latin Caribbean cultures and how together these helped to shape and forever change the landscape of American dance and music.

Sekou has performed, choreographed and instructed in over 30 countries and over 150 cities worldwide. His works have been featured at Dance Chicago, New York Jazz Choreographers Festival, The Actors Fund Theater, APAP New York City Center, Peridance Salvatore Capezio Theater, Ailey CitiGroup Theater, Symphony Space, Guggenheim Museum, Jacob’s Pillow, Edison Ballroom, United Palace Theater, the United Nations General assembly, Olympic Park Stadium in Seoul, S. Korea, the Great Wall of China, Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto, Habour Dance Vancouver and Winter Gardens in Blackpool, U.K.

He now resides in New York City where he is the artistic director/choreographer of Sekou McMiller and Friends. He continues to remain a faculty member at The Ailey School, Joffrey Ballet School: Jazz and Contemporary, Peridance Capezio Center, Broadway Dance Center, Ballet Hispanico and Intensive Guest Instructor at Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Earl Mosley’s Hearts of Men, Joffrey West, Joffrey Miami and the Ailey Experience.

Since 2022, The collective known as Sekou McMiller & Friends has fused Afro Latin dance and music with traditional West African, urban, classical, contemporary and abstract theater dance to create provocative narratives on socialization and the human experience. They are a talented ensemble of seasoned professional dancers, musicians, composers and club/street performers. The primary objective is to persistently create authentic artistic endeavors that not only enable individuals to experience the captivating fusion of music and dance, showcasing their infectious rhythmic nature, but also actively engage in and witness a profound cultural reunion of once interconnected communities. By doing so, this initiative contributes to the ongoing dialogue on reshaping and fortifying the concept of self-identification for individuals with black and brown bodies in an era of increasingly blurred borders and global citizenship. The company has toured both domestically and internationally, sharing the works with the audiences in large cities like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, Havana, Beijing, Tokyo, Milan, Istanbul, Dakar and Paris. Most notably as honorary performers at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Bryant Park, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Little Island NYC, Jacob’s Pillow Creative Lab, Guggenheim: Works & Process and Fall for Dance North Festival.