Mia Redding

Director of Communities & Cultural Engagement

Mia Michele Redding found her love for dance at the age of 3. Redding started her dance training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. She began her performance career working with well-respected choreographers and companies such as MTV, Earl Mosley Institute of the Arts, Ringling Arts Festival and Fuzion Dance Artists. Redding obtained her BFA degree in Dance Performance and Choreography graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Florida. While attending the University of Florida, she discovered an interest in activism and research regarding black feminism and West African Dance.

Redding is a published UF Research Scholar where she is currently still continuing her research of black studies and movement from the African Diaspora. She has taught at Sarasota Ballet where she taught West African Dance and Jazz. In 2016-17, Redding created several works funded by The Department of Education through the Project Prevent (P2) Program and in the partnership with the Sarasota Against Violence (SAVE) Project, which focused on anti-bullying and investigating ways on how the youth can support one another by building community through traditional West African Dance and Contemporary choreography. 

In 2018, she was a selected scholar for the Women in Dance Leadership Conference where she presented her published work titled To feel, so WE can be, which focused on the intersectionality race, gender and the role in freedom from a Black Woman’s perspective. In 2018, Redding also was invited to teach and perform at the International Afro-Cuban Dance festival in Habana, Cuba. Currently, she holds the position as Dance coordinator and teacher at KIPP Freedom Middle School in NYC.