Amirah Sackett (dancer/ choreographer/teacher) has performed and had
her choreography featured locally, nationally, and internationally. Amirah
was honored as one of the first female hip-hop artists to receive the
Jerome Travel/Study grant in 2008. She curated the international festival
for women in Hip-Hop, B-Girl Be in 2009-2010 at Intermedia Arts. In
2011 she curated her own show called “The JOINT Project” in an effort to
push hip-hop artists to create work outside of their comfort zone. She
created the group “We’re Muslim, Don’t Panic” with dancers Iman and
Khadijah, to promote understanding and respect of the female Muslim
style of dress called hijab, to non-Muslim audiences. Since then they
have been featured in rapper, Brother Ali’s, music video “Mourning in
America” as well as performing all over the country. Amirah was
honored to receive the prestigious Sage Cowles Award “Best Ensemble
Performance” for the performance of her choreography “Mourning in
America” in 2013. In 2014, Amirah traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh as part
of "Next Level", a hip-hop cultural exchange program by the U.S. State
Department and University of North Carolina. In April 2016, Amirah was
honored to be part of "Caravanserai- American Voices", a Midwest tour
of American Muslim hip-hop artists, including The Reminders, Dj Man-O-
Wax and fellow dancer Mary Mar a.k.a B-Girl Mama. They spent one
week in each of the three cities they visited, teaching workshops,
performing, and meeting the local communities. Amirah believes hip-
hop culture, as a whole, gives voice to those often unheard and is a way
to uplift, inspire, and bring change to those communities that need it the
most.
