#15: Dance, Healing, and Storytelling

Chanda Bynum talks to Aseelah Shareef of Cleveland's Karamu House about Step Afrika!, her experiences traveling internationally as a professional dancer, the powerful healing effects of dance, and much more!
About Aseelah Shareef:
Aseelah Shareef offers a unique combination and understanding of inspirational leadership, operations and logistics, organizational programming, and artistry, developed through intense non-profit environments demanding excellence, flexibility and the capacity to master multiple roles. Just a few of those roles include performing in Step Afrika!, the world’s only professional dance company dedicated to the art of stepping (body percussion), which toured nationally and internationally, and teaching and co-creating new curriculum for Dance at Cuyahoga Community College. Aseelah was the former executive director of Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre, Events Manager for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and Director of Dance for Cleveland School of the Arts. Her most recent role is Director of Operations and Community Engagement at Karamu House, where she implements operational efficiencies across product lines, has developed new arts residency programs, as well as curates socially and culturally responsive community arts experiences including after-school and weekend arts education models for life-long learners. She is also currently serving as the Interim Executive Director of the Cleveland Arts Prize, the nation’s oldest municipal arts award. She was a member of the inaugural 2019 Arts and Culture Leaders of Color Fellowship cohort sponsored by Americans for the Arts, The Joyce Foundation and American Express. Her community involvement includes membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Cleveland Arts Prize (Board Trustee), Ohio Citizens for the Arts (Board Member), the Greater Cleveland Urban Film Foundation (Board Member), Future Heights Grantmaking Committee (member) and College Now Greater Cleveland (mentor). Aseelah holds an MA in Arts Administration and BS in Exercise Science from The Florida State University.