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Registration is required for the 2024/25 Mandell Presents Series.


Ladies of Hip Hop Performing

Ladies of Hip Hop
Black Dancing Bodies Project: Speak My Mind

Thursday October 10, 2024 | 7PM | Mandell Theater | Program

“If I could speak my mind, what would I say?” The Ladies of Hip Hop Collective responds to this question through new writings (spoken word tracks), music, and movement spanning dance styles from African to waacking, vogue, hip hop, and house, all curated under the direction of Michele Byrd-McPhee. The Black Dancing Bodies Project is an initiative to uplift and celebrate Black women in street and club dance culture, addressing the erasure and miscoding of Black women’s contributions to American dance culture. Black Dancing Bodies Project: Speak My Mind reclaims community stories, gestures, mannerisms, hairstyles, dances, and cultural norms.

Artist discussion immediately following the performance. This event is free and open to the public. Register here.


Engage more with this artist!

The driving force behind LOHH, Michele Byrd-McPhee is a 2024-25 Rankin Scholar-in-Residence for Drexel’s Antionette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. A 2023 Bessie Award winner for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance, Michele is a street dancer, arts activist, and creative visionary who works to recontextualize hip-hop culture along gender, socio-historical, and racial lines. Michele Byrd-McPhee’s visit to Drexel includes a week-long residency, October 8-11, 2024.

SpeakMyMind was commissioned by Works & Process, developed in Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at Bethany Arts Community (2022, 2023, and 2024) and Catskill Mountain Foundation (2022), Office Hours Residency at The Kennedy Center, and Jacob’s Pillow Lab.

SpeakMyMind is a 2023 New England Foundation for the Arts's National Dance Project grantee, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and Mellon Foundation.

See below for event details and registration information.


Headshot of Michele Byrd

Rankin Scholar-in-Residence Series & Mandell Presents
Sessions with Visiting Artist Michele Byrd-McPhee

As a Westphal College 24/25 Rankin Scholar-in-Residence, Michele Byrd-McPhee will spend the week of October 8-11 at Drexel and bring her dance company to perform at the Mandell Theater. The residency is a personal and professional homecoming for Michele, who is a 2009 alumna of Drexel’s graduate program in arts administration and originally from Philadelphia. The Department of Performing Arts and Department of Arts & Entertainment Enterprise are thrilled to partner on this engagement.

Michele Byrd-McPhee Guest Artist Class Visit: History of Hip Hop
Tue Oct 8 | 3:30 – 4:50 PM @ URBN Annex, Screening Room
Professor James McKinney hosts Michele Byrd-McPhee in MUSC-337 class, which will be opened to the entire Drexel community. Guests with Dragon Cards welcome, first come first served, while seats are available.

Rankin Scholar-in-Residence Keynote & Fall Dance Lecture: Michele Byrd-McPhee
Tue Oct 8 | 6:30 PM @ Mandell Theater
2023 Bessie Award Winner for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance Michele Byrd-McPhee is a street dancer, an arts activist, and a tireless advocate for girls and women, who has worked for decades to re-contextualize spaces and conversations about hip hop culture along gender, socio-historical, and racial lines. The Founder and Executive Director of Ladies of Hip Hop (LOHH) will deliver this year’s Fall Dance Lecture. This event is free and open to the public. Register here.

Community Dance Class: Strength, Stability, Social Dance for Seniors
Wed Oct 9 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM @ Dornsife Center, 3509 Spring Garden Street
Free Dance at the Dornsife Center class for West Philadelphia seniors.
Register for senior Dance at the Dornsife Center classes to attend: https://bit.ly/Dance2425

Michele Byrd-McPhee Guest Artist Class Visit: Arts Administration
Wed Oct 9 | 6:00 – 8:50 PM @ URBN Annex, Screening Room
Professor Julie Goodman hosts Michele Byrd-McPhee in conversation on her experience leading a professional dance collective. This meeting of AADM-505 Overview of the Arts, examining the role of culture in communities, will be opened to the entire Drexel community. Guests with Dragon Cards welcome, first come first served, while seats available.