Omi Davis-Smith, MFA, PhD

Omi earned a PhD in Dance from Temple University with a specialization in the development of contemporary dance in Francophone West Africa, and an MFA in Dance from Arizona State University with a focus on contemporary African dance techniques and choreography. She is one of 16 people to receive certification in the practice and pedagogy of Germaine Acogny’s Modern African Dance Technique, which is the first codified contemporary dance technique of African origin. Omi has taught at University of Minnesota, University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, Arizona State University and Temple University.

Omi's scholarly research and teaching interests focus on the intersectionality of African and Diaspora dances, history, politics and aesthetics. Her creative research utilizes African dance techniques and aesthetics to develop new contemporary dance languages. In her dissertation, “Modernism, Métissage and Embodiment: Germaine Acogny’s Modern African Dance Technique, 1962-1975”, she developed the Awòdá theory, a new pan-African theoretical framework informed by indigenous African conceptualizations of embodiment. Awòdá explores relationships between the body, ideologies, aesthetics and culture through dance in African and Diaspora contexts. She is currently working on a book project informed by her dissertation.

Future research projects include Awòdá analyses of dance in Guinea and in the Gullah Geechee community of South Carolina.

Over 12 years and 13 trips to Africa, Omi has made places like Senegal and Nigeria her second home. She has accomplished extensive professional dance training in West Africa--most notably in Bamako, Mali and Toubab Dialaw, Senegal at the Ecole des Sables Centre International de Danses Traditionnelles et Contemporaines d’Afrique. Omi is the owner of omi davis co, which is a dance-based organization with a network of artists based in the US and Africa. omi davis co hosts an annual dance, drum and culture workshop in Senegal, which is open to people of all levels of dance training. Check out danceinafrica.com for more info.

omi davi co is also a thriving manufacturer of all-natural handmade soap, hair and body care products, most of which are derived from raw materials obtained through Omi's business networks in West Africa.