Ras Mikey

Dr. RAS Mikey C (Michael Courtney) is a critically acclaimed dance professional whose life mission is to spread universal understanding to communities and cultures across the globe by sharing his gift of the expressive arts. Dr. RAS is co-founder and CEO of Fore I’m a Versatile Entertainer (F.I.V.E.) LLC. He has a B.F.A. in Dance from the UARTS in Philadelphia, an MA in Ethnochoreology from the University of Limerick, Ireland, where he also completed his Ph.D. in Arts Practice Research. Since the completion of his Ph.D., RAS Mikey has his continued researching movement as cultural knowledge, while currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Dance at Wayne State University in Detroit. Aside from being a dance practitioner/researcher, Dr. RAS Mikey is an established singer/songwriter, host/emcee, director, and producer. He has collaborated with artists and companies from around the world, including Pilobolus, Raven-Symoné, Major Lazer, the Marley family, Chronixx, Irish Aid, AfroFlow, Skales, and the International Organization of Migration in Addis Ababa, to name a few. His solo recording album RASOUL is set to be released in early September 2018. His first single, Laws of Love, has sparked the interest of listeners and industry execs. RAS Mikey is a product of Hip-hop culture and is a Pan-Africanist, Rastafarian who repatriated to Ethiopia in 2006. Dr. RAS feels compelled to nurture his gifts of artistic expression while sharing his movement experiences with his global community. “Movement is life and I am a Lifist.”