Alana Michelle Howard
is an Artistic Director, choreographer, performing artist, and founder of Alana Michelle Productions, a creative company specializing in dance-driven programs, performances, and movement-based experiences that uplift, inspire, and empower communities.
Originally from “down south”, living most of her life in Florida and Georgia, Alana’s work is rooted in African diasporic movement, with a choreographic style shaped by traditional West African and African American dance and traditions. She holds a BFA in Performing Arts from Savannah State University and currently serves as a dance educator at the University of Michigan, teaching Jazz, Hip Hop, and culture-centered movement practice.
As an Artistic Director, she creates emotionally-driven performance work that fuses dance, narrative composition, and theatrical staging. Her 2024 production HalleluYah premiered to acclaim for its intensity, spiritual resonance, and celebration of Black resilience.
Through Alana Michelle Productions, she develops movement experiences that span performance, wellness, and lifestyle. Her initiatives include Afro Dance Therapy™, a cultural movement program exploring how afro centric dance and music can facilitate healing in Black communities, and Sexy Ladies Dance™, a women’s dance fitness community launching in Detroit in 2026.
Across every platform, from stage to studio to digital space, Alana’s work is driven by a vision of what it means to “Be the Light!”
Mission:
Alana Michelle Productions
is a performing arts company that develops dance classes & programs, performances, and cultural experiences inspired by the traditions, stories, and spirit of the African diaspora. Through choreography, education, and artistic direction, AMP aims to inspire the youth, celebrate community, and create meaningful spaces where people can connect through cultural arts.
Our mission is to honor the body as a living archive of both trauma and liberation. Through faith, intention, storytelling, and community engagement, we seek to break cycles, build bridges, and bless generations. At our core, we believe that creative work is sacred work. And everything we produce—from stage to screen, classroom to community—is a reflection of that calling.
Our vision:
is to become a global creative force that redefines the role of art in healing, culture, and community. We imagine a world where dance, storytelling, and ancestral memory are fully recognized as essential tools for liberation—where people everywhere feel empowered to reclaim their bodies, rewrite their narratives, and return to their spiritual center through movement.
Alana Michelle Productions envisions a future where our stages, studios, and screens are spaces of renewal—not just entertainment. We aim to establish a thriving ecosystem of performance, education, research, and media that supports artists, therapists, scholars, and community leaders in how art is used as a vehicle for transformation in community.
As part of our expansion, we are committed to developing and sharing innovative dance classes, productions, and community-centered events rooted in African diasporic traditions. We see our work not just as art-making, but as contributing to new practices that can be studied, replicated, and taught worldwide.
A core part of this vision includes deepening our connection to the Motherland, building reciprocal relationships with communities and institutions across Africa. We aim to create sustainable pathways for young Black artists to share their gifts abroad, experience cultural exchange, and reconnect with ancestral knowledge. Through this, we offer more than opportunity—we offer reconnection, lineage, and legacy.
Through culturally rooted productions, healing-centered programs, and global collaborations, we seek to restore what colonization tried to erase: our rhythm, our memory, our divinity. Our vision is not just to perform the culture, but to preserve it. Not just to educate the people, but to elevate them. And not just to create work—but to create legacy.