Micherlange Hemsley

Micherlange Francois-Hemsley - Founder

Micherlange was adopted from Haiti when she was 18 months old and was raised in Southern California. In June 2022, she became a first-generation college graduate with a B.A. in African-American Studies from the University of California, Irvine. 

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Micherlange started dancing around the age of 4 and trained on scholarship as a student of classical ballet, among other styles, from 2012-2017. While a student at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in 2013 and 2014, Micherlange participated in dance demonstrations at inner-city schools in Los Angeles. Additionally, she has been the recipient of ballet intensives scholarships at: University of California, Irvine, Kansas City Ballet, Charlottesville Ballet, and Dance Theater of Harlem. When Micherlange was 13, she was recognized for her talents and was invited to audition for the School of American Ballet by Arthur Mitchell, the founder of the historically African American ballet company Dance Theater of Harlem. 

In 2018 and 2019, Micherlange won medals competing in ballet with the NAACP at their regional ACT-SO competition. In 2019, she competed and won a silver medal in photography for her photos of dancers backstage before a performance. In October of 2021, Micherlange was commissioned by the Oakland Community School Project to document the Black Panther Pary's 55th Anniversary. The photos from the celebration are part of her first photography exhibit titled Art, Power and Community: A Black Panther Party 55th Anniversary Retrospective Multimedia Exhibit.