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Dr. RAS Mikey Courtney is an Emmy award winning cultural conduit 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 holds a B.F.A. in Dance from UARTS in Philadelphia, an MA in Ethnochoreology and a PhD in Arts Practice Research from the University of Limerick in Ireland, where he was a guest lecturer at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
His research and doctoral thesis, entitled Bridging Horizons: Embodied Cultural Understanding through the Development and Presentation of Ethio-Modern Dance, explores his movement practice as a main methodology and embodiment as the central theoretical underpinning. His most recent Ethio-Modern Dance productions are, Und Gosa/One Tribe (USA 2020) Common Threads (Ethiopia 2016) and YeBuna Alem/A Coffee World (Ireland 2015). Dr. RAS has facilitated a student/staff exchange between the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and Addis Ababa University’s Yared School of Music, in order to forge future research and other academic collaborations between these Higher Education Institutions. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Dance Research Forum of Ireland (DRFI), and the African Irish Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. RAS has collaborated with Pilobolus, Raven-Symoné, Major Lazer, the Marley family, Chronixx, AfroFlow, Irish Aid, African Union, United Nations, the International Organization of Migration in Addis Ababa and others. Dr. RAS recently received an Emmy Award as a performer and director of choreography for the viral music video One Nation – Detroit.As an independent songwriter Dr RAS lyrically explores the deconstruction of systemic divisions in humanity through a Pan-African lens, collaborating with world renowned Artist/Producer, Kenny Allen, on several original music projects, Rasoul (2018), Love Year (2020), Thin Line (2023) and most recently Gift of Jah (2024) and Intentions (2024).
Currently, Dr. Ras serves as an Assistant Professor of Dance and Co-Director of the Black Theatre and Dance Collective, through which he’s directed several devised works and has facilitated international cultural exchange projects for Wayne State University students and staff in Scotland, Trinidad & Tobago, and Ghana.
“Movement is life and I’m a Lifist”
Dr. RAS is co-founder and CEO of Fore I’m a Versatile Entertainer (F.I.V.E.) LLC. He holds a B.F.A. in Dance from UARTS in Philadelphia, an MA in Ethnochoreology and a PhD in Arts Practice Research from the University of Limerick in Ireland, where he was a guest lecturer at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
His research and doctoral thesis, entitled Bridging Horizons: Embodied Cultural Understanding through the Development and Presentation of Ethio-Modern Dance, explores his movement practice as a main methodology and embodiment as the central theoretical underpinning. His most recent Ethio-Modern Dance productions are, Und Gosa/One Tribe (USA 2020) Common Threads (Ethiopia 2016) and YeBuna Alem/A Coffee World (Ireland 2015). Dr. RAS has facilitated a student/staff exchange between the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and Addis Ababa University’s Yared School of Music, in order to forge future research and other academic collaborations between these Higher Education Institutions. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Dance Research Forum of Ireland (DRFI), and the African Irish Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. RAS has collaborated with Pilobolus, Raven-Symoné, Major Lazer, the Marley family, Chronixx, AfroFlow, Irish Aid, African Union, United Nations, the International Organization of Migration in Addis Ababa and others. Dr. RAS recently received an Emmy Award as a performer and director of choreography for the viral music video One Nation – Detroit.As an independent songwriter Dr RAS lyrically explores the deconstruction of systemic divisions in humanity through a Pan-African lens, collaborating with world renowned Artist/Producer, Kenny Allen, on several original music projects, Rasoul (2018), Love Year (2020), Thin Line (2023) and most recently Gift of Jah (2024) and Intentions (2024).
Currently, Dr. Ras serves as an Assistant Professor of Dance and Co-Director of the Black Theatre and Dance Collective, through which he’s directed several devised works and has facilitated international cultural exchange projects for Wayne State University students and staff in Scotland, Trinidad & Tobago, and Ghana.
“Movement is life and I’m a Lifist”
