michael medcalf
Today, Medcalf’s work spans choreography, writing, consulting, and the design of reflective experiences for individuals and institutions in transition. Whether strengthening an academic program, mentoring leaders, or guiding personal reinvention, his work is unified by a clear belief: creativity is not a luxury—it is essential infrastructure for resilient lives and institutions.
Medcalf is an artist, academic, and cultural strategist whose career spans professional performance, choreography, higher education leadership, and national arts service. His work is defined by rigor, lineage, and a sustained commitment to human-centered artistic and institutional practice.
Collaborations with Leading Choreographers
Medcalf has worked directly with many of the most influential choreographers in American concert dance, including Talley Beatty, Dianne McIntyre, Cleo Parker Robinson, Dwight Rhoden, Gary Abbott, Kevin Iega Jeff, Donald McKayle, David Rousseve, Jennifer Muller, Ronald K. Brown, and Kim Robards. These collaborations deeply inform his choreographic voice, leadership style, and respect for lineage and legacy.
National Leadership and Service
He has served as a Mentor for Dance/USA’s Institute for Leadership Training, supporting emerging leaders in navigating the artistic, administrative, and ethical complexities of the field. He has also written grants, overseen budgets, and served on review panels for state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts (Dance), giving him a comprehensive understanding of arts funding and cultural policy.
Choreographic Career
Medcalf has choreographed more than 60 works for theater, opera, universities, and concert dance stages. His choreography is rooted in modern and jazz dance lineages, particularly the Lester Horton Modern Dance Technique, and is recognized for its emotional clarity, musical intelligence, and narrative integrity.
His work Heartside was selected for performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC as part of the National College Dance Festival, marking a significant national milestone in his choreographic career.
Performance Career
As a performer, he has worked with a wide range of professional dance companies, including:
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble
Ballethnic Dance Company
Verb Ballets
Dancing Wheels
Grown Women Dance Collective
GroundWorks DanceTheater
Kim Robards Dance
David Taylor Dance Theatre
These experiences shaped his deep respect for repertory, collaboration, and embodied professionalism.
Academic Leadership and Program Building
Medcalf served as the Founding Director of the BFA Dance Program at Alabama State University, where he led curriculum design, faculty development, and program launch. He later became a tenured and promoted professor at the University of Memphis, teaching technique, choreography, pedagogy, and contributing to academic leadership and program sustainability.
Education and Artistic Foundation
Medcalf received his MFA in Dance from University of Iowa, where his artistic voice deepened through intensive study in choreography, performance, and pedagogy. This foundation grounded a career that treats the body as both an expressive instrument and a repository of cultural memory.
International Teaching and Workshops
Medcalf has taught and lectured internationally, including spending two months in Tokyo, Japan teaching the Lester Horton Modern Dance Technique for the Hinton Battle Dance Academy. He has also conducted Horton Technique workshops for the Performing Arts Studio Munich in Munich, Germany, extending lineage-based modern dance pedagogy across global contexts.
People-First Approach
EchoVision Services, LLC is the umbrella entity through which Medcalf advances his work as an artist, educator, and cultural strategist. Established to integrate creative practice with consulting and program development, EchoVision Services operates at the intersection of the arts, education, leadership, and human-centered design.
Through EchoVision Services, he provides consulting and advisory support to dance programs, arts organizations, and creative leaders seeking clarity, sustainability, and alignment during periods of transition or growth. The LLC serves as the professional home for his cultural strategy work, curriculum and program design, institutional assessment, writing, and select creative projects.
EchoVision Services reflects Medcalf’s core philosophy: that creativity is not separate from leadership or infrastructure, but essential to both. The company is guided by values of integrity, reflection, ethical decision-making, and long-term impact, supporting individuals and institutions in building futures that are both resilient and deeply human.