Michael D. Medcalf, MFA
I don't chase. I attract. Globally.
Performer · Choreographer · Educator · Author · Cultural Strategist
Michael D. 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.
Today, his 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.
Builder. Artist. Educator.
Medcalf's sense of self is built on craft, mastery, and legacy. More than three decades of performing arts work is not simply a professional history — it is the foundation from which he evaluates every new direction he considers.
He is, at his core, a builder. The satisfaction in his work comes less from occupying a role and more from creating something that did not previously exist — companies, programs, curricula, frameworks, and tools. The Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre, built from nothing and sustained for nine years. The dance program at Alabama State University, launched from the ground up at an HBCU. The consulting practice now taking shape under Echo Vision Services. Each represents the same impulse: to bring form to what was previously formless.
Four dimensions of one practice.
Academic Leadership
Tenured Associate Professor with a record of founding, building, and leading dance programs at HBCU and R1 institutions. First African American to receive tenure and promotion in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Memphis. Founding Director of the BFA in Dance at Alabama State University.
Choreography & Performance
More than 80 original works across concert dance, musical theatre, opera, dance for the camera, and commercial work. His choreography is rooted in modern and jazz dance lineages, particularly the Lester Horton technique, and recognized for emotional clarity, musical intelligence, and narrative integrity.
Arts Administration
Founding Artistic and Executive Director of Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre for nine years. Secured more than $750,000 in grants. Grant reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, Ohio Arts Council, and Alabama State Council on the Arts.
Consulting & Strategy
Founder and CEO of Echo Vision Services, LLC. Provides consulting and advisory support to dance programs, arts organizations, and creative leaders navigating transition or growth. Practice areas include AI strategy, program sustainability, curriculum design, and organizational development.
Working with the lineage directly.
Medcalf has worked directly with many of the most influential choreographers in American concert dance. These collaborations deeply inform his choreographic voice, leadership style, and respect for lineage and legacy.
The work travels.
Medcalf has taught and lectured internationally, extending lineage-based modern dance pedagogy across global contexts. His work in Tokyo and Munich represents a commitment to the Lester Horton technique as a living, transmissible practice, not a historical artifact.
He has guest residencies across the United States and internationally, bringing the same rigor and human-centered approach to every context.
Tokyo, Japan
Two months teaching Lester Horton Modern Dance Technique
Hinton Battle Dance Academy
Munich, Germany
Horton Technique workshops
Performing Arts Studio Munich
London, England
Frantic Assembly Advanced Training Program
2018
United States
Guest residencies and workshops
across multiple institutions and companies
The professional home.
Echo Vision Services 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, it operates at the intersection of the arts, education, leadership, and human-centered design.
Through Echo Vision 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.
Echo Vision Services reflects a core philosophy: creativity is not separate from leadership or infrastructure. It is essential to both.
Integrity
Reflection
Ethical Practice
Long-term Impact
Let’s talk.
Available for consulting, speaking, faculty positions, choreographic commissions, and professional development engagements.