Funmilayo Judy Chesney

Funmilayo Judy Chesney was born in Brazil and grew up in Guyana.

She attended Lehman College 1979 - 1983, majored in Liberal Arts and worked at Citibank and Equitable Life Insurance Company. After quitting the corporate sector she started traveling and building her current multidimensional dance resume. Funmi has traveled extensively through Africa, the Caribbean and Europe studying dance and culture.

From 1987 to 1992 she was a member of the only traditional Congolese Dance Company in New York City, Malaki MA Congo and won the Ethnic Dance Award for best African Dance Instructor in 1996.

Funmilayo has been teaching Congolese dance for close to 20 years in New York City and is the director of F.U.S.H.A. Dance Company founded in 1995. The company performs works inspired by the culture of slaves from the Congo that were brought to Cuba, Jamaica, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic and the US. The ancient dances of the Congo have helped shape music and dance styles in the Diaspora: Samba, Salsa, Hip Hop, Reggae, Calypso, Cassav, Jazz, Hawaiian, Belly Dance, the Electric Slide, and even Michael Jackson's "Moonwalk", just to name a few.

Funmilayo has studied ballet with Isme DeSousa, modern dance with Alvin Ailey, Sabar with Lamine Thiam, Guinean dance with Yousef Kombassa, Haitian dance with Mona Amira, Afro-Cuban dance with Richard Gonzales, Afro-Brazilian dance with Fifi Bernardo and Loremil Machado, Dahome with Dennis Achade, Dunham with Madame Peters and Afro-Caribbean with Sylvia del Villard.