Karen Prall

Karen Prall was born and raised in Detroit. She studied ballet and contemporary dance in high school. Prall moved to New York in 1975, where she studied at the Ailey School of Dance. Soon afterwards, she was invited to join the first African (Congolese) dance company in the United States. When Prall returned to Detroit, she founded and directed The Art of Motion (AOM) Dance Theatre. Prall traveled with AOM throughout Michigan and Canada from 1989 to 2000. At that time, she also taught ballet, modern, and African dance at the former Detroit Music School. Prall has been an instructor of African and modern technique at Detroit’s Wayne State University since 2000 where she is associate professor of dance. She has traveled extensively, teaching, observing, and creating works in Africa, Europe, and the U.S.