EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW  |  HIP-HOP  |  WHERE ARE THEY NOW

Selasi Dogbatse: From Dancing Behind Missy Elliott at Hip Hop Honors to Building a Stage of Her Own

She grew up daydreaming about being in a Missy Elliott video. In 2017 she recreated one on national television — and since then she's danced for Rihanna and Cardi B, choreographed The Voice Belgique, and launched her own dance company.

By Dance Mogul Magazine  |  Originally featured November 2017  |  Updated and expanded 2026

Selasi Dogbatse — Dancer, Choreographer, Company Founder | Photo: Dance Mogul Magazine Archives

In November 2017, Dance Mogul Magazine sat down with Selasi Dogbatse fresh off one of the biggest stages of her career: VH1's "Hip Hop Honors: The '90s Game Changers," where she danced behind Missy Elliott in a full stage recreation of the Hype Williams-directed "She's a Bitch" video. For a dancer who grew up watching Missy Elliott's videos and daydreaming about being part of one, it was the kind of full-circle moment most artists only get once.

Nearly a decade later, that moment reads as a turning point rather than a peak. Selasi has gone on to dance for Rihanna and Cardi B, choreograph The Voice Belgique for RTBF, and — most significantly — step out from behind the artists she once idolized to build a creative practice entirely her own. Dance Mogul Magazine is revisiting her story because her path from background dancer to company founder is exactly the kind of trajectory this publication exists to document.

The 2017 Interview: Dancing for Missy Elliott at Hip Hop Honors

Dance Mogul: What was it like to perform on VH1's Hip Hop Honors?

Selasi Dogbatse: Performing at "Hip Hop Honors 2017" was so much fun and it was exciting. I enjoyed the vibe of the people, the audience was on fire, and I loved how they put the stage together — the set outside was amazing and it felt so great. Dancing for Missy Elliott and recreating an old song/music video was an epic project that I will always remember. I used to watch her music videos back in the day, dreaming to be part of it one day. She is the Queen of Rap and knows a lot about dance in general, so as a hip-hop dancer it was definitely a dream come true and an honor to be part of a magical moment.

Dance Mogul: Why is it important that we continue to honor our past while moving forward into the future?

Selasi Dogbatse: I think it's important to value our past and know the culture to move forward. If you're a young artist and want to be legendary, you need to know who made history before you were even born. If you're passionate about music or art in general, knowledge and experience should be part of your growth. An artist like Missy Elliott made history because her talent was on another level — she's so passionate and committed to everything she has ever done, her music, her videos, her performances always have been so creative. She is so special and has stood out because she is different and doesn't care about what people think. She's taking a risk, and that is one of the reasons why she is iconic. I think it's important to be inspired by the greatest to be one of the best.

Dance Mogul: Are dancers being used more now?

Selasi Dogbatse: I actually think that dancers were used more often back in the day, maybe because the music was more related to dance moves. I feel like performances and award shows were way bigger before — an artist wanted to be a complete package and show everything they can do without any limits. I definitely think that nowadays artists don't put the same type of work into performance in general. It's less about dancing, more about the look, the vibe, or the style of the music than putting a big creative show together.

Selasi Dogbatse — behind the scenes at VH1's Hip Hop Honors, 2017

From Brussels Music School to the World's Biggest Stages

Selasi Dogbatse's path to Hip Hop Honors started in Brussels, where she began dancing at four years old after her mother enrolled her in a music school that required a mandatory ballet and theory class in its first year. She studied classical dance before moving into contemporary and jazz, but it was breakdance and hip-hop that captured her completely. Her first major professional break came at seventeen, when she was called in Belgium to sub for a dancer in a MINI and BMW fashion show — learning a 40-minute show in two days instead of the standard week, in heels, with no prior modeling experience. The production team was so impressed that they hired her for additional jobs, and professional dance became a full-time career from that point forward.

Around age twenty-one, Selasi received a call from Jean-Michel Germys, then head of entertainment at Belgian broadcaster RTBF, that would become one of her most significant credits: choreographing The Voice Belgique. The job threw her into the deep end immediately, sometimes requiring her to develop five choreographies in a single day. She went on to choreograph the show for several seasons, building a reputation as a dancer who could also lead a creative team under pressure.

Her performance résumé grew to include the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden, and she eventually moved to Los Angeles to train and perform at a higher volume, working with the Fred Academy and dancing for major urban artists including Rihanna and Cardi B in addition to Missy Elliott. In her own words from a later Dance Mogul interview, she saw her long-term future not just as a performer but as someone who would eventually choreograph, direct, and build something of her own — a school, an agency, a show.

Selasi Dogbatse — Dance Mogul Magazine feature, 2017

Where Is Selasi Dogbatse Now?

Selasi Dogbatse has spent the years since her Hip Hop Honors moment doing exactly what she told Dance Mogul Magazine she wanted to do: building her own creative brand rather than remaining solely a dancer for hire. She has continued performing at an elite level — including a credited role in the acclaimed dance production "Queen Blood," choreographed by Ousmane Sy, performing alongside Compagnie Paradox-Sal — while also expanding into screen work, with IMDb crediting her on the immersive stage experience "Grease XR" and the Ananya Birla dance video "Meant to Be."

The most significant shift in her career has been the move from performer to creator. Selasi has formed her own titular dance company of six dancers and choreographed "A Piece of Me," an introspective work described by festival organizers as both vulnerable and powerful — drawing directly from her own doubts and the barriers she has had to overcome. The piece premiered at Bozar Brussels as part of the Brussels Bijou competition, which helps Brussels-based performing artists take their first professional steps, and was later invited to perform at the San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest, one of the most respected hip-hop dance showcases in the world, during its 25th anniversary season alongside the genre's own 50th anniversary.

In interviews tied to that period of her career, Selasi has been candid about the difference between dancing for major pop stars in the United States and building her own work back home: as a dancer behind an artist, she noted, "you are relegated to the second row, behind the musician." "A Piece of Me" is her answer to that — a work where she is no longer in the background of someone else's story, but telling her own.

Nine years after telling Dance Mogul Magazine that dancers deserve to show "everything they can do without any limits," Selasi Dogbatse has built the platform to do exactly that — on her own terms, with her own company, telling her own story.

Why Selasi Dogbatse's Story Matters to Dance Mogul Magazine

Dance Mogul Magazine exists to inspire self-empowerment and preserve the legacy of dance culture across every discipline and every stage of an artist's career — including the pivot from performer to creator that so few background dancers ever get the opportunity, or the platform, to make. Selasi told this publication in 2017 that artists used to be judged on giving "everything they can do without any limits." Her own career since then has been a direct answer to that standard.

Her journey from a Brussels music school to Missy Elliott's stage to founding her own company is a template for hip-hop dancers everywhere who dream of building something that outlasts any single gig. Documenting that arc — from her first Dance Mogul feature through her evolution into a company founder — is precisely the kind of legacy preservation this publication was built to provide, and it sits alongside every other street dance and dance style story this publication has told.

It also matters because Selasi's path models something concrete for dancers reading this now: dancing for the greats can be a foundation, not a ceiling. She danced behind Missy Elliott, Rihanna, and Cardi B — and used what she learned there to build a company and a body of work entirely her own.

The Story Continues

Selasi Dogbatse's 2017 interview with Dance Mogul Magazine captured a dancer at the height of a dream she had held since childhood — recreating a Missy Elliott video on national television after years of watching them from the outside. Nearly a decade later, she has danced for some of the biggest names in music, choreographed a European talent show through multiple seasons, and built a company that tells stories no one assigned to her.

Dance Mogul Magazine will continue documenting dancers like Selasi — the ones who don't just perform someone else's vision but eventually build a stage of their own. From Brussels to Los Angeles to the San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest, her story is proof that the second row is often just the first step.

Selasi Dogbatse Missy Elliott Hip Hop Honors Rihanna Cardi B The Voice Belgique A Piece of Me Hip-Hop Where Are They Now Dance Company Brussels Dance

© 2017–2026 Dance Mogul Magazine LLC. All rights reserved.