Nikki Assanti is the Founder and Artistic Director of Nikki and The Noise. She is a Brooklyn-based dance artist, arts administrator, and yoga instructor. 

Nikki is currently the Senior Artistic Associate of Cora Dance - dancing for the Shannon Hummel / Cora Dance professional company, teaching Modern, directing the Modern Cora Youth Company, and managing Cora’s education programs.

She has been a guest artist and speaker at multiple universities and studios, including University of Florida, University of Southern Maine, and Cora Dance. She has also co-directed, choreographed, and danced in music videos for artists such as Corina Corina and Theo Lawrence. 

Her choreographic work with Nikki and The Noise has been shown in NYC venues such as Green Space, The Cherry Lane Theatre, Triskelion Arts, Gallim Dance, and Creative Cultural Center at St. Veronica’s Church. She has also created a series of open level, donation-based dance classes and workshops in which she teaches modern and contemporary technique (“From the Inside”), dance composition (“Methods of Making”), and contact improvisation. 

In the summer of 2021, she joined the production team at Jacob’s Pillow for their Return to Dance Festival. While working the festival, Nikki self-produced a show for the internal staff of the Pillow entitled “In A New Light” as a chance for the staff to be seen as the dancers, designers, and creators they are. Nikki has performed in works by Shannon Hummel, Raja Feather Kelly, JACKS, Digital Movement Dance, Brit Falcon, and Joanna Mendl Shaw since living in NYC. 

She received her BFA in Dance from the University of Florida, and is a 200 hour registered yoga instructor.