Djassi DaCosta Johnson

Djassi DaCosta Johnson joined Russell Philanthropies as an Executive Assistant and creative contractor in 2024, drawn by the firm’s commitment to influencing equity in the arts, culture and environmental causes – particularly at this crucial moment in time.

An accomplished dancer, choreographer, photographer, filmmaker, anthropologist, writer, designer and doula, Djassi is also an Assistant Professor of Dance at NYU Tisch, where she earned her MFA in Dance, New Media & Technology. Her choreography has been central to fashion shows, music videos, international festivals, book launches and films, including for ESSENCE, Nike, PNB Nation, Pandora Jewelry, Kweli and New York Fashion Week for Isamar Designs and Studio189.

Committed to collaboration, Djassi has performed in joint works with such visual artists and jazz musicians as Eddie Peak, Lia Chavez, Gloria Gaynor, and Alice Walker. She most recently performed for, and with, Joan Jonas for herMirror Piece I & II at the MOMA in June 2024.

Djassi started the first Bachelor of Arts Dance concentration at the University of the Virgin Islands in 2022 and choreographed the dance portion of the Opening Dedication Ceremony for the International African American Museum (IAAM) in Charleston, South Carolina in June 2023. Her choreographic and performance collaboration with Deborah Willis for Joan Baez’s visual album, “Civil War” has been in rotation in international art exhibitions since 2018.

In her role as an independent film maker, Djassi has self-produced, choreographed and collaborated on a range of dance films, including:

• “Gaia & Luna: A Mermaid Dream Journey” (2022; debuted at Cinema Verde’s International Environmental Film Festival and earning the “Most Uplifting” Award in 2023)

• “sleepless” (2019)

• “The Thought Of You” (2018), directed by Saara Alshehi

Her written work on dance, art, culture, women’s issues, and artists of color has appeared – in both English and Italian – in KINFOLK, {DIYdancer}, Harvard Design Magazine, VIBE, TRACE, Playbill, Dance Theater of Harlem, Alvin Ailey, Dance Teacher and Dance Magazine.

Building on her Metropolitan Opera ballet debut in John Adam’s El Niño, she continues to make dance central to her life, currently serving as a judge and master Horton teacher for Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) and Joffrey Ballet. A member of the AGMA and SAG-AFTRA unions, Djassi has appeared in feature films such as The Intern, Bolden, and Crew To Crew as well as television shows (The Get Down, The Knick, The Gilded Age, Lifetime’s Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story).