PODCAST 192: Mickela Mallozzi
Release Date: 1.8.26
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Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi
Episode 192: Show Notes.
Joining Erin on the Movers & Shapers: A Dance Podcast today is Mickela Mallozzi. Mickela is a four-time Emmy® Award–winning host and executive producer of Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi, a PBS and Amazon Prime travel series celebrating global dance traditions. A professional dancer and trained musician, she travels the world exploring how everyday people express their cultures through movement. Her work has been featured in major outlets including The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Forbes, and The Washington Post, and more. In today’s conversation, Erin and Mickela delve into the origins of her dance journey, how a middle-of-the-night dream blossomed into her life project, Bare Feet, and she recounts the impact of growing up in an immigrant family on both herself and the TV show. Mickela unpacks how she worked hard to get her show off the ground, in the process starting a blog, and emphasizes the weight of storytelling in producing the episodes. She touches on what it’s like going into different cultural settings, how she has overcome challenges throughout the year, and when she realized that Bare Feet was more than just a travel show! To hear more about Mickela’s incredible journey, including how she navigated the ins and outs of the COVID-19 pandemic, and what hopes and dreams are coming into fruition in the near future, be sure not to miss out on another insightful episode. Thanks for listening!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Mickela shares the origins of who she is and her dance journey.
- How she took a middle-of-the-night dream and made it an award-winning TV Show reality.
- She recounts growing up in an immigrant family with an amazing storytelling Nonnapina.
- Mickela talks about Bare Feet, the TV Show, and the features of immigrant families in NYC.
- “The Plan” before Bare Feet came to be.
- Mickela shares how dance returned to her life.
- She tells the story of getting Bare Feet off the ground and ultimately starting her blog.
- The story of sneaking into a PBS conference and how it panned out.
- Mickela emphasizes the weight of storytelling on Bare Feet.
- The importance of working hard and intentionally pursuing what you’re called to do.
- She talks about the hard juxtaposition of finding funding and support for the show.
- Mickela breaks down what it’s like going into culturally different communities and learning from the people, the dances, and the spaces.
- The difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation.
- Overcoming challenges throughout the years: Mickela shares a real-life example of “figuring it out.”
ABOUT Mickela
Mickela Mallozzi is the 4x Emmy Award-winning Host & Executive Producer of Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi, a travel series on PBS. Mickela likes to say she “makes new friends by dancing with strangers,” connecting with locals through the universal language of dance and music wherever she goes. From re-discovering her family’s roots in Southern Italy to learning the haka with the Māori in Aotearoa (New Zealand), the series covers Mickela’s adventures as she experiences the world, one dance at a time.
Mickela has been featured in The New York Times, O Magazine, The Washington Post, AFAR Media, Hemispheres Magazine, Dance Magazine, Forbes, National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveler, NBC, and more, and she has performed on various television shows including Sesame Street.
Mickela is also an adjunct professor at her alma mater, New York University, where she teaches “Intercultural Communication Through Dance” when she’s not filming her TV series. The new season 8 of Bare Feet premieres on PBS starting December 2025.
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