Marie Basse-Wiles is a cultural icon of traditional dance and music. She has been a resident and an artist in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community of New York state for over 31 years. As a born Senegalese national artist, she has taught classes in New York City and across the continent for the last 35 years. Her legacy lies in 29 years of hosting the Maimouna Keita School of African Dance, international dance conferences, and concerts throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. Marie began her career as a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Senegal in 1973. Her membership in dance, theatre, and choreography lasted seven plus years. Shortly after moving to the USA, she made Brooklyn her home and began facilitating classes in the African diaspora in the city, the surrounding boroughs, the United States, and abroad.