Marquisa Gardner, professionally known as Miss Prissy, is the Queen of Krump, an original creator and pioneering female voice of Krump, choreographer, educator, performing artist, and cultural storyteller.

Born from the streets of South Los Angeles, Krump became a powerful form of expression, community, and freedom. As one of the women present during the creation and early development of the movement, Miss Prissy helped shape a culture that would eventually reach dancers across the globe.

Her story gained international recognition through David LaChapelle’s groundbreaking 2005 documentary RIZE, which introduced audiences around the world to Krump culture and the community behind it. But RIZE was only the beginning.

FROM SOUTH LOS ANGELES TO THE WORLD

Miss Prissy’s career has expanded across dance, film, television, music, education, choreography, and international performance.

She has performed and toured alongside major artists including Madonna, taught Krump around the world, and used her platform to create opportunities for dancers while preserving the history and foundation of the culture she helped build.

Her work has taken Krump beyond the battle floor and into theaters, universities, classrooms, film, television, and global stages.

AN EMMY-NOMINATED STORY

Miss Prissy was featured in the PBS episode “How This West Coast Dance Style Took Over America,” which was nominated for a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award.

The recognition represents another chapter in a journey that began in Los Angeles and grew into an international cultural movement.

From RIZE to PBS, Miss Prissy continues to tell the story of Krump from the perspective of someone who was there, helped create it, lived it, and continues to carry it forward.

FROM THE STREETS TO HIGHER EDUCATION

As a faculty member at Loyola Marymount University, Miss Prissy brought Krump into higher education, teaching not only movement but also the history, technique, cultural significance, and lived experience behind the dance.

Her work as an educator represents an important evolution of Krump: taking a culture born within the community and creating space for it to be studied, documented, respected, and passed on to future generations.

MORE THAN A DANCER

Miss Prissy’s story has never been limited to dance.

She is a creator. Choreographer. Educator. Mother. Artist. Entrepreneur. Mentor. Cultural historian.

Through performance, education, mentorship, and her company Throne, she continues to create spaces where dance becomes a vehicle for confidence, identity, social consciousness, and personal freedom.

THE WOMAN BEHIND THE CROWN

“Queen of Krump” is more than a title. It represents legacy.

It represents a woman who helped create something in South Los Angeles before the world knew its name.

A woman who watched that movement travel from neighborhood sessions to movie screens, concert stages, universities, television, and communities around the world.

And more than two decades later, Miss Prissy is still creating, still teaching, still evolving, and most importantly, still telling the story.

This is the Queen of Krump.

This is Miss Prissy.

And the story is still being written. 👑