Today we’d like to introduce you to Brianna Rhodes
Hi Brianna, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My name is Brianna Rhodes and I am a freelance dancer, dance teacher, choreographer, poet, and activist based in Columbus, Ohio. My focus, as a creative, is through the eyes of a Black, queer woman. I create dance through a lens that brings understanding and awareness to certain social and political systems. My choreographic process challenges those systems of race, gender, and sexual orientation. I use my craft to create safe and constructive spaces for dancers like me. My purpose in the dance world is to educate society through the awareness and understanding of African American life and culture.
There you go; That’s it! At least that’s what my artist statement says!
I am that and so much more.
I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, but now live and work in Columbus, Ohio. I have been pursuing dance my entire life. I’m inspired by ballet, modern, contemporary, composition, Hip Hop, Afrobeats, Dancehall, Vogue, Waacking, and Gymnastics. I am not tethered to one specific dance form because I realized, late in high school, that I didn’t fit into one. I was never a certain kind of dancer. That still sits at the foundation of who I am; you can’t put me in a box!
I went to Stivers School for the Arts from 2009 – 2015 and The Ohio State University (OSU) to receive my BFA in Dance, graduating in 2019. I have danced as a fellow with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (2019-2020), done freelance work throughout Ohio for the past 8 years, I teach, different age ranges, all over Columbus, and I am currently on tour with legendary Modern dance choreographer, Dianne McIntyre. I have performed in Brazil (2018), Bermuda (2019), Duke University (2022-2024), Arizona State University (2024), and the Apollo Theatre (2024), to name a few. I love being able to say I do all of that because it was something I dreamed about and surely never thought I would acquire so early in my professional career.
I am humbled by my experiences because, the dancer I am, had to earn what I am now capable of doing. When I auditioned for Stivers and OSU, I always said that the one thing that saved me was IMPROVISATION, which is creating movement on the spot. I would dance day in and day out in my living room as a child. Jumping off of furniture, almost knocking things over, bumping my music loudly, and telling my mom to stay in her room. I couldn’t point my toe correctly, extend my leg, or jump very high, but I had heart. That is what I encourage everyone in my classroom to always pursue. Everything else can be taught.
Passion is the driving force of an artist because artists are the feelers of the world. As an activist who uses my craft as my message in a bottle, I continue the conversations long after the fighting has stopped. I feel all the pain of the world and in some way, I take all of it and wrap it up into 3 to 10 minutes with some music, costumes, and hopefully a stage and present you this raw and unfilted perspective of the world. And all I ask is that you have an open mind to accept some of it.
I call it bleeding beautifully…
This is what I offer. This is who I am. This is the premise of why I create, and what I encourage the people around me to take on. I never ask anyone to be perfect to my standards because that doesn’t exist. I ask them to try and accept the wonderful movement that comes out of their body, the ideas that seep out of their minds, and the passion that pumps through their veins. If you can do that for me, you can change the world. My goal is to set the next generation up for unfathomable greatness similar to how past generations have set me up for greatness. I live by the African Proverb “Ubuntu” which serves as a reminder to help those who come after while remaining true to the ones before.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I want to say I was blessed with amazing teachers who took the time and energy to see me grow. However, money (as I got older) and my technical skills were two main factors that always got in the way. Once I started to take dance seriously in middle/high school at Stivers School for the Arts, I recognized quickly that I was not as skilled as the rest of my peers. I couldn’t point my foot without sickling (which is where you point your foot and it turns in at the ankle), I am knock-kneed, I have extremely short Achilles that prevented me from bending my legs fully, and I have tight hips. Additionally, my body shape and skin color, when I was younger in competition dance, made me* realize* I was a Black girl in white spaces. Identity crises set in in high school when I noticed I didn’t fit into one specific space: I wasn’t just a ballerina, or the competition girl, or the West African girl… I was just Brianna. Everyone else, to me, seemed as if they had everything figured out. It wasn’t until the past 5 years that I started to appreciate that I am a universal dancer and I can’t be placed into one box. I take pride in doing it all. Through all the hardships, trials, and tribulations, I used dance as my refuge whether it was in a studio learning movement, or me dancing in my living room growing up.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As a creator, I practice in the medium of dance with heavy influence on poetry and (universal) Black history. My passion is rooted in the fusion of movement of the African Diaspora of all dance disciplines like concert, street, and commercial dance, storytelling, giving a voice to oppressed communities, and touching on difficult topics that invite dancers and spectators to see the world differently. I provide opportunities for dancers of all ages to access dance, learn about history, and express themselves. I do this by providing free or donation-based classes on the various styles I perform and teach because money should not be a factor in knowledge and soul expression. I have seen how beneficial that has been over the past few years because too many times money IS the obstacle that keeps underrepresented communities from achieving greatness or delays the process of getting there. Additionally, who you are in your mind, body, and soul, should always be brought to the floor. Who you are authentically, inspires the movement and every space I step into. I ask my dancers, from as young as 6 to as old as 75, to reach deep down and use their feelings to inspire how they move for the day. That’s what I do! That’s what I’ve been doing! So why should I stop with me…
With this passion, I have created some amazing works that I am proud of to this day. Most recently: LIMBO, The Mother Whose Children Are the Water, and 50 Years of Hip Hop.
LIMBO is an excerpt from my piece The Color Book which dives into the complexity of the Black Consciousness through the use of dance, poetry, and color theory. LIMBO was created on and for the Denison Dance Company for their fall concert in November 2024, and it explored mental health and the sunken place. It’s highly influenced by a poem I wrote called The In-Between Phase, my grief that sent me into a mental spiral, and the dancer’s stories. The color this section is associated with is gray which lacks energy and emotion. But it’s neutral and sparks maturity, wisdom, and logical reasoning. So for this piece, mental pain brought you down, and because there is nothing to give back to you, you can get stuck in this limbo space. But through self-discovery, you find self-worth and value and that drive then sparks the need to get out. Limbo is the space between the soul’s life or death cycle and it can be literal implications of death or the soul’s constant space of dread or drive. That’s what this excerpt is and it has been my most challenging work to date.
The Mother Whose Children Are the Water was a piece created for Global Water Dances: Columbus in April 2023. Given that we are in a constant state of trying to protect Mother Earth, I found that it was important to go a different route: seeing the Earth as a living, breathing spirit. In the Yoruba religion is a water Goddess by the name of Yemenja/Yemoja. Life is created from her. My idea for this piece was to have the audience go on a journey where they are left wondering what they can do to be better about protecting their mother and being considerate of their water footprint. The piece is in three parts where I intertwined my poetry and original music from my friend Jody Jones aka Grandace. The first section solely introduces myself as the Mother. The second section introduces the two children and how the Earth has been poisoned and destroyed by other children of the Earth. The final section is a call to action, live telling of the poem. The most unique attribute of this work is the costumes. Created by Celeste Malvar Stewart, a local fashion designer in Columbus, Ohio, the costumes were based on each dancer’s relationship to water. Additionally, to dye the costume, she collected rainwater which was similar to the passage women had to take in Africa to provide water for their family.
50 Years of Hip Hop was a Hip Hop production in the Recital in May 2024 at Dance Extension. I teach students from 6 to 18. This was a company production for my Apprentices, Juniors, and Seniors. I highlighted women in Hip Hop like Lil Kim, Left Eye, Missy Elliot (by way of Ciara), Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, and Ice Spice. I edited the music and designed a pink Baseball jersey with “Hip Hop” on the front and “Celebrating 50 Years” on the back. It had House, 80s/90s/2000s Hip Hop, Bucking, and TikTok moves. This piece was my pride and joy because it was my love letter to Hip Hop, women, and the many styles that influenced me as a street dancer.
I would like to think that was sets me apart is not only my versatile in performance and teaching, but my work as well. Beautiful enough, I am still learning and growing to find out my full impact as an artist on this world! 🙂
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The biggest lesson I learned is that you can aspire to something, achieve it, and still realize that is not your purpose in life. God has a funny way of giving us what we want to show us that we are bigger than that. During my entire adolescence, I dreamed of dancing with a dance company. When I realized I could go to college to dance, I had my heart and mind set on joining any modern dance company and finishing out my career with that company after I graduated college.
Well, that was a smack in the face. Not only is that not how the dance world actually works right out of college, but I realized, after a year as a fellow, that this was a life I didn’t want. Unfortunately, COVID hit around this time I was a fellow and I had to decide, while being offered a full-time company position, if I wanted this.
I said No! Called my high school dance teacher, and cried my eyes out.
And many people will say, “Brianna you are crazy, why didn’t you take that?” Well plain and simple, I didn’t want it. I knew there was more for me to do. More offered. More to obtain. More people to meet, learn from, and feel inspired by. Yes, being in a program, company, or residency can help but mostly to fast-track the process. At that moment, I fully accepted being a freelance/project-based dancer because the thing that mattered to me most was MY value and worth. Not something based on a template which was a box I was being placed in.
Growing up, I was an ensemble girl who had to work hard to achieve where I am. I didn’t get solos or large opportunities to stand out. I’ve already stated what my limitations were so I worked really hard and even then I understood I wasn’t fitting into boxes. So why keep myself in one now?
So the lesson learned here is you can spend your whole life aspiring to be something or achieve something, and it just not be what you want. You didn’t let anyone down. Not even yourself… it’s just that out there, in that big blue world, is something GREATER for you to achieve! Go for that and fulfill yourself.
Pricing:
- Minimum Rehearsal Wage: $40/h
- Minimum Performance Wage: $350/show
- Minimum Choreography Fee (3-5min): $500
- Average Monthly Expenses for Full Time Dancers: $1,000 – $3,000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://briannamonianrhodes.wordpress.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_honeybb/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BriannaRhodesDances
