Tiffany Merritt-Brown
Q: How would you describe your artistic process?
A: My artistic process is a transformative journey centered on building community, facilitating testimony, and creating space for sustainability and healing. Through reflective practices such as writing, talking, moving, laughing, and playing, I find inspiration in shared experiences with kinfolk. My work is deeply rooted in creating spaces where we can encounter our most authentic and vulnerable selves, using dance as a conduit for both external and internal liberation. I am deeply moved by bell hooks, who once said, “Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.” This has been a guiding principle throughout my artistic work. I continually reflect on how dance is a vital part of communion and the process of liberation. With curiosity, I ask: How do we breathe? How do we heal? How do we thrive and flourish? I imagine we do it together, united in body and spirit, believing our collective efforts can bring about profound change.
Q: How has participation in the DWB Fellowship contributed to your artistic practice?
A: The DWB fellowship has been a beautifully enriching experience. I am so appreciative of the intergenerational and multidimensional conversations that have been facilitated throughout the fellowship. Each masterclass has left me inspired and reflective as I have encountered various perspectives on the beautiful continuum that is Black dance. What truly stands out is the sense of community that this fellowship has fostered. I am thankful for the warmth, joy, and love I encounter from each one of my cohort members. This fellowship has been a breath of fresh air that has revived the spark of creativity flowing through us all.
Cyan Hunter
Q: How would you describe your artistic practice?
A: I always start my artistic process with breathwork. I establish an internal checklist for my mind and body before I initiate movement. Query what I carry into space and also what I choose to leave behind. When I'm choreographing a new work, I consider myself a “visual listener”. Either through my dreams, images, text and music, I can seek inspiration for myself as an artist and thus utilize my eyes for information. I place my intention at the forefront of every rehearsal or performance. In this process, I have to become comfortable with the unknowing. The risk I put into my work, whether it's in the rigor, perception, or aesthetic choices, is enforcing the ideas of Afrofuturism, body memory, and grief work. The past, present, and future act as a compass, guiding me into creating a work that ponders emotion, spirituality, and queerness.
Q: How has participation in the DWB Fellowship contributed to your artistic practice?
A: Participating in the DWB Fellowship has offered great insight about my identity as a dancer. I have become more aware that all of my choices in creating work are valid. It has been a place where I can freely explore what it means to be a Black artist. Growing alongside this community of fellows has shifted the vision of my own work. I often found myself going deeper into who I am as Black queer dancer. I have learned new ways of perceiving movement and gained a new sense of acceptance that has become radical! Who I am is enough to push forward with my art.
The Dancing While Black (DWB) Fellowship, is a yearlong fellowship for community-building, intergenerational exchange and visibility among Black dance artists whose work doesn’t fit neatly into boxes. Learn more about the program and our 2024 Fellows here.
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