Brittney is currently an MFA Dance Candidate and a Graduate Instructor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her secondary emphasis are Somatics and International Law. Brittney holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies from Missouri State University. Brittney’s main performance experience is with traditional Raqs Sharqi and Transnational Fusion dance. Her choreographic/research questions involve the intersection of history, politics, surveillance, and culture within dance forms of Middle East and North Africa and their respective diasporas.
In addition to her transnational dance research and influences, Brittney places a strong emphasis on somatics and pedagogy. She is a STOTT Pilates® trained instructor, a certified Gyrotonic® apprentice, Certified instructor of Amy Sigil’s “Improvisational Team Sync” (ITS) as well as a licensed massage therapist. Brittney utilizes those skills in the dance classroom to create a physically safe and experiential learning environment. Additionally, her immersive study experience with the contemporary form Gaga informs Brittney’s choreographic, directorial, and pedagogical processes. Brittney is the co-president of CU student organization Performers Without Borders and the 2020 Social Chair for the United Government of Graduate Students.
Brittney’s most recent work includes “As If We Don’t Know”, co-choreographed with Laura Conway, a multimedia exploration of “Cold War-esque” political tensions, as well as choreography/direction of the evening-length work “Hunak,” an investigation of cultural and interpersonal relationships within states of conflict.
Outside of dance, Brittney’s hobbies include: weightlifting, her dogs (Mildred and Mortimer), and peanut butter.
Artist Statement
I am currently investigating themes of surveillance and humor as they relate to the development, exploration, and transmutation of identity. I’m also working with themes of Middle Eastern-ness and finding performative satisfaction in both subverting and upholding orientalist expectations of the performing Middle Eastern body. I continue to investigate geopolitical, sociopolitical, and historiographical themes in my work. Some words I would use to describe my developing aesthetic interests are: multi-longitudinal, multi-layered, visceral, barbaric, funny, ridiculous, experiential, care-full, thoughtfully chaotic,and purposeful dissonance. My scholarly research interests are broadly centered around transnationalism/transnational fusion, and at this moment in time are specifically centered on dance/dancers/relationship to dance in the Iranian diaspora. Additionally, I’m interested in conducting research on what I am referring to as “Somatics for Social Change”: observing how the development of physical strength and mobility might equate to an increased sense of agency for those who have experienced various kinds of trauma and oppression.
