ARTIST STATEMENT

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"My entry into academic research is through my creative work in choreography, curation, and theatrical design. My choreography's central premise is a profound desire to create dances where the subject matter is accessible and thought-provoking to my audience. I hope to cultivate spaces where my autobiographical stories engage with profound aspects of human experience to provide narratives that counter-hegemony. My choreography is often formal as it riffs on codified movement vocabularies, the use of bodies in space, and musical visualization. Though I am a formalist, I am interested in exploring Dance's ability to affect the world in a more significant way – one that goes beyond merely providing an escape from everyday life. An essential aspect of my choreography focuses on the social injustices we have come to accept and normalize. My work in this area often addresses the subjects of gender, sexuality, race, and nationality; it aspires to offer nuanced representations of otherwise underrepresented or stereotyped communities."

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- Iyun Ashani Harrison