We were lucky to catch up with Brianna Rhodes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brianna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I worked on was a piece I created for Global Water Dances Columbus called “The Mother Whose Children Are the Water”. 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 (branching off as Candomble (Brazil), and Santeria (Cuba) to name a few), is a water Goddess by the name of Yemenja/Yemoja. All life on Earth is created from her and her waters. Her name means ‘the mother whose children are the fish’. I played off of that name and created the title. I also recognized that I wanted to refer to all of us, on Earth, as her children. 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 own 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, that she has left for her children, has been poisoned and destroyed by other children of the Earth. The final section is a live retelling of the poem to the audience. I say it’s my “call to action” because we are directly speaking to the audience about what will you do to “protect the mother whose children are the water”.

Another layer to this piece is I had original costumes created. The amazing Celeste Malvar Stewart is a fashion designer in Columbus, Ohio. She creates original ensembles of clothing from lamb and sheep wool. I asked her to create a costume for my piece, and wonderful enough, she was delighted to do so. Each costume was created based on each dancer’s personal relationship to water. Additionally, to dye the costume, she collected rainwater. This was beautiful to find out because a large part of my movement’s inspiration was based on a young girl/woman’s journey in Africa who had to walk miles to collect water from rivers and streams to bring back to their family home. This would strip them of many opportunities and also put their lives in danger because they would have to walk roughly 6 miles, to and from, to bring water to their home EVERY DAY.

My piece was water to its core. I wanted to bring this message of water conservation and protection through another lens and remind the audience, and us dancers, of the life it has. It struck a different part of each person that witnessed the piece which I feel stuck with them forever and that is what matters the most to me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

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.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

TRY EVERYTHING!

I said that I couldn’t be put into a box because I didn’t fit into one, it’s because I tried and continue to try all of it. I am technically trained and also dive head-first in street dance. I also did 3 years of competition dance and still, create it for my dance studio. I take heels classes, and hip hop classes from choreographers in the commercial world, and continue to take gymnastics classes offered by the local Parks and Rec in Columbus.

For specific resources, follow the local arts councils like the Greater Columbus Arts Council, Ohio Arts Council, and Cultural Arts Center. Follow dance pages on Facebook/Instagram/TikTok like Ohio Dance and Columbus Dance Alliance. Follow the dance companies, near and far. Get on the list serve, talk to those friends who know a friend, who know a friend, so you can follow them and keep up with the dance classes. Get on MindBody and search.

Honestly, though, the biggest resource is to express you want it, because you never know who knows who and what, and that is deadly in itself. So much power can sit right next to you, all you have to do is ask! So don’t be afraid to ask!!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

If a list exists on the understanding of the different art forms that exist, performing arts (dance, theatre, vocal) would be at the bottom. And if there was a list that put those three on it, dance would be at the bottom of that. Why? Well because people don’t truly understand what dance is. They know it’s moving your body, or assume you only do Ballet.

But they don’t fully understand all of the things that happen behind the scenes.

It is hours of rehearsal across months of practice. It’s finding dancers who are available and then trying to get their schedules to sync up just right. It’s finding the perfect rehearsal space that doesn’t charge too much to practice in. It’s warming up and taking care of your body so you don’t get sick because if you get sick, you can’t perform. If you don’t perform, you don’t make money. It’s buying insurance to make sure I can go to a physical therapist when an injury happens or one starts to come back. Sometimes it is to prevent the body from upcoming injury. It’s finding costumes, and paying for them, out of pocket. It’s fighting to get music rights, or a friend to make music, or accepting that there is no music at all because it’s expensive to pay for the rights. It’s hoping the space we have is not concrete because concrete causes injury, and we have to constantly remind people that our body is our instrument.

In all seriousness, a dancer’s magic happens like this: there is so much craziness that happens behind the curtain to give you something beautiful in front of it. Dancers need financial investments so they can pay themselves and pay their dancers. Also to pay for costumes, rental space, music, travel expenses, hospitality, professional development, and to put on workshops/festivals/masterclasses. We need insurance to take care of our bodies. We are the executive directors, artistic directors, production crew, performers, marketing team, financial consultant, tax preparer, therapist, secretary, security, historian, and dramaturg.

It may sound like I’m complaining but I wouldn’t trade any of this! Because no matter how hard It gets, my love and passion for being a creative never outweighs the struggle of life. We all struggle, I just rather have fun doing it. This is what it takes to be an artist.

SUPPORT THE ARTS!!! ALL OF THEM!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://briannamonianrhodes.wordpress.com/
• Instagram: @_honeybb
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/honeybrownbee
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-rhodes-671041200/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BriannaRhodesDances
• Other: LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/_honeybb

Image Credits

Personal Photo and Studio/professional pictures (blue dress jumping, red dress with arms around the head – 3 pictures) – Scott Ciulei
Picture standing on a ledge overlooking the city of Dayton, Ohio – Ellen Blanco
Pictures from ‘The Mother Whose Children Are the Water” performance (Brianna with Maddie Denman and Aya Venet on stage) (3 pictures) – Larry Hamill
Pictures from Arts in the Park (in nature with purple dress) (2 pictures) – Josiah Wade