Dance Canvas Summer Artist Residency

Dance Canvas, Inc. is a non-profit, 501 (c) 3 organization, incorporated in the City of Atlanta in 2008 with a mission to provide opportunities and venues to increase the awareness of professional dance in Atlanta. We achieve our mission through three program areas of service:

Choreographer Career Development, Youth Leadership Development, & Audience Engagement. Visit dancecanvas.com to learn more.

Indya Childs is a dancer and choreographer that hails from Atlanta, Ga. Indya began her dance training at Price Performing Arts Center and The Atlanta Ballet. Indya holds a B.A in Dance from Kennesaw State University and in 2015, was named ‘25 to Watch’ by Dance Magazine. She also attended the Hubbard Street Professional Program under the direction of Alexandra Wells. Indya danced professionally with Ballethnic Dance Company, T. Lang Dance, and Abby Z and The New Utility.
In 2020, Indya founded the Peace, Love, and Dance Project (PLD Project) in response to the many difficult events that were arising in the U.S. including the murders of Black Americans due to police brutality, the COVID-19 pandemic, performing artists out of work, and more.

The PLD Project aims to create a safe space for artists to create intentional work that brings awareness to important societal topics through conversation, dance, film, art, and more.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, WI, Kae Kristina is a performer, choreographer and educator. Kae resides in Atlanta, GA, and continues to study and strengthen her style and technique. Kae received her BA in Dance Performance & Choreography with a minor in Education Studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. Kae has performed with Signature Dance Company (Milwaukee, WI). Kae has performed for productions hosted by Spelman Dance Theatre, including choreography by Kathleen Wessel and CiCi Kelley. She also has performed in collaboration with Zanele Muholi’s exhibition “Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness” in the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, and in Colby College’s Museum with both self-choreographed solo work, and ensemble work choreographed by Thulani Vereen. In addition, Kae has also participated as a collaborator in Phases 1 and 2 of the Georgia Incarceration Performance Project, a devised theatre collaboration with UGA, Morehouse College and Spelman students to research and embody slave labor during the Reconstruction Era and how it affected black women in particular, directed by Dr. Julie Johnson, Keith Bolden, Dr. Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, and Dr. Emily Sahakian. As she continues to create work, Kae analyzes and exposes systemic racism rooted in westernized society, utilizing pedagogical and embodied movements that dissects the ideologies of intersectionality, misrepresentation and preservation of Black women. Her most recent works have included participation in the Fly on the Wall “Excuse the Art” work-in-progress residency and “Afrocity: The Beauty in Horror”, a dance film choreographed by Jazmine R. Freeman.

Kerri Garrett is an interdisciplinary artist from Columbus, Ohio, based out of Atlanta, Georgia. A Clark Atlanta University alumnus, she intertwines the art forms of dance, film, and fashion to create compelling narratives about the black experience. From stage to screen, Kerri can be seen on multiple platforms showcasing her acting abilities. Some of her theatrical credits include: Sorry About That (written by Nina Lee, Zae Jordan, and Javier Williams), 360 Degrees of Blackness (directed by Melissa Alexander), Salt City: An Afro-futuristic Choreopoem (directed by Aku Kadogo), and Hand’s Up (directed by Keith Bolden). A trained dancer, Kerri has studied at Theatre Street Dance Academy (under the direction of China White), Spelman Dance Theatre (under the direction of T Lang), and Staib Dance (under the direction of George Staib). She has worked with numerous choreographers such as Micaela Taylor, Kathleen Wessel, Victor Rojas, and Dacia James. Kerri’s choreography credits include For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf and God’s Trombones (directed by Eric J. Little) at Clark Atlanta University. Recently, she was University of West Georgia’s Guest Artist and choreographed Songs for a New World (directed by Jonathan Kitt) for their fall musical. In 2020, Kerri received Fulton County’s Virtual Arts Initiative Grant for her project, Longshot: Atlanta. She executive produced, directed, styled and co-choreographed the five-part dance visual series. Currently, Kerri is developing numerous projects with her production company and artist collective, House of Productions.

Porter Grubbs is a dance and movement artist, a choreographer, a writer, and a teacher. Grubbs works across visual and auditory disciplines to realize their personal visions and the visions of their collaborators. Their creative process is always an act of translation. Whether Grubbs is interpreting prompts and phrases from a director or interpreting associations from their personal experiences, they know that their art is their tribute to the wisdom of the ancestors, mentors, and spaces that have informed them throughout their life. Every act of creation is an act of collaboration with seen and unseen forces, so they engage their research with respect, curiosity, and play.Grubbs is especially interested in the interplay between structure and spontaneity and the entanglement of fantasy within reality. They believe that, with enough actionable momentum, individuals and collectives can manifest the dreams that form their inner worlds. Dance & theatre provides the ultimate playground for them to put this belief to the test again and again.

Rozina Shiraz Gilani (she/her) is a visual and performing artist, choreographer and the Founder and Director of ATL Radical Art Collective. She is a first-generation American whose work uplifts testimony through movement and utilizes the narrative tools of Indian Classical Dance, along with new adaptations, to challenge viewers with a “radical disruption” of normative thought. She is inspired by representations of identity, collective memory and most specifically post-trauma as represented in motif production. Drawn to the power of testimony of the human condition and righteous fights to live with freedom and dignity, she creates multimedia visual and movement compositions that seek to challenge and activate her audiences. Over the past 14 years, she has worked on solo and collaborative dance projects, productions & workshops internationally– in the U.S., Hungary, Palestine, and Lebanon.

Shawny /Humlao is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Hollins University as a fellowship recipient and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Kennesaw State University. They are a former member of Full Radius Dance, Ballethnic, and Kit Modus.