Dance artist, educator and entertainment attorney (!!) Brynn Bodair is about to launch DC x (Washington) DC. We love the double acronym, we love our growing East Coast community, and we love Brynn! As a dance maker and a lawyer, Brynn (she/her) is a multi-hyphenate powerhouse who is ready to let loose and move with anyone and everyone who needs a space to release in our nation’s capital.

You’re gearing up to offer DC in DC. What’s got you excited?

Brynn: I can’t wait! I would like to use Dance Church to create community here. I was introduced to Dance Church nearly four years ago, and I have seen its ability to bring people together. I want to lead a class for anyone craving the euphoric release that Dance Church offers.

You have rich history and practice in the arts and in political science. This seems like an amazing collection of values and communities to bring together for Dance Church in DC. Tell us about how you blend these worlds and practices together in your life.

Brynn: As a young dancer, I mostly trained in ballet: Atlanta Ballet, Texas Theatre Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, Laurel Ballet, Maria Caruso’s Bodiography Contemporary Ballet Company. My world expanded as I explored different dance styles and trained with some incredible people while I was studying at Loyola Marymount University. While there, I earned a BA in Dance and Political Science (and a minor in Screenwriting), and I also started working with dance companies in New York and in Europe. In addition to my work as a movement artist, I now also work as a film and television attorney. I draw on concepts and ideas stemming from my political science and legal studies when I choreograph live dance performances and dance films. My short film, His Party, which explored classical political theories and gendered concepts, was screened at the Los Angeles Experimental Short Film Festival (also further developed for and presented at Harvard University’s Research Symposium). Another example of this kind of blending of worlds, observations and research is the experimental short film When Skin Feels Like Glass that I worked on throughout the pandemic, and which was displayed at the Glendale Brand Arts Center Gallery.

Sounds like you draw widely from your education, work, place and practices when you engage in movement and artmaking. 

Brynn: For sure. I am constantly inspired by worldly observations, written text (I’m a big reader: always chasing that never ending TBR list!), and sensations. I love creating community and choreography that empowers dancers through imaginative, sensuous, and grotesque movement. 

“Grotesque” and “sensuous” are such fun ideas to offer in a dance space. How do you think this could show up in your Dance Church classes? (And should we be scared?)

Brynn: I love empowering class takers, offering them ideas and prompts to explore in their own ways through their unique bodies. I imagine this value will pulse through in my Dance Church classes as we gather to blend free dance, actions, & coordinations. I am excited for class takers to abandon form as they thrash and mosh through the space, feeling themselves release into the energy of the space and other bodies. Importantly, there is an open invitation to laugh, shriek, cry, and release guttural sounds (don’t get spooked!). 

That starts to give us an idea of what your classes might feel like, for sure. Thrilling! But you know we love the music, and the music guides us in every class. So the question is: what is your music vibe these days?

Brynn: I am constantly listening to music and some recent favorites include a mix of boygenius, Gracie Abrams, Troye Sivan, Ethel Cain, Conan Gray, THE 1975, and Taylor Swift (for those who are Taylor Swift fans, I am currently in my Evermore, 1989, and Reputation Eras). 

Like a lot of folks in Washington DC, it seems like you’ve got an epically full (Taylor Swift-soundtracked) life. What else do you do, for work and play?

Brynn: I am passionate about sharing my knowledge as an entertainment attorney, assisting and making industry knowledge accessible to independent artists. Volunteering with an Entertainment Legal Clinic has given me the opportunity to connect with independent filmmakers, musicians, and other artists to provide pro-bono legal services. Dancers and movement artists are often overlooked, or do not have the means to access legal services in connection with their performance and on-set work or intellectual property considerations. I hope that, equipped with my passions for art and the law, I can serve the dance community. When I am not dancing or lawyering, I am more than likely attending a live music performance, strolling the Smithsonian art museums, cycling indoors, or reading books from my never ending TBR list. 

Incredible. We’re lucky that you are also excited about folding Dance Church into your life and work. When’s your first class? 

Brynn: Saturday, January 20 at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW)! Sign up →