Brittany Harlin

Brittany Harlin is a performing artist with a mission to represent street dance on stage. She is the founding artistic director of Chicago Urban Dance Collective, a 2017 recipient of the Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award, and the 2018 recipient of the Sybil Shearer fellowship. Her influences are Hip Hop and Modern Dance pioneers. In addition to company work, Brittany’s dancing and choreography has been featured at Ragdale Foundation, Links Hall, Elastic Arts, Aragon Ballroom, DRAMA Duo Music Productions, Black Ensemble Theatre, and Hip Hop International.  Her focus is Hip Hop, Modern, Funk Styles, Waacking, and House, combined with a growing knowledge of somatics and kinesiology, all through the concert dance lens. Her goal is to bring dance education to a place of complete body awareness, spiritual expression, and connection. Brittany hopes to establish her practice in expressive therapy, creating opportunities, and inclusiveness.

Her teaching artist pedagogy & philosophy are weighted in respecting the integrity of the vernacular movement by sharing what she’s been taught from respected community members - and stopping exactly there. She relates those concepts to personal natural movement and the energy of the dancers she’s working with. Her goal is to create solidarity between diverse backgrounds conducive to the essence and intention of The Hip Hop Socio-Political Movement. Brittany’s passion for dance extends to her community as she has launched her most recent endeavor of teaching professionalism and industry standards to aspiring professional dancers.  When Brittany isn’t dancing, she is supplementing her work with her passions for poetry and songwriting. She’s been referred to as a fawn and a hippie on multiple, separate occasions.