Hello

Aliesha Bryan (Pájaro negro) (she/her/hers) is an Afro-Caribbean-American, Brooklyn-raised and Bronx-based multidisciplinary performing artist. Aliesha is the founder of Blackbird Dance Company, a contemporary Flamenco and Spanish dance group, and its Development Lab – parts of a larger endeavor to contribute to more just societies, advocate and offer movement-based healing approaches and content, and counter limiting perspectives about the body, its capacity, potential and roles within societies. Aliesha has developed a rich tapestry of movement from her experience learning from and working with diverse artists. Her performative work includes  choreographic commissions and site-specific creations, for example for the WestFest Dance Festival, and most recently the conception and production of El Mensaje/The Message, a shortened version of which was presented during the BlaktinX Performance Series at BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance. Aliesha has also appeared on stages ranging from international festivals to more intimate venues, including The Hemispheric Institute in New York, the African American Museum in Philadelphia and the United Nations Headquarters. She is an advocate for social change through healing, and has notably been featured on the BBC Podcast, The Reset, in Dance Magazine, and in the curated Camille A. Brown series Social Dance for Social Change. Aliesha graduated from Barnard College, with a BA in French and Francophone Studies, and from Sarah Lawrence College, with an MS in Dance/Movement Therapy. She is also a practicing therapist.