Brianna Lopez

Email

Primary Email: [email protected]

Bio

Brianna López is a dance artist based in California and Israel. She holds a B.A. in Dance Performance from San Diego State University and an M.F.A. in Modern Dance from the University of Utah. During her studies, she danced with the San Diego State Dance Team under Jessica Walz, The University Dance Company under Joseph Alter, and the Performing Dance Company under Eric Handman.   

During Graduate school, she was recognized for her commitment to the program as well as in her research. She received the L. Scott Marsh Mentorship Award for mentorship, the University Teaching Assistantship for pedagogy, and the Bastion Foundation Award for innovative research. She also extended her research to the Gender Studies department, where she pursued a Graduate Gender Studies certificate. She brought conversations typically held in Gender Studies classrooms and into the studio to inform her dance-making practices. She designed a hybrid cross-listed course, “Physicalizing Feminism: Using the Creative Process to Embody Theory,” supported by the University Teaching Assistantship. She was fortunate to teach the class to upper-division and graduate-level students at the University of Utah in 2018. She also co-led a seminar at the 8th Annual Gender Revolution Conference at the Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake City. They performed a duet, Desire, a performative extension of the topics mentioned in the seminar at Metro Music Hall. 

She performs, teaches, and trains internationally. Some of these experiences include performing at the PRISMA Festival in Panama, teaching a partnering workshop, “La Franqueza De Las Intenciones: Partnering En La Improvisación” in Mexico, teaching creative movement to Hasidic women in Israel, training at a “Flying Low” workshop in Belgium, training at the Skiing on Skin festival in Finland.

In 2020, her movement research led her to move to Tel Aviv to train in Ohad Naharin’s movement language, Gaga. She regularly attends Gaga/People classes and ProMornings at Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre. She collaborates with Israeli photographers, videographers, filmmakers, musicians, singer-songwriters, and fashion designers in performances and videos. Some artists include Yemima, Shay Moshe Moshe, Avi Perrodin, Irit Dekel, Victor Liberov, Eldar Baruch, DADA by Dana, and Nanig Fashion. In 2022, Michal Ben Lior, Artistic Director of ImPort, invited her to join her performing group of musicians and dancers. They have performed together in SOHO House, Edna, and Collabo in Tel Aviv. ImPort was also in an evening-length production as part of the FEX Festival hosted by Habait Theatre. Ben Lior also cast Brianna in her evening-length work, “Pinata,” performed in Alpha Beit Theatre. The work will be performed again in choreographic festivals in Israel and abroad.

In 2023, she joined the School of Music & Dance faculty at San Diego State University. She teaches courses for non-majors and majors. She collaborates with her colleague and lifelong friend, Jess Humphrey, in a transborder experiment, Portal, where she recently taught and performed at the Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) as a part of the “Festival De Danza Transfronteriza.” Portal is an ongoing collaboration with plans for performances and classes for the community.