Ariyan Johnson is an award-winning filmmaker with dance films Triggered, I Dance Because I Can, and her documentary directorial debut Spiritual Cyphers: Hip Hop and the Church. A multi-disciplinary artist and pioneer of Hip Hop dance having worked with LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, and others. An Independent Spirit Award best female lead nominated actress for the first female Hip Hop coming of age story, that won the Sundance Special Jury Prize - Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. In Ronn Pratt’s Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company is where her site-specific work began exploring jazz-based dances of protest with Eleo Pomare’s Dancemobile. As Artistic Director of Faithful Dance Company, she worked with deaf participants and created interactive performances at the 18,000-seated Faithful Central Bible Church. As a dance historian, Ariyan’s publications are found in the online Hip Hop Dance Almanac and the Routledge book Dance in US Popular Culture. Ms. Johnson has been of service to: the Entertainment Community Fund, Advisory Committee Board member at Orange Coast College, the National AD Council’s mental health campaign, NAACP outreach, and the non-profit MEND Poverty. Through her own company, D.I.M.A.B.A. she is a community partner with the Los Angeles United School District, where she artistically engaged high school students in educational activism. Presently she is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine where she teaches Hip Hop and Jazz. She held the 2022-2023 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency, the 2022-2023 Hellman Fellowship, the 21st Century Creativity Research Grant for 2020-2021, as well as the three-time Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Artist-in-Resident. www.ariyanjohnson.com