Dancer, describer, dreamer — Rhodes does it all
The 2019 graduate has built a career on her own terms, blending movement, meaning and mission into a vibrant freelance life.
Brianna Rhodes ’19 is one of five dancers featured in Dianne McIntyre’s “In the Same Tongue.” But Rhodes is also a teacher, a model, an audio describer and a brand ambassador.
When Rhodes began studying dance at Ohio State, she expected to follow the path chosen by many before her and join a company. And for a short period, she did just that. After graduating, she had a 10-month fellowship with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
Along the way, however, she picked up other projects with the Lincoln Theatre in Columbus, the Columbus Cultural Arts Center, the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the New Albany Dance Festival. That work inspired her to go on her own in May 2020. “In my head, as a dancer, my career ended with being in a company,” Rhodes says. “I didn’t know that there were other ways to be an artist, and so I felt like my young dream died in order to make space for new possibilities.”
Valarie Williams, professor of dance and director of the Dance Notation Bureau Extension Center at Ohio State, says that compared to the 1960s and ’70s, there are fewer dance companies and less funding today, which could influence a dancer’s decision to go freelance vs. joining a company. Ohio State has long prepared dancers as whole people, Williams says, “so that their art and their craft really have meaning, and that it extends beyond just dance.”
To that end, the dance department has offered classes on grant writing in the past, as well as independent study seminars that focus on the practical challenges of staging a dance performance, from budgeting to navigating music copyrights. At the graduate level, the department offers seminars focused on research, conference presentation and academic writing.
By embracing projects in and outside of dance, Rhodes created a model that offers financial stability and allows her time to focus on passion projects, such as being a part of “In the Same Tongue.”
She’s also found new uses for her dance background. When Rhodes learned that OhioDance needed an audio describer for its virtual dance collection, she became certified in audio description. She is also an ambassador for the mental health organization Be Present Ohio. In her role, she creates content that explores mental health through the lens of dance.
“I didn’t realize dance really exists in everything,” Rhodes says. “So if I can slap dance on it, I’m gonna do it.”
