2024 LAB ARTIST

Born in Ruston, Louisiana and raised across Louisiana, Maryland, and Texas, Aaliyah Christina (she/her) makes dances and writes about dynamics in power/love, mental health, and Blackness. She is based in South side Chicago, IL and works as the Artist Programs Manager at Links Hall, co-organizes with Performance Response Journal (PRJ), and collaborates with community organizations and fellow artists across the city of Chicago. In 2021, Aaliyah received the 3Arts Make-A-Wave grant and as of 2023 she received the Illinois Arts Council Agency 2023 Artist Fellowship Finalist Award. She created PRAISE MOTHER, a dance theater project highlighting relationships between Black matriarchs and their kin through their mental health journeys.

Current Practice/Project: Aaliyah Christina is currently interested in African American movement vernaculars, especially as they pertain to jubilation and spiritual veneration within communal spaces. Her movement practice includes Liturgical/praise dance, Black majorette styles, and improvisation that negotiates moments of irreverent play and personal questioning. She explores interpersonal relationships between Black femmes, their mothers, and their sociopolitical position in the African diaspora.