Brittany Harlin is originally from Bolingbrook, Illinois, where she began dance in jazz at the age of six. Her original dance and music influences began in her close multigenerational family, and formational influences are the pioneers in Hip Hop and Modern dance. She studied dance at Loyola University Chicago. She is the founding artistic director of Chicago Urban Dance Collective, which is driven by Harlin’s purpose to represent the full spectrum of street dance to live music and dj’s on the concert stage. 

Harlin is a former High Concept Labs Artist in Residence, in performance choreography and filmmaking. She is a 2017 recipient of the Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award, and the 2018 recipient of the Sybil Shearer fellowship. In addition to work for her company, her dancing and choreography has been featured at Ragdale Foundation, Links Hall, Elastic Arts, Aragon Ballroom, DRAMA Duo Music Productions, Black Ensemble Theatre, and Hip Hop International. 

Her first short film, “Delinea Renda”, inspired by the work of visual artist and writer Barbara Chase Riboud, features original poetry, vocals and choreography by Harlin, music by composer Josh Luis, and engineer-producing by Peter Angorola and Melvin Rosario. The film’s development was a coveted 3Arts Project Match selection in 2018, surpassing the goal and receiving its release in 2019.

Her first length work for her company, “Breathing Through Vernacular Movement”, was premiered by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2018. Her latest full length piece for her dancers, ”Don’t Forget Your Mother,” is a choreographic memoir set to music and dedicated to mothers on Earth and ancestors beyond, and received its world premiere as part of the 2019 Pivot Arts Festival.

Harlin regards the body of work to date as a living investigation of social movement origins in the music and dance forms of Hip Hop, Modern, Funk Styles, Waacking, and House, which she combines with her growing knowledge of somatics and kinesiology. Her teaching artist pedagogy and philosophy are weighted in respecting the integrity of the vernacular movement by sharing what she’s been taught from respected community members. As an educator, she aims to bring dance to a place of complete body awareness, spiritual expression, and connection. 

For more information please visit http://brittanyharlin.com/