liana conyers

Liana Conyers, M.F.A., is a dance theater maker, educator, and creative human who thrives in spaces where scholarship meets cleverness. Currently based in the mid-Atlantic but always moving, she makes performance work that layers movement, text, sound, and surprise. You never know what’s going to happen next.

She currently serves as Associate Dean of Academic Life and Performing Arts Faculty at Bard DC, where she teaches courses like Black Aesthetics in Mass Media, Performance Art, and Movement Studies. Her academic and creative leadership has been recognized through grants and fellowships from Bard College and, most notably, a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching. She traveled to Singapore in 2022 to research arts integration and teach at Pei Hwa, Changkat Changi, LASALLE College of the Arts, the Singapore School of the Arts, and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

Her original works have been seen at venues including The Kitchen, New York Live Arts, Movement Research at the Judson Church, and The Chocolate Factory Theater. Highlights include her solo shows #ImFxckingFunny, I Invited Oprah, which asks big questions about identity and who gets to take up space. She was a New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Fellow and presenter during Live Artery.

Liana has presented work nationally at Emory University, Spelman College, the University of Oregon, and the University of Idaho, and was a 2023–2024 co-presenting artist with Dance Place in Washington, DC, and kicked off the 2024–2025 season with the premiere of #43 at the DC Dance Festival.

I view the arts as a means to connect with myself and the world around me. During my investigations, I am interested in how people form a sense of self, and I explore how identity and autobiography influence artistic practice and performance. In my work, I focus on the depth of the human experience. I believe that we are all complex creatures, with unique untold stories. I am interested in bringing these narrative moments into performance as a means to share the interconnectedness of human nature – what it means to be flesh, bones, lovers, friends, black, white . . . .

I am a multi-disciplinary artist utilizing collage, found objects, text, movement, sound, textiles, and film in my creative process. I am most interested in visceral experiences and physical nuances. The work I create provides me with space to bring the lived experience to live performance.

Founded in 2023, The B-Side is an intergenerational art collective committed to community dialogue and creative collaboration. Bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds and generations, The B-Side explores identity, memory, and lived experience through autobiographical art and storytelling. We create pieces that challenge traditional forms, inviting audiences into a shared space of reflection on belonging, struggle, joy, and transformation.

Performances (video footage available upon request)

#43: Same shit, new city Liana Conyers in collaboration with mixed-media artist Valentina Vidali. District Choreographers Dance Festival at Dance Place – 2024

TLDR, Liana Conyers in collaboration with Jamal Abrams, Co-presentation series at Dance Place – 2024

Untitled, Creative Residency at The Chocolate Factory Theater – 2020

#ImFxckingFunny, Live Artery, New York Live Arts – 2020

#MeAndDaveChappelle, New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Residency – 2019

Androids & Pearls, New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Residency – 2018

I Invited Oprah, Dance and Process at The Kitchen – 2017

Jars of Pennies,  Movement Research at the Judson Church – 2014

Body Politics: tHiS iS mY bOdY,  Movement Research at the Judson Church – 2012