Getting to Know DWC Ambassador Brittni Bryan
By Samantha Weissbach
Samantha Weissbach is a dancer, choreographer, and business professional born & raised in the Pacific Northwest. She has been dancing since the age of 2, and continues to dance and teach ballet and pointe professionally in the Greater Seattle Area. Samantha has trained at numerous establishments and programs; however, her primary training was received at Cornerstone Studio, Ballet Bellevue, and Emerald Ballet Theatre.
Currently, she serves as Executive Director of Intrepidus Dance, and is a company member with Intrepidus Dance and Forthun+Rome Dance Theater.
PICTURED: Brittni Bryan, DWC Ambassador
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By Samantha Weissbach
“I have a semi-distinct memory of driving past the studio that I first went to. It was nighttime, and I remember my mom pulling into the parking lot and going in to talk to the owner,” Brittni shares with a smile. Around 4 years old at the time, this is one of her earliest memories of starting dance at Debbi’s Dance in Lacey, Washington where she studied Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Acro, Lyrical, and Hip-Hop, and competed all the way through high school. For a time, she also supplemented her dance training with drop-in Contemporary classes at Westlake Dance Center in Seattle. While dance has always been an important part of who she is, Brittni’s relationship with dance has been anything but easy.
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“I stopped dancing around 16 years old for a good year because I was having such a tough time with mental health.” Where dance had previously been an emotional outlet for Brittni, she began to find that it didn’t feel good anymore. “It wasn’t the same,” she recounts, “and it even [physically] hurt sometimes to dance.” During her year away, Brittni did not have a consistent movement practice. At this point, her mom stepped in, hoping to guide Brittni in a different direction. “Hey, there’s this high school across the highway, they have a really good dance team, you hate your school, you don’t want to go to school, most days you don’t go to school… so let’s try this other school,” Brittni laughs as she recalls her mom’s proposition. Taking her mom’s advice, Brittni tried out for the dance team, made the team, and her senior year of high school, she made the unorthodox decision to transfer to a new school.
“I had never danced so fast in my life,” Brittni shares with a laugh. “I remember doing the pom routine and being like, ‘there’s no way. You’re insane.” When asked “but did you do it?” Brittni responded with a grin, “there was no other choice.”
Post high school, Brittni faced the choice of whether or not she wanted to pursue a career in dance. She grappled with many challenges, including self-doubt, and worries about not having a financial fallback should a dance degree not yield a fiscally stable career. She recalls feeling like she didn’t have the type of body for any kind of a career in dancing. After applying for a variety of different dance programs, she decided to go to school for academics.
Brittni continued to take at least one dance class a week throughout the course of her schooling, simply because she still loved to dance. “I never thought I would ever ‘do anything with it.’” Brittni shares. Her senior year, however, a chance meeting in a coffee shop in Seattle changed everything.
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“A friend of mine and I were at a coffee shop after taking a class at Westlake and we were chatting about life, and this girl next to us leaned over and asked, ‘are you guys dancers?!’” That “girl” was none other than Brittany Mattox, who at the time was a dancer at Julia’s on Broadway and now is the Founder and Artistic Director of Seattle-based Jazz and Contemporary dance company Coalescence Dance. Brittany encouraged Brittni and her friend to audition at Julia’s, and so Brittni found herself a part of the thriving professional dance community in Seattle. Brittni went on to dance with Julia’s (on and off) for about 5 years, and during that time also became a company member of local Contemporary Jazz dance company 3rd Shift Dance. “Dancing with 3rd Shift got me back into dancing shape through their intensive training and very physical choreography. It brought me back to dance.”
Now, this 30-year-old is a High School English Teacher and Special Education Case Manager by day, and continues to choreograph, train, and dance professionally in the Seattle area on nights and weekends. In addition to choreographing competition pieces with Glass House Dance in Sammamish, Brittni is a company member with Seattle-based dance company Intrepidus Dance. “I’m so happy I’ve found this community of women. It feels healthy, and it feels good.”
When asked what her favorite thing is about dance now, Brittni shares with us that she loves choreographing, and has aspirations to continue to further her choreographic explorations in the Seattle dance community. “I love that right now I’m in a space now where I only choreograph; I just love creating so much.”
As far as challenges within the sphere of dance, Brittni shares a struggle that unfortunately is familiar to so many fellow dancers. “For such a long time it was my body. I knew from a really young age that I didn’t have a ‘dancer build.’” In her middle school and high school years, Brittni struggled with two separate eating disorders. While she still struggles with her body image from time to time, it comes up more now in the context of how her body is viewed by artistic directors and casting agents in the context of costuming. Overall she says, “I would love to see more and more diversity in the dance world.”
Looking back at her dancing journey, Brittni’s biggest piece of advice is actually for parents of dancers who may be struggling with their mental health. “If you notice that your kid is changing, and you’re concerned about it. Don’t just let it happen.” She encourages parents to actively step in and support their dancers. “If you feel at a loss or don’t know where to start, find someone who can help.” Check out DWC’s local dance specialists page for a list of medical professionals who specialize in dance and performing arts!
To read more about Brittni, check out the links below!