Director Biography – Tiffany Rhynard (BLACK STAINS)

Tiffany Rhynard is an artist, activist, and mother compelled to make work that reflects current social issues. Her professional labels include filmmaker, choreographer, dancer, and educator. Having created over 60 works for stage and screen, Rhynard’s choreography, dance films, and documentaries have been presented nationwide from NYC to San Francisco, and internationally in Europe. Her dance for the camera pieces have screened at film/video festivals such as the Dancing for the Camera at the American Dance Festival and at ScreenDance Miami 2015 where she won First Prize for her film Invisible Queens. Her documentary films focus on issues of social justice and equality. Little House in the Big House (2012) won best documentary at the Central Illinois Feminist Film Festival. Her most recent documentary, Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America, is the story of a young undocumented gay activist and his fight for the American Dream. Forbidden premiered summer 2016 in at Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles where it received the Freedom Award. The film has gone on to receive numerous awards, notably from the Southern Poverty Law Center who bestowed their first ever Social Justice Film Award to the Forbidden team. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has partnered with Logo TV to distribute the film. A cross-disciplinary artist, Rhynard has collaborated with esteemed innovators including choreographer and performer Christal Brown, poet Karma Mayet Johnson, internationally renowned composer Lei Liang, and real-time digital media artist Marlon Barrios Solano. She is currently working with mezzo soprano Sahoko Sato Timpone on a new work titled At Close Range. As a performer, Rhynard has danced for choreographers including Gerri Houlihan, Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians, and Chavasse Dance and Performance Group. She has taught at The Ohio State University, SUNY Potsdam, Middlebury College, University of Florida and Florida Atlantic University in addition to teaching guest artist residencies throughout the country. She is currently Assistant Professor at Florida State University where she teaches dance and technology.