“The fact that Tiffany is engaged in inclusiveness and representation in a diverse way, I felt this was really perfect. Because people will fall in love with the dance and then see the diversity on the stage. And that’s enough for people to open up and maybe influence some of the children that haven’t seen themselves represented. ... I’m excited about this company from that point of view as well as the absolutely beautiful dance.”

“I aim to do the most good in as many places as possible. I feel that the arts can be a vehicle for good – but they can also be harmful. I vowed that if I were ever in the front of the room, I’d be a good memory. If you really care about your craft, you have to care about the next generation that will carry the torch.”

“Dance only exists in that form with that audience on that day,” Rea-Fisher said. “We’re in community with the audience. We want to share dance with as many people as possible.”

“With EMERGE125 being a Black led company, I was very clear that the company was meant to look like New York City, and will continue to look like New York City. There’s no reason that Black history can’t be told through many different people and bodies.”

“I’m going to be real with you,” says Rea Fisher, “There’s a romanticized sense of the artist as some sort of magician but, most often, the reality is simply about doing the work. That may not sound especially sexy, but it’s true. Epiphanies are easy but they are hardly reliable. If you do the work everyday, your unfettered creativity is revealed rather than forced. This is what The Path means to me: proceeding with greater and greater trust in myself, in my company, and in our future.”

“After one class, I was convinced. I like that all the teachers are dance professionals because you can learn from what they are saying and doing. You learn the little things you can absorb from them; they know what it’s like to be a professional dancer. Plus, they are always there for us no matter what we need.”

“One of the strengths in the company is that we are very nimble and so we’re always kind of emergent, even though we aren’t new. And 125 is just to hold down the Harlem roots.I love, love, love that we are a Harlem based company. That became the name, so it’s been a long, interesting journey, but I think we landed exactly where we needed to.”

“I can’t imagine a more appropriate setting for our company than The Flea...their re-focused mission on the work of Black creators, humanistic art, explicitly anti-racist performance, and innovative art aligns perfectly with us.”

“The past two years of COVID have wrought immense damage to the performing arts community, but perhaps there is some silver lining in our immediate moment of universal disquiet. I believe dance can provide empathic engagement in times of great difficulty. On the heels of the pandemic, I see an opportunity for greater connection, while the pain and our shared understanding of oppression in all forms is still raw. These commonalities, connected across artistic experience, may yet unite us.”

“Rea-Fisher is the Artistic Director of EMERGE125, a modern dance company that has performed from Harlem to Lake Placid, whose work “leads with compassion” … “at the service of the voiceless, emerging artists and artists of color, and liberation,” says Swan. Like the legions of artists, poets, writers, and cultural creatives who came before her, Tiffany has been inspired by the stories ‘in the soil’ to create site specific dance and movement works at the John Brown Farm.”

“In today’s society, artists and the arts are significantly undervalued so to have the entire State turn to us during this pivotal time is an honor...The privilege of being one of the artists chosen is not lost on me. I look forward to the challenge of change.”

“And even if Cofield evinces too heavy a hand for comedy at times, his Twelfth Night at least vibrates with a playful spirit that keeps it fresh and entertaining, exemplified by choreographer Tiffany Rea-Fisher’s exuberant interstitial dance sequences...”

“Tiffany Rea-Fisher, choreographer and Artistic Director of EMERGE125, and visual artist Ren Davidson Seward will work with John Brown Lives! to continue their joint efforts to illuminate the freedom and human rights history in the Adirondacks as a prism to inform and inspire civic action to address some of the most pressing issues of our time.”

“Hazel Scott was a diva with a capital ‘D,’ but she was also super-grounded. She was not afraid to be raw and rough while also being glamorous. Her erasure from history was intentional because she was so audacious. People actively tried to erase her…so to be able to not only not erase her but celebrate her for all that she is and was is really super-super exciting.”

“I consider my signature to be a combination of empathy, joy, and athleticism; not always in that order. An idea that I’ve always held as true is that people primarily go to the theater to escape, so I ask myself if I wanted to escape, what would I want to see? Empathy, joy, and athleticism.”

“Beyond the creative reward, I also have some necessarily selfish desires. I need to know that any work I do is going to feed me and bring me joy. As I said, joy is a large part of my artistic practice. So I need to know that, even on the worst day, I’m going to want to show up and elevate.”

“We want to increase awareness of this truly defining moment in American history... The fact that so many people are still unaware of the holiday [Juneteenth], or don’t really understand it, really speaks to whose stories get told — whose stories get repeated and woven into American history.”

“The company exemplifies diversity for a modern dance company in America featuring a cast of multi-national dancers. Under Rea-Fisher’s direction the company has expanded its scope and vision to become a truly 21st Century organization; flourishing, growing, and expanding its network and reach outside of the traditional modern dance sphere. This new leadership has shown that modern dance can be accessible and relatable to people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds.”

“From an ethereal dream to a toe-tapping rhythm, the company transports the audience across diverse moods. “There’s something for everyone,” Rea-Fisher says.”

“Being a small black female, people will ignore me... Being seen and heard has always been important to me. What are we doing in our daily practices to bring our best self no matter is happening around us?”