ABOUT THE ARTIST

Being a happy Black woman for Tammy Johnson means that she gets her shimmy on! 

Specializing in Raks baladi (known as Egyptian style belly dancing,) Johnson is the founding director of Project Aiwa. Inspired by her studies in Morocco and Egypt, Project Aiwa produces performances, workshops and community-based collaborations that celebrate North African people and culture. Her solo work Aiwa! was featured in the 2017 Live Arts in Resistance at Eastside Arts Alliance. In 2016, Johnson was the recipient of Deborah Slater’s Studio 210 Residency Program. She performed in ChimaTEK: Hybridity Visualization Mandala, a piece created by renowned performance visual artist Saya Woolfalk, at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum in 2014. 

For fifteen years Johnson and Etang Inyang performed as the award-winning duo Raks Africa. They co-directed GirlsRaks Bellydance and Body Image Program sharing dance and personal empowerment with young women of color. They also coproduced the 2014-2016 Resistance and Revolution performance series.

Johnson has created a life that has her two passions, dance and racial justice at the center. She makes it work by living by these words, “You can choreograph and strategize until you  are spent. But don’t forget to leave room for magic. It is what makes the movement worthwhile.”

Services include Coaching, Classes, Workshops, and Performances. Contact me to learn more.