Ryan K. Johnson is a rhythm architect and cultural worker moving at the intersection of sound, story, and embodied scholarship. Hailed by Dance Magazine as “one of the foremost percussive dance artists in the U.S.,” he fuses African diasporic percussive traditions, tap, body percussion, and stepping with playwriting, immersive technologies, and archival inquiry. In 2024, Johnson became the first African American body percussionist to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography, recognized for expanding the expressive and political potential of rhythm in contemporary performance. He is co-founder and Artistic Director of SOLE Defined, a trailblazing percussive dance company based in Washington, D.C.
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