Homer Hans Bryant
Homer Hans Bryant believes that when it comes to dance, the fun is in the discipline and the discipline is in the fun.
A former principal dancer with the Dance Theater of Harlem, his professional credits range from a command performance for the Royal Families of Norway and England, to performances in Timbuktu with the Legendary Eartha Kitt, and the motion picture The Wiz with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. His teaching and training experience include working with Canada’s Cirque Du Soleil productions of Mystere, Alegria, Quidam and Saltimbanco. He has also participated in the Dance Open Ballet Festival in Russia, where he assisted Arthur Mitchell, teaching his unique body alignment/floor barre technique at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, the Kirov Ballet Academy and the Boris Eifman School.
Homer’s core mission is to bring the opportunity for dance training to all of Chicago. In 1992 he founded the Bryant Ballet School—later renamed the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center (CMDC) to reflect the diversity of dance and the student body. CMDC is the only contemporary ballet school in the world that teaches a ballet class that fuses classical pointe technique with hip-hop and urban dance styles. Homer created and trademarked Hiplet™ to make ballet accessible to all, by mixing it with current popular songs that will be familiar to audiences who don’t normally attend ballet performances.
Mr. Bryant and CMDC students had the privilege to be part of the first White House Dance Series in 2010, honoring Judith Jamison. In 2011, he was appointed to the City of Chicago’s Advisory Council on Cultural Affairs and Special Events, where he still serves. Other awards and accolades include the Helen Coburn Meir & Tim Meier Achievement Award; The Arts Legend Award, Arts Alliance Illinois; Chicago Tribune’s 2009 Chicagoan of the Year in Dance; induction as a member of ‘The History Makers’; the Chicago Defender’s ‘Men of Excellence’; and the inaugural Human Potential Award presented by the Foundation for Human Potential.
