The Black Girl Bloom Cast
Witness the Bloom: Fri, June 6th, - Sun, June 8th
The Chrysalis: Monarch Center for the Arts | 1805 Main St, SD, CA 92113
Grab your tickets here
Keomi Tarver
A divine mover, storyteller, and healer — a vessel through which sacred artistry flows. A San Diego native and Brooklyn transplant, she fuses modern dance, West African, hip hop, and praise-based movement into a breathtaking language of spirit and embodiment.
Known for her radiant transparency and unapologetic joy, Keomi has headlined stages for audiences of over 20,000, taught branded dance classes for Nordstrom and Aerie, and led private wellness sessions for celebrity clients. Her artistry has been featured at San Diego City College, San Diego State University, Yale University, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art — spaces she transforms with her presence alone.
Since 2010, Keomi has created immersive, soul-awakening works that explore duality, choice, vulnerability, and freedom. Through choreography, poetry, and multi-media storytelling, she invites audiences into sacred dialogue with themselves — reminding them that healing is not only possible but revolutionary.
Her latest work, Black Girl Bloom, stands as a living tribute to the stories, resilience, and sacred beauty of Black women and girls. Featuring pieces like Sun-Kissed Flowers Picked Too Soon (written in honor of Breonna Taylor), Superpower, Pray You Catch Me, and Praise Is Who I Am, the show transcends performance and becomes ceremony.
As the Founder and Director of AbunDANCE with Keomi®, she curates global wellness retreats, private healing sessions, and customized experiences that center wholeness, creativity, and radical abundance. Her mission is clear: to heal, to create, to live abundantly — and to show others they can too.
Experience her movement. Witness her bloom. Be forever changed.
Aaliyah Hollis
A radiant spirit whose love for dance was sparked in childhood and transformed into a calling by the time she turned sixteen. Born and raised in Galveston, Texas, Aaliyah fell in love with choreography as a teenager — not just for the steps, but for thexa way movement allowed her to express emotion, energy, and essence.
What makes Aaliyah unique is the energy she carries into every space: authentic, grounded, and quietly magnetic. She doesn’t just dance — she blooms. And in doing so, she invites others to bloom around her. Whether through movement or presence, Aaliyah’s artistry creates space for people to feel seen, soft, and strong all at once.
As part of Black Girl Bloom, Aaliyah brings her light, her intention, and her quiet power to every step — reminding us all that sometimes the most transformative beauty blooms gently.
Harmony
A vibrant emerging artist, born and raised in sunny San Diego, who uses dance as a sacred portal to connect with every part of herself — past, present, and future. From school talent shows to the Black Girl Bloom stage, Harmony has long known that movement is more than performance — it’s soul work.
For her, to dance is to remember. To create is to connect. And her mission is clear: to use her artistry as a vessel for positive transformation. Whether on stage or in community, Harmony strives to hold space for growth, self-expression, and meaningful change. She dreams of blending movement with safe space-making — creating environments where others feel empowered to evolve and embrace who they are becoming.
At just 23, Harmony carries the clarity and courage of someone whose bloom is just beginning — and whose presence already makes the world softer, braver, and more beautiful.
Jocelynn Johnston
A dancer whose spirit shines through every step she takes. A lifelong mover and creative, Jocelynn brings joy, resilience, and radiant authenticity to every stage she graces. Returning to Black Girl Bloom for a second time, she celebrates the beauty of sisterhood and the sacred power of Black women gathering to tell their stories through movement.
Currently pursuing her Master’s degree in therapy, Jocelynn is committed to healing her community both inside and outside the studio — blending artistry, empathy, and deep-rooted purpose. Newly married and deeply loved, she dances not only for herself but for the collective dreams of those she serves. Jocelynn’s artistry is an offering: a reminder that healing, celebration, and transformation can all happen at once — and that joy is revolutionary.
KishaLynn Elliott
A multi-hyphenate artist, healer, and storyteller, joyfully reclaiming dance as a vital bloom in her expansive creative garden. After decades devoted to poetry, music, writing, and healing, she returns to movement — not just as expression, but as liberation and embodiment.
As a Black Girl Bloom dancer, KishaLynn brings her full self to the stage: Black, queer, mother, healer — each identity dancing boldly, joyfully, unapologetically. Through her work, she invites others to reconnect with the power of their own authentic expression.
KishaLynn is also the celebrated author of CHILDish and Black Woman Grown — two dynamic literary works that explore identity, growth, and self-reclamation. As a Reiki Master Teacher through BLAAC: Balance and Flow, she extends her artistry into the sacred work of energetic healing. Whether moving, writing, or healing, KishaLynn’s mission remains the same: to help herself and others live fully, love deeply, and bloom without apology.
Miesha “Ocean” Rice
A warrior of spirit, a parent, a teaching artist, and a writer whose life is rooted in service, breath, and the sacred art of connection. Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina and now thriving in San Diego for over a decade, Ocean carries with her a legacy of resilience, reflection, and radical empathy.
A devoted student of the late Jasai Madden, she weaves breathwork, poetry, and deep intentional practice into every space she enters — building community, resolving conflict, and awakening purpose. Whether commanding national poetry slam stages or holding transformative classroom spaces, Ocean’s voice beats like a metronome — steady, rhythmic, guiding others back to their own honest expression.
She believes that recognizing the dignity in others is not only a virtue but a practiced art — one that sharpens our discernment, expands our compassion, and reminds us of who we are. Through her movement, her words, and her breath, Ocean invites us to meet ourselves more fully — and to meet each other with reverence.
Misha-el Wright
Known professionally as Misha B!, is a multidimensional artist, visionary, and vessel of transformation. Born in Anchorage, Alaska and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Misha was born into a legacy of performance — introduced to music by her mother and trained in dance from a young age. She quickly blossomed into a powerful force across disciplines, later becoming a principal dancer with Sankofa Dance Theatre–Georgia and starring in productions such as The Wiz and Fame.
For over 27 years, Misha has moved between stages and classrooms, between grief and glory — blending performance, education, and healing into one seamless practice. She is the founder of Rhythm of Light Dance Academy, the creator of Fitness Shuffle™️, and a co-founder of Sankofa Dance Theatre Alaska and Sankofa Cultural Foundation of Alaska — organizations committed to affirming and celebrating Black heritage through the arts in the far north.
Her commitment to transformation deepened after the devastating loss of her daughter in 2023. Through the pain, Misha discovered that her artistry — her dance, her voice, her storytelling — could carry her grief and give it shape. It became both offering and balm, a bridge for others navigating loss, love, and rebirth. Her upcoming album, set to release in 2026, will chronicle that very journey: from heartbreak to hope.
Currently serving with the Let Every Woman Know nonprofit and collaborating with the Ayanna Morgan Foundation, Misha uses her artistry to champion mental health, ovarian cancer awareness, and youth empowerment through creativity. Her life and work are a living testament to this truth: art can carry us through the impossible. And from those ashes, we can rise, connect, and bloom.
Monique Easley-Bland
A vessel of spirit, movement, and transformation. A Las Vegas native with a Master's degree in Behavioral Health, Monique has spent her life weaving healing and artistry into one seamless offering — touching lives both in therapy rooms and on stages.
A gifted performer, choreographer, singer, and movement teacher, Monique is the founder of Body Moves by ME, a celebrated high-energy fitness experience in Imperial Beach, California that ignites body confidence and joyful freedom. Through her handmade brand Modupe Designs, she crafts vibrant African cloth earrings that honor ancestry and amplify self-expression.
A military wife, a mother of three, and a woman deeply rooted in purpose, Monique moves through the world with unmatched energy and sacred intention. Every performance, every creation, and every class she leads becomes a ceremony of self-love, resilience, and radiant joy. To witness her work is to be reminded of the beauty of motion, the strength in community, and the healing power of love made visible.
Raeshonda “Rae” Bowser
A radiant embodiment of ambition, artistry, and spirit — a woman who moves through life with both fierce purpose and joyful grace. A thriving force in the world of commercial real estate, Rae has built a dynamic career while nurturing the heart of what matters most: family, faith, and exploration.
As a wife and mother of three beautiful daughters, Rae roots her every endeavor in love. Whether dancing across a stage, hiking mountain trails, or losing herself in the pages of a book by the ocean, she approaches life as sacred ground — a place to grow, to heal, and to discover.
With an adventurous spirit and an unquenchable thirst for discovery, Rae brings her full self to every performance and every encounter: spiritual, loving, ambitious, and endlessly blooming. Her life is a living testament that you can be both grounded and limitless — and that the truest dance is the one that embraces it all.