Check Out Nia Lankford’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nia Lankford

Hi Nia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My dance journey began in middle school, and my first style of dance was tutting. However, I began as a jam skater and a gymnast first. I began skating in about 3rd or 4th grade after my school held an event at our local skating rink, “Dazzles.” My twin brother and I fell in love with the rink. We devoted every Saturday to skating from open to close. We were surrounded by a wonderful community of skaters that introduced us to the world of jam skating, which is a form of dancing on skates. By 7th grade, I was in my room using YouTube videos to teach myself how to dance. I was watching different animation dancers like Non-stop, Blu-Print, Skitzo, and Klick. These dancers all used tutting, gliding, and isolations as some of their main skills. I remember watching tutorials on how to tut and I would come to school doing the different hand stretches I learned. People did not understand what I was doing and I never cared. In those earlier days, I was very introverted, but in 8th grade, I somehow mustered up the confidence to enter my school’s talent show. My performance in the show was a surprise to my friends and family, including my parents. Up until that point, dance was a passion that I kept to myself and developed silently. That summer I was dancing with my friends at the Ferris Wheel in downtown ATL, when I was introduced to the underground battle scene. Now, It’s 8 years later, I am still battling, tumbling, and skating along with the many other interests that I have picked up along the way.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Throughout my dance career, I have always focused on other sports or passions simultaneously which made it hard to give dance the amount of attention that I wanted. I was in advanced classes, played sports, and held many leadership positions as a part of various school and community level groups. However, through all of that even through college and working multiple jobs, I never stopped dancing. I have also now been through two different car accidents, one in 2018 and one in 2023, so I have had to work through injuries and rebuild muscle strength for dancing on various occasions. There were times that I was unable to dance physically due to injuries, which led me to experience mental blocks, that came from the stresses of college/young adult life; There were also times where I just couldn’t find any time to dance; All of these moments make my return to dance so much greater, because it leads me to engage in dance with a new understanding/appreciation for the art. I am beyond grateful to now have graduated college, and to have more time and mental capacity to give to pursuing dance.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a movement artist and an architectural designer. Some of my training/skills include hip-hop choreography, jam skating, breaking, animation, and tumbling. I am probably most known for my tutting, as it was my first style and continues to be my most advanced skill within my movement. Above everything, I am most proud of my individuality. Throughout my growth as a dancer, I have always been my own person and approach dance in my own way. What sets me apart is not only my individuality but also the fact that I have always been open to learning something new. While there is nothing wrong with finding your passion and sticking to it; versatility is an attribute that I believe to be extremely important as a movement artist. As it relates to architectural design, I have just recently graduated college and began my journey of pursuing my architecture license. So far, I have only worked on schools and that will be my bread and butter for the next couple of years. I specifically work in a k-12 studio, which is centered around elementary, middle, and high schools. I hope to eventually have the opportunity to design art spaces such as theaters or museums. Something I believe that sets me apart from others in this field is my dance background and desire to connect both worlds.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
No risk, No reward. That’s the bottom line in my opinion. I believe that we risk a lot especially as movement artists whether you are a dancer, skater, tumbler, stunt-artist, etc. These are careers that take a toll on your body and there is risk built into everything that we do. These are also skills that take several years to develop, we put in a lot of time to be capable of these skills. Many people are pursuing professional dance careers while also pursuing other full-time careers. I am an example of this. I sacrifice a lot of my time and money towards pursing dance even after working a full-time 9-5 in the corporate world. With every second and penny we put into this we are essentially taking a chance on pursuing our passion which is a risk in itself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/im.2foot/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/im2foot
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Im2Foot

Image Credits
Pat Molnar, David Gavilanes, Dearron Johnson, Keenan Lit