Danie Etienne is a Haitian-American storyteller, movement author, and filmmaker hailing from Fort Myers, Florida. Growing up, Danie’s family frequented many Haitian parties sometimes in celebration of special events and other times to simply enjoy the company of others. Usually, these parties were big events filled with lots of food, joy, music, and dance. These celebrations shaped her as an artist and is one of the biggest reasons she began to pursue a career in dance. Danie’s earliest and fondest memories of dance feature her as a young child being carried away by the jazz-based rhythms of Kompa music, a popular form of Haitian music, that began in Haiti in the 1950s. Kompa music can be described as a fusion of Latin merengue, Caribbean, and jazz influences and is often accompanied by Kompa dance, which highlights figure-eight movements of the hips. Empowered by the celebratory social gatherings that shaped her childhood, she often includes moments of jubilation in her choreography to excite energy in the space, motivating and giving praise to everyone in the room.Danie’s academic dance training began at the University of Florida as an undergraduate where she recognized her interests in dance-film & choreography explored within the context of Black femininity. Continued technical training and choreographic experimentation proved useful in refining her artistic voice; leading her to utilize dance as a tool to inform, liberate, uplift and most importantly provide healing to the Black community, both locally and globally. Danie’s movement style fuses contemporary, and hip-hop dance forms to construct abstract narratives and familiar characters that reflect the stories of the Black community. As a Black woman devoted to breaking the pressures of body image and “acceptable” shapes in dance, Danie choreographs without a mirror to focus on intention rather than aesthetic. Community engagement is a significant aspect of Danie’s work. She has led workshops for incarcerated youth, presented at the Tallahassee Race Relations Summit, and facilitated various town halls. Additionally, Etienne has collaborated with Billboard and Emmy-nominated musicians in live bands doing improvisation work to highlight Haitian culture through dance, music and historical knowledge. Etienne prioritizes cultural relevance, community engagement, and amplifying marginalized voices. Danie has had the great opportunity of studying improvisational, composition and contemporary techniques with award-winning dance artists Stephanie Batten Bland, Juel D. Lane, Jawole Zollar, Ron K. Brown and Davalois Fearon. She has also danced in the official dance company at the University of Florida, MOD (Modern Original Dance) under the direction of noted choreographer Trent D. Williams Jr. where she also worked with Dante Puleio who restaged Jose Limon’s historically all-male piece “Traitor” with a mixed gendered cast. In the summer of 2019, Danie worked alongside Miami-based artist-scholar A’Keitha Carey as her rehearsal director. A’Keitha Carey renowned for developing CaribFunk, a fusion dance technique blending Caribbean and contemporary influences.