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Christina McKinney is an interdisciplinary dance artist who combines her passion for movement with media. She creates a kinesthetic connection between art forms by exploring dance through mediums such as film, photography, and graphic design. Her choreography brings digital elements onto the stage. Her films explore alternative perspectives of movement. Her images utilize motion to create a candid moment. Her designs move the eye with care and intention. 

Christina was raised in Memphis, TN, but currently resides in Durham, NC, where she works as the Graphic Designer and Marketing Associate for the American Dance Festival. She received a BFA from the University of Memphis—along with the Creative Achievement Award for her research in dance and photography—and an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University (TWU). At TWU, Christina served as the Digital Media Coordinator and a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Dance Division while researching choreographies of dance, filmmaking, and multimedia performance.

Christina’s choreography and media work has been featured in performances both on stage and screen at the American College Dance Association (MS & TN), COCO Dance Festival (Trinidad and Tobago), DancingStrong Movement Lab (UK) Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, University of Memphis, Texas Woman’s University, and Julien Baker’s “Appointments” music video (2017).

She has collaborated with and captured performances of CJ40 Productions (NC & TN), Jordan Fuchs Company (TX), Racine + Southern Dance Exchange (TN), and Memphis Indie Film Festival (TN). She is inspired by her mentors and teachers, which include: Jill Guyton Nee, Jordan Fuchs, Adesola Akinleye, Mary Williford Shade, Sarah Gamblin, Wayne Smith, Moira Logan, and Holly Lau, and is influenced by workshops hosted by Pilobolus, Koresh Dance Company, and Gibney Dance.

In addition to dance, Christina is trained in STOTT Pilates, and teaches dance with the intention of supporting individual bodies. As a movement educator, her goal is for students to develop critical thinking skills and curiosities about dance, while expanding an awareness of their own body and how it likes to move.