TARIQ DARRELL O’MEALLY

Tariq Darrell O'Meally is an artist, producer, curator, and community organizer searching for the power within introspection and vulnerability in the African-American body. He has pursued the re-imagining of kinesthetic narratives as a means to resist and disrupt canonized stories that have perpetuated the dehumanization of marginalized groups, specifically black people. He seeks to synthesize those stories that will resonate in a way that is socially relevant, empathetic, and impactful.

O’Meally is the creator and lead curator of the BlackLight Summit. Blacklight is a think & move tank that re-envisions dance performance as a conduit to galvanize the social imaginations, resilience, and inventiveness of citizens, thinkers, activists, and artists. As a curator Tariq held the position as an Artistic Planning Coordinator at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, programming Dance, Theater, and Artists-In- Residence programming. 

As an educator, O'Meally has been on faculty at Hollins University, the CityDance School & Conservatory Dance Institute of Washington, in addition to presenting as a guest lecturer at Coppin State University, Morgan State University, the National Gallery of Art, The Hirshhorn Museum, and the French Embassy. O'Meally is the Founder/Director of the Dimensions Contemporary Dance Festival, a platform to promote, amplify, and spread the various eclectic voices of DMV contemporary dance artists of color.

O’Meally has been chosen as a 2022-2023 Kennedy Center Local Dance Commission Project Awardee, 2022 NDP Advisor, 2021 Rubys Artist Grantee, 2020-2022Artist-In-Residence at Dance Place, and 2020 Site See Artists-in-Residence. In 2019 & 2021, O’Meally was an Art Omi Resident Artist and a 2018-2019 Halcyon Arts Lab Fellow. He also was a 2018-19 Joe’s Movement Emporium NextLOOK Artist and Dance Place’s 2017-18 New Releases Commissioned Artist. He currently holds a BFA in Dance & Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University.