Tula B. Strong

Background

About Tula B. Strong

Tula B. Strong is a Liberian-American artist, educator, and cultural producer. As an artist, Tula is focused on weaving dance, storytelling, and Traditional American folk music. She creates multidisciplinary performances that center the everyday & supernatural experiences of folk of color, with a specific lens on Christian ‘mysticism’ and anti-oppressive frameworks found within Black & Black Queer communities historically marginalized from institutional religion. Tula’s most recent work, TESTIMONY – which premiered in Women’s History Month 2022 – highlights a community of Black women & their journeys through healing, trauma, and faith. Tula has been honored to have her work receive support and recognition from California Art Council's Individual Artists Fellowship, Blavity’s BlavityTV, the National Black Arts’ Artist Project Fund, Arts Connection Micro-Grant, Californians for the Arts-Inland Empire Region's Artists as Second Responder Award, the DEAR Artist Retreat, & Princeton University’s The Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. As an arts & culture producer, Tula has served performing arts organizations such as CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Company, By Jade Charon Company, Dan Froot & Co, and the UCLA Department of World Arts & Cultures/ Dance in the production, public relations, education programming, and arts administrative capacities. Within the age of COVID, she has helped produce the UCLA WACD 2020 Faculty Virtual Concert — featuring works by guest choreographers Jackie Lopez, Milka Djordjevich, Faye Driscoll, and Lisa Parra — and the online premiere of emerging choreographer, Jade Charon’s, newest dance film, “Gold.” Alongside the efforts of LA Based Choreographer, Marianna Varviani, in 2023 Tula has co-spearheaded the creation of LA Dance Cal: an online platform dedicated to promoting dance in the Greater Los Angeles area. As a first generation college student, Tula has earned her MFA in Dance from UCLA, her Masters in Educational Studies from Loyola Marymount University, and her Bachelors from Princeton University. She now serves as a lecturer at Cal State University, Fullerton where she teaches courses surrounding Dance & Performance Studies. Tula is also currently open to guest artist residencies & guest choreographer positions at Universities, Professional, and Pre-Professional studios.