Khorii Hunter Tinson (she/her) is a movement artist, student, and choreographer born in Woodbridge, Virginia, rooted in Atlanta, Georgia, currently based in Tallahassee, Florida. As the daughter of a Marine, Khorii grew up dancing overseas and in several states, but can credit the majority of her pre-collegiate training to Dance Theatre of Jacksonville (Jacksonville, NC) under the direction of Debra Baile-Becerra. With this studio, Tinson trained in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop, and Tap and competed dance competitively as well as attended conventions in various states on the East Coast. Since 2019, Khorii returns to DTOJ every year for their annual Alumni Intensive where she teaches master classes in House and Contemporary and sets choreography for the upcoming competitive season. Khorii also teaches and choreographs at various studios in Florida.

Presently, Khorii is in her pursuit for her Master’s of Fine Arts Degree in Dance at Florida State University, set to graduate in the Spring of 2026. Most recent credits at Florida State include performing her first self-choreographed solo called “12”, premiering for the 2024 Days of Dance, which is a conversation between the Black body in America and law enforcement. Tinson performed in Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's reiteration of Give Your Hands To Struggle (1998) for the dance department’s Fall show An Evening of Dance in 2023. Tinson earned her B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 2020. In her time at UT, she performed and worked in processes with renowned artists such as Rennie Harris, Charles O. Anderson, Gesel Mason, Courtney Mazeika, Jenn Freeman, and many more. Khorii joined Gesel Mason Performance Projects (GMPP) in 2021, most recent credits with the company include artistic residencies and performances in Sint Maarten (2024), Jacob's Pillow Lab (2022), Dance Place and The Hillwood Gardens and Estate in Washington D.C. (2022), and The Fusebox Festival in Austin Texas for Mason’s work Yes, And. (2022 and 2024).

Additionally, as a Graduate Student at FSU, Khorii will begin teaching House for non majors in the upcoming Fall as a part of the MFA track. Khorii teaches House, Contemporary, and Jazz classes as a part of the Young Dancers Workshop and The Summer Dance Intensive, two youth programs under the direction of Dr. La Toya Davis-Craig.

Khorii specializes in teaching the following techniques: House, Jazz, Ballet, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Lyrical, and Improvisation; ages 4 - Adult.

For me, Dance is a means of liberation and freedom; an art form crucial to the preservation of history. To be a Movement Artist is to be a human who tells the truth, who provokes conversation about the self and the self’s position in the world, who speaks using the body in all of its glory and all of its systems. To be a Movement Artist is to center the preciousness of the human body and its abilities, to take care and nurture yourself and encourage those around you to do the same. At this point in my life, in graduate school, a young Black woman in her twenties, Dance is a necessity. It is how I show up for my community and it is how I show up for myself. I realized this when I attended my first protest in Austin, Texas during the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. I didn’t understand until a few weeks later that the reason I felt so liberated and free while marching and chanting with my community was because I was using my body. I had a physical, visceral feeling protesting white supremacy and racist, unjust police brutality. I realized then, at 21 years old, that Dance is actually otherworldly and an act of self preservation, not just something I love to do, something I feel born and blessed to do. It was around this time that I took my first Black studies class and was reading about Black revolutionaries and the choreography of bodies in the streets, in warehouses where they gave testimonials, in homes where they organized and planned their successful resistance to segregation and the government's denial to Black life.

Though I find inspiration through many mundane, ordinary things in life, I am more often moved and inspired through the experience of marginalized groups- nationally and internationally- and highly political conversations and movements that could perhaps drive people closer toward a world where money, war, and greed are not the driving forces of humanity as we are living it today. Believing in a fully transformed world is not easy and requires a lot of research into the past, understanding of the present, and hope for the future to support these radical ideals. A commitment to the lifelong journey of constantly asking questions, of listening to survivors and oppressed peoples, and valuing community and what it means to truly want a liberated society free of abuse, financial hardship, and over-consumption. I am continuing to grow as an artist citizen every day, someone who creatively acknowledges and practices the importance of staying informed and in tune to the inner workings of the machine.

I am excited about my trajectory, as I begin to take on new avenues of creativity through film and music.

I am very interested in the marriage of our physical and spiritual bodies and what it means to tap into that individual and communal search for ecstasy through movement. In order to achieve this state in the classroom, I believe in promoting student agency and autonomy, as well as demonstrating the right to be respected and seen no matter your position in the classroom. Whether it is a House, Contemporary, or Ballet class, this objective remains.

A classroom that centers self and community wellness is important. There should be very little, if not any, power imbalance in terms of safety and respect. The classroom should strive to be free of judgment, preconceived notions and perceptions, and harmful/triggering rhetoric. I do believe the classroom is a space designed for valuing and utilizing history, in all of its ugliness and prettiness, and a place where challenging the status quo is welcomed, encouraged even. There needs to be a commitment to fostering a healthy, ethical learning environment that firmly rejects conformity/ideas of “normalcy” and the stripping and devaluing of individuality.

In a time where elected governing officials are abusing their power to ban books, restrict financial support or completely do away with programs that teach and value cultural theory and history, and even defund public libraries, it is increasingly important to remain steadfast in the true nature of being a pedagogue: to tell the genuine truth. In the dance space, we do this while leading a group of artist citizens with a generous, open minded approach that allows them to become whoever they strive to be with the knowledge and investigative passion to support their dreams.

Students should leave the room feeling challenged, inspired, and satisfied. It is important to me that each student feels they achieve a goal set by themselves as well, not just the goals I envision for them. Whether it be one class or a year of classes, the student should feel as if they have grown in sufficiency toward the given learning objectives and gained a broader sense of knowledge and value in the world at large, able to take what they learned from class and apply it to areas not just in the studio, but outside of it as well.

Teaching particularly excites me because it is the sharing of knowledge from me to the student and the student to me. A great teacher is one who can also listen, hold space, adjust… To command a classroom means to be a nurturer of passion and endless possibility.