Ashayla Byrd X Grace David

In this special Artist Talk, Ashayla Byrd sits down with DC-based Performance & Textile Artist, Miss Grace David! (@missgracedavid)

Miss Grace David is a Black, queer, and non-binary femme performance and textile artist based in the DC area. By using character performance, textile production, world-making, and storytelling, their work connects human emotion and personal experience with visual abstraction. Investing in the euphoria of anonymity, they remove themselves so they can finally be seen.

Their performance work and film has been commissioned by Dance Place in Washington, DC, Tariq O’Meally’s BlackLight Summit, and shown at Kennedy Center.  Grace was most recently announced as a Fellowship Artist with Dance Place for their 2025-2027 Season, and voted Best Local Artist in Washington Blade’s 2025 “Best of LGBTQ D.C.” readers’ poll.

Check out Grace David online!!

Ashayla Byrd (she/they) (@abyrdnyca) is a DC-based dance artist and writer who is dedicated to amplifying the voices of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ folks. Originally from Virginia Beach, Ashayla is eager to explore the richness of DC’s dance and writing communities!