2014 Choreographers
Jamuna Chiarini's bio (along with those of her festival Co-Directors) can be found here.
Belle Alvarez is originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She spent the first half of her childhood in Manila, Philippines before immigrating to the USA. Belle is a performer, choreographer, and educator based in Philadelphia. In 2014, she earned her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Temple University. During her undergraduate years, she performed in work by Jillian Harris, Colleen Hooper Performance Projects, Dance Exchange, Charles O. Anderson/Dance Theatre X, Larry Keigwin, and Beau Hancock. This past summer, Belle performed with local choreographers Alie Vidich and Chrissie Leech. Belle has presented work since 2009 in venues located in Bethlehem, PA, Philadelphia, Quito, Ecuador, and Auckland, New Zealand. Most recently, Belle presented her work at CHI Movement Art Center’s 22nd InHale Performance Series. Belle is delighted to be a participant in The Outlet Dance Project. Learn more about Belle at www.bellealvarez.com
Ananda Bena-Weber has performed choreographic works by: Gregory Hines, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Fred Astaire, Hermes Pan, John Cranko, Alonzo King, Bill ‘Bo Jangles’ Robinson, Jimmy Slyde, Marius Petipa, Sam Weber, Rosine Bena, Lynn Dally. She has performed as a dancer with such companies as: The Jazz Tap Ensemble, The Sierra Nevada Ballet, The Reno Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theatre, and as an independent artist throughout the US and Europe. Roles in regional theater include: Rosalind (As You Like It), Arkadina (The Seagull), Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Lady Anne (Richard III), Lola (Damn Yankees), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Ophelia and Horatio (Hamlet), and the title role in Medea. Education includes: San Francisco State University BA (Theatre Arts and Russian Language and Literature), Shakespeare and Co, American Conservatory Theater, Moscow Art Theater School, British American Drama Academy at Oxford University, Linklater Center of Voice and Speech, and Terry Schreiber Studio. She is currently working on an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College toward a PHD with an emphasis on Linklater Voice technique. Ananda is an adjunct professor of dance at Marymount Manhattan College, and a teaching artist for the Dance Theater of Harlem.
Anna Copa Cabanna is an Australian showgirl who "really draws the audience to her" (The New Yorker). She was the face and twirling body of THE DEBASER video on The Pixies "Doolittle Tour", sings and dances in the celebrated Loser's Lounge, and is the official gogo dancer of New York Rock and Roll. Anna was recently named one of "10 offbeat artists keeping the old, weird New York alive" by Flavorpill alongside Yoko Ono and Bill Cunningham. As a choreographer, she has worked in music video/film (Ursula 1000, Joe McGinty, Religious to Damn, The Pixies, and The Electric Mess), theater (Lovesong of the Electric Bear, Edinburgh,Leonard Cohen Xmas Show, Brooklyn),with live bands, and for her own cabaret shows in Australia, Europe, and NYC.
The Anna Copa Cabanna Show (Joe's Pub), her homage to television specials of the 1970's allowed her to fulfill a childhood dream of dancing and choreographing like a SOLID GOLD dancer, and ran for 8 sold out years.
Anna has shared the stage and created numbers for B52s' Fred Schneider,James Chance, Kid Congo Powers (The Cramps), Andrew WK, and Tommy Ramone! She danced at NYC’s longest running 60s party SMASHED! BLOCKED! for 8 years, danced on 2 US tours with DJ Jonathan Toubin, and shimmied at mod parties in Europe and Australia. Anna also danced at the Rock and Roll Mecca MOTOR CITY every Week for 9 years. Anna has worked closely with Video Artist/Dancer Jason Akira Somma the last few years for several live dance video art- specifically at Scope Art Fair. Her special brand of vintage go-go has graced Highline Ballroom, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Brooklyn Bowl, MassMoca, Le Poisson Rouge, Atlantic Antic, Terminal 5, 54 Below, Bowery Ballroom, Galapagos and many more. More info at www.annacopacabanna.com
Catherine Cabeen, MFA, (Artistic Director of Catherine Cabeen – Hyphen, Dancer, Choreographer), has received choreographic commissions from On the Boards, Donald Byrd’s Spectrum Dance Theater, the Visa2Dance Festival in Dar Es Salaam, Alsarab Dance Troupe and the Lebanese American University in Byblos Lebanon, Moving People Dance Theater in Santa Fe, and Pig Iron Theater Company in Philadelphia, among others. The New York Times has called Cabeen's Hyphen, “highly kinetic, complex... visually exquisite,” and “beautifully performed.” The New York Times, May 13, 2011.
Cabeen currently performs in her own work, and with Richard Move. She is a former member of the Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1997-2005), and the Martha Graham Dance Company, among others. Cabeen founded Catherine Cabeen – Hyphen in 2009, to explore how interdisciplinary research and collaboration can be used to build new movement vocabularies. Cabeen’s 2011 evening-length work Into the Void was commissioned by On the Boards in Seattle, and was documented for On the Boards’ on-line performing arts library. The full work can be seen at ontheboards.tv.
Cabeen’s second evening–length commission from On the Boards, Fire!, embodied the powerful and emotional archetypes of Niki de Saint Phalle's monumental Tarot Garden. Fire! premiered Jan 17–20, 2013 at On the Boards. Cabeen's research into the work of Saint Phalle also inspired Where They May, a site–specific work commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park, and Ready, Aim…, a solo work focusing on female objectification. For more information see catherinecabeen.com.
Lauren Connolly is a freelance choreographer and dance educator throughout the New Jersey and New York area. She graduated with a BFA in Dance with academic honors from Mason Gross School of the Arts. She is the recipient of the Florence S. Domeshek Award for dedication and creativity in dance and the Dance Express Award for exceptional achievement as a choreographer. In 2010, she has presented her work at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC as part of The National College Dance Festival. She has also shown her work at other various venues throughout the New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey area including New York Live Arts, Dance Teacher Summit, Salvatore Capezio Theater, the Rutgers 2010 Hall of Distinguished Alumni Awards, Your Move, Jersey City’s Modern Dance Showcase, Koresh Artist Showcase and George Street Playhouse. She serves as Co-Director of Dancexpress School of Dance Arts' Performance Program (NJ) and curator of the Works in Progress Choreographer’s Residency of coLab Arts and Lustig Dance Theatre in New Brunswick NJ.
Theresa DiSipio & Amy Smith: Theresa DiSipio, a native of the DC metro area, has been tapping since the age of 2. She trained under the direction of Elower Sicilia Productions in Thurmont, MD and has had the privilege of dancing with DC Artistry: Tap and Drum Ensemble and Souls of the Feet Dance Company. In 2003, Theresa had the honor of representing the State of Maryland at the National America's Junior Miss Scholarship Program. She has studied with a broad range of artists including Dianne Walker, Jane Goldberg, Dorothy Wasserman, Andrew Nemr, Roxane Butterfly, Karen Callaway Williams, Yvonne Edwards, Artis Mooney, and Toni Lombre. In addition to performing with the company, Theresa hones her improvisation skills at local jazz clubs and teaches tap around the city. She is also a pediatric registered nurse and is studying to become a nurse practitioner. This is her second season with The Lady Hoofers.
Amy Smith graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in dance performance and choreography from Temple University, concentrating in modern, jazz, and ballet. She attended the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts as a modern dance scholarship student, and was asked back for several years to assist. Amy has danced with numerous dance companies throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Her New York credits include dancing at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, the Producers’ Club Theatre, the Kraine Theatre, the Apollo Theatre, the Boulton Center for the Performing Arts, the Lions Club of New York and the Latin Grammy Party. She was also a featured tap soloist and vocalist in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Amy has performed, choreographed, composed music, and produced in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and for the Capitol Fringe in Washington, DC and has directed and choreographed her own dance company, The AccoMpanY Dancers, which have performed throughout the tri-state area. Some of her mentors include Mike Shulster, Roxanne Butterfly, Andrew Nemr, Barbara Duffy, Ray Hesselink, Derick Grant, Bob Rizzo, Meghan Braun, Shimon Braun, Mia Michels, Dan Karaty, Gil Stroming, and Mike Minery to name a few. Amy has taught numerous master classes, workshops, intensives, and is an award winning choreographer. This is her second season with The Lady Hoofers. More info at www.LadyHoofers.org.
Heather Harrington graduated from Boston University with a degree in psychology. She then moved to New York City and danced with the Doris Humphrey Repertory Company, the Martha Graham Ensemble, the Pearl Lang Dance Theater, and the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company. Her choreography has been presented by various venues nationally and internationally including Danspace Project's City/Dans series, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Sitelines series, the Toronto Fringe Festival, Fresh Tracks at Dance Theater Workshop, Rockefeller Center, Boston University, New Stuff at P.S. 122, Dancing in the Streets at Wave Hill, The Yard, Joyce SoHo, The 92nd Street Y, Kean University, and the Center for Architecture. She was a finalist in 18th International Choreographic Competition in Hanover, Germany in 2004 and invited to perform in the Bangkok International Festival of Music and Dance. She has received grants from Meet the Composer, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation, and the Harkness Space Grant from the 92nd Street Y. She has been a resident choreographer for The Yard's Bessie Schonberg Choreographers and Dancers Residency, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, and the Hotel Pupik series in Austria. As a figure skater, Harrington has performed, taught, and choreographed for The Ice Theatre of New York, a ice skating company that blends dance and skating. She has been a coach for Sky Rink and for Figure Skating in Harlem. She currently teaches modern dance at Kean University and teaches Pilates at Align Pilates. www.heatherharrington.com
He Jin Jang: Born and raised in Seoul, Korea, He Jin Jang is a multi-city based choreographer, performer, teacher, and artistic advisor. Jang has presented her works in festivals and venues throughout New York and internationally including the Kitchen, Dixon Place, Movement Research at the Judson Church, AUNTS, Center for Performance Research, American Dance Festival (Durham, US), CORD Conference (Roanoke, US), Studio 12 (Berkley, US), Performatica (Puebla, Mexico), WUK (Vienna, Austria), University of Bristol (Bristol, UK), Volkshochschule (Bern, Switzerland), Atelierul de Productie & National Museum of Contemporary Arts (Bucharest, Romania), Temps d'Image Festival (Cluj-napoca, Romania) and Seoul International Choreography Festival (Seoul, Korea) among others. As a performer, Jang had pleasure performing in works by inspiring artists such as Helen Simoneau, Robin Wilson, Tatiana Baganova, Emily Wexler, Deborah Hazler, Xavier Le Roy and Jérôme Bel among many. She also was a hired dancer of SIWIC Ensemble (Zurich, Switzerland) in the year of 2009. Jang is a recipient of Korean government grant for promising artists called Arts Council Korea Fellowship (Korea, '09-11) for her Artist-in-Residency at Movement Research (New York, '09-11). In 2011, she was the only choreographer to win a NYFA Mentorship Award for Immigrant Artist (New York). Jang was also awarded with DanceWeb Fellowship (Vienna, Austria) by Jardin d'Europe during the same year. In 2012, Jang was thrilled to be awarded with Webb Bierley Fellowship for her teaching at Hollins University. As an educator, Jang’s teaching credit includes Hollins University (Assistant Professor of Dance, 2011-2014), American Dance Festival (Faculty, 2009-2010&2013), Dance New Amsterdam (Modern Guest Artist, 2010-2011), Movement Research (Faculty, 2011), and many other guest teaching at ACDFA, University of Michigan, Anderson University, Performatica, Route 11 Dance Festival, Deokwon Arts High School and Pasha Dance Company. Currently, Jang has returned to NY/NJ working as a mentor of Choreography/Dance Discipline of IAP (Immigrant Artist Program) at New York Foundation for the Arts. Jang holds BS in Physical Education & Dance from Seoul National University and MFA in Dance from University of Michigan and Hollins University/ADF program. www.hejinjangdance.com
Linda K. Johnson has been a professional dance artist based in Portland, Oregon for over 25 years. She has taught, performed, created, curated, and produced extensively throughout the region. Her concerns as an artist are social and environmental, and her projects have often addressed these interests in unconventional compositional forms, formats and venues. She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo (2001), the Rauschenberg Residency(2012), Caldera (2005), and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (2002) to further the development of her work. Her making and teaching are informed by her interest in improvisation, somatic practices, architecture, visual art, improvisation, sustainability and beauty. An Oregon Artist’s Fellow in 1999, her work has been generously funded by public, private and individual sources, and has received serious critical review in many venues ncluding Dance Magazine, Landscape Architecture, MetropolisMagazine, NPR and the Core Sample catalogue. She is honored to be a custodian in perpetuity of Yvonne Rainer’s seminal post-modern work, Trio A, and has performed extensively as a soloist, most notably in works by Bebe Miller (Rain), Mary Oslund, Kristy Edmunds, and Stephanie Skura, among others. She is a sought-after teacher by both professional movement artists and serious hobbyists, and has taught for extended periods as a guest and/or as faculty at the Mills College (2009-2011), University of Oregon, Reed College, Lewis and Clark College, Jefferson High School, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Conduit and the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. In 1995, she co-founded Conduit with Mary Oslund - the epicenter for contemporary dance in Oregon, and was the Director of the Education and Outreach Programs for Oregon Ballet Theatre from 2000-05. In 2008, she was the author, director and curator of the South Waterfront Artist-in-Residence Program, as well as the groundbreaking project, The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin, which was presented as part of PICA’s TBA:08. Most recently, she was honored to be one of the featured artists in Dance: before, after, during, a first-of-its kind exhibition curated by Terri Hopkins at The Art Gym at Marylhurst University which took as its subject the visual materials dance artists use/create while in the process of creating their work. Johnson is an adjunct faculty member in the Intermedia Department at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and is a teacher of the Alexander Technique. Her work, along with the work of 11 other nationally-known female artists, will be included in a new monograph being released in 2015 that addresses feminism, landscape and hybrid creative practice.
Joyce King, Artistic Dir. JKingDanceCompany(JKDC), www.JoyceKingDance.com, born and raised in NH, her versatility and insatiable appetite to uniquely express life through movement has afforded numerous opportunities to choreograph, teach, perform, traveling the U.S., Vienna, Costa Rica, Belgium, France, Japan. On faculty at: Steps on Broadway, Joffrey Ballet Trainee program, Joffrey J&C summer intensive, and guest at BDC. Commissioned choreography as part of special performances: Symphony Space, DNA, Merce Cunningham, Pinkerton Academy, Palace Theatre, Dansstage Dance Festival, Auditorio Nacional/Teatro Eugene O'Neil Theaters, CostaRica. Collaboration on Louis Vuitton’s, ‘Life is a Journey’ -2013 NYC Fashion Week. Notable performances: Cats, Chorus Line, Fame, Broadway Cares, BostonOpera, ImpulseDanceCo.
Joyce established JKDC in 2008, presenting works in over twenty events including Elgin Ties Dance Festival, Ill., Salvatore Capezio Theater, Lenox Hill Outreach, Brooklyn Dance Festival, CMA, and more, plus JKDC’s self produced performances at The Ailey Citigroup Theater, NYC with our fourth season on May 9th, 2015. JKDC is the recipient of the BUILD 2011 grant; FARSpace residency 2011/12; NYC10 audience’s top performance pick~2012. Press acknowledgement: , ‘....certain choreographers, and their charges, stood out as unique. ....Joyce King's "LISTen (an except)", a large ensemble flight into the realm of the imagination, felt like a force of nature. The stormy energy and expansiveness of 10 dancers moving in unison onstage at the Salvatore Capezio Theater felt like a definite moment of catharsis‘ Jamie Townsend/ ExploreDance~NY 2014 Joyce is happily married to Ray and proud mom of her son, Aidan.
Kathie Kececi received her Masters in Dance and Dance Education from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. She served on The Board of Directors of Dance New Jersey. Kathie was a teaching artist for The New York City Ballet. She is founder and director of Summerdance, an integrated arts program for children and In Motion Dance Company for high school dancers (www.inmotiondancecompany.com). She is co-director of In Motion II for grades 5-8. She has choreographed and performed at Ailey Citigroup Theatre, Joyce Soho, Merce Cunningham Studio and Dance New Amsterdam in NYC, Grounds for Sculpture, The Bickford Theatre, Moravian College, Seton Hall University, Ceres Art Gallery, NYC, and UCPAC, Kathie was the featured choreographer in an article on emerging women choreographers in N.J. She has taught master classes at high schools and universities in NJ, NY, and PA. She has danced in works by Claire Porter, Yas Hakoshima, Trish King, and Alison Oakes. She currently teaches modern dance at Dorothy Del Guercio School of Dance in NJ and is the proud mother of two boys. She is honored to be part of the Outlet Dance Project and thanks Jamuna, Donia, and Ann for this wonderful opportunity and for putting together such a great program.
Cleo Mack is the founder and Artistic Director of Cleo Mack Dance Project. In 2009 she created a new work for Quad Cities Ballet. In 2006 she was honored to receive an Individual Artists Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, in recognition of her high artistic merit. Her work has been seen at Joyce Soho Presents, Dance Theater Workshop’s Fresh Tracks, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., WAX as part of “In the Company of Women”, P.S. 1 Contemporary Dance Center, George Street Playhouse in N.J., the Hungarian American Dance Festival in Hungary, and the Perpich School of the Arts in Minnesota where she was a commissioned choreographer. She was selected by Dance Magazine as on of the “25 to Watch in 2002.” She began her dance training at the Minnesota Center for Arts Education and earned her BFA in dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in 1998, where she was the recipient of the Turner Prize Award for Choreography and the ACDFA/Dance Magazine Award for Outstanding Student Choreography. She has been a teaching artist for the American Repertory Ballet Institute, Rutgers University, DeSale University, and the University of Iowa. She is currently Director of Dance at the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School of the Performing Arts and the Artistic Director of Washington Rock Ballet. This fall 10 Hairy Legs will be performing Mack’s “Bathtub Trio for Three Men”. www.cleomack.org
Katherine Maxwell: Raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Katherine Maxwell received a Bachelors of Arts in Dance from Kennesaw State University (KSU) under the direction of Ivan Pulinkala. In collaboration with the KSU Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, Katherine set movement to an adaption of Jean Cocteau’s surrealistic ballet, The Eiffel Tower Wedding Party. Her work as also been commissioned for four consecutive years by the Atlanta Jazz Theatre, to which she also serves as a master guest artist. Katherine has performed with the Atlanta- based contemporary dance troupe, gloATL, under the artistic guidance of Lauri Stallings. Performed works include, Roem, Hinterland, This is a World and (this is an) Act of Devotion. Katherine also created an original work, Yolk, for gloLAB, the educational branch of gloATL. www.katherine-maxwell.com
Jillian Harris, Laura Katz Rizzo and Rhonda Moore: An Associate Professor of Dance at Temple University, Jillian Harris has had a twenty-year professional career, touring nationally and internationally with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers. She also appeared in the Metropolitan Opera world premiere of “Benvenuto Cellini” and played the feature role in the PBS broadcast of Della Davidson’s “Night Story”. A youngARTS award winner, Jillian has performed works by noted choreographers such as Doug Varone, Murray Louis, Laura Dean, David Rousseve, and Moses Pendleton. She has an MFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and has shown her work at venues like Joyce SOHO (New York City), Chi Movement Arts Center (Philadelphia), The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (Salt Lake City), and Bravo Caffe (Bologna, Italy). Recent projects include a new commission by Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, a dance film shot in Arches National Park (premiere 2015), and a collaboration with Temple University’s Wind Ensemble. In addition to choreographing, Jillian maintains an active teaching schedule, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses at Temple University and conducting master classes in the United States and abroad.
Laura Katz Rizzo is a ballet practitioner, choreographer, pedagogue, and scholar. Before her current position as BFA Program Coordinator at Temple University, taught at Mount Holyoke College, Bryn Mawr College, Drexel University, the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, the Dance Theatre of the Southwest, and the Maryland Youth Ballet, among other institutions. She has performed with several classical ballet companies, including Ballet South, the Russian Ballet Theatre of Delaware, the Santa Fe Opera Company, and the Ballet Theatre of New Mexico, as well as many contemporary and baroque dance companies, including Dance Theatre X, Opus I Contemporary, and Sprezzatura Dance Ensemble. Her repertoire includes principal roles in The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Les Patineurs, Firebird, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Dark Elegies, Raymonda, Paquita, and many other classical and contemporary ballets. She is both certified in the Vaganova Syllabus and American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum. Dr. Rizzo earned a Ph.D. in dance and a graduate certificate in women’s studies from Temple University in 2007 and has published in dance publications such as Dance Chronicle and Playbill Magazine. She currently has a book under production with Temple University Press that highlights womens’ innovative contributions to the development of classical ballet in the United States entitled, Dancing the Fairy Tale: Producing and Performing “The Sleeping Beauty.”
Rhonda Moore is a dancer, performance artist, educator and a founding member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Moore has danced with Jamie Cunningham’s ACME Dance Company and began her dance career with intensive training in Dunham technique, performing with the Akosua Afro-Haitian Dance & Drum Troupe. Currently a teaching artist for the award winning Pierre Dulaine’s Dancing Classrooms Program, and a dance artist and tour guide for the Philadelphia Mural Arts program, Moore previously served as Choral Director for the Singing City-in-the-Schools Program. Moore’s extensive international and domestic portfolio includes several years conducting professional sound and movement workshops in Italy, Hungary and Germany as well as Cabrini and Rosemont Colleges and Temple University. She holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase, a diploma in piano performance from Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale, NY, Artists-in-Healthcare Certifications from The Arts & Quality of Life Research Center at Temple University and ESL Certification with the Mayor’s Commission on Literacy. Ms. Moore is currently adjunct faculty at Temple University, co-teaching The Jazz Century in America, a course that studies and explores the development of jazz in America, in both music and movement, departing from the historical era of the African slave trade and continuing through present-day developments and trends.
Caitlin Trainor lives and dances in New York City. Originally from Rhode Island, Trainor holds degrees from Skidmore College (B.S. in Dance Performance and Choreography) and Mills College (M.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography). Caitlin is a member of the dance faculty at Barnard College/Columbia University and delights in sharing dance with students.
Before founding Trainor Dance, Caitlin danced for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Sean Curran, Amy Marshall and others. She was assistant choreographer to Mr. Curran and site-specific choreographer Stephan Koplowitz, and has taught at Dance City (Newcastle, England), Montclair State University, American College Dance Festival, and Sarah Lawrence College. During her recent tenure in the U.K., Caitlin co-founded Fresh, an ongoing forum for the development, sharing and discussion of new work for regional dance artists and audiences. She was an International Dance Resident at Art Omi in 2013.
Trainor recently received a generous grant from New York Foundation of the Arts, and is grateful to Barnard College for ongoing production support. More at www.trainordance.org.