2017 Filmmakers
Robin Bisio
Robin Bisio's award winning dance films have been screened at film festivals worldwide, including seven years at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Short Fest, Dance On Camera, Danza Di Napoli, Festival Du Films Independants/Brussels, Chicks With Flicks, A New Generation of Women Film Makers/Napa, CA., New Media Film Fest, Hollywood Short Pictures Film Fest, Columbia Gorge International Film Fest, Wine Country Film Fest, Blue Ocean Film Fest, MFF (Sicily), International Motion Fest (Cyprus), Bucharest Short Cut Cine Fest, Barcelona Planet Film Fest, Twin Rivers Film Fest, Fine Arts Film Fest, Move Me Short Film Fest (Brussels) and many others. Her aim is to present dance that celebrates landscape. She created public site-specific dance for Santa Barbara parks, beaches and backcountry for many years, and for ten years produced the Coastal Project at Leadbetter Beach with scores of muti-disciplinary artists presenting performance and installation. She received the Santa Barbara Arts Fund Award for Choreography in 1995 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Dance from the Santa Barbara Dance Alliance in 2010. Her book, Your Flesh Shall Be A Poem: The Art of Plein Air Dance, was published by Nauset Press in 2013. She is a teen mentor for Dance on Camera for the Santa Barbara Arts Fund. A recipient of numerous grants from the City and County of Santa Barbara, she received a California Council for the Humanities Grant for a documentary on the artist Ray Strong. Bisio studied at the Sorbonne, UCSB and UC Berkeley where she received an M.A. in English. She studied dance at South Coast Contemporary Dance Theater, UCSB for non majors, Lone Mountain College, the Margaret Jenkins Dance Studio and with Deborah Hay, David Gordon, Valda Setterfield, Meredith Monk, Merce Cunningham and other post modern luminaries. She worked with Charlotte Selver and Charles Brooks in Sensory Awareness and with Joan Chodorow in Authentic Movement. She was born in San Francisco and raised in the Bay Area. www.robinbisiodance.com
Genevieve Carson & Nathan Kim
Genevieve Carson, Artistic Director of LACDC, graduated Cum Laude with a BFA in Dance Performance from Chapman University. Genevieve’s work as performer, choreographer, and teacher has spanned across North America, the Philippines, Argentina, Sweden and New Zealand. Her work has been commissioned by the US Embassies of Buenos Aires and Auckland, UC Santa Barbara, Musco Center for the Arts, Coachella Valley Repertoire Theater, UC Irvine, the Mall of Asia Arena (Manila, Philippines), Laguna Dance Festival, Super Bowl XLIX, Firefly Music Festival, and the Standard Hotel. Her dance film work has been screened at Cannes Film Festival (France), Tiny Dance Film Festival (San Francisco), Frostbite International Film Festival (Colorado), and Exchange Choreography Festival (Oklahoma). Genevieve’s commercial choreographic collaborations include Foster the People, Earth Harp Collective (for Super Bowl XLIX), Adult Swim’s The Eric Andre Show and Decker,Comedy Central’s The Kroll Show and Jon Benjamin Has a Van. Additional credits include the Emmys, Samsung, BENCH, Cotton On, TEDx, Hikvision USA and music videos for Blood Orange, Active Child, Low, Justin Bieber and Saint Motel. Genevieve has been a guest artist and instructor at Chapman University, Cal Arts, Cal State Long Beach, UC Santa Barbara, University of Auckland, University of the Philippines, El Cultural San Marin (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Peridance Studios in NYC. Since 2012, she has served on faculty at AMDA where she choreographs, teaches, and directs concerts. lacontemporarydance.org http://www.nathanmercurykim.com
Nathan Kim is a Los Angeles based filmmaker originally from the island of Maui. He got his start as a professional dancer, working in movement for 10 years before stepping behind the camera to develop his own work. He pulls inspiration from themes of nature, community, mathematics, and spirituality; creating music videos, fashion films, narrative work, as well as a variety of explorational dance and music pieces through his Humanshapes project. His work has been featured at Tribeca Film Festival, Dance Camera West and on Nowness.
Sze-Wei Chan
Sze Chan stepped into a dance class for a university P.E. requirement, and hasn’t stopped dancing since. She graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore) and the London Contemporary Dance School. Blending conceptual, interactive, improvisatory and cross-cultural approaches for theatres, public spaces, video installation and film, her work is often intimate and sometimes invasively personal, reaching for social issues, identity and gender. She has performed with contemporary dance and theatre productions in Asia and Europe and her choreographic work has been shown in Singapore, London, Kuala Lumpur, Solo, Taipei, Zagreb and Laos. Her dance films and installations have been shown in Singapore, London, Rio de Janeiro and San Francisco. She has a strong interest in facilitating encounters among dancers in Southeast Asia through the Independent Dance Southeast Asia and Contact Improv Southeast Asia networks. Her creative work sits alongside her activism in LGBTQI issues, the radical contact movement and advocacy for dancers' rights and welfare. She is a member of the PG Gang collective (London). www.oddpuppies.com
Simona Deaconescu
Simona Deaconescu studied choreography and film directing, creating projects in the field of interdisciplinary performance, at the intersection between art and science. In 2014 she was granted the danceWEB scholarship by Life Long Burning European network. She is the choreographer of Tangaj Dance Collective, well known for performances “0001 | The Dream Factory”, “0002 | Birdville” and “0003 | Aftertaste”, a serial of performances based on the recent research on the cognitive science field. Since 2015 she has been the artistic director of Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, the organizer of Dance Film Platform in the frame of The Bucharest Architecture Annual and co-producer and coordinator of X Platform, one of the most appreciated residency programmes dedicated to new media and interactive installations. She is a teacher of dance and video art. Her performances and workshops have been presented in Romania, Austria, USA, Hungary and Turkey. Her short dance film “Silent Places” has been selected and awarded in more than 30 festivals around the world. Since 2016 Simona started working as a curator for Bucharest Capital of Culture in 2021. More information about Simona on tangajdance.com.
Adam Grannick,
Adriana Spencer,
& Sydney Schiff
Adam Grannick is a New York-based filmmaker whose projects, ranging from documentary to experimental, have won awards in human rights, women's rights, and music categories. He is a classically trained violinist and started the Filmelodic series in 2011 with the express goal of opening up the world of classical music to newer, younger, and more diverse audiences. vimeo.com/adamgrannick
Adriana Spencer is one of the producers of La Folía. She is a performer and voice actor based in New York City. Originally from California, she traded the beach for the concrete jungle to attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and now holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama.
Sydney Schiff is a dancer and choreographer with a life-long passion for classical music. Sydney is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Dance with a focus on Choreography at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. www.sydneyschiffdanceproject.com
Kristin Hatleberg
& Yuko Takebe
Kristin Hatleberg's interest in thinking through motion has often led her to work in cross-genre collaborations. Based out of Washington DC, she performs, choreographs, directs, and teaches. Kristin's work has been shown in Canada, Greece, the Netherlands, and throughout the United States. Kristin maintains membership with the International Somatic Movement Education & Therapy Association, and is currently continuing her education through the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute. www.kristinhatleberg.com.
Yuko Takebe is a Japanese filmmaker who lives in Tokyo and New York City. She is the former assistant producer for Toho Visual Arts Company and assistant director for Media Lab in Tokyo. Yuko's short films are narrative, documentary, and experimental genre. She holds an MFA in film directing from Columbia University. Yuko is also a writer
and works as a consultant in opera and dance film. As a visual artist, Yuko penetrates psychology with metaphoric story telling. To learn more of her work, follow her on Vimeo! www.vimeo.com/user8389075
Yifei Liu
Yifei Liu comes from a dance background as both a performer and a choreographer, and in this capacity has performed and made work for theaters, festivals, and communities across China and the UK. Her films have been screened in the UK and at festivals around the world. In her work as a choreographer her focus is collaborative and interdisciplinary, film and live performance, and working with other artists in a range of different fields. .
Ishita Mili
Ishita Mili is a 22 year old Urban Indian choreographer from New Jersey. Her unique style is influenced by her extensive training in Bharatanatyam, Hip Hop, and Indian contemporary fusion. She has trained with Kalanjali Dance Company, Sukalyann Dance Entourage, and UFP Dance Company and has performed all over the world including India, Bangladesh, Toronto, and more. Although Ishita comes from a very diverse dance background, she considers herself a storyteller above all. Ishita strives to tell classically Indian stories through a global lens so that she can keep her culture alive for her generation. Now as a choreographer, she has created IMGE (Ishita Mili Global Exposé, pronounced "image"), a select group of dancers of all different dance backgrounds, races, and ethnicities to help her share these stories with the world.
Loren Picciarelli
& Mark Evans
Loren Picciarelli....A New York native, Loren is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer, currently residing in Los Angeles. She has trained extensively in all styles of dance including jazz, tap, ballet, modern, and hip hop with a primary focus on contemporary. As a young dancer she trained at Michelle Ferraro’s Dance USA with Michelle Ferraro and Cynthia Geffon, to name a couple. Upon graduation she attended The University of Massachusetts, where she furthered her dance training also while working towards a degree in Journalism. She was also a member and captain of the nationally ranked UMass dance team. Loren has taught at world-renowned studios such as, Broadway Dance Center and Peridance Capezio Center in New York. She has worked as a choreographer for the 2015 and 2016 Super Bowl Half Time shows with artists such as Coldplay, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, and Lady Gaga. She can be seen dancing in Purity Ring’s music video, Heartsigh, choreographed by Juliette Irons, as well as the promo short for the documentary Code Black, choreographed by Erica Sobol. She has performed with companies AXIOM, under the direction of Denna Thomsen and Zak Schlegel and Marrow Dance, under the direction of choreographers Jason Gorman and Nicole Hogg. Loren has served as an assistant choreographer on such projects as the NFL Kick Off , the ELCA youth gathering and a national GE commercial in 2016. She has had the pleasure of traveling to teach and choreograph at competitive studios throughout the US.
Sonia Sabri,
Savar Sabri, & Mat Beckett
Sonia Sabri is amongst the brightest and most inspirational of British born dancer-choreographers working in the twenty-first century. Creating work that spans from the presentation of classical North Indian Kathak to explorations of contemporary approaches, her productions reflect an appreciation of Indian and British culture. She has created a fresh, unique style of Kathak by reinventing it from ‘within,’ by pushing boundaries and generating work that is original in concept and exciting and relevant for today’s audiences. As a dancer, she is acclaimed for her enchanting stage presence, grace and musicality that enthral audiences both nationally as well as globally. She has secured an international reputation for collaborationacross dance styles and art forms including work with pioneers Sarvar Sabri,Sir Trevor Nunn, Richard Alston, Lea Anderson, Shobana Jeyasingh, Nitin Sawhney, Rose English, Jonzi D, and several others. In addition, Sonia is a teacher of Kathak and regularly undertakes various workshops, lecture- demonstrations and residencies in both national and international venues. She is accredited by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD). She is also the Artistic Director of youth dance company, Kathakaars. Sonia’s innovation within her form has been highly acclaimed in the contemporary dance world through several commissions some including The Place Prize, BBC, Channel 4, Tanzhaus, ARTE, Phizzical Productions, Manasamitra, South Bank Centre, and for London Olympics 2012 through Cultural Olympiad’s 'Encompass 360 digital dance' project. She is a recipient of the Bonnie Bird New Choreography Award, Lisa Ullman Choreography scholarship, and was selected for Dance UK’s 2014/15 Mentoring programme. Sonia was nominated for the Asian Women of Achievement Award and for the London Dance Awards. Recently she won the Eastern Eye ACTA Award for Dance. www.ssco.org.uk
Sarvar Sabri is an internationally renowned tabla player/composer. His versatility and passion for the rich diversity of the world's musical traditions has spurred him to constantly experiment with other world-class musicians and composers, and to extend the boundaries of his own classical form. Sarvar has also been involved in experimental work. As a soloist, he has worked with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) collaborating with the composer Judith Weir, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, East of England Orchestra and Sinfonia Baltica, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), Viva Sinfonia and the Edinburgh Quartet. He is the founder of the Sabri Ensemble; a Birmingham-based group dedicated to exploring the richness of different musical traditions and styles. Sarvar has provided music for TV, Radio and various dance and theatre companies. He was also awarded the Arts Council Composer for Dance Award (2006). One of his recent works includes composing music for the 1928 silent film ‘Shiraz’ which is currently on tour.
Mat Beckett is a Director film maker, DoP, professional musician/sound artist and creative advocate with broadcast and feature film credits. Working from the US to the UK and around the world, Mathew has a technically focused and exciting approach to more left-field artistic creative activity that often links film, music and other art forms. Mathew is the owner of the film production company 'River Rea Films'. Having come some way from his first job as the guy who made tea for the guys who made tea for people at Pinewood Studios Mathew Beckett now aspires to tell the most compelling of stories through subtle yet beautiful cinematography. www.riverreafilms.com
Tanin Torabi
Tanin Torabi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1992. She currently works as a freelance dancer, choreographer and dance filmmaker in Iran and Ireland. Tanin felt a passion for dance from the very early age of four with the help of her mother, but since Iran's revolution in 1979, dance had been illegal and forbidden in country, so she could not continue her education in this major; however, she was very keen to follow her love and passion in dance and believed that she can convey spiritual concepts by body motion. She started to make dance films when she realized that she can speak to the world with film medium even if she cannot go to different countries. She made several successful dance films among them “Immensity”, “Beyond the Frames”, “Invisible Point” and “Ruby” which have been official selection of more than 100 film and dance film festivals and she has received more than 10 awards for her films to date. Her works are considered as rebellious, creative, inspiring, unbearably elegant and affecting, emblematic and poignant by festival directors. In 2016, she attended MA in Contemporary Dance in University of Limerick in Ireland with a concentration on screendance and continued working in the field. Her latest dance film is “The Dérive” which is made in Tehran. For this project, she closely collaborated with photographer/cinematographer Milad Sanaie from Iran.
Anne Verheij
& Miku Tsuchiya
Anne Verheij is a Dutch visual artist based in London. Working primarily with dance and often employing improvisation in her process, she explores rhythm, movement and light to create dynamic multi screen video installations and short films.
Her works have been shown in both national and international film, dance and contemporary art festivals. Her film ONES was nominated for the Best Experimental Short Film Award at London Short Film Festival 2017 by the ICA. In 2014 Anne completed her MA Creative Practice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London with distinction. www.annepoint.com
Franziska Lisa Wolf
After studying Modern Dance and Cultural Studies in Germany, France and the Netherlands, Franziska Lisa Wolf went on her path translating emotions and experiences into movement, dance and images. Inspired by contact and different surroundings, she creates (instant) location performances and dance video productions. Learn more on her vimeo page.
Adrienne Brown &
Eoghan O'Reilly
Adrienne Brown was born in Dublin, began her dance education with ballet classes and later at the London Contemporary Dance School, where she studied for three years. She founded New Balance Dance Company in 1987, with which she danced and choreographed for extensively. From 1991-1998 she attended the Martha Graham Center of Dance in New York, gaining first place in her teacher-training certificate in 1996 with A+.
She choreographed over 40 original works, which have been staged in Ireland, England and France. Her works draw on many stimuli: movement; narrative; text; musicality and compositional elements. She collaborated with several composers in her work, and has also worked with recorded music: Bach, Beethoven, Arvö Part, John Taverner and Ian Wilson. She takes inspiration from the writings of Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, Paula Meehan, Charlotte Mew and Beth Ann Fennelly.
Adrienne was a longstanding member and chair of Dance Ireland from 2008 – 2013. Adrienne was the first Irish choreographer to be invited to take part in the inaugural "Righting Dance" project in 1997, at the Institute of Choreography and Dance, Cork. This was a mentored research project, which took place over three years under her chosen mentor, international choreographer Kim Brandstrup of ARC Dance. Following three years’ research, the Institute commissioned her to create the full-length dance work Colmcille, which premiered in 2000 and toured Ireland in 2001.
From 2002-2005 Adrienne completed a B.A. degree in University College Dublin, graduating with honors in Music and English, thereafter a master’s degree in American Studies. In 2006 she was awarded an Ad Astra Research Scholarship from U.C.D to undertake a PhD in Musicology, her topic being the analysis and interpretation of late twentieth-century music and dance. She graduated in 2012, her thesis “Meaning Indicators in Twentieth-Century Music and Dance” focusing on the work of choreographers Merce Cunningham and Mark Morris, along with composers J.S. Bach and Gavin Bryars.
In 2016 Adrienne collaborated with Eoghan O’Reilly to create ‘I See His Blood’, a dance film as a meditation on the Easter Rising of 1916. The film was shown at Video Screen Dance Festival in Bourgogne, France; f.a.d. Festival North Carolina, where it won Best Costume and Audience Choice Best Film, and at Lightmoves Festival of Screen Dance, Limerick, 2016.
In 2017 Adrienne organized and led Wicklow Screendance Laboratory, a 5 day workshop, specialist talk and symposium that brought dancers, editors, composers, writers and film makers together to create an exploratory working experience within dance-and-film in County Wicklow, Ireland. The events were led by Adrienne, with invited guest artists Marisa M Hayes and Franck Boulègue of Video Screen Dance (Bourgogne, France).
Eoghan O’Reilly is a visual artist and art educator working in Dublin. Eoghan graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 1991 with a BA Degree in Fine Art. He has exhibited widely and has worked in photography and theatre set design. He taught drawing and printmaking at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design from 2001 – 2007 and currently teaches drawing, painting, printmaking and film at Inchicore College of Further Education. Eoghan’s first short film, ‘Two Minutes’ stared Brendan Conroy and Emma Hopkins. Eoghan wrote, directed and edited the film in 2015, which was screened at a number of Irish film festivals. In 2016 Eoghan directed with Adrienne Brown a short film, ‘I See His Blood’, which was screened at film festivals in Ireland, France and USA and won the Audience Choice Award at F.A.D. Film Art Dance film festival, North Carolina.
Jade Charon
Jade Charon is a choreographer, community activist, dancer, and teaching artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She began dancing at the age of 5 with City Ballet Theater, and trained with many local dance organizations around Milwaukee such as: Art in Motion, Milwaukee Ballet School, Feet of Praise Dance Ministry, and graduated from Milwaukee High School of the Arts as a dance major. In 2005, she joined Signature Dance Company where she served as a company member and choreographer. In 2007, she was accepted into Columbia College Chicago. Jade thrived artistically and academically, and received an Opportunity Scholarship which granted her a full ride for her academic achievements. Upon graduating from Columbia, Jade interned with Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles for 3 months. In 2011, Jade Charon graduated from Columbia College Chicago with honors receiving a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Dance and Theater. After college, she became a backup dancer for Kanye West and performed at Summerfest Music Festival and Essences Fest. Jade’s passion for youth and community landed her a pioneer role of, Youth Choreography Dance Artist Mentor, for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. Through this role, Jade was a part of a national research study held by The Wallace Foundation, and had the responsibility of creating a high quality dance program for the youth of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee with a 5.6 million dollar grant. Jade’s professional experience in church ministry , dance, education, and community is the driving force behind her choreography. She is currently a MFA dance student and Graduate Opportunity Fellow, at the University of California, Los Angeles where she explores the ways in which dance can be used as ministry to uplift people of color and heal all people. www.jadecharon.com
J'amie Leigh Ginaopoulos
& Vanessa Young
Jaime Leigh Ginaopoulos is a film maker and photographer currently based in Vancouver, Canada, and São Paulo, Brazil. She loves to work on documentary style projects, traveling to remote locations, gaining deep access to tell honest deep stories. This past year she spent in South America directing and producing four short documentary projects. Her vivid imagination also loves to question and explore the human condition through art and story fiction and non fiction blurred together. Inspired strongly by music, nature, and women's empowerment. Jaime loves to work with women and movement to explore ways to help bring more strength and feminine leadership into our world. She is currently in development and post production on her next two films. www.jaimehummingbird.com
Vanessa Young has been a performer for her entire life and holds a Diploma in Dance and a Certificate in Performing Arts. In the past decade, this 30-year-old powerhouse has become a “Global Dance Citizen”, training and performing in Mexico, Europe, USA, and Australia. She has choreographed for such artists as Xavier Rudd, DJ Havana Brown, Chris Willis, T-Nile, The Midway State, and Addictiv, and has appeared in numerous music videos. In the film/TV world Vanessa has appeared on Motive, Witches of East End, and Choreographed for the recent short film HOWL, appearing in film festivals for 2016. Recently she has signed on as Choreographer for "LEGION" a new Marvel show by Emmy award-winning writer and director Noah Hawley, airing January 2017 on F/X.
Vanessa is also an owner of Luminesce Dancer - Vancouver, an empowering dance program across Canada that teaches women of all levels and ages to love their bodies and themselves. She is an acclaimed "Heels" teacher and continues to train, perform, and help create shows in Vancouver and across Canada. As a Producer, Vanessa has worked on multiple stage shows in the past few years and continues to build her own projects. She is the owner of The Lovers Cabaret, which has been hailed "powerful works of art" from Vancouver Weekly. Vanessa is also a Certified Creativity Coach and works with clients and companies, offering performance and artistic career coaching. She is one of the only coaches offering these services on Canada's west coast. www.luminesquedance.com
Daša Grgič
& Luca Quaia
Daša Grgič, Dancer, Choreographer, Dance educator®, Teacher of contemporary dance. Born in Trieste, she belongs to the Slovene community in Italy. She completed the 'Nikolais-Louis Technique Teacher Certificate Program' (NLTTCP) in Florence, recognized by 'Nikolais Foundation for Dance of New York'. Daša’s approach to dance is open, curious and inter-disciplinary. Her vision of dance has been strongly influenced by her encounter in Paris with Carolyn Carlson with whom she studied. She performed in theatre productions with the Slovene Permanent Theatre in Trieste and for the Italian company Arearea. She recently worked on the promo video for Carolyn Carlson’s new film, together with Carolyn Carlson’s company. She teaches contemporary dance and dance education at different schools, workshops, campuses in Italy and abroad. She is member of the jury in several contemporary dance events and competitions. With her performances and projects (VAL, BodyunTitled, DIH.respiro), she has been invited in several international festivals and have won awards. BodyunTitled has transformed into a project that includes performance, video and workshop, and has been presented at different festivals (among others, Tanzhaus Nrw Düsseldorf, Festival June events Paris directed by Carolyn Carlson, Teatro Municipal Colón del Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Expanse Festival Edmonton in Canada). Daša works with actors, musicians, film directors, video-artists and seeks a personal connection with dance. In 2014 she received the important accolade "listina Mete Vidmar" from the Public Fund for Culture of the Republic of Slovenia for her activity as a dancer and pedagogue.
The artistic path of Choreographer Daša Grgič and Director Luca Quaia began with the multimedia dance-theatre work Cannonades in 2006 and continued with several works, the most notable of which are the short contemporary film BodyunTitled and the most recent DIH.breath, that have been selected and screened in numerous International Dance film festivals (in Lisbon, London, India, Helsinki, San Francisco, Wuppertal, Atene, London, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Mexico and more). BodyunTitled won the first prize at the 9th International Dance Festival SidebySide Düsseldorf. The contemporary short dance film DIH.breath won the first prize at the XVI Festival Internacional de Videodanzaba Buenos Aires.
Luca Quaia specializes in masks, fringe theater (actor and director), photography and artistic projects. Since 1997, Luca works as an artistic director, theater producer, playwright and director. What strikes him most about theater is that it is always connected with reality, and intertwined with people’s traditions and stories.
His work with language was further developed thanks to several pieces focused on contemporary dance, and with “Cannonades” he started a journey connecting dance and words with the collaboration of dancers and actors. His artistic path continued with “Besedeparolewords”, “Tempočastime” and “BodyunTitled”. The juxtaposition of different languages has always been his personal research focus, aiming at finding a contact between different cultures, without losing their identities.
He has taught Theater in different specialized courses and schools of any level, with the constant belief that teaching is part of everyone’s knowledge path.
In November 2011 his first book containing images and words was published with the title “Le nuove solitudini” (“The new lonelinesses”), by Battello Stampatore. www.lucaquaia.it
Miki Orihara & Tomoko Mikanagi
Miki Orihara is best known for her work as a principal dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Company, which she joined in 1987. In addition to performing the Graham repertory, she has worked closely with the renowned Japanese-American dancer, choreographer and director, Yuriko, preserving her unique approach to Graham Technique.
Orihara has performed in the Broadway production of The King and I, with the Elisa Monte, Dance Troupe, PierGroupDance, Lotuslotus, Twyla Tharp, Martha Clarke, Anne Bogart (SITI Company) and Robert Wilson. She has presented her own choreography in New York and in Tokyo as a guest artist for Japan’s New National Theater. Her teaching credentials include numerous workshops in Japan, Art International in Moscow, Peridance, the Ailey School, New York University, Florida State University, Henny Jurriëns Stichting( Netherlands), Les Etés de la Danse in Paris and New National Theater Ballet School. She is on a faculty at the Graham School, The Hartt School ( University of Hartford) and Barnard College (Columbia University). As a Regissuer on Martha Graham’s work, she has been setting works worldwide, including Russian Ballerina Diana Vashineva’s “Dialogue” and for Wendy Whelan of New York City Ballet. In 2010 she was awarded the prestigious Bessie Award for Sustained Achievement in Dance. More information at her website.
Tomoko Mikanagi is a Japanese film maker graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo. She has been working with a Japanese Film Production "augment5" and freelance works - documentary, dance film, music film, and commercial films. www.heyabaji.com
Marta Renzi
Marta Renzi is the creator of over 20 short films which have screened in festivals all over the world. Called by Dancing in the Streets “a fearless explorer of unconventional sites" for her site-specific choreography, Renzi was commissioned by public television to make 2 half-hour video dances in the 1980’s. Funded 7 times by the NEA, Renzi is a 2013 Bogliasco Fellow and a 2014 RAW Community Supported Artist. HER MAGNUM OPUS, Renzi’s debut feature film, was released in June 2017. http://martarenzi.blogspot.com www.hermagnumopus.com
The Samaya Wives
The Samaya Wives (Pippa Samaya & Tara Jade Samaya) come together in life and in creation to explore the many colours and tones of what it means to be alive on this earth and reveal the innate one-ness that ultimately links us all. To bring a voice to the voiceless, to shed light in dark spaces, to empower and to inspire, The Samaya Wives strive towards equality, wisdom, compassion and authentic connection. One part dancer one part photographer an artistic medium is found between the two that brings a visual expression to the internal world of human emotion. www.vimeo.com/thesamayawives www.pippasamaya.com
Hanna Satterlee
& Otto Pierce
Hanna Satterlee grew up in East Montpelier, Vermont and has spent many years traveling through dance, both nationally and internationally. Hanna holds a Masters in Fine Arts/Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College (VT/WA) and has produced her own choreographic and dance installation work, and has performed with professional companies in Vienna Austria, Stolzenhagen Germany, Baltimore, Manhattan, Brooklyn, San Francisco and throughout the state of Vermont. Now based in Burlington Vermont, Hanna is the founder and director of the newly formed Vermont Dance Alliance, with a strong belief that the culture of dance will continue to flourish and expand throughout the edges of our beautiful state. Currently, with support from the Vermont Performance Lab’s SEEDS grant, Hanna is beginning to tour her new collaborative sonic and visual performance titled “Voice and Vessel,” exploring how we each uniquely carry and express information in the vessels of our minds and the vessels of our bodies. vermontdance.org Hannasatt.wordpress.com
Otto Pierce, recent graduate of Middlebury College with a BA in dance, is the founder and executive director of The Sable Project, an alternative artist residency in Stockbridge, VT. With 7 years experience as a modern dancer, and 5 years as a videographer/photographer, Otto explores narrative, physicality, and the natural environment in his multi-disciplinary work. His large-scale sculpture work has been displayed at The Sable Project, Art on the Farm (Barnard, VT), and King Farm Sculpture Park (Woodstock, VT), and his recent evening-length work, "Warrior" was premiered this past spring at the Mahaney Center for the Arts at Middlebury College. thesableproject.org
Hanna Satterlee
& Otto Pierce
Elisabet Velasquez, Connie Chavez, Alicia Cobb, Keomi Tarver,
& Wendy Angulo
Elisabet Velasquez is a Puerto Rican writer, mother, feminist from Bushwick, Brooklyn. Her work has been nominated for Best Of The Net. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications including HuffingtonPost, Muzzle, Latina and Vibe Magazine. She is a VONA alumni, a 2017 Poets House Fellow and the author of the chapbook "PTSD." www.ElisabetVelasquez.Com
Connie Chavez is a Peruvian-born, multifaceted visual activist from Queens, New York. She is a self-taught photographer, filmmaker and editor with a passion for social justice, activism and spirituality. Chavez started her career when she created her first business venture, Hip Hop Zombies. HHZ was an underground hip-hop website dedicated to showcasing the most lyrical undiscovered artists. HHZ joined forces with Daily Motion as their exclusive content partner and began working with Hot 97, Power 105.1, Pro Era Crew and Jack Thriller, to name a few. After discovering her passion for filmmaking, Chavez decided to concentrate her efforts on creating a production company, Connie Chavez Films. Within the seven years she has worked in production, she has directed, shot and edited various video series, photoshoots, short films, music videos and documentaries for various clients, media companies and nonprofit organizations. In 2014, she became the video department manager at Latina magazine. For the next three years, she had the privilege of interviewing celebrities, cultural icons and thought leaders from around the world, such as Melissa Mark Viverito, Eva Longoria, Carmen Perez, Iris Chacon, Daddy Yankee, Carmen Carrera, the cast of OITNB, Roselyn Sanchez, Kehlani and much more. Not only does she work behind the camera, but also in front of it. Recently, she created the hit online series, “Bruja And Blessed.” Each week, she sat down with a celebrated spiritual practitioner to discuss the intersection of culture and spirituality, in an effort to demystify, educate and empower her community. Along with her video work, she is also an active speaker. You can find her speaking about immigration justice, indigenous resistance, intersectional feminism, spirituality and much more (you can book her for your next event here). Currently, she is working on her latest project that will center the stories and voices of underprivileged communities through education. Stay tuned! www.conniechavez.com
Alicia Cobb, born and raised in Stamford, CT, is a visual artist and body painter now currently residing in Stratford, CT. Her biggest inspirations are the human body, emotion, and nature. Her works can be found on many surfaces such as canvas, walls, glass, and people. www.ArtSimplicated.com
San Diego native, and Brooklyn transplant, Keomi Tarver is a dancer, writer, lover, teacher and friend. She began training at the age of 12, and is skilled in Modern, West African, Hip Hop, and Interpretive Dance. Throughout the last decade, Keomi has showcased her work on various stages and respected institutions including San Diego State University, Yale University, the Brooklyn Museum of Art and SummerStage. In 2010, while performing in “Hip Hop Saved My Life,” a celebration of Hip Hop through spoken word, dance, music and art, Keomi was inspired to continue the journey of combining spoken word and dance. In 2014, Keomi wrote, choreographed, and directed “Love & War.” Infused with dance and poetry, “Love & War” welcomed the vulnerability and work that love and war can bring to the surface, leaving us exposed and, eventually, free. Also in 2014 and 2016, Keomi created “Superpower” and “Pray You Catch Me”, a powerful video showing the power of choice and duality. Keomi is the Director and Choreographer of abunDANCE with Keo, where she uses movement, facilitation, workshops, and many art forms to encourage her community to create, live, and love abundantly. She is known for her strong and unapologetic movements, her transparency, and her smile. Her purpose is to use her gift to remind others how valuable and beautiful they are. You can find Keomi teaching her students the elements of Hip Hop throughout the 5 boroughs of NYC, creating affirmations with her friends, and hugging her mother. www.keomitarver.com
Wendy Angulo is a New York City born Latina, raised in Caracas, Venezuela. Armed with a zeal for reading and writing since the age of seven and a law degree from the Universidad Católica Andres Bello, she made the decision to move back to New York City in 1998 where she began her career as a paralegal.Through Wendy Angulo Productions she also manages established performance poets and Curates Canvas Of Words, an annual Art and Poetry Festival that aims to to showcase the vitality of the arts in the borough of Queens. Her goal is for Canvas of Words to become a nationwide event that promotes the arts and the love of literature. www.WendyAnguloProductions.Com