2024 Festival Artists
Adriane Fang is a dancer, teacher and choreographer with a keen interest in multi-disciplinary collaboration. She was a member of the internationally renowned dance company, Doug Varone and Dancers, from 1996-2006 and has worked with several other choreographers including Colleen Thomas, Wally Cardona, Elizabeth Shea, Bill Young, Bebe Miller, Keith Johnson, and Kendra Portier.Current projects include DANCExDANCE, an interactive dance duet between a dancer and Calico, a wearable robot that uses sensors and actuators to move around the dancer's body. She has been a guest teacher at Taller Nacional de Danza – San José, Costa Rica, Indiana University and the Damansara Performing Arts Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and has taught and staged the works of Doug Varone for various universities and companies, including North Carolina School of the Arts, CityDance Ensemble, BalletMet Columbus, Juilliard School of the Arts, Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota. She was on faculty at George Mason University from 2006-2009 and at the DOVA Summer Workshops from 2000-07, 2015-16 and 2020-21. She has choreographed operas for Annapolis Opera and Maryland Opera Studio and dances for groups such as Compañia Ceibadanza in Ecuador, Shendandoah University, James Madison University. She was awarded a 2014 Local Dance Commissioning Project Award from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to present her full-length work, Grains.Currently on faculty at the University of Maryland, Adriane is the recipient of a 2007 New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”) for her performance with Doug Varone and Dancers.
Ali Lorenz (they/she) is a cross-disciplinary artist working and living in the land of the Council of Three Fires; stolen land known today as Chicago. Ali holds a BFA from the University of Utah in Modern Dance where they had the pleasure of performing original works by Anouk Van Dijk and Stephen Koester. She has presented work through Queer Spectra Arts Festival, Deseret Experimental Opera, and Short Stack Film Festival. While in Chicago, Ali has performed with Amanda Maraist, Khecari, Common CANVAS, and has joined two Embodied Research Projects supported by Lucky Plush Productions. Alongside art-making, Ali works with local queer businesses, tries to keep 40+ houseplants alive, and cuddles her pets. This is Ali's second season with Project Bound Dance.
Alys Ayumi Ogura is first a storyteller, then a performance-maker through her movements, voice, and quirky humor. She started dance lessons at age four in Japan, under the guidance of Mika Kurosawa, and since earning her B.A. in Theater Studies, in IA, Ogura has been performing in Minneapolis since 2010. She has worked with more than 40 artists, including Hauser Dance, Emily Johnson/Catalyst, Pam Gleason, Pramila Vasudevan, and Laurie Van Wieren. Ogura has toured with April Sellers’ ASDC, which is supported by the National Dance Project, and with Sarah LaRose-Holland’s KEDC. She has created about 20 works performed in Twin Cities venues, including 9 x 22 DanceLab (several times) and the Walker Arts Center’s Choreographers Evening (2017 and 2022). Her newest work was performed at the 2024 Choreographers’ Showcase at the Keshet Center for the Arts, Albuquerque, NM. Ogura is a former Arts Organizing Institute Fellow (2017-18), a Naked Stages Fellow (2021), and an Isolated Act cohort at the Red Eye Theater’s New Works 4 Weeks Festival (2023). She serves as a steering-committee member for DanceMN, a free online resource for all people in Minnesota to have dance available in their daily life. #allareconnectedtodanceinmn
Amanda List is a Dancer/Choreographer out of Green Bay Wisconsin. With BA degree in Dance from UW Stevens Point, WI, coupled with other studies around movement, spirituality, and psychology she believes in the power of healing through movement using movement as medicine. Her classes and choreography strive to create confidence and empowerment for beginner, and intermediate level dancers. She approaches movement with great playfulness and heart. You may have seen her choreography in: LEAP-The Human Kindness Project, Unhinged 2018 & 2022, Deaths Door Dance Festival 2022.
Andy Miller is a percussionist, educator, and dance musician based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As the Music Director in the Dance Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he teaches courses in music, body percussion, sound design, and digital media. His collaborations as a composer-performer with choreographers have been presented in New York (Gibney Dance Center and the Judson Church), throughout the Midwest (Krannert Center, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Carthage College, St.Olaf College), and internationally at the IX Festival Santander en Escena in Colombia. Andy has presented research at the American College Dance Association North-Central Regional Festival and the Il Corpo nel Suono International Dance Musician Conference in Glasgow, Scotland (2023). His research on Afro-Colombian traditional music has been funded through a Fulbright Grant (2011-2012) and the Graduate Presser Award (Indiana University). His dissertation, The Language of Drumming in Afro-Brazilian Candomblé Ketu will soon be published as a method book with master musician Jorge Alabê. Andy holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University and previously taught percussion at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, and Olivet Nazarene University.
Andy Slavin is a movement artist based in Chicago, IL. They have worked with choreographers Emma Draves, Kristina Isabelle, Ginger Krebs, Hannah Santistevan, and Darling Shear, among others, in addition to collaborating with Hot Kitchen Collective and director Dani Wieder. They have presented choreographic work at Rebirth Gallery, Outerspace, Salonathon, The Fly Honey Show, The Grelley Duvall Show, 13 Love Songs, and Prp Thtr. You can donate to Andy’s favorite abolitionist organization Pushing Envelopes Chicago here: https://www.patreon.com/pushingenvchi(!).
April Sellers is a choreographer with a desire to lift and celebrate ignored streams in society. She founded the April Sellers Dance Collective in 2002 to use dance to create new, more equitable futures, especially for the queer community. Using pop culture, politics, and queer histories, she infuses life’s extreme moments and human stories with dance craft, controlled bedlam and superb comedic chops. In 2021 she received the National Dance Project Production Grant for her most recent work, Rumble Strips. In 2017 she received the award “Artist of the Year” by City Pages for her performance, Animal Corridor. Her works have been commissioned by The Right Here Showcase, Candy Box Festival, Intermedia Arts, Southern Theater Hennepin Theater Trust and Red Eye Theater in Minneapolis and Dancing Queerly in Boston. Her artistic work has been supported with fellowships/grants from National Endowment for the Arts, MN State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Ohio Partners for the Arts and McKnight. She received a Sage Award for Outstanding Performance for “House of Big Love”, created and performed with collaborator Judith Howard, site specific at a St Paul residence. Over the past decade, Sellers’ work has been recognized by invitations to several well-known artist residencies, including the Djerassi Resident Artists Program (Santa Cruz CA), Maggie Allesee Center for Choreography (Tallahassee FL) Tofte Lake Center (Ely MN) Centrum (Port Townsend WA) South Porch (Summerville SC) and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Thesis Residency, where she received her MFA in Dance.
Cassie Last is a Madison, WI based dance artist. She values an athletic foundation in her dance work and supports this through her career in fitness and strength training. Cassie joined Li Chiao-Ping Dance in 2019 and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from UW-Madison in 2020. Her dancing endeavors have allowed her performance and learning opportunities locally, nationally, and internationally. Through her dance career she has also worked with Scott Ewen, Dyane Harvey-Salaam, Brooke Smiley, Carol Teitelbaum, Christian von Howard, Chris Walker, and Jin Wen-Yu. Cassie is grateful for the continued learning and challenges that each new choreographic process brings.
Charles Pierson is a Chicago based dance artist and performer, born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. As a graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Musical Theater and minor in Dance Performance, Charles has training in a wide range of dance styles such as Musical Theatre, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Improvisational Performance, and Vogue aesthetic. Since moving to Chicago in 2019, Charles has danced with a variety of companies including Common Conservatory, DanceWorks Chicago and Thodos Dance Chicago. He has also worked with several freelance artists, participated in URBANITE’s dance showcase, and collaborated with choreographers Noelle Kayser, Ibrahim Sabbi, Eduardo Zambrana, Imani English, and Malcolm Maurice.
Charlique C. Rolle, a community and cultural design specialist, visionary multi-disciplinary creator, and storyteller seamlessly navigates the intersections of faith, arts, justice, and community development, amplifying Black and marginalized voices. As the Executive Director of Congo Square Theatre and President of the Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago, her impact resonates in innovative narratives. Recognized in Newcity's Players (2022, 2024), Charlique is a catalyst for change, driving transformative works that catalyze collective liberation and transformation. A Bahamas native, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Missouri Valley College, holds an MA in Ministry Leadership and a MBA from Concordia University Chicago. Charlique's commitment extends beyond artistic expression; she leverages the arts for societal change, forging partnerships committed to creative freedom, sustainability, and longevity. She is not just a storyteller but a changemaker, utilizing diverse artistic modalities to deepen stories and propel them into action, actively elevating Black voices in the cultural landscape with unwavering dedication.
Cheryl Cornacchione holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Southern Mississippi. Upon graduating, Cheryl moved to Chicago where she has performed with BONEdanse, CORE Dance Project, Hope Goldman, We Stand Sideways Dance, Erin Kilmurray, Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, and was an artistic collaborator with The Runaways Lab Theatre. Cheryl has been performing and collaborating for Laboratory Dancers since 2013, she has been a company member of REIdance Group since 2022, and she has been a core company member of Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre since 2014. Cheryl is thrilled to be performing with REIdance and KADT for the 3nd Annual Death’s Door Dance Festival!
Chloe Grace Michels graduated with a BFA in Dance from Columbia College Chicago. Upon graduating she has worked with choreographers Timothy Buckley, Margi Cole (The Dance Colective), Paige Cunningham (Off Center Project), Fred Darsow, Emma Draves, Hannah Santistevan, and Emily Stein. Michels has restaged works by Fred Darsow and Timothy Buckley on students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Columbia College Chicago respectively. She has created works for The Coincidentals' Mess Hall installment #1 and #2, LiRa Dance Theater, and premiered her first solo work, BIG GIRL PANTIES, in the fall of 2018, as well as a quartet, Fetch, in the spring of 2024. Michels currently dances with Same Planet Performance Project in Chicago.
Colleen Thomas is a 2021 Bessie nominated New York based choreographer and performing artist. Her work as a choreographer and dancer has been presented internationally in Hong Kong, Estonia, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, and in New York at venues including Danspace Project, La MaMa Theater, DTW, New York Live Arts, The Miller Theater, Danny K. Playhouse, The Harkness Center at the 92nd Street Y, and The Kumble Arts Center. She has worked with renowned contemporary choreographers such as Nina Wiener Dance Company, Donald Byrd/The Group, Bebe Miller Dance Company, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company among others. In 2008, she founded Colleen Thomas Dance where she serves as artistic director, executive director, choreographer, and performer. She is also co-director, choreographer, and performer with Bill Young/Colleen Thomas & Co, and the co-director and co-curator of the LIT (loft into theater) series at 100 Grand, which supports innovative and experimental work by both emerging and established artists in an up-close and personal setting. She is currently Chair and Professor of Professional Practice in Dance at Barnard College of Columbia University. Her recent research includes: a new work with artists from Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and USA (premiered at La MaMa Theater in May 2019), a recent published scientific study looking at brain activity in contact improvisers (Goldman, A., Thomas, C., & Sajda, P. (2019). Contact improvisation dance practice predicts greater mu rhythm desynchronization during action observation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/aca0000255.), and light and desire a premiere in September 2021 at New York Live Arts that looks at women artists during fascist times. She is currently the Chair and a Professor of Professional Practice in Dance at Barnard College of Columbia University.
Cyenthia Vijayakumar is a Kathak(North Indian Classical Dance) performer, choreographer and teacher from Milwaukee. She has undergone her training in Lucknow gharana from Guru Murari Sharan Gupta and Guru Hari and Chetna from Bangalore, India. She is currently undergoing her training under Guru Sujata Banerjee from London. She is the Artistic Director of Aarambh Kathak Dance School that she founded in 2019. Aarambh Kathak Dance School is the only ISTD certified school in Wisconsin.
Damon D. Green is a Chicago-based dance artist and founder of TEXTUREDance Studio, an Urban Styles and Forms dance and wellness facility where he spreads his passion for movement education. Green is an avid Vogue aesthetic practitioner, exploring, performing and teaching this form in its fusion with other movement disciplines. Green has collaborated with local choreographers and companies including Red Clay Dance, Paige Cunningham-Calderella, Darrell Jones, J'sun Howard, Philip Elson, Kristina Isabelle, Cecil Johnson Jr., Lional Freeman, Jane Beachy, Mauren Sledge (House of Avant-Garde), Bob Eisen, Molly Shanahan, Sadie Woods, as well as visual artist Faheem Majeed. Green teaches and attends workshops and master classes throughout Chicago as well as abroad. Damon joined The Seldoms in 2007, and has contributed to fourteen major projects. texturedance.co
Dan Schuchart is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. Since 2002, Wild Space Dance Company has been his creative home as a company member, choreographer, and now Co-Artistic Director. Wild Space is known for site-specific dance and artistic collaboration. Schuchart’s choreography has been presented from coast to coast and extensively throughout the Midwest, being heralded as, “razzle dazzle of a different sort—intelligence, honesty, psychological insight, and often breathtaking beauty” (Milwaukee Magazine). His interests in dance include collaborative creative process, dance-theatre, improvisation, and contact improvisation with standout performances in work by Susan Marshall and collaborations with the “all-star, all-female band” (Time Out New York) Victoire. Schuchart is a Wisconsin Dance Council board member, advocating for dance performance and education in Wisconsin. In 2013, he earned his MFA in Experimental Choreography from the University of California, Riverside, where he was honored to be a recipient of the 2012-13 Dissertation Year Program Fellowship. Schuchart has BFA degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee's Peck School of the Arts in both Dance and Painting/Drawing, and continues to work professionally in both fields. In addition, he earned a Graduate Laban Certificate in Movement Analysis from Columbia College Chicago in 2015, and recently became a Certified Fascial Fitness Trainer. Schuchart is currently Teaching Faculty at the UW-Milwaukee Department of Dance. He has also taught dance and movement studies at Lawrence University, Beloit College, UC Riverside and has been a guest teacher at the Milwaukee Ballet, American College Dance Association Conferences, and in public school outreach programs. Outside of dance, Schuchart has worked as a scenic painter, including for the movie Public Enemies, and scenic charge for the Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Florentine Opera, and Skylight Music Theatre.
Dani Oblitas (she/they) is a dance artist and educator currently based in Chicago, IL. Dani graduated from St. Olaf College with a BA in Dance and Environmental Studies. She is passionate about making movement accessible to all, and views dance as a life affirming act of both community cultivation and individual embodiment. During her time at St. Olaf College, they worked with Stephan Klopowitz, Shapiro & Smith, and Arena Dances. Since graduating, Dani has collaborated on a dance film for the UW Madison P.O.W.E.R. Collective CYPHER for Restorative Justice that was featured in the 2023 Short Stack Film Festival. They have additionally danced with Liz Sexe Dance, KLJ Movement, We Are Collective, 773 Dance Project, and Albany Park Theater Project’s Port of Entry. Dani has taught as a dance educator for Performing Ourselves, KLJ Movement, and taught Senior Movement Meditation classes at the Madison Public Library. Currently, she is a Teaching Artist for NorthShore Elite Talent, IdeaBox Integrated Arts and a Teaching Artist Mentor with ArtsXChange. Dani is additionally a Links Hall Co-Mission Resident for 2024.
Danielle Gilmore, a Chicago based artist since 2004, received her BFA from the University of Arizona, studying ballet, modern, jazz and dance injury. Danielle has been dancing with Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre(KADT) since 2014. Gilmore has performed original work with KADT at Steppenwolf Dance Theater, Detroit Dance Festival, Links Hall, Harvest Contemporary Dance Festival and Death Door Dance Festival. Danielle performed with Mordine and Company Dance Theater from 2011-2020. Danielle has premiered choreography under the mentorship of Mordine and Ayako Kato. She continues to create dance on and off camera and was recently part of the Short Stack Film Festival, in the One Hour Project and “Better Without You” Hitchen’s music video.
Danielle Gilmore, Melissa Pillarella, and Emily Stepleton are Chicago based artists, trained and mentored under the direction of Shirley Mordine since 2011 and 2015. Mordine and Company Dance Theater brought all three together from various areas - Gilmore from Yuma, AZ with a BFA in Dance from the University of Arizona, Pillarella from Chicago, IL, with a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois, and Stepleton from Lima, OH, with a BFA in Dance from Ohio University. Together with the company, all three have performed at Columbia College, Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, Link's Hall, Hamlin Park, and See Chicago Dance at Navy Pier. In addition, Gilmore and Pillarella have performed at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Smart Museum, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, and Stage 773 with Mordine and Company Dance Theater as well as presented original choreography at Nashville's Carina Nebula and Cleveland Dance Festival. Mordine’s Mentoring Project inspired all three to create and premier individual pieces in 2018 and they have continued to develop their own work and collaborate with one another ever since. Gilmore, Pillarella, and Stepleton look forward to joining Death’s Door Dance Festival for its 3rd season!
Derek Quesada (he/him/his) is a Dancer/Singer/Actor originally from Miami, Florida now living and working in Chicago. Derek has roots in latin heritage with the most of his family coming from Puerto-Rico. He has been dancing for over ten years with experience in Jazz, contemporary, and tap. When he isn't performing, he can be usually found studying as he has recently decided to start nursing school. @DerekQuesaailla. www.derekq.com"
Elena Santiago is originally from Sturgeon Bay, WI, in Door County. She started classical ballet training at the age of 13 at The Green Bay School of Dance. Her talent earned her a scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2005 and received a BS in Dance. Elena furthered her dance training at The Ailey School in New York City, where she completed the three year Certificate Program. There she studied Ballet, Modern, African, and Tap Dance with world renown teachers and performers. After several years dancing, Elena decided it was time to share her passion for dance with the youth, and immersed herself in the world of dance education. She was recipient of the Heather Watts Full Scholarship to obtain her Master’s degree in Dance Education from Hunter College. Upon completion, she taught in NYC public and private schools for five years, teaching various ages and styles of dance. Elena’s dream was to return home to Door County, a community she loves dearly, and share her talent and inspire students the way she has been inspired. She is currently the Dance Coordinator at the Door County YMCA, and teaches private dance lessons.
Elisa Hildner, originally from Naperville, IL, is a movement instructor and dance artist based in Madison, WI. She practices and teaches Pilates, strength training, and dance to educate and empower the unique bodies of all individuals. Her practice emphasizes the exploration of anatomy and the utilization of embodied information to develop functional and powerful movement. She strongly believes that Pilates and movement practices benefit physical, mental, and emotional health—she advocates for inclusion and movement for all. Elisa is a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Dance and a certificate in Pilates. While in undergrad, Elisa was awarded the Buff Brennan Senior Honors Award. She used this award to present choreographic research in the form of an evening-length performance entitled she/her/hers. Upon graduation, Elisa was awarded the Anna R. Nassif Dance Award for her choreographic works created while she was a student. She is currently a dancer with Li Chiao-Ping Dance, as well as working on independent choreographic projects.
Born in South Korea and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, Elisabeth Roskopf is a dancer, performer, choreographer, educator, pianist, and a mother to her daughter, Alina. She is a company member of Li Chiao-Ping Dance, Danceworks Performance MKE, the Gina Laurenzi Dance Project, and a performance collaborator with Wild Space Dance Company. Elisabeth co-produced and performed in “Provenance: A Letter to My Daughter”, an award-winning screendance work created with director/choreographer Li Chiao-Ping and cinematographer/editor Christal Wagner. Elisabeth teaches ballet and modern classes at UW-Milwaukee where she is earning her MFA in Dance. She is also the Founder and Creative Director of Dance For Diversity, an annual screendance project that is made explicitly for Artists of Color to share their unique voices and stories of identity through their dance-making and performance work.
Emery Meroni hails from Cimo, Ticino in Switzerland. He has studied at the Massachusetts Academy of Ballet and attended Summer Intensive programs at Bolshoi Ballet Academy, HARID Conservatory, and the Washington School of Ballet. During his studies, he received several awards, including the Fred Lieberman Award for Excellence and the Rudolf Nureyev Award. Meroni studied at the HARID Conservatory year-round training program, where he received dance study awards in ballet, character, and modern, was President of the National Honors Society, and graduated as Valedictorian of the class of 2022. In addition to English, Meroni is also fluent in the Italian and French languages. He returns to Milwaukee Ballet II for his second year in the 2023–2024 season.
Emily Loar (she/they) is a dance artist and improviser living in Chicago, IL. A BFA graduate from Columbia College Chicago, Loar has presented original and commissioned dance work across the midwest and has performed with dancemakers and choreographers including Peter Carpenter, Lydia Feuerhelm, Kasey Foster, Erin Kilmurray, Jonathan Meyer and Julia Rae Antonick of the dance company Khecari, and Kinnari Vora (Ishti Collective). Loar is among the first cohort of teachers certified as an Essential Level Teacher of Spiral Body Techniques™, the dance and movement framework developed by choreographer Molly Shanahan. Emily Loar is a founding member of Project Bound Dance and current Co-Artistic Director alongside collaborator Ashley Deran.
Emma Draves is a dance artist and educator navigating spaces of identity. Emma draws from trainings in modern, bharatanatyam, ballet, jazz, and ethnography, to weave work of kinesthetic narrative - derived through colliding multiplicities of physical effort, idiosyncrasy, and emotional landscape. Emma’s choreographic work has been shown internationally in Edinburgh (UK) & Vancouver (BC), as well as at NYU, Hamlin Park, High Concept Labs, Links Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Columbia College Chicago; and commissioned by Danceworks Company and UW-Milwaukee. As a performer, Emma worked with Mordine & Company, Hedwig Dances, and Archana Kumar; and theatrical productions at Victory Gardens and Lookingglass Theatre. Trained in bharatanatyam under Smt. Hema Rajagopalan, Emma has enjoyed a long association with Natya Dance Theatre as a performing artist - participating in national tours and international collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma & Silk Road Project, NanJombang (Indonesia), and Astad Deboo (India) - grant-writer. archivist, and Executive Director.Emma holds a GLCMA & MFA - and has served on faculty at Columbia College Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University, College of DuPage, Northwestern University, and OK State University.
Gerald Casel (he/they/siya) is a NYC-based dance artist, equity advocate, and antiracist educator. As director of GERALDCASELDANCE, his choreographic work complicates and provokes questions surrounding colonialism, collective cultural amnesia, whiteness and privilege, and the tensions between the invisible/perceived/obvious structures of power. Casel is Professor and Chair of the Dance Department at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He has previously been a faculty member at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, California State University Long Beach, and UC Santa Cruz where he also served as the Provost of Porter College. A graduate of The Juilliard School with an MFA from UW-Milwaukee, they received a New York Dance and Performance Award “Bessie” for sustained achievement dancing in the companies of Stephen Petronio, Michael Clark, Stanley Love, Zvi Gotheiner, Sungsoo Ahn, and The Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Casel received an Isadora Duncan Dance Award "Izzie" for Outstanding Choreography and Direction for his work, "Not About Race Dance" in 2022 as well as their work on Dancing Around Race, an ongoing community engaged-participatory process that interrogates systemic racial inequities. www.geraldcasel.com
Haley Marcin is a Chicago based artist, performer and educator. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 2019. Haley has worked with several companies in Chicago and New York, and received the opportunity to train intensively, choreograph, and perform internationally in Calabria, Italy on scholarship. Upon graduating, Haley apprenticed with the Michael Mao Dance Company in New York. She moved back home to Chicago and since then has performed with Aerial Dance Chicago, Project Bound Dance, Still Inspired, and collaborated with many Chicago/New York choreographers. She is currently performing and on contract with The Seldoms. Haley is certified in Progressing Ballet Technique and holds a 200 hour Yoga and Aerial Yoga Teacher certification. When she is not performing Haley is teaching aerial, yoga, and dance throughout the Chicagoland area.
Ileana Nadine is a first generation Mexican-American originally from Aurora, Illinois. Growing up in a culturally rich family, she developed a strong connection to dance at two years old. She has taught at various dance studios around the Chicagoland area up until 2018 when she then embarked on her journey as an Assistant Teacher at Rogers Park Montessori School in Andersonville. Utilizing her dance background in an engaged learning environment—she hopes to achieve her Masters Degree in Education and mirror her passion as a dance educator. Today she continues her training with many companies and projects such as Glenwood Dance Studio, Matter Dance Company 2018-present, Silvita Diaz Brown’s Sildance/AcroDanza 2019-present, Echo Modern Dance Collective 2020-present & Lucid Banter Project 2022-Present.
Isabella Graves is originally from Huntington Beach, California, and began her dance training at the age of 3, at Huntington Academy of Dance. There she completed classical Cecchetti ballet examinations from primary, through Major 9. She has attended several summer Intensive programs, including those at American Ballet Theater and Ellison Ballet, before furthering her training in joining Milwaukee Ballet's Pre-Professional Program as a student under the direction of Tatiana Jouravel-Malinkine. Isabella has been awarded with numerous Youth America Grand Prix top placements, including 1st and 3rd place in the Senior classical category, 3rd place in Senior contemporary, as well as invitations to compete as a soloist in the YAGP finals from 2021-2023. She has also competed in California Dance Classics, where she was awarded with numerous scholarships, and the invitation to join Milwaukee Ballet’s Pre-Professional program. She returns to Milwaukee Ballet II for her second year in the 2024–2025 season.
J’Sun Howard is a Chicago-based dancemaker. He holds an MFA in Dance and a certificate in World Performance Studies from the University of Michigan. He is a 2020 3Arts Awardee, a recipient of their inaugural Esteemed Artist Award from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), and a 2019 Asian Cultural Council Fellow. A Links Hall Co-MISSION Fellow, a Ragdale Foundation Sybil Shearer Fellow, 2017 3Arts Make A Wave Awardee and 2014 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist. His works have been presented at Links Hall, Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Defibrillator Performance Gallery, Patrick’s Cabaret (Minneapolis, MN), Danspace Project (NYC), Center for Performance Research (NYC), Detroit Dance City Festival (Detroit, MI), M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (Singapore), New Dance Festival (Daejeon, South Korea) where he won Best Dance Choreographer and the World Dance Alliance’s International Young Choreographers’ Project (Kaohsiung, Taiwan), among others. He has been commissioned by Common Conservatory, Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, World Dance Alliance, and The Art Institute of Chicago.
James Lee Mead is a Door County native, raised by the collective entrepreneurial spirit of the peninsula & the many inspirational local artists thriving here. She is a Hatha & Vinyasa yoga and Pilates Reformer Instructor, trained at HariOm Yoga School in Alessandra, Italy; Yoga Project of Denton, Texas; and Balanced Body School of Pilates. James is Level III Sound Healing certified through the lineage of Don Conreaux under the tutelage of Alessandra Montana. She hosts somatic & sonic frequency healing experiences at Ironwood Yoga Studio in Sister Bay. Outside the healing arts, James co-owns a farm to table dinner business called Door County Underground which features locally grown and foraged organic ingredients. Find full details about James’ healing arts offerings from Resonance Atelier at www.jamesleemead.com
Janet Lilly is a former principal dancer and teacher with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and was the Director of Dance at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) from 2011-2023. Lilly joined UNCG after 15 years at the Peck School of Arts Department of Dance at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin, where she was instrumental in creating a low-residency MFA program for returning dance professionals. Awarded a 2008-09 Fulbright Lecturer Fellowship, Lilly has choreographed and taught as a guest artist and master teacher on college campuses in the United States and abroad.
Jessica Robling is a Brooklyn based artist whose passion for dance flourished at The New York Chinese Cultural Center, training in Traditional Chinese Dance under the guidance of Bei Bei Hu, Yuezhen Hu, and Gui Xuan Zhuang. Jessica studied modern dance at Dancewave, working with choreographers Andrea Miller, Camille Brown, Kyle Abraham, and Larry Keigwin. In 2019, Jessica graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison, with a BFA in Dance, and Pilates Certificate. Since graduating, Jessica has worked with Jenny Boissiere, Jin-Wen Yu, Li Chiao-Ping, Liz Sexe Dance, Kanon Sapp, Michel Kouakou, and Nimbus2 Dance Company. Jessica’s movement investigates the fluidity of natural lines and circular movements, connecting her roots in Chinese dance with her exploration into the modern and contemporary dance forms.
Joshua Lorris - Minneapolis based improviser, performer, and dance maker now in his fifth season with ASDC. He holds an MFA from Naropa University and a BA from Luther College; He is a certified teacher of Action Theater and Open Source Forms. In addition to his time with ASDC, Joshua is a soloist that teaches and performs internationally, focusing on improvisation.
Kara Brody (she/her) is a Korean American movement artist based in Chicago focusing her practice towards community driven spaces. She has contributed to numerous productions as a devising collaborator and performer for Lucky Plush Productions, Faye Driscoll, Erin Kilmurray, Melinda Jean Myers, The Fly Honey Show, Helen Lee, Darling Shear, Danceable Projects | Erick Montes, and The Cambrians. She was a curatorial resident at Steppenwolf 1700 Theatre, creating a dance series that celebrated artists in process through a two-week production residency and performance festival. Kara is a Lecturer at University of Chicago and has been on faculty at COMMON Conservatory, The Joffrey Academy, Chicago Movement Collective, Visceral Dance Center, Dovetail Studios, and Lucky Plush Productions’ Community Class. She has guest taught for Rutgers University, Northern Illinois University, The Cambrians, DanceWorks Chicago, Hedwig Dances, Pro.Noun Dance Festival, Young Dancer’s Initiative, and Brighton Dance Festival. Additionally, she has led community and intensive workshops for Lucky Plush Productions at The Kennedy Center, Sonoma State University, Hamilton College, and The Dance Center of Columbia College.
Katelyn Altmann (she/her) is a movement-based artist, choreographer, and improvisor currently residing in Milwaukee, WI. She holds her BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance and Choreography from the UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts and currently serves as adjunct faculty for the UW-Milwaukee Department of Dance. In addition to teaching, Katelyn has a deep love and appreciation for progressive performance and choreography. Her work has been shown at Velocity (WA), Gibney (NY), Danceworks (WI), MYARTS (Madison, WI), Milwaukee Fringe Festival, and the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters (IL). Her work, “soft ground, stiff shoulder” was selected to be presented at the 2019 ACDA conference. Altmann has collaborated with and performed in works by Esther Baker-Tarpaga, Daniel Burkholder, Li Chiao-Ping, Mair Culbreth, Simone Ferro, Melanie George, Joe Goode, Maria Gillespie, Holly Johnson, Debra Loewen, Dawn Springer, and worked with artists such as Ishmael Houston-Jones, Kathleen Hermesdorf, and Irene Dowd among others. She is a current performance and collaborative artist with Wild Space Dance Company, Danceworks Performance MKE, Li Chiao Ping Dance, and Hyperlocal MKE. Katelyn is elated to continue working with Li Chiao-Ping Dance.
Kelly Anderson is the Director/Founder of Death's Door Dance Festival and the Artistic Director of Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre--a performance company whose work is inspired by humor, theater and pop culture. KADT creates relatable work driven by complicated topics. “Seamlessly weaving movement and dialogue,” Anderson strives to bridge the gap between artist and non-artist through comedy “filtered perfectly throughout a series of serious moments.” Kelly has been a recipient of Chicago’s Links Hall CoMission Summer Residency and her work has been performed/commissioned in Chicago, NYC, Milwaukee, Detroit, Minneapolis and Portland, OR. “A master of comedic timing… Anderson proves that dance doesn’t have to be dead serious.” *Credits- Lauren Warnecke (Chicago Magazine) and Kristin Vasilakos (Performance Response Journal)
Kerensa DeMars is a Flamenco choreographer, performer and educator. The founding director of the San Francisco Flamenco Dance Company, Kerensa trained in Spain for over a decade. She has performed internationally at London's Royal Festival Hall, the Teatro Calderón of Madrid, the Tivoli Theater in Barcelona and San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Kerensa has received major choreography commissions from the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Azahar Dance Foundation, the Teatro Pradillo and Theatre Bay Area for her work. Most recently she was awarded a WI Special Projects Grant by Ruth Arts for her new project the (W)here in the World Dance Festival. Kerensa is the director of Studio K Flamenco, Milwaukee’s home for the Flamenco arts. With programs like the annual Flamenco Nutcracker, the Compás Youth Project and the FlamencoMKE performance series, Studio K is committed to furthering the art of Flamenco in Milwaukee and beyond.
*Kerensa DeMars' performance is generously sponsored by Island Orchard Cider
*Kerensa DeMars' performance is generously sponsored by Island Orchard Cider
Kristen Harker is a resident of Gills Rock and long time lover of swing dancing. She has been taking classes, attending workshops, traveling domestically and internationally to swing dancing events for the past ten years. She is excited to introduce the Door County community to this dance.
kt williams is a contemporary dance artist, educator, and dance-maker based in Chicago, IL. She earned her MFA in Dance/Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received the Donald Carducci Memorial Scholarship Award for overall excellence in dance performance. In addition to her own solo work, kt has performed professionally in works by Renay Aumiller, Sara Hook, B.J. Sullivan, and Megan Rhodes, and she is thrilled to be performing with RE|Dance Group this season. kt is on faculty in the dance program at College of DuPage and teaches movement classes and workshops across the Chicago area. kt is a co-founder of DanSeries Collective with creative colleague Caitlyn Schrader, and together they make duet work that pushes traditional definitions of dance performance through public performances, installations, and events, which are always presented as a series. kt’s pedagogical and artistic practice is collaborative in nature, as she genuinely believes working in community fosters the wellbeing and sustainability of the artist-citizen.
Laura Selle Virtucio has balanced a vibrant career in the Twin Cities dance community for over 20 years. Laura celebrates the wealth of artists she has worked with over the years including her long connection with Shapiro & Smith Dance where she serves as Artistic Associate/Performer, restaging the companies work across the nation; and her continued work with Chris Schlichting since 2012, gracing stages across the nation. In the past, she performed with Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater, Zenon Dance Company, and Black Label Movement. While with Zenon, she had the pleasure of dancing in works by Luciana Achugar, Faye Driscoll, Colleen Thomas, Morgan Thorson, and Danny Buraczeski to name a few. Laura holds a BFA in Dance from the University of MN, a 2007 McKnight Fellowship for Dancers, and a MN Sage Award for Best Performer. In addition, she teaches dance at the University of Minnesota.
Lucy Vurusic Riner (executive director RE|dance group) is a native Chicagoan who has been dancing, choreographing, and teaching in the Midwest for over twenty years. She received her BS Degree in Dance and Dance Education from Illinois State University. Lucy has been a member of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, RTG Dance Company, and Matthew Hollis’ “The Power of Cheer.” She has also been part of the community cast of White Oak Dance Project and David Dorfman Dance. Lucy has taught modern, hip hop, and jazz at numerous studios and high schools in the Chicagoland area. She was the Director of Dance at Oak Park and River Forest High School for 14 years before joining the faculty at New Trier High School in 2012. In 2005, Lucy completed her Masters Degree in Education from National Louis University and also received the Midwest Dance Teacher of the Year award and was the youngest of four finalists in the running for the National Dance Teacher of the Year award. Lucy continues to produce, choreograph, teach and perform with the company while also raising two teenagers.
Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to watch”, Li Chiao-Ping is a multi-hyphenate artist, a 7-time NEA grant awardee, and a MAP Fund grant recipient, who creates layered works that combine multiple art forms to explore themes of culture and identity. Her work has been shown in major venues/festivals in the U.S. and abroad, including Jacob’s Pillow, Bates, American Dance Festival (ADF), Kennedy Center, Walker Art Center, Dance Place, Danspace Project, DTW, Theater Artaud, ODC Theater, CounterPulse, and around the world. Li is a UW-Madison Vilas Research Professor and the Sally Banes Professor of Dance, the first person in Dance to receive either professorship, and also the first BIPOC faculty hired and tenured in Dance at UW-Madison. She was Director of Dance at Hollins College and former Chair of UW-Madison’s Dance Dept, where she continues to teach. Honored to be a recipient of an Outstanding Woman of Color in Education Award recipient and US representative in ADF’s International Choreographer’s Program, Li’s work addresses topics of identity, diversity, inclusion, space, & place. She recently received the Best Direction Award for “Provenance: A Letter to My Daughter” from the 2023 Experimental Dance & Music Film Festival, a screendance work created in collaboration with Elisabeth Roskopf and Christal Wagner. Li’s work has been praised in the NY Times, Village Voice, Dance Magazine, LA Times, Washington Post, & SF Bay Guardian. She “takes us to a different place in dance. The vision is both Asian and western, combining the essence of both worlds." (Martha's Vineyard Times)
Maria Theodore is a Chicago-based dancer and visual artist. She performed at Death’s Door Dance Festival in 2023 with Rachel Molinaro’s piece Off Balance and is thrilled to be returning again this year. A graduate of Northwestern University, Maria is a multi-talented artist with styles ranging from contemporary, modern, hip hop and street dance.
Mayu Nakaya (she/her) originally from Japan is a freelance contemporary dancer, choreographer, and founder of MNiverse. She has worked with Helen Simoneau Danse, Obremski/Works, SAXYN Dance Work, Rogue Wave with Catherine Messina, iKADA Contemporary Dance Company, sarAika Movement Collective, One Day Dance, Yoshito Sakuraba, and Faustine Lavie. As a choreographer, Mayu performed at several dance festivals in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Japan, also received awards as a dancer and choreographer in several competitions in Japan and South Korea. Mayu is an artist who always pursues physical expression and is interested in collaborating with artists of various genres. The dance project "MNiverse" is Mayu’s creative platform to express the possibilities of diversity through dance based on the concept of human connection through various collaborations regardless of genre.
Melinda Jean Myers is a multidisciplinary artist who creates in the areas of dance and choreography, theater and storytelling, and music composition. Her research includes solo choreography and performance, and collaborations with theater artists, filmmakers, writers, music composers, media designers and dance artists. At University of Iowa, she is an Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance and Choreography. Myers earned her MFA from University of Iowa (2012) where she received a Stanley Graduate Award for International Research and Iowa Arts Fellowship. She earned her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (2005). She was honored to perform internationally with the Trisha Brown Dance Company for four years (2006-2010), and has been privileged to re-stage repertory works. As a member of The Cambrians (Chicago, IL) her collaborative work Clover (2015) was named one of Chicago Tribune's Top 10 Dances of 2015. She also created three new works as a devising ensemble member of Lucky Plush Productions (Chicago, IL) and toured nationally with the company for ten years. (2012-2022).
Meredith W. Watts (photographer- recognizing ourselves in others- artist statement): "I think of myself less as an artist and more as a curious observer and researcher with a camera. In academics the term “ethnography” -- or even “photoethnography” – might describe this form of observation and documentation of human cultural practice. The simpler term “storyteller with a camera” seems more comfortable to me. These photographs were first exhibited in a show in Milwaukee entitled “Embodied Devotion” and it is part of a broader project of “seeing ourselves in others.” The images in this exhibit are the result of over fifteen years of joint research with my wife and research partner, Simone Ferro. The quality of equipment and the conditions of photographing varied considerably over that time. Of thousands of images from our research, this selection focuses on “Embodied Devotion” – spiritual practice in a culture that expresses devotion through dance, music (especially percussion), song, charismatic engagement, and even trance in which spiritual entities are embodied by participants. Sometimes the practices derive from centuries-old Church pageantry that has now entered the folk tradition as “Popular Catholicism.” The values in this project reflect my decades-long practices in the Unitarian Church and in the Buddhist tradition of the Milwaukee Mindfulness Community, honoring diversity of persons and of their spiritual practice. These values guided my thinking as I photographed these Northeast Brazil folk traditions –practice that are not primarily discursive and intellectual, but are expressed in oral tradition, music, and embodied celebration. That cultural matrix has deep Afro-Brazilian roots with elements of European culture and a strong influence of indigenous cultural practice. I am delighted to present these images as a reflection on the diversity of spiritual experience. We do not see them as images of a far-off culture, but as a manifestation of a fundamental human need for cultural and devotional expression, whether expressed in words, concepts, prayers, dance or embodied practice – a need we all share and in which we can see ourselves as we might have been in another life, another culture."
Michael Estanich is the Artistic Director of RE|dance group. He co-founded RE|dance group (redancegroup.org) in 2009 with Chicago artist Lucy Vurusic Riner as a means to explore long distance collaboration. RE|dance group has presented work regionally, nationally, and internationally – a highlight being at the New Dance For Asia International Festival in Seoul, South Korea. Michael and Lucy have presented their research on the collaborative creative process at various conferences hosted by the National Dance Educator’s Organization. He is a Professor of Dance and the Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. where he teaches contemporary modern dance, composition, dance pedagogy, movement analysis, and dance history. RE|dance group’s work asserts value in a multidisciplinary creative approach, relying on movement, voice, sculpture, and dramaturgy to create intimate works of human folly. He is also the resident choreographer at Trollwood Performing Arts School in Moorhead, MN and serves on the Executive Board of the American College Dance Association (ACDA) as Vice President for Policy and Procedures.
Michael O’Neill graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Performance and Choreography from the Ohio University School of Dance. He currently resides in Chicago, IL where he has danced over the past decade with companies such as We Stand Sideways, Mordine & Company Dance Theater, RE|dance Group, Laboratory Dancers, Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre and Same Planet Performance Project. Michael is super excited to return to Death’s Door Dance Festival this year to perform with Chloe Grace Michels and Rachel Molinaro!
Milwaukee Ballet was founded in 1970. Led by Artistic Director Michael Pink, Milwaukee Ballet creates a rich and diverse community through its inspiring dance performance, education, and outreach. Milwaukee Ballet hosts an international Company of dancers and maintains its own orchestra. Milwaukee Ballet School & Academy is the only professional dance school in the Midwest accredited by the National Association of Schools of Dance, teaching beginner through pre-professional levels in three locations: Third Ward, Fox Point, and Brookfield. Milwaukee Ballet’s award-winning Community Engagement department serves thousands of people in Southeastern Wisconsin each year through original, interactive programs.
Morgan Williams is a highly accomplished and versatile performer, choreographer, and creative director in the field of dance. Starting his professional career at just 18 years old with Dance Kaleidoscope in Indianapolis, IN, he quickly gained recognition for his talent and artistry. He has been associated with several renowned concert dance companies, including Momenta Dance Company, Cerqua Rivera, Joel Hall & Dancers, Chicago Dance Crash, Deeply Rooted, Eisenhower Dance Detroit, and Visceral Dance Chicago.Beyond the realm of concert dance, Morgan has also made notable contributions to commercial projects. He lent his dancing expertise to projects like SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance), the Black-eyed Peas, the Fox TV show Empire, and Pretty Lights, showcasing his versatility and ability to work in various genres. In 2021, Morgan realized his vision by establishing his studio, named "The Studio," in the greater Milwaukee area. This studio serves as the home for his professional repertory dance company, Water Street Dance Milwaukee. With his dance company, he has created numerous original and expressive choreographic works, captivating audiences across the United States.Morgan's choreography has earned him recognition and accolades, and he has been commissioned to set works on several prestigious dance companies and institutions. Some of these include Madison Ballet, Noumenon Dance Ensemble, Visceral Dance Chicago, and Illinois State University, among others.
As a choreographer with a truly global perspective, Nejla Yatkin has made a name for herself with her dynamic and thought-provoking work. Hailing from the culturally rich and historically significant city of West Berlin, Nejla's artistic vision is informed by her Turkish and Armenian heritage, as well as the nomadic traditions and poetics of her ancestors of interchanging places, races, rhythms, and histories. Described by The New York Times as a "magician, telling tales and creating worlds," Nejla's performances are a blend of personal histories and universal stories, weaving together the past and present in a way that is both deeply moving and incredibly imaginative.In addition to her work in traditional theater and dance settings, Nejla is also highly respected for her interdisciplinary approach to dance-making, which includes film, augmented reality, and more. No matter the form or the venue, Nejla's work is always driven by a deep curiosity about the expressive power of movement and its ability to connect people across cultures and backgrounds. Recognized with numerous grants and awards, including Dance Magazine 25 To Watch, the Princess Grace Fellowship, the Baryshnikov Art Center residency fellowship, the John F. Kennedy Center Local Dance commission, 3Arts Award Foundation, the Chicago Dancemakers Forum, the Illinois Arts Council and the latest 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship. In all her endeavors, Nejla invites us to join her on a journey of exploration and discovery, inviting us to connect with one another and with the world around us through the universal language of dance.
Nia Davis (Queens, NY) began her dance training at Edge School of the Arts in Jamaica, Queens in 2011. She later attended Fiorello H. Laguardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City majoring in dance. In April 2015 she attended the Beijing Dance Academy in a study abroad program. In May 2022 Nia graduated from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia with her BFA in Dance under the direction of Karen Reedy. During her time at Mason, she was able to be a part of numerous residences with Hope Boykin, Alejandro Cerrudo, Camille A Brown, Rafael Bonachela, Andonis Foniodakis, and Christoper D'Amboise. Nia has also attended summer programs at MOVE NYC, Earl Mosley Institute of the Arts, Alonzo King Lines Ballet and BODYTRAFFIC.
Nick Pupillo is an award winning choreographer recognized for the power and versatility in his work.A graduate of Indiana University and former dancer with Giordano Dance Chicago, Pupillo’s focus quickly became concentrated on teaching and creating. In 2006, he decided to focus on training and mentoring young talent by developing the now reputable, pre-professional company, Visceral Studio Company. In 2007, he founded Visceral Dance Center to provide the Chicago community with a new venue for artistic and technical growth. This facility continues to be a Chicago dance landmark. TimeOut Chicago lists Visceral Dance Center as "A bustling, well-appointed facility...with instructors from top companies and in-demand guest teachers." Utilized by a number of Chicago-based companies, Visceral Dance Center is home to its resident company, Visceral Dance Chicago. Pupillo founded Visceral Dance Chicago in the fall of 2013. This repertory company presents his daring vision to explore the infinite possibilities of contemporary movement. The dancers of Visceral demonstrate this choreographic invention and are recognized for their technique, passion, and athleticism. Since inception, the company has developed a diverse and respected repertoire by new emerging voices and distinguished, world renowned choreographers. Visceral Dance Chicago has been named one of Dance Magazine's 25 to Watch, recognizing the company's accomplishments and potential in the national community. Pupillo has led the company in a forthright direction, establishing a repertoire described as "expertly devised and stylish as they come." (Chicago Tribune) He has created fifteen signature works for the company, as well as four collaborations with The Chicago Philharmonic.Pupillo teaches master classes in the U.S. and around the world and has taught for the Jazz Dance World Congress, Culver Academies, Chicago Dance Connection and Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, where he received the 2018 Artistic Achievement Award.
Owen Alabado is a dancer and choreographer with over 20 years of experience. He has worked in several theaters as a choreographer and dance captain. Recently he has choreographed for the last three Northern Door Pride's Cabaret events. During his 17 years in Los Angeles he has been able to use his dance skills in several television commercials and a reality show "Your Chance to Dance."
Paté Patrice Nassalang, born and raised in Senegal West Africa, is a professional Afro-Jazz dancer/ African and vernacular Jazz dances
Paté danced with some of the biggest African dance companies in the world outside of Africa and is the Founder/ Artistic Director: Jam Ak Jam Afro Dance Theater. Paté teaches, choreographs, performs, and competes internationally.
Paté danced with some of the biggest African dance companies in the world outside of Africa and is the Founder/ Artistic Director: Jam Ak Jam Afro Dance Theater. Paté teaches, choreographs, performs, and competes internationally.
Under the direction of Co-Artistic Directors and collaborators Ashley Deran and Emily Loar, Project Bound Dance is a Chicago-based modern dance group rooted in the practice of collaboration. Project Bound Dance (Bound) creates richly textured dance performance that is both curious and approachable, incorporating vigor, athleticism, and intricate gesture exploration to produce and present live performance events and dances for camera. www.projectbound.dance
Rachel Molinaro (she/her) has been active in the Chicago arts community as a performer, choreographer, administrator and educator for nearly 10 years. After receiving her dual degrees in dance and international studies from Northwestern University, Rachel has danced professionally with companies such as Project Bound Dance, Striding Lion Performance Group, Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre, Mish Mash Productions, enidsmithdance and The Leopold Group and currently creates her own work as an independent artist. Rachel works as the Fine & Performing Arts Program Coordinator of the Senn Arts Program at Senn High School, is the Artistic Director of the youth dance company ede2 and she sits on the board of directors for Project Bound Dance. Rachel Molinaro has been active in the Chicago arts community as a performer, choreographer, administrator and educator for nearly 10 years. Rachel has led a variety of arts schools in program development and outreach, including acting as Dance Program Director at Music House School of the Performing Arts and was the founding manager of Dovetail Studios, where she also led dance and fitness classes.
Creative partners, Lucy Riner and Michael Estanich, established RE|dance Group in 2009 as a means to explore long distance collaborations and present dance theatre works that examine the many facets of human relationships. Executive Director, Lucy Riner, is a Chicago based dance artist and teacher. Artistic Director, Michael Estanich, lives in Stevens Point at the University of Wisconsin as an associate professor of dance. Their creative process embodies rich emotional content and dramatic imagery through the layering of music, text and sculpture. They seek to establish physical memories that enrich their dancing and the relationships created in their works.
Roxy Slavin began her training at Rocky Mountain Ballet Academy in Denver, CO. In 2018, at 12 years old, she was one of the youngest Americans to be invited to train full-time on the Russian track at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia. When the pandemic brought her home in 2020, she was invited to join The HARID Conservatory in Boca Raton, FL. Career highlights for Roxy include Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Clara and Sugar Plum in The Nutcracker, the Peasant Pas de Deux from Giselle, and the Pas de Deux from La Fille Mal Gardee. Roxy attended Summer Intensives with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Connecticut; Perm State Choreographic College in Perm, Russia; Kaatsbaan Ballet Intensive in Tivoli, NY; and the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. Roxy has earned numerous Youth America Grand Prix regional top placement awards, including the YAGP Hope Award and, most recently, 2nd in Senior Classical, 2023. She has been invited several times to the YAGP Finals in New York City, where she has received summer training scholarships. She joins Milwaukee Ballet II for her first year in the 2023–2024 season.
Sarah Morimoto is a Chicago performer. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2016 with degrees in dance and chemistry. Throughout her training, Sarah has worked with and performed works by several Chicago artists including Jeff Hancock, Lizzie Leopold, Laura Wade, Maray Gutierrez, Robyn Mineko Williams, Joseph Caruana, and Riccardo Battaglia. Professionally, Sarah has worked with Joel Hall and Hanna Brictson and Dancers. Sarah is a company member with Project Bound Dance and is excited to be working with KADT!
In its 21st season, The Seldoms creates multimedia performance charged by bold, exacting physicality and the belief that dance can inspire thinking and action. Under the direction of choreographer Carrie Hanson, the company designs expansive productions with practitioners of visual arts, theater, sound, and fashion, as well as scientists and historians. Based in Chicago, The Seldoms has toured extensively nationally and to Russia, Taiwan, Scotland, and Canada. Ensemble member since 2022, and choreographer of ciclos, Gabriela Chavez, is an Ecuadorian multidisciplinary artist currently based in Chicago. She is a photographer, movement director, and performer. She graduated with a B.A from Columbia College Chicago in Dance and Fashion Business. She was a commissioned performer and choreographer for Grammy winner, Nico Segal for his album debut show at Steppenwolf Theatre. Gabriela debuted her first photography exhibition at Sailor Coffee in Guayaquil, Ecuador with her series Yūgen. She is a recipient of an Artist in Residency program for South Facing Windows upcoming July 2024.
Shirley Mordine, born and raised in Oakland, California, received her early training at the San Francisco Ballet School and attended Mills College. Anna Halprin, Welland Lathrop, and Arch Lauderer are among Mordine’s most influential teachers and mentors. She danced with the Welland Lathrop Company for 10 years. Mordine settled in Chicago in the late 1960s and in1969, founded her company The Dance Troupe, later called Mordine & Company Dance Theater. The same year, Mordine established the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, leading the department until 1999. Under Mordine’s direction, the Dance Center evolved into a multifaceted institution at the national forefront of dance education. In 1974, she launched the Dance Presenting Series, creating the city’s only platform dedicated solely to dance and forged a partnership with Dance Africa, presenting the Chicago edition through the Dance Center from 1991-2005. A teaching, learning, and performing arts center, the Dance Center is Chicago’s leading training program for contemporary dance and its public programming has engaged companies from around the world. In light of her extensive and consistent contributions to the field of dance and to the student and professional life of Columbia College, Mordine was presented with Columbia College’s Presidential Medal for Distinguished Service in 1999. She has received extensive awards and accolades for her creative accomplishments and contributions to the Chicago Dance Community. Mordine is recognized as a master teacher who excels in integrating the skills of dance technique, choreography, and performance. A 50th anniversary retrospective featured works from throughout Mordine & Company DanceTheater’s history: Three Women (1979), I Haven’t Heard From You (2001), and Collisions (2016), plus new works created by company members through the 20-year-old Mordine Mentoring Project. In May 2023, the extensive Mordine & Company Dance Theater archives were entrusted to the Newberry Library’s dance collection. Mordine currently lives in California.
Silvita Diaz Brown is a Mexican/American choreographer, dancer, teacher and director of Sildance/AcroDanza. Based in Chicago since 2008, She holds a BFA in Dance from Universidad de Las Americas Puebla in Mexico and an MFA in Theatre/Choreography from York University in Toronto Canada. For the last 17 years, her interdisciplinary dance-theater work has been supported and presented by many arts organizations, festivals and venues. Silvita has toured her dance works in Cuba, Spain, India, Mexico, Canada, and within the USA. Silvita uses her art to explore the self, celebrate her Mexican heritage and to awaken insights that empower women and audiences in their identities and futures no matter where they come from.
A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Simone Ferro is a choreographer, movement practitioner, somatic researcher, and Fulbright scholar. She joined the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Dance in 2001 and retired in 2022 after decades serving as MFA program director and department chair. After a professional career as soloist with dance companies in Brazil and Switzerland, she completed her graduate work at the University of Iowa, a Laban Movement Analysis Certification by the Columbia College of Chicago and a Certificate as Fascia Trainer. For the past 17 years, she travels to Brazil with her husband and research partner, Meredith W. Watts, to research and document popular culture and folk festivities in the Northeastern state of Maranhão. Jointly, they have completed a manuscript on the Leadership of Women in the Popular Culture of Maranhão and a podcast series with interviews of some 65 women leaders. Simone has just returned from Brazil where she completed a choreographic commission called Crôa to the Cisne Negro Cia de Dança.
Sydney Osborne grew up and began her dance training in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2023, she graduated summa cum laude from Loyola University Chicago with a bachelor of arts in dance as well as in visual communication. There, she performed works by choreographers such as Sarah
Cullen Fuller, Amy Wilkinson, Dominique Atwood, and Braeden Barnes. In 2022, Sydney traveled with Loyola Dance Theatre to perform with Mandala Dance Company in Rome, Italy. She also served as an intern for Chicago Dancers United in 2022, assisting with fundraising events such as Dance for Life. Sydney is currently a company dancer with Concert Dance Inc, led by Venetia Stifler, where she has performed works by Edson Cabrera, Ashley Fox, and Venetia Stifler. In 2023, she performed work by Amy Wilkinson at “The Barn Project” hosted by
Peter Stathas Dance Company in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. In addition, Sydney is currently dancing with Same Planet Performance Project under Joanna Read.
Cullen Fuller, Amy Wilkinson, Dominique Atwood, and Braeden Barnes. In 2022, Sydney traveled with Loyola Dance Theatre to perform with Mandala Dance Company in Rome, Italy. She also served as an intern for Chicago Dancers United in 2022, assisting with fundraising events such as Dance for Life. Sydney is currently a company dancer with Concert Dance Inc, led by Venetia Stifler, where she has performed works by Edson Cabrera, Ashley Fox, and Venetia Stifler. In 2023, she performed work by Amy Wilkinson at “The Barn Project” hosted by
Peter Stathas Dance Company in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. In addition, Sydney is currently dancing with Same Planet Performance Project under Joanna Read.
Tim Russell (he/him) lives at the confluence of the aural and the visual. He currently serves as Music Director for the University of Wisconsin Dance Program. In 2019, Tim was selected as one of the Cowles Visiting Artists at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, a first for a Musician in the field of Dance. He has a vast catalogue of works specifically for choreography, most of which exist live, in collaboration with movement. His commitment to the nowness in performance led him to co-create/curate, along with choreographer Maria Gillespie, Hyperlocal MKE, a Music and Dance improvisation series that exists to this day in Milwaukee. His current curatorial project: Common Sage Arts, promotes multidisciplinary artists through carefully curated performances. Along with Tim’s long time collaboration with the Gerald Casel Dance, his audio shares the stage with choreographic artists such as: Kate Corby, Abby Crain, Danceworks, Maria Gillespie, Holly Johnston, Stephan Koplowitz, Sara Shelton Mann, Li Chiao Ping, Liz Sexe, Marlene Skog, WildSpace Dance and Jin Wen Yu, bringing Tim and his music across the world from Dock 11 in Berlin to YBCA in San Francisco. He holds an MFA in Music Improvisation from Mills College in Oakland, California, where he studied improvisation, electronic music and composition with the likes of Fred Frith, Roscoe Mitchell and Zeena Parkins. His 2020 album: “Junct”, a collection of improvisational duets with bassist Ari Smith, was included in Tone Madison’s top 20 records of 2020.
After receiving her BA in Dance from Columbia College Chicago, Umi Nakamura moved to Mexico and Spain to teach and to study Latin dance forms under Jose Luis Rocha and Nidia Norro. Umki now works as an American Sign Language interpreter for Chicago Public Schools.
Varsha Prasad is a renowned Kathak dancer, choreographer, and trainer, as well as the Artistic Director of Kalaagram Art and Wellness Centre Pvt. Ltd. based in Bangalore, India. Her unwavering passion for Kathak has earned her recognition both in India and internationally, popularizing the dance form in countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Dubai, and Sri Lanka. Varsha's achievements include the prestigious Mumbai Dancing Flair Award. Beyond Kathak, she excels in therapeutic dance practices, reiki healing, meditation, and counselling psychology. Her diverse expertise continues to profoundly impact both the dance world and the wellness industry.
Visceral Dance Chicago has been engaging and connecting our artists with audiences since 2013. Founded and led by Artistic Director Nick Pupillo, Visceral is a national and internationally recognized driving force in contemporary dance.This company exemplifies his daring vision to explore the infinite possibilities of contemporary movement and present the best of emerging, established, and innovative choreographers. The company is recognized for its exceptional technicality, diversity, versatility, and daring athleticism. Visceral Dance has been praised for its accessibility in programming by presenting dynamic performances that appeal to a wide range of audiences. In Chicago, Visceral Dance performs over 25 times a year and provides educational programming - expanding their reach while ensuring dance and art is accessible to all communities. Visceral Dance Chicago has been engaging and connecting our artists with audiences since 2013. Founded and led by Artistic Director Nick Pupillo, Visceral is a national and internationally recognized driving force in contemporary dance.This company exemplifies his daring vision to explore the infinite possibilities of contemporary movement and present the best of emerging, established, and innovative choreographers. The company is recognized for its exceptional technicality, diversity, versatility, and daring athleticism. Visceral Dance has been praised for its accessibility in programming by presenting dynamic performances that appeal to a wide range of audiences. In Chicago, Visceral Dance performs over 25 times a year and provides educational programming - expanding their reach while ensuring dance and art is accessible to all communities.
Water Street Dance Milwaukee is a multifaceted dance company dedicated to exploring diversity within our art, artists, and audiences. Renowned for our athletic, innovative, and entertaining performances, we invite all to partake in the vibrant experiences we create. As Milwaukee's premier repertory dance company, we are committed to consistently pushing the boundaries of contemporary art. The company has garnered national recognition, being named Dance Magazine's “25 to watch” in 2024. With each performance, we strive to elevate the art of dance, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape.
Wild Space Dance Company is in its fourth decade of offering inventive performances, outreach, and community programs. Founded in 1986 by Debra Loewen, Wild Space is known for site-specific works and artistic collaborations that take audiences on adventures through built and natural landscapes, visual art, history and the human condition with wry humor, clever choreography, and emotionally-charged dance. The mission of Milwaukee-based Wild Space Dance Company is to explore diverse cultural landscapes to create provocative new choreography, site-based performances, and educational opportunities. The company cultivates creative experimentation, innovation, and collaboration by investing in local artists, and engages audiences with dance in a shared experience of place and community. An affiliate of UPAF, Wild Space is a company-in-residence at Lincoln Center Middle School of the Arts in Milwaukee. Wild Space is supported in part by grants from UPAF, The Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Herzfeld Foundation, Milwaukee County CAMPAC, and the Milwaukee Arts Board and Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Header design: Charlie Stephens
Photo: Allison Evans at Wild Nest Photography
Photo: Allison Evans at Wild Nest Photography
Zach Handler (Adriane Fang) // A. Deran Photography (Ali Lorenz, Chloe Grace Michels, Emma Draves, Emily Loar, Ashley Deran,The Seldoms, Sarah Morimoto, Rachel Molinaro)// Julia Discenza (Colleen Thomas) // Meredith W. Watts (Simone Ferro) // William Frederking (Haley Marcin, Silvita Diaz-Brown) // Hannah Long (Janet Lilly) // xoMe studio (Kelly Anderson) // Art Wilinski/Revo Photo (Kerensa DeMars and Andy Miller) // Li Chiao-Ping (WI State Journal) // Taso Papadakis (RE|dance) // Rachel Malehorn (Milwaukee Ballet Company, Emery Meroni, Roxi Slavin, Isabella Graves) // Enki Andrews (Nejla Yatkin) // M Reid Photography (Visceral Dance Chicago, Morgan Williams, Nia Davis, Danielle Gilmore, Damon Green) // Chuck Osgood (Mordine Dancers) // Rae Zimmerli (Dan Schuchart) // KT Miller Photography (Nick Pupillo) // Katherine Helen Fisher (Gerald Casel) // Katie Graves (Shirley Mordine) // T Lavois Thiebaud (April Sellers,Laura Selle Virtucio, Joshua Lorris, Alys Ayumi Ogura) // Matthew Gregory Hollis (Cheryl Cornacchione, Lucy Riner, Michael O'Neill) // Jenny Loglias (Amanda List) // PC Chien-An Yuan (Kara Brody) // John R. Boehm (Charlique C. Rolle) // Nadia Oussenko (Sydney Osborn & Umi Nakamura) // Becca Vision (Mayu Nakaya) // Lumosco Photo (kt Williams) // photography- Bill Cameron + Graphic Design- Betsy Donovan (Alys Ayumi Ogura, April Sellers, Laura Selle Virtucio, Joshua Lorris)// Christal Wagner (Cyenthia Vijayakumar) // Yadhu Nandan (Varsha Prasad)// Jeff Pearcy (Katelyn Altman, Wild Space Dance Company) // Benjamin Wardell (Melinda Jean Myers) // Nadia Oussenko (Andy Slavin)