Co-Directors

Mayra Morales, Mexican artist, teacher, arts ambassador and researcher, has been teaching  at the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla since 2005. She currently is a dance professor in the BA Dance program and from August 2006 to July 2008 she was the Program's Coordinator. She has recently begun working in DEPA, an imaginary company for the Arts Development in Mexico.

Mayra studied dance from childhood in Puebla City and Mexico City. Pursuing her career she traveled frequently to Monterrey, Xalapa, Guadalajara, San Luis Potosí, Canada, Russia, USA, Portugal and London, where she discovered Contemporary Dance. With a Scholarship of Excellence in Humanities, she earned her BA in Dance at UDLAP in 2002, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She won an honorific mention in the 'best performer' contest during San Luis Potosi's Dance Festival 2001. She lived, studied and worked in London from 2003 to 2005, where she earned her MA in European Dance-Theatre Practices at LABAN, supported by an award from the National Fund for the Arts and Culture, Mexico, 2003.

Since 1999 she has been working as a performer and collaborating with national and international choreographers creating and co-creating dance and interdisciplinary pieces. Her work constantly questions the nature of artistic practice and investigates installation, performance art, site-specific and Dance-Theatre methodologies. Since 2004 she has described herself as a "Non-Disciplinary Artist," by which she means that she makes use of any possible medium to facilitate the rigorous search for answers to questions concerning Thought, Life and the Human Condition.  In doing so, she hopes to avoid the categorization of processes and results.

International activities include the following:

2005-- Participated in "The Dancer's Project" at The Place, London
2006-- Invited to audition at 2nd cycle at P.A.R.T.S., Brussels, Belgium, Invited to perform at "Arena Festival", Germany
2007-- Attended the International Symposium on Dance Research: Rethinking Dance Theory and Practice at Paris, France
2008-- Received Dance WEB Europe Scholarship for participation at Impulstanz Dance Festival, Vienna, Austria where she co-founded “Embassy of …” together with colleagues
invited to perform with artist Nadia Lauro for her piece "I Hear Voices"; collaborated with artist Penny Arcade and others, with whom she co-founded "ImpulsARcade".

Activities in Mexico:
2007--  Awarded the Prize for Best Choreography during Festival "Poesía y Movimiento" for "Mil Años Madrugada;
2008 (July)--Invited to participate at Festival Danza Extrema at Xalapa, Veracruz
2008 (February)-- Received funding from Puebla's government  for project "From A to Z" through the FOESCAP 2008-2009
She currently works with both projects "From A to Z" and "The Dinner Project" which started at Vienna under the supervision of DD Dorvillier and Trajal Harrel for the proposed investigation "Public Service," which was inaugurated with the Performance "We are not here to like each other."

At UDLAP she has taught courses in Performance and Ensemble, History and Theory of Dance, Choreography, Contemporary Dance Technique, Repertory, Body Conditioning, Movement for Actors, Seminar in Dance and Phenomenology, Seminar in Dance-Theatre and Theory of Performance Studies. She also teaches the following classes: Introduction to Dance and Tendencies and Problems of Today's Dance.
In 2006 she co-founded and now co-directs, together with Ray Eliot Schwartz, Performática: International Forum for Contemporary Dance and Movement Arts. Her goal is to share, exchange and generate praxis of thought and consciousness in response to the Society of the Spectacle in which we live and imagine a future in which change is possible towards substituting "I" for "us". Art for her is not about communication nor expression, but a response to an internal voice that commands: "Pull me back to Life".

http://udladanza.wordpress.com/

Ray Eliot Schwartz

Ray Schwartz is a movement artist and activist who has spent the last 26 years committed to consciously developing an experiential understanding of the body. He is interested in supporting people in attuning themselves towards a greater clarity of intention in technical and improvisational dancing, as well as in the practices of everyday life.

Since 1999, he has represented the integration of Somatic Movement Education and Dance practice on multiple occasions as a member of the faculties of the American Dance Festival, the Bates Dance Festival, MELT, the Movement Research educational intensive located in NYC, SFADI, and the Colorado College Summer Dance Festival. He has also taught, performed and conducted research extensively in the U.S, Europe and Asia. His training includes high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts and a BFA in Dance from Virginia Commonwealth University. Additional study includes certification as Practitioner of Body-Mind Centering, Certification in the Feldenkrais Method, training in Zero-Balancing, Cranio-Sacral Therapy, and Traditional Thai Massage.

Schwartz, as well, has maintained a practice of working with individuals over the same span of time. When his work with individuals has been a primary focus, it often takes the shape of bodyworker in residence at dance festivals, or in intensive periods of work with clients referred to him by the Instituto de Psicologia Profunda in Mexico City.

While studying for the MFA at the University of Texas at Austin, he balanced academic research with a commitment to service and activism within the Austin, Texas arts scene. He directed Sheep Army/Elsewhere Dance Theater, taught classes in dance, movement, and body-work, researched the aesthetic and pedagogical implications evoked by the integration of somatic movement education and contemporary dance forms among other activities.

(Click this link to download a PDF and read his Master's Thesis:)

Exploring the Space Between: The Effect of Somatic Education on Agency and Ownership Within a Collaborative Dance-Making Process

Currently Schwartz is serving as the Coordinator of the Licenciatura en Danza of the University of the Americas Puebla in Cholula/Puebla, Mexico. As part of his work there, he initiated and co-directs Performática: Foro Internacional de Danza Contemporánea y Artes de Movimiento. This congress gathers together an international cadre of practicing dancers, choreographers, theorists, and teachers of contemporary dance and related movement arts. They convene workshops, roundtable discussions and performances with the goal of facilitating international and intercultural exchange of dance practices, knowledge, theory, and culture as related to discourse of bodily movement, expression, and philosophy. He is also a research associate with the Center for Body Mind Movement, and has been an invited guest lecturer at the Institute for Kinesthetic Education in Durham, North Carolina.

http://udladanza.wordpress.com/

Technical Director

In 1999, he graduated as an Electronical Engineer with a major in Communication from UDLAP. He then went on in 2004, to receive his MBA, at the same institution, specializing in Services Marketing.

He is currently UDLAP's Head of the Scenic Arts Lab. Since 2003, he has been appointed as Technical Director of Danza UDLAP, UDLAP Ballet, Teatro UDLAP, Opera UDLAP, Performática and the Sunny Savoy Company. He has participated in national and international festivals such as:

• Performática 2007, 2008, & 2009
• ITI-UNESCO's Encuentro Nacional de los Amantes del Teatro 2006
• Jaime Sieber, Rip Parker and Ellen Bromberg's Hidden Sky, at the Temporada Cultural UDLAP Fall 2005
• ITI-UNESCO's First National Congreso of Scenic Arts, Quetzalcóatl 2005
• V Festival de Danza Contemporánea Zona Centro, Saltillo 2006
• Muestra Internacional de Danza Oaxaca, 2005
• Ciclo Solo Mujeres, Teatro de la Danza, DF 2005
• 2° Festival Poli Sensorial, Morelia 2004
• Festival Enésimo, Guadalajara 2004
• 6° Festival Internacional de Puebla 2004
• Extremadura 7: Gran Festival Internacional de Danza Contemporánea, Monterrey 2004
• 6° Encuentro Internacional de Escuelas Superiores de Teatro 2003

He has also collaborated as sound engineer with rock bands.

From 1995-2000 he worked as technician within the Events Department at UDLAP, which produces around 400 cultural events per year.

Since 2003 he has been teaching Scenic Production at the university, focusing on montage, set design and lightning design for theatre, dance and performance pieces. He also works as advisor for future graduates.

His lightning designs have granted him awards, such as Mayra Morales' De la A a la Z, within 2007's Festival Poesía en Movimiento.

His first performance, Eclipse, was first shown at Performática 2007.

Selection Committee 2011

Doménica López Amezcua studied a BA in Dance at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla, graduating Cum Laude in 2008. She began her studies in classical dance and ballet in the City of Aguascalientes, and continued them in the City of Puebla, at the Royal Academy of Dance, under the tutelage of Alma Porras. She was part of the company Hula Halau Iolani, where she studied Hawaiian, Tahitian and Folkloric dances; with the company she toured to Greece and within the Mexican Republic. At the Universidad de las Américas Puebla she was member of the companies Danza UDLAP and Ballet UDLA, receiving her education from renowned teachers and choreographers such as Ray Eliot Schwartz, Mayra Morales, Pedro Beiro, John Mead, Alejandra Ramírez, Rip Parker, Lourdes Peláez and Sunny Savoy (she was also member of Savoy's eponymous company).

Since 2008 she has been a dancer and invited choreographer for project Malva Danza, under Paulina Colmenares' direction. In that same year, she premiered her first evening-length concert called Magenta (...pensamientos afónicos), receiving accolades from audiences, academics and local critics, and was thus invited to collaborate in Performática 2009 as Assistant to the Directors and Artist. In 2009 she participated in the Tercer Concurso Internacional de Danza, in the City of Puebla, with her company CMYK contemporary dance, with whom she obtained recognition for her work as a choreographer.  This past October she premiered her collaborative work with Camerata Gioia and her company CMYK contemporary dance, receiving very good critiques about their piece.

Miguel Angel Guzmán, was born in Puebla, Mexico and graduated from Universidad de las Américas Puebla, with a degree in both Theatre and Dance. He has been part of festivals such as: ImPulsTanz in Austria, Mains d'Oeuvres in France, IF ONLY in Ireland, Performática in Mexico, Stoff Fringe Festival in Sweden, American Dance Festival in the USA. Miguel has collaborated with the following choreographers and directors: Deborah Hay, in Scotland and New York; Robin Poitras & Benoît Lachambre, and Chris Haring & David Wampach in Vienna; Claudio Valdés Kuri, in Mexico City; Mayra Morales in Puebla and Montréal; Zap McConnell in Virginia; Paulina Rucarba in Paris; Ray Schwartz in Puebla; Jason Akira Somma and Larissa Velez-Jackson both in New York; and with filmmakers Tong Watanayaem in Basel, Switzerland and Benjamin Cantu in Berlin, Germany. He is the recipient of numerous grants from the National Council for Culture and Arts in Mexico. He is currently dancing in the works of Michael Bodel in Vermont, Camilo Godoy and Coco Karol in New York City.

María Emilia Ismael Simental, received her PhD from the Universidad de las Américas, Puebla in the Programme of Creation and Theory of Culture. A violinist, researcher in music and teacher - she was born in Durango México. She started formal music training at age 8 in the Conservatoire of the City of Puebla and with private tutors. Among her teachers were the violinists Mikhail Medvid and Sergei Gorbenko. At an early age she became a member of chamber and symphonic orchestras - the State Symphonic Orchestra of Durango and the Symphonic Orchestra of Streamwood being two of them. Since 2000 she has practiced free improvisation as a violinist and has also participated in different festivals such as Instrumenta 2004 in Mexico and Interlace in London. She was a member of the UDLAP Chamber Choir from 2003 until 2006 with which she recorded two CD's; "Oh Tiempo" and "De Cuba pa' Usté". With the Chamber Choir she participated in international festivals and contests. Among these is the international choir competition Florilege Vocal in Tours, France, where the Choir was awarded two honours including the Renaissance prix, "Francois Rabelais". Emilia graduated as a BMus from Universidad de las Américas, Puebla in 2003. Her thesis was entitled, "Alfred Schnittke and the Possibility of Expression in Music." During this time she worked as a research assistant on post-tonal music with Luisa Vilar, PhD. (AMS). In 2006 she was awarded a Master Degree in Music in Russian Music Studies with distinction from Goldsmiths College, University of London. She participated as a speaker in the inaugural ceremony of the Schnittke Archive in February 2006 in London, delivering the paper "Alfred Schnittke and the Znamenny Rospev." She has studied with Elliott Antokoletz and Alexander Ivashkin, two prominent musicologists. She continues her research on Russian and Mexican Music and participates actively as a speaker on 20th century Music at various venues, most recently presenting a paper on the problem of the "popular" in music at Forhum 2008. At UDLAP she also lectures on the Theory of Music, Medieval Music, Twentieth Century Music History, Philosophy, and Musicology.

Presenting Artist/Contributor Bios

A | B | C | D | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | W | Z

Karl Anderson

In 1986, he received a BFA in Dance from CalArts. Mr. Anderson also graduated from Pratt Institute with a Bachelor's of Architecture in 1996 and a Master's of Architecture in 1998. He has had the privilege of performing with a bevy of talented creators including: Contraband, David Dorfman, Keely Garfield, Joe Goode, Allyson Green, David Lindsay-Abaire, Sally Silvers, and Stephanie  Skura. Karl's company, SLAMFEST, has been presented at a bunch of local venues including: The Kitchen, Joyce SoHo, Joe’s Pub, DTW, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, Galapagos, La MaMa, MR at Judson Church, PS 1, and PS 122. SLAMFEST has toured domestically to a bevy of venues in such bergs as: Charlottesville, Hoboken, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Phoenix, Richmond, San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, and Syracuse. SLAMFEST has also toured internationally to: Canada, England, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Mr. Anderson is a certified instructor of the Skinner Releasing Technique and has taught both domestically and internationally. Find out more at www.slamfest.org.

ArtSpot Productions

Jeff Becker Jeff is a set designer who specializes in site specific performances with innovative transforming environments. Jeff has collaborated with several theater companies including Cuttingball Theater, Pan Pan Theatre in Ireland and DAH Theater in Serbia. He is currently working with choreographer Elizabeth Streb developing exciting performance machines. Jeff is the recipient of several awards and grants including a NEA RAP Grant, Theater Bay Area Grant and a SURDNA Grant. He received a 2009 Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship and was selected as a participant in the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers. He is a member of ArtSpot Productions.

Sean LaRocca Sean LaRocca is a composer, music producer and publisher, and performing musician. Since returning to New Orleans in 1989, he has studied, performed, and recorded with numerous local musicians, and has composed and performed works for video, television, film, and theater. Since 1997, Sean has been collaborating with ArtSpot Productions, composing and performing music for several ArtSpot shows. Sean currently serves as ArtSpot's Managing Director.

Kathy Randels Founding artistic director of New Orleans' ArtSpot Productions, has written, performed in, and directed numerous original solo and group works for professional, student and incarcerated ensembles in Louisiana and beyond. Awards include New Orleans Magazine's Top 10 Female Achievers 2009, the 2008 V-Day Leadership Award, a 2003 OBIE (Nita & Zita) and numerous New Orleans theatre awards. Recent collaborations include: Loup Garou, Flight, Lakeviews, Swimming UpStream and Alternate Roots' UPROOTED: The Katrina Project. She collaborated with Serbia's Dah Theater from 1997-2003. She founded the Drama Club at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (1996-present) and has worked with the Students at the Center program in New Orleans Public Schools since 1998. Visit www.artspotproductions.org

Lisa Moraschi Shattuck Lisa is a theater artist based in New Orleans. She performs, writes and directs original theater. A few inspiring theater making experiences include: playing Nina, in Chekhov's Seagull at the University of the Arts; writing and directing Los Olvidados in Puebla, Mexico; developing Monkey to the Moon with Poh Gaik Teh, a deaf actress in San Francisco; playing Puck under the stars in Murphy's Creek, California; writing and directing Deep Fried at the City Arts Center in Dublin, Ireland; teaching theater to students in the Kerala in India; writing, directing and performing in Hua Lun with her fiancé in China; writing and performing Kiss the Spoon and Motherge; developing and performing in The Maid of Orleans and Flight with Jeff Becker and ArtSpot Productions, for who she is an ensemble member. lfshattuck@yahoo.com

Nick Slie He lives, works and breaths on the disappearing wetlands of coastal Louisiana. He is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of the New Orleans based performance collective Mondo Bizarro. He creates original works of performance that are rooted in a particular sense-of-place reflecting the needs, desires, memories and possibilities of the community from which it is born. Nick's work ranges from physical theater to multi-disciplinary solo work, from digital storytelling to collaborative ensemble productions. Nick is a proud member of Alternate ROOTS and currently serves as board president for the Network of Ensemble Theaters.

Ashley Sparks Ashley is a southern theatre maker and cultural organizer. Based in New Orleans she is a director and educator with ArtSpot Productions. As an organizer she currently serves as the Chair of the Board for Alternate ROOTS- southern United States arts service organization for artists and activists. Additionally, Ashley works for the Network of Ensemble Theaters as the coordinator for their national convenings and festivals. As a director, she has worked in across the USA on community-based plays as well as touring ensemble created work. She is an 2008 honoraria of the Princess Grace Award and holds an MF in Directing and Public Dialogue from Virginia Tech University.

Andréa Bergallo Snizek

She works as performer/creator and as dance and performance researcher since 1987. She is currently doing her Ph.D. in Dance at the Faculty of Human Motility, at the Technical University of Lisbon; her investigation holds currently the title Articulations of the Contemporary Body: Dance, Aesthetics and Politics. She has an MA from the University Gama Filho in Rio de Janeiro, is a specialist in Psychomotor Education by the Brazilian Institute of Medicine and Rehabilitation and received her undergraduate degree in Physical Education from the Federal University of Santa Catarina.

She has taught dance since 1996 in different institutions around Rio de Janeiro such as: UniverCidade, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and at the Angel Vianna Faculty where she coordinated the Dance Techniques and Choreographic Composition Laboratory for four years. She has taught as guest professor for the Master in Dance and Performative Arts, at the Faculty of Human Motility at the Technical University of Lisbon. Since February 2010 she is a professor at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa, a coordinator of the Midiateca Apoema (a space facilitating technology for the investigation and production of dance for the camera and new languages) and of Contemporary Dance, Dance Research and Artistic Production. She has also taught Contemporary Dance, Composition, Supervised Practices and Artistic and Executive Production. In 2010 she also curated the I Seminário Argumentos do Corpo, which proposed structuring an autonomous space within the university, devoted to individual and collaborative dance, performance and dance for the camera creations (www.argumentosdocorpo.blogspot.com).

In 2009 she directed the Nucleus of Contemporary Studies of the Body or NECC, at the Angel Vianna Faculty. In 2007 and 2008 she was artistic director and performer of Núcleo Duo Facto, alongside Marcellus Ferreira. In May 2007 she organized the I Internal Seminar of the Angel Vianna Faculty: Dance, Education and Technology.

She participated in diverse seminars with lectures about dance research, politics and aesthetics such as the I/II Encontro Transdisciplinar de Dança; I/II Seminario Interno de Dança at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Congresso da ABRACE 2006 and 2010; II Dance Theater Seminar at the Universidade Federal de Vicosa.

As a dancer she has worked with Lourdes Bastos, Jorge Rodrigues, Fábio de Mello, Andréa Maciel, Ana Vitória, Henrique Rodovalho, Alex Neoral, Moacyr Góes, Denise Stutz and others. She studied with Tatiana Leskova, Aldo Lotufo, Jane Blauch, Flavio Sampaio, Sandra Meyer, Ruth Rachou, Paulo Buarque, Ana Vitória, Paulo Caldas and Maria Alice Poppe. In 2000 she was nominated for the RioArte Dance Award as best female dancer, when being part of the Cia de Danza Ana Vitória. She participated at the 3rd International Dance Festival in Rio de Janeiro at the Municipal Theater, at the 10th-13th Panoramas RioArte in Rio de Janeiro, Correios em Moviment, VII Seine Saint Dennis' International Choreographic Encounters, VIII International Festival of the Arts in San Jose Costa Rica, Conexao Sul, Dança Brasil, Dance Magazine Project at the Maison de France Theater, Solos do Sesc (2007 and 2009). She participated at the opening of Rio de Janeiro's Choreographic Center, and she has toured around Brazil, Latin American and Europe.

She was a dancer of the following companies, Ballet Desterro, Ballet Studio Lourdes Bastos, Ballet Contemporaneo do Rio de Janeiro, Andréa Maciel Companhia de Dança, Companhia de Dança Ana Vitória, Núcleo Artístico DUO FACTO, NECC and since 2003 she has been making her own solo and collaborative works with other artists and choreographers.

She lived in Mexico in 1979/1980, an experience that changed her perception of the world, social, ethical and political values, and therefore, aesthetic values too.

Mirta Blostein

Choreographer and dancer born in Argentina. She has resided in Mexico since 1977. She received her BA in Artistic Education at INBA (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes) and has a Master's in Social Psychology for Groups and Institutions from UAM-Xochimilco. She has so far premiered 50 full-length pieces that have been presented in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Cuba, Germany and Italy. She has also developed work using alternative spaces, such as the Modern Art Museum and the Carrillo Gil Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City.

She teaches Scenic Projects at INBA's Escuela Nacional de Danza Clásica y Contemporánea. In 2001, she started her project titled Tiempo Vida Movimiento, inspired by life's stages, and thus commences with the stage of maturity, inspired by the age of 40, which gives way to the piece El Pie, Los Pies o La Historia en el Zapato. She received funds from the Programa de Apoyo a la Docencia, Investigación y Difusión de las Artes (PADID); the piece was interpreted by three dancers. Taking now the age of 50, she develops another chapter called Cincuenta y Pico... Both works received very good reviews. Mirta's work centers itself upon the investigation of the development of the body's expressive language: movement, and therefore the relationship between body, space and objects ad well as the relationship between movement, thought and viceversa. Thus, she was invited to participate at international congresses as lecturer. She had a most important participation at Mexico's congress The Deciphered Body. She teaches Body Expression, and is a founding member of La Maravilla Corporal, a group of practice, study and promotion of body expression in Mexico. This group has been going on for eleven years, giving courses at institutions such as Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. She also collaborates for the dance magazine DCO: DanzaCuerpoObsesión.

Nick Bryson

Nick Bryson was born in Belfast, Ireland and trained at Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, England and School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He also holds a Masters in Contemporary Dance Performance from University of Limerick, Ireland. He has performed his solo and group work around Europe and Mexico, including Culture Ireland supported tours of Mexico in 2008 and 2009 (Lingering on A Diagonal and Touching Distance. His duet with Damian Punch Hanging in There is an internationally celebrated work of comedy dance theatre that toured Europe with Aerowaves 09/10, premiering the seasons of Aerowaves at The Place in London. He has a long standing interest in exploring the hinterlands between dance and juggling.

Mónica Coronado Mateos

(Barcelona/Amsterdam) Mónica teaches voice, is a performer and a singer. She received her diploma in Primary Education from UAB, in Barcelona 1999 and is 2007 she received her Bachelor's from ARTEZ Music School, in Holland. For two years she has studied with Patricia Bardi (www.patriciabardi.com) in a training program of somatic movement called Vocal Dance and Voice Movement Integration, in Amsterdam. She has been investigating the relationship between voice and movement, in search of new patterns and new territories for expression. She currently resides in Holland, where she offers voice and movement workshops, and teaches voice classes as well. She also travels abroad as a performer of different musical formations and she also facilitates workshops.

Nicole Dagesse

Inspired by the beauty and nuance of the natural world, Nicole Dagesse is a Site-Specific Artist at home in dense forest, deep grass, and encompassing stone. Nicole is a graduate student at the University of Colorado with an emphasis on Site-Specific Dance and Somatics. Inspired by three-dimensional space, Nicole is also an aerial dancer whose skills of flight easily translate from trapeze and fabric to trees and stone. When not creating her own work, Nicole is a teacher of movement to any and all with a desire to move.

Sven Doehner

Originally from Mexico City. He holds an MFA from from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Newport University. He spent a year working at Parkland's Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas at the Psychiatric Urgencies Department. He is educated in Jungian and Archetypical Psychology (Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture and six years of courses and workshops at the C.G. Jung Institute in Boston. He is currently studying to be a Somatic Movement Educator at the BodyMindMovement School. As a director of the Instituto de Psicología Profunda en México, Sven has guided workshops, course and formation programs since 1981 around Mexico, Europe and North & South America. Sven integrates Depth Psychology with ancestral healing and native spiritual traditions. In his quest to open psychic spaces and restoring corporal, emotional and mental movement in the human being, she includes in an innovative way different vocal sonority experiences in his work with dream and quotidian life images, obtaining results of deep transformation both in the personal and spiritual levels.

Brooke Gessay

Brooke Gessay has spent 25 years fascinated with, perplexed by, and in love with the art of dance. As an Arts and Sciences Fellow in the MFA program in Dance at the University of Colorado (Boulder), she is currently studying how Integral Theory informs the practice of dance. What this means is an exploration of how movement art supports deepening awareness of self, other, community, and the Ineffable. Prior to entering graduate studies, Brooke spent six years as a devoted member of LEVYdance in San Francisco, creating, teaching, performing, and touring nationally and internationally. During that time, she also worked extensively with at-risk youth, public school teachers, and other teaching artists through Performing Arts Workshop, using creative movement and writing as a vehicle for self-knowledge and education in critical thinking. Brooke has also performed as a member of Malashock Dance (San Diego), including collaboration with the San Diego Opera, as well as on tour with Weird Al Yankovic. She holds a BA in Dance and English/Creative Writing from Connecticut College, where she worked with David Dorfman, Dan Wagoner, Eddie Taketa, and Jeremy Nelson, among other fantastic teachers. Brooke's early training was in ballet and modern dance with Janice Lee and Carol Mead. Along with graduate studies, Brooke works as a Life Coach, teaches dance in the Boulder community, and is a student of Zen Buddhism.

Cristina Goletti

From Italy, trained at the London Contemporary Dance School where she gained a Postgraduate Diploma with distinction dancing and touring across Europe with Edge, the Postgraduate Company of LCDS. As a dancer, she performed works by Hofesh Schechter, Jonathan Lunn, Charles Linehan, Maresa Von Stockert and Yann Lheraux amongst others. In Ireland as part of the Daghdha Mentoring Programme, she was in Michael Klien's Sand Section and in Ruins for Myriad Dance Company. In 2007 she co-founded Legitimate Bodies Dance Company, the dance company in residence at Birr Theatre and Arts Centre and supported by Offaly County Council. Since then she has been involved in all the company productions (Lingering on a Diagonal/ Touching Distance and R-Ated) as well as in the educational and managerial aspect of it. Recent awards include DanceWEB European Scholarship Vienna 2008 and two Bursary Awards from The Irish Arts Council. Cristina is also a certified Pilates teacher from Body Control Pilates UK and has been teaching release technique across Europe, Japan, Mexico and the USA. Since 2008 she is one of the co-founder of DARI, Dance Artists in Rural Ireland, a network of Irish dance artists based outside the capital and the director of I.F. O.N.L.Y. the first and only festival in Ireland dedicated to dance solos. Cristina is an MFA candidate at University of Colorado at Boulder.

Lance Gries

While pursuing an early love of music and an economics degree, Lance Gries began formal dance training at Indiana University and later completed his BFA in Dance at SUNY Purchase in Purchase, New York. From 1985-1992, Lance Gries was a member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company. His work with that company has been honored with a New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award and a Princess Grace Foundation Award. Since 1990, he has created and presented solo and group choreography in various venues in New York City such as The Kitchen and Danspace and in cities throughout Europe. He has taught workshops and master classes throughout the world and in 1994 became a "founding teacher" of P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, Belgium and continues there as a visiting teacher. He has taught for many European dance companies and institutions such as ROSAS, UltimaVez, Lyon Opera Ballet, London Contemporary Dance, CND in Paris, Toulouse and Lyon, France, the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, Tanzfabrik in Berlin, The Danish National School of Contemporary Dance in Copenhagen, as well as Movement Research, Janet Panetta Studio and Trisha Brown Studios in NYC. His ongoing research into the interconnectedness and individual expression of body/mind/spirit is the basis for his teaching and artistic work.

Brennan Harvey

Received her Bachelor of the Arts in Theatre/Dance and Psychology from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. A yearn for knowledge and adventure beyond the Midwest has taken her around the world, including Japan, England, and Mexico. Brennan found her passion for performing at a young age, singing in the chorus of the musical No, No A Million Times No at the age of 8. Although acting and singing became an integral part of her life, it wasn't until after making her high school show choir, The Sensations, that she discovered her love of dance. After making this discovery, she was able to develop her skills in a variety of unique styles, such as color guard, hip hop, cheerleading, and of course, show choir. Brennan spent January 2008 in Japan studying ritual and performance. During this time, she studied many art forms including Noh, Kabuki, and the intriguing dance style of Butoh from Kazuo Ohno himself. She then spent January 2009 in London, England studying theatre at the historic sites of Stratford-Upon-Avon and West End. She now resides in Hollywood, California. Since moving to Los Angeles in September of 2009, Brennan has had the opportunity to perform on the professional hip hop dance crew AXXENT, during season five of MTVs Americas Best Dance Crew. She was also chosen to be a part of the CNE Irish Step Dance Company, and Rekka Yosakoi Japanese Dance Team. www.Bharvey.co.cc

HeJin Jang

Independent choreographer, performer, teacher, video artist and writer. Born and raised in Seoul, Korea; BS from Seoul National University, MFA from University of Michigan and Hollins/ADF. Performed through New York and internationally including Bristol (UK), London (UK), Vienna (Austria), Zurich (Switzerland), Nancy (France), Essen (Germany), Montreal (Canada), Seoul (Korea) among others. Performed in works by many inspiring artists such as Alex Beller, Peter Sparling, Robin Wilson, Doug Varone, Tatiana Baganova, SungMin Hong, Emily Wexler, Lyndsey Karr, Deborah Hazler, Nora Stephens, Helen Simoneau, Gina Kohler, Jennie MaryTai Liu, Jérome Bel, and Tino Segal to name a few. Taught Modern Technique, Improvisation, Composition, Hip Hop throughout US and Korea including American Dance Festival, Movement Research, Hollins University, University of Michigan, American College Dance Festival Association, Keimyung University (Korea), and Pasha Dance Company (Korea) among many. Grand Prize Winner at The 3rd Seoul Christian Dance Fellow Festival (Korea, '07); Artistic Director of Dance 2XS Hip Hop Dance Inc. Michigan Chapter (Ann Arbor, 06-07); Recipient of Arts Council Korea Fellowship (Korea, '09-present); Artist-in-Residency at Movement Research (New York, '09-present); SIWIC ensemble dancer (Switzerland, '09); Movement Research faculty (New York, 10), American Dance Festival faculty (Durham, '09-present); Dance New Amsterdam Faculty (New York, '10-present). www.hejinjangdance.com

Xander Jeanneret

Earned his Bachelor of the Arts in Theatre/Dance, Art, and International Studies at Luther College in Iowa. Though he finds his roots in the Midwest, Xander's life has branched out around the world. Xander has spent time in Greece, Italy, Canada, Mexico, France, England, and lived for one year in Nagasaki, Japan. He now lives in Hollywood, California. At Luther College, Xander explored movement in the collaborative, somatic piece PORTALS, choreographed by Jane Hawley. Since that experience in his freshman year, Xander went on to study Contact Improvisation, Ballet, Hip Hop, and Musical Theatre style dance. From 2007 to 2008 Xander lived in Nagasaki, Japan. He attended the Nagasaki University of Foreign Languages and majored in Japanese through a one-year program. While in Nagasaki, Xander was a member of the Toppuu Yosakoi club, a dance program that permanently changed his dance and choreographic style. Xander brought the Yosakoi style of dance back to Luther College, and started a successful dance group that performed throughout the year, including an invited performance at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, and the National Conference of Undergraduate Research. Xander also founded Rekka Yosakoi Team based in Hollywood, California. Xander spent January of 2009 in London, England, and was able to study theatre at the historic sites of Stratford-Upon-Avon and West End. In April of 2009 he performed SO TECH, SO SAVVY at the dance festival Performatica in Cholula, Mexico. http://www.xanderjeanneret.co.cc

Kate Jewett

Born in Quincy, MA, USA and raised in Sardinia, OH, Kate attended North Carolina School of the Arts, receiving her BFA in 2002. While working with the Merce Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group, she had the opportunity to work with Mr. Cunningham during his creation of Split Sides and Views on Stage. In 2005, Kate joined Shen Wei Dance Arts and was involved in the creation process of MAP, RE- part 1 and 3. As a company member, teacher, rehearsal director and teaching artist, she has conducted master classes at various venues and performed all over Europe, Asia, Australia and the US. Her own works have been performed at DeSales University, Ur, Bushwick Star, the United Nations, Milan and the Fabbrica Europa festival. Named Director of Education and Outreach for Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2008, she created a dance education program for New York City Schools, while also working on various company outreach activities. Kate has been Rehearsal Director for Shen Wei Dance Arts since January 2009.

Left Feet Collective

Left Feet is a movement collective which began as just Two Left Feet, Maia McCoy and Danielle Casey, working in a basement studio at The New School in New York. Since relocating to Austin, TX, in 2007 they've performed at the Big Range Dance Festival, The University of Texas, Tranarchy, and numerous independently produced shows. Over the past three years, new "left feet" keep joining, working democratically to create edgy, conceptual work which often takes on identity, politics, gender, popular culture, and various ekphrastic themes. Some recurring feet include, Kelly Hasandaras, Katherine Walter Hodges, and Janna Rock. Individually, members have danced for Chaddick Dance Theater, Spank Dance, choreographer Andee Scott and Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner in his Bodies In Urban Spaces Project commissioned by Fusebox Festival, to name just a few. Our collective education spans Movement Research workshops to ADF to a Butoh workshop in Guadalajara with Natsu Nakajima in addition to formal training.

Abigail Levine

Abigail Levine is a dancer and performance artist in New York City. Most recently, she performed in Marina Abramovic's three-month retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, with multi-disciplinary artist Carolee Schneemann, and with Cuban choreographer Marianela Boán. Abigail's own dances explore interactions between human bodies and urban environments. Her work has been shown in the US, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil and Taiwan. She is completing a Masters Degree at New York University in Latin American Performance Studies and works at the Instituto Hemisférico de Performance y Política.

Leilani Maciel Cabañas

She received the scholarship "Apoyo a Humanidades" in 2002 to Major in Dance at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), from where she graduated with honors in 2007. She continues her studies taking workshops, classes and laboratories both in Mexico and the US. She was chosen for the Steps Choreography/Performance Program 2007 in New York City. In 2008 she was granted a scholarship by AXIS Dance Company to study the Physically Integrated Summer Intensive Program in Oakland, California. In 2009 she received a scholarship to participate in the dance for the camera Festival Agite & Sirva, in Mexico City. As a performer she has worked in Mexico with the company UDLA Danza, Sunny Savoy Company, Axis Plastica, Muuval Collective and GAMultimedia; and in New York with choreographers Tiffany Rhynard and Heidi Latsky. She currently resides in Mexico City, collaborating with choreographer Hana Ruzanska (Czech Republic) since 2008; with Compañía Tierra Independiente under the direction of Helmar Alvarez since 2009 and most recently in performance projects held at the Museo de San Ildefonso. She is co-founder of LO no BLA i Company, created in 2008; she has presented her work in Mexico and the US. She has also presented her work as performer, choreographer and director in varies places, ranging from streets to independent forums as well as in renowned national and international festivals. She has also toured nationally. Since 2006 she teaches disciplines such as contemporary dance, jazz, improvisation, and contact improvisation to children, teenagers, young and adult dancers. Her quest as an artist and person is centered in learning, appreciating and sharing open and free forms of expression to any human being, taking a particular interest in collective and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her current research lies in the mind/body/energy relationships and in the sensitive contact towards diverse forms of being. http://leilanimacielcabanas.blogspot.com/

Brenda Leticia Mayr Villalobos

She is currently a senior from the BFA in Classical and Modern Dance at BUAP. She has also furthered her studies at the Universidad de Sonora, Universidad Veracruzana, INBA's Center of Formation and Choreographic Creation and the Cultural Institute of Morelos by attending workshops and courses in diverse dance techniques. She participated in the II International Dance Festival: Tierra de Encuentros, under the direction of Mauricio Nava, as well as with the Grupo Metamorfosis, in diverse venues around the state of Puebla and in the city of Orizaba. She currently is working on her social service as performer in the program Prodanza Contemporánea, as well as undergoing practices at the Training for Teachers of Dance within Non-Urban Communities Diploma, at the municipality of Ocuituco, Morelos. She was invited by Grupo Metamorfosis and Colectivo Sinergia to collaborate at the project Modern Dance Gallery Habitaciones en Fuga in the area of Movement Design (supported by the grant Support to the Artistic Production 2010).

Zap McConnell

Zap McConnell began investigating dance/movement performance at North Carolina School of the Arts in 1988. Upon leaving NCSA, she began traveling, splitting her time between performance, visual arts and direct environmental activism in Northern California, New York City, Idaho, Mexico, Costa Rica and Colorado. Zap has been involved with the Zen Monkey Project since 1995 performing, teaching, stage managing, producing and directing evening-length pieces. She facilitated the New Dance Space in 2001 and co-facilitated Studio 11 at the McGuffey Art Center, organized performance festivals and several ZMP's summer dance intensives. She is also a visual artist who regularly creates and prints cartoon books, paints, makes murals, sculpture and has built performance installation sets that also included lights and costumes. Zap has been a main organizer for many large scale community endeavors, spanning from a huge local artist created carnival, to an in-depth political community weekend investigating the past and present of Native Americans, to the adoption (with the stream ecology class) of a highly impaired stream for over ten years. Zap was a full time core teacher at the Living Education Center for Ecology and the Arts, an alternative high school in Charlottesville, Virginia, for almost a decade. Recently Zap is again splitting her time between USA and Mexico and between performances, art shows and teaching. In 2008 Zap was commissioned by Performatica to make a site specific performance on the campus of UDLAP, working with students of dance and exploring the history of the land. This has sparked an enriching relationship between Zap and the community of Cholula, Mexico that has continued with many projects: her core collaboration with Ofrenda en Movimiento 2008 (created, produced, directed by Denisse Cardenas), a community based performance event at the Jardín Botánico Francisco Peláez to honor the heritage of Día De Muertos; returning as a guest artist making more work with UPLAP students that has been performed at Performatica 2009 and surrounding areas, and participating in other performances and community events. Upon returning to Virginia, in addition to three art shows, Zap has been part of Live Arts Dance Festival 2009 and created an evening length piece Invisible Spines utilizing dancers from Puebla (produced by @hand productions, her newly created production company), which premiered at the opening of Dogtown Dance Theater 2010, a brand new performance/community space actualized by Ground Zero Dance Company. Zap also was involved with the spring 2010 tour of Tevyn East's one woman show: Leaps and Bounds, (an Affording Hope Project) while simultaneously finishing a giant wall mural painting project for Breakfast of Course, Winston-Salem, N.C.. She is super thrilled to be returning to Mexico this fall and spring, taking the winter of 2011 to be a dancer for Karl Frost's Body of Knowledge in California.

Carolina Ramírez Reyes

Born in Puebla. She started her studies when she was 6 years old at Espacio 1900: Professional School of Classical and Contemporary Dance, in Puebla, under the direction of Gerardo Solís Posada and Manuel Reigadas. There she participated in numerous presentations at the Teatro Principal, Teatro de la Ciudad and at the Auditorio Reforma. She studies a BFA in Contemporary Dance at the Universidad Veracruzana. After finishing her studies, she starts teaching contemporary, ballet and choreography at the Talleres Universitarios de Danza Contemporánea at the Universidad de Guadalajara, and she becomes a principal dancer at the company Gineceo Danza Contemporánea. She is appointed Artistic Director of the company Ceti Danza y Performance in 2008; she also serves as light designer, music editor, video editor and co-choreographer as well as professor of contemporary and ballet. She currently holds a chair at the BFA in Dance at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla BUAP, where she teaches technique and scenic execution. She is also President of the Academy of Contemporary Technique. She is founder and organizer of the International Dance Day at Danza BUAP, which has been held at the Colegio de Danza and at the Complejo Cultural Universitario BUAP. She is co-founder and organizer of InterBUAP 2010: Choreographic Competition, and of the Committee for the Choreographic Development of BUAP's Dance School. She also holds a Bachelor's in Nutrition since she considers of the utmost importance and an urgent necessity to support dancers in their nutrition. She has also being a nutritionist for the companies Gineceo at UDG and for CODACO at CCU-BUAP. She applied clinical/nutritional exams to new students of the BFA in Dance at BUAP and Universidad Veracruzana, aiming to detect the nutritional state with which the dancers came into school.

Laura Ríos

Mexican artist, researcher and professor as well as freelance writer. She currently is part of Nidopermita's scenic/somatic lab which is part of the Center of Somatic Research and Healing Arts CISAC, in Mexico City. Alumna of UNAM's Faculty of Psychology and of INBA's Center of Choreographic Investigation. In 2000 she was certified by Nancy Topf -pioneer of release- in New York City. Though her formation is in dance, her artistic development has been focused more on performance, starting in the 90s in Mexico City -time in which performance had it's boom with the emergence of X Teresa Arte Actual and of spaces like Caja 2, Epicentro, Obra Negra, La Panadería, La Quiñonera. She collaborated with renowned artists of performance, installation and video. She was a co-organizer of the first and second Dance for the Camera Journey at the Cineteca Nacional, curator of the dance for the camera screening at the Bronx Academy of Arts in New York, of Agite y Sirva: Itinerant Dance for the Camera Festival. She has also been invited to participate in lectures and meetings such as Grand Prix International Vidéo Danse France in Mexico City, at the Manuel M. Ponce Hall, at the Palace of Fine Arts, among others. As a teacher, she has taught more than 30 workshops and courses in Release and Topf Techniques -at UDLAP; at Die Etage, School of Scenic Arts in Berlin; at the National Dance Coordination, at the School of Arts of the Universidad de Puebla; at Morelos' Center of Choreographic Formation; at PRISMA Forum, and at the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla and Querétaro. She has also taught to women in jail and to kids. She has collaborated in different areas such as radio, electronic and printed media. www.nidopermita.blogspot.com

Julie Rothschild

Dancer and Certified Alexander Technique Teacher, has been teaching, choreographing, and performing throughout the US and internationally for 20 years. She recently moved to Boulder from Athens, GA where she taught Modern Dance, Contact Improvisation, and Alexander Technique at her studio, Floorspace Movement Arts Studio, as well as at University of Georgia and Emory University. In Boulder, she teaches yoga and Alexander Technique, plays with her dog, and enjoys her family.

Tara Rynders

I am a dancer who layers performance with visual art, remixed sound scores, video, projection, site- specific performance and film. I enjoy cross collaborating with various artists and disciplines for it is through these collaborations I discover new worlds of movement and art that would have never been realized alone. Through multiple mediums I explore narratives that highlight the beautiful simplicity found tangled in relationships, family, and love. I enjoy crafting a connection with the viewer that creates a conversation drawing self-reflection and exploration of the world through a unique lens. This connection is created through multiple roles including teacher, choreographer, collaborator, and viewer. I enjoy spending as much time in the process as possible breaking beyond unstated boundaries and finding new intentions, and movement, that could only be fully realized through hours and hours poured into the choreography, dancers, and collaborators. In the end I hope to connect with and inhabit both the performers and the viewer as together we create a performance. In the end it is the simple everyday moments of life that capture my attention and inspire me to create for it is in these moments I find richness and truth.

Laura Silva Cervantes

Teacher, dancer, choreographer and General Director of KOSMODANZ Dance Theatre Company, she is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico. Since 1979 she has devoted herself to art. She received her training at Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez's School of Fine Arts and at Mexico's National Ballet, where she became a professional dancer, majoring in modern dance. She has a Bachelor's in Law and Social Sciences from Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez. In 2004 she received a scholarship from the Instituto Oaxaqueño de las Culturas to study two diplomats in Cultural Development and Sustainable Development at CONACULTA (National Council for Culture and Arts).

She is also an accomplished costume designer and has worked as teacher, dancer, regisseur and choreographer with diverse modern dance and dance theatre companies. In 1995 she worked as artistic coordinator of Grupo Cultural Tradición on a population in Oaxaca called Tlacolula. They presented work at La Guelaguetza, with their traditional Mayordomía, touring Los Angeles, California, Fresno and Oxnard. In 1997 she received from Oaxaca's State Government as recognition for heightening Mexican dance, both nationally and internationally. As performer, she has won three national dance awards, working with diverse companies and choreographers. She has performed at many festivals, domestically and internationally, such as Festival El Cruce, which took place in Rosario, Argentina; and in Performática 2007, organized by the Universidad de las Américas, in Puebla, Mexico.

She was a teacher at CONACULTA and at the Instituto Oaxaqueño de las Culturas, with the project "Alas y Raíces a los Niños", where she also took different trainings in diverse artistic disciplines with the renowned teachers of the institution. She has taught workshops in Dance and Corporal Expression at DIJO (Desarrollo Integral de la Juventud Oaxaqueña). She also studied at IBBY-Mexico (International Boards on Books for Young People). She was Cultural Coordinator and Librarian at Oaxaca's Biblioteca Pública Central Estatal. Alongside Ensamble A.C. Espacio de Fomento a la Lectura in the city of Oaxaca, she designed and collaborated on a program that aimed on broadening the reading specter on parents of small children. Since 1999 to date she is Coordinator of BUNKO (space for reading), in a private school in Oaxaca. She also coordinated Santillana Editorial's program "lectoresenred". In 2006 she premiered two works: a versed story for kids which she wrote, acted and directed; and a choreographic piece dedicated to the cancer she overcame without ever halting work.

In July 2007, she won scholarships from New York's The Field and Free Dimensional so as to attend the International Interdisciplinary Residency in Art and Ecology, with other fourteen artists from around the globe in Guapamacátaro, Maravatío, Michoacán, in Mexico. She is currently a dancer, teacher and choreographer of her own company, KOSMODANZ Dance Theatre. She teaches modern dance, encourages reading and gives lectures, workshops and presentations about reading and book selection in diverse institutions and universities. She promotes and conducts cultural events and collaborates at the Coordinación General de Bibliotecas Públicas del Estado. She is continually invited to work as jury in the areas of Theater, Dance and Poetry. In 2010 she was invited by the Supervision of Secondary Schools of the Zone 027 to participate in the opening of the Spanish Language Academy, where she wrote a speech concerning the bicentennial and staged a poetry performance; she was also an advisor for the Encounter of Arts and Spanish in the areas of Theatre, Dance and Literature, at the Casa de la Cultura Oaxaqueña and at the Colegio Vista del Valle.

Jen Stone

Originally from North Carolina, is a seasoned performer and teacher. Stone started her training at the North Carolina School of the Arts before heading to NYC where she studied with numerous choreographers and performed with David Dorfman, Joy Kellman, Amy Pivar and Cyrus Khambatta. There she also fell in love with yoga and has been teaching an Anusara Vinyasa based class since 1999. After completing her BFA at Virginia Commonwealth University and studying contact improvisation with Steve Paxton, she performed improvisation with the Zen Monkey Project and then later with Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround. Stone has presented her own work in numerous venues throughout Washington, DC. She has also taught dance at George Washington University and performed with Maida Wither's Dance Construction Company enjoying a long tour in Russia where she met her dance partner Megan. Recently Stone has focused her energy on raising her family while deepening her teaching of yoga and Pilates in the foothills of Virginia as well as enjoying her second career teaching master classes, performing Li Chiao-Ping's work and creating movement adventures with Megan Thompson and the 5th Adventure Project.

Lou Sturm

German dancer and choreographer. She resides in Xalapa, Veracruz since January 2006. She received her education at Die Etage, in Germany, as well as in other places of Europe and in New York, with teachers like Libby Farr, Janett Panetta, Frey Faust, Joe Alegado, Tim Golliher, Jeremy Nelson, Iñaki Azpillaga, Nancy Stark-Smith, David Zambrano, Sarah Pearson, Daniel Lepkoff, Andrew Harwood, Jan Miller, Kirstie Simpson, and others.

She has been an educator for over 12 years. Amongst her curricula there can be named Modern Dance, Release, Choreographic Composition, Contact Improvisation, Dance for the Camera and Yoga. She has presented her dance theatre, choreography, improvisation, site-specific performance and installation work in Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, India and Mexico. She has collaborated as interpreter and choreographer with Nir de Volff (Amsterdam/Berlin), Julie Bougard (Brussels), Nusch Werchowski, Nathalie Renard and Pascale Gille. She has also been part of international festivals such as Potsdam Impro Festival, Performática, Auroville Dance Festival, Dance Festival of Antigua Guatemala and Filmarte Festival 2010, where She received the Cacho'e Tabla Award, for the pieces Tocan Tierra and No Quiero Que Bailes. Her dance for the camera works Flor & Marchita (Welke & Blume) and Zebra Me Red have been presented in festivals around Hamburg, Stockholm, Glasgow, San Francisco and Xalapa.

In 2000, she received P.A.R.T.S.'s Summer Studios scholarship. From 2002 until 2003 she studied Classical Hindu Dance, in India. She was also certified as a Community Performance Teacher by the Lola Rogge Schule, in Hamburg. Since 2000 she has studied Body-Mind Centering in Europe, with teacehrs Sygun Schenk, Horst Viral, and Kurt Vogel, among others. Lou is currently studying to become a Certified Somatic Movement Educator (Body-Mind-Movement), with teachers Mark Taylor and Ray Schwartz. Lou is the founder and director of the company TEMPESDANZA.

Katie Swords

Originally from Gastonia, NC, lives in NYC where she dances, teaches, and choreographs. Katie helped co-found VIA Dance Collaborative, a NYC based dance company, for which she choreographs and dances with today. She currently works with Daniel Charon Dance and has had the pleasure of dancing with other influential choreographers including Melissa Briggs, Satoshi Haga, and Helen Simoneau. She has also worked with photographer, Lois Greenfield, whose photos of Katie were featured in Shutterbug Magazine in December 2007. Katie received her BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts and her MFA in dance while on fellowship through Hollins University/the American Dance Festival.

Megan Thompson

Received her MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland and her BS in Dance from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her early dance training included study at the Gus Giordano Dance Studio, the Lou Conte Dance Studio and the Laban Centre in London. She has danced professionally in the Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company and the Maida Withers Dance Construction Company and has presented her own work in Chicago, Madison, WI, Norfolk, VA, Washington, DC, Guatemala and Russia. In addition to her dance training, Megan completed a 700-hour Pilates certification program in 2006. She has taught dance and Pilates at numerous festivals and universities, such as the University of Maryland, Winona State University, the Isadora Dance Festival in Russia, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet's summer program, and the National Institutes of Health. She is currently a Lecturer in Dance at Old Dominion University. Recently, Megan co-created the 5th Adventure Project with dance artist Jen Stone. Together they are performing, creating and teaching around the world.

Luis Villanueva Dueñas

Mexican Actor, Dancer and Choreographer. He has performed in national and international festivals held in Mexico, Argentina, France, Holland, Belgium, Colombia and United States. He has worked as a performer with Mexico's most important companies as well as in France's Opera de Lille. He has also been part of several theatre pieces and operas. As a choreographer he has staged four short pieces, a scenic intervention and two operas. He has taught contemporary technique and improvisation to companies in Mexico, Atlanta and Chile. He was awarded the price to Best Dancer at 2005's La Danza al Fondo del Noreste, in 2007 at the Improvisation Competition in Querétaro and he received the Best Male Dancer award of the Premio a la Creación Coreográfica Miguel Covarrubias 2007. He has been a FONCA grant holder in 2006/2007 as performer and in 2009/2010 ad Scenic Creator.

Fatima Wachowicz

Brazilian dancer and actress. She has taught, performed and researched dance and theater for the last 20 years. She is a recent Ph.D. graduate (2006/2009) from the Federal University of Bahia/Brazil. During her doctoral studies she spent 12 months in Australia on a CAPES fellowship at the University of Western Sydney - MARCS Auditory Laboratories. Fatima holds a Master of Arts degree from the Federal University of Bahia/Brazil (2003-2005). She has been using experimental methods to investigate cognitive processes in creating and performing dance. She has researched in perception, attention and memory of movement. When she lived in Australia, she participated in the World Dance Alliance Global Summit / WDA-Asian Pacific/2008, Dance Conference which was attended by artists from Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other countries located in South Asia. It was an awesome opportunity to know and to try different dance possibilities that people have done around the world. One year later, she attended the World Dance Alliance Americas - WDA/2009, in Madison, Wisconsin/US, and presented a talk on dance and cognitive skills. At her life time in Brazil she studied classical dance, Laban, contemporary dance, improvisation, choreographic composition and drama.

In the 90s she worked with many Brazilian Artists as Amir Haddad (Grupo Ta; Na Rua) which performed theater on the streets and squares in Rio de Janeiro, Clivia Cohen (children's musical), Tizuka Yamazaki (cinema), Claudio Boeckel (theater). Completed undergraduate (1999), she went to Amsterdam for a month and attended at Parkstudio- Henny Jurriens Foundation the Workshop Modern Dance - Flying Low, directed by David Zambrano, and the Workshop Axix Syllabus, guided by Frey Faust. Later, back to Brazil, she started to work with Companhia Ana Vitória Dança Contemporanea, where she could participate in national tours and also at Festival Internacional de Las Artes, in San José, Costa Rica, April 2002. For the past 8 years, she has danced Contact Improvisation Technique; her first contact with it was in Bahia, with David Iannitelli. Later, she participated in Contact Improvisation workshops and jams sessions in Brazil lead by Alito Alessi (US), Ana Flexa (US), Camillo Vacalebre (Italy), Aaron Jessup (US), Cristina Turdo (Argentina), Fernando Neder (Brazil). In 2010 Fatima joined the Projeto Entrando Em Contato, directed by Ana Alonso, in Florianopolis, Brazil. Currently, she is serving as Professor at University of Viçosa, Minas Gerais State, in Brazil, 'Curso de Licenciatura em Danca', and Dance BA, Department of Arts and Humanities.

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