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previews and reviews
By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin | Wednesday, June 11, 2008, 11:20 AM
In case any of you arts aficionados have been under a rock … this June has emerged unofficially as THE dance month of calendar.
Some of the convergence of dance has been artfully planned. Last weekend, the first Big Range Austin Dance Festival kicked up its heels. Spearheaded by indie dance mover-and-shaker Ellen Bartel, Big Range (which has been going strong in Houston for several years), brings a lineup of national and local indie modern dance makers to Austin for two weeks of showcases.
It’s a brilliant move on Bartel’s part to coordinate such a happening. Austin’s been long overdue for this kind of coordination of the indie dance scene. Check out the Big Range Austin web site for details on the shows, which run through Sunday, including this weekend’s showcase featuring new work by two-time Austin Critics’ Table Award-winner Sharon Marroquin and the ever impressive David Justin of American Repertory Ensemble.
Who performed in 2008.
Chika Aluka studied Graham, Dunham, Horton, ballet and jazz techniques at The Ailey School, Steps on Broadway, Peri Dance and UT-Austin. She received most of her training from Rudolfo Mendez and Melissa Villarreal of Ballet East Dance Company. Ms. Aluka has performed with Ariel Dance Theatre, Spank Dance Company, Diverse Space Dance Theatre and Ballet East. She has enjoyed working with numerous choreographers, both local and national. She loves musical theatre and has performed in West Side Story for Zilker Hillside Theatre and Aida for Zachary Scott.
Ellen Bartel credits include, founding Spank Dance Company, Big Range Austin, The Dance Carousel, Hot September Flurries, and The Creeps. Also, performing as a core member of Ariel Dance Theater, and Stillpoint Dance, and dancing with Wicked Cricket Dance Theater, Amy Cone, Brian Green, Ashley Overton, and Mari Akita,. She taught modern dance independently at Center Studio for several years and currently at teaches all levels and ages at Tapestry Dance Studio. Ellen manages “the list”, a email list serv for the local dance community, also known as The Austin Independent Choreographers email list. Ellen has choreographed for theater, opera and fashion shows. Most recently received two nominations for best choreography and best show in 2007, received Fortunate 500 recognition 2006-2007, and completed a residency at S.U.N.Y Potsdam.
danah bella ( Virginia) received her MFA in Performance from the Ohio State University and her BA in Dance from the University of California, Santa Barbara where she studied under such distinguished artists as Bebe Miller, Tere O’Connor, Christopher Pilafian, and Jerry Pearson. She has performed with Santa Barbara Dance Theatre, Umoja Dance, Pearl Ubungen Dancers and Musicians, Alleluia Panis Dance Theatre and Dancing Earth and has performed in the works of celebrated choreographers Doug Elkins, Karen Love, Donald McKayle, Bebe Miller, Doug Varone, and Edisa Weeks. In 2004 she founded d a n a h b e l l a DanceWorks, the only professional contemporary dance company based in Southwest Virginia, with long time collaborator Salvador Barajas. Her work has been presented in festivals throughout the US and Mexico and her teaching credits include the Bates Dance Festival, Monterey Dance Fest and the American College Dance Festival; she is currently on faculty at Radford University.
Ann Berman received her BA in Dance from Washington University in St. Louis, MO and her MFA from Mills College in Oakland, CA. In 1996, Ann moved to San Francisco where she had the pleasure of performing with many wonderful companies and choreographers including: Joanna Haigood, Molissa Fenley, Dance Repertory/San Francisco, EmSpace Dance, Huckabay McAllister Dance, and Fellow Travelers Performance Group. Ann has been presenting her own choreography throughout the San Francisco Bay Area since 1997. In 2003, she founded Bibliodance, a modern dance company that investigates the relationship between dance and books. She received a grant from Theatre Bay Area in 2003 and was commissioned by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to create a site-specific dance for the 2003 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. In 2007, Ann moved to Austin where she has performed with Chell Garcia-Trias and Forklift Danceworks
Salvador Barajas’ projects explore questions of sight, site and cite. He is interested in artistic practices as systems of knowledge; more specifically, the ways that dominant (Western) art forms are inhabited, deconstructed and transformed by non-western subjects. His first performance was in 1978 at the age of 8 years old, where he played the role of “the legal Mexican” in a transnational production entitled Crossing the U.S/Mexican Border.
Stephanie Beauchamp (New Jersey) is an independent choreographer working in NY/NJ. Most recently, her choreography has been performed by Roxey Ballet and by burlesque performers in the off-off-Broadway play 'Blitzkrieg: The Hassidic Professional Wrestling Musical.' She teaches modern dance at Mill Ballet School and Raritan Valley Community College.
Bryan Beninghove (New Jersey) is an established saxophonist/composer in the NY/NJ jazz scene. He leads various projects including an Organ trio, an eight piece funk band, & the electronic collective Big in Jersey. You can hear Mr. Beninghove every first & third Thursday at the Elysian Cafe in Hoboken, NJ.
Megan Bettis began her training in ballet, tap, jazz, and modern dance, at Shuffles & Ballet II, the official school of Ballet Arkansas. She received additional training at Centre for the DansArts, The Joffrey Ballet School, and attended Southern Methodist University to study Dance Performance. Megan has enjoyed dancing various roles in The Nutcracker, Raymonda, Holberg Suite, Paquita, The Sleeping Beauty, and other classical and contemporary ballets. She has performed locally with Blue Lapis Light, Ballet East Dance Theatre, and Komo Danceworks. She has been teaching dance in Austin for the past three years.
Kelli Bland earned her degree in Theatre from Stephen F Austin State University and studied physical theatre, movement and puppetry in England and Spain. She performs in play around town, including Red Cans, A Genuine Plea to My Insides, and most recently No One Else in the Woods Tonight. She would like to thank Christina for letting her dance, despite her chronic clumsiness.
Rachel Bradley Clark An Arkansas native, Rachel moved to Austin in 2001 to attend the University of Texas. At UT, Rachel appeared in numerous productions for Dance Repertory Theater, the University's modern dance ensemble. Rachel performed at the American College Dance Festival Association 2004 in Atlanta as part of the UT Ensemble. Also in 2004, she played Lulu in the Theater and Dance Department's production of Cabaret. She played Liza in Zilker Theater's 2006 performance of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Rachel received a B.A. in Theater and Dance in May 2005, and a B.A. in History in December 2005 from the University of Texas at Austin. Last August, Rachel married her loving husband, Forrest, and couldn't be happier about it!
Meg Brooker is a performing artist and teacher creating new work in conversation with Isadora Duncan's historic dance technique. She studied and performed original Duncan choreographies as a member of Lori Belilove & Company and as a guest artist with the Duncan Dance Collective. She has appeared internationally in Moscow, Amsterdam, Vienna, and recently in Sevastopol, Ukraine, where she danced a solo version of her choreography "Thel" in the ruins of an ancient Greek amphitheatre. She has taught as a guest artist at Texas State University and at Northwest Vista College. Since relocating to Austin, Meg has created work as part of Hot September Flurries and Mi Casa Es Su Casa/Frontera Fest, in addition to choreographing UT's spring musical Assassins and dancing with UT's Dance Repertory Theatre. Meg has taught in NYC on the faculties of the School at Steps on Broadway and the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation and locally in Austin at Dance Discovery. Meg earned a B.A. in theatre studies from Yale University and is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Performance as Public Practice at UT.
Whitney Boomer holds a B.S. in Theatre and Dance Performance from Kansas State University, where she performed with the University’s Repertory Company. She began her study of dance at age four at Washington Dance Studio. After college, she studied with Susan Warden, as well as in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Whitney is on the dance faculty at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, KS, where she also directs the Pistachio Company, a children’s performance group. Whitney just finished her fourth season with the 940 Dance CompanyAmber Burkley-Bright Studied Limon, Graham, Cunningham and Barteneiff fundamentals at Texas Woman's University in 2002-2004. Graduated from Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Dance. While attending Texas State University she studied with the Erik Hawkins dance company for two summers on scholarship.
Vanessa Campos has studied various types of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, modern, contemporary dance and ballroom. Vanessa began taking ballet classes at a small studio in Central El Paso and at the age of 9, transferred to UTEP to study with Ingeborg Heuser. At the age of 13 she began to study various styles to widen her view of dance. Vanessa is attending New Mexico State University where she is getting her Bachelors in Elementary Education, Math and Dance. She plans to teach middle school math and a variety of different dance classes. Vanessa dances with the Contemporary Dance Theater at NMSU under the direction of Debra Knapp. She has been given a great opportunity to join The Ballet Studio with Lilana Hayen in El Paso where Vanessa teaches ballet and modern classes, she is very excited and ready to start a new chapter in her life.
Danielle Casey graduated from Eugene Lang College, New School University (NYC) in 2007 with honors, debt, and anxiety. She subsequently defected to Oregon, where she worked a wine harvest. After the vintage she moved to Austin to make dances with the other left foot and has recently taken up the banjo. Her technique was shaped by professors Karla Wolfangle, Joao Carvahlo, Todd Williams, Colleen Thomas, and Rebecca Stenn, among many others. She is addled by the problem of only being able to think while moving.
Mindy Chanson has trained in ballet, jazz, musical theater and contemporary dance. She recently received a degree in Dance Performance from the University of Texas at El Paso, where she had the privilege of studying with Myron Nadel, Lisa Smith and Ingeborg Heuser. Since her graduation Mindy has taught ballet and modern dance at various studios across El Paso as well as teaching dance at Irvin and Franklin High School. Mindy has also recently started studying music and drumming.
Mary A. Chase has choreographed and performed in theaters throughout the United States, in Indonesia, South America and Europe. She is a Laban Movement Analyst and Bartenieff Fundamentals practioner. She will finish her M.F.A. in Dance at UT next spring and currently teaches at Tapestry dance academy. Following Big Range Dance Festival, Briefcased will tour four cities in Austria with Young Tanzsommer
Amy Elizabeth Cone has danced with Spank Dance Company, Wicked Cricket Dance Theatre, The Broken Clock Cabaret, and Cisne Negro, among others. Her choreography has been revealed in Hot September Flurries, The Austin Independent Choreographers' Association Shows, and The Dixon Place in New York City. In July 2008, she will be a certified Feldenkrais practitioner.
Gregory Cornelius Composer/saxophonist, Gregory Cornelius is a graduate of Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) who creates a broad spectrum of sound art bridging both the acoustic and electroacoustic traditions. He is most captivated by the expressive potential of sound's internal structure, color-sound relationships, the computer as a flexible electroacoustic instrument, and the challenges of combining of acoustic instruments with electroacoustic music. Currently, Gregory is pursuing a doctoral degree in music composition at the University of Texas at Austin where he studies with Russell Pinkston and serves as the Electronic Music Studios Facilities and Technology Coordinator
Tony Cusimano studied art at the University of Texas, has performed as a dancer, and made a couple of videos for dancers
Thaddeus Davis ( NYC/Austin) was featured in “Dance Magazine” January 2002 issue, as 1of 25 to watch in the world. The premier of his first choreographic work, Once Before Twice After, was named one of the top ten moments in dance for 2002 by The New York Times, calling it “reassuring evidence of New York Dance’s promising future.” A year later he was the 2003 recipient of the prestigious Choo San Goh Award for Choreography. Mr. Davis danced for four years with Donald Byrd/The Group where he also served as Mr. Byrd’s creative assistant. In addition, Mr. Davis danced with Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, Fukuoka City Ballet, Atlanta Dance, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Complexions, and Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY. As a teacher and choreographer he has done residencies at The Julliard School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Butler University, Arizona State University, and served as guest faculty at The Alabama School of Fine Arts. Mr. Davis has created choreographic work for Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY, Donald Byrd/The Group, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Spectrum Dance Theatre, Ballet Austin, Ballet Memphis, Configurations Dance Company, Reflexions Dance Company, and Wideman-Davis Dance Born in Montgomery, Alabama where he began his studies with The Montgomery Civic Ballet, The Carver Creative Performing Arts Center, and the Alabama Dance Theatre. After high school he studied and danced with Barbara Sullivan’s Atlanta Dance Theatre and Dian Robinson’s Tuskegee Cultural Arts Center, before attending Butler University where he graduated in 1993 with a BFA in Dance.
Case Dillard decided at 6 that it would be cool to dance like Michael Jackson, and his mother let him take lessons. He still doesn't know how to emulate Jackson, but was in the Original Broadway Cast of "Mary Poppins" and helped workshop the current "Cry-Baby." Before that he was on the Conan O' Brien show as the new Notre Dame mascot: the Dancing Irish M.C. Hammer (or McHammer; Get it?). He went to Point Park University in Pittsburgh, obtaining a B.F.A. in Waiting Tables with a minor in Musical Theatre. Luckily he hasn't had to use his major yet, but you never know. Thanks to Megan (and Rachel) for tolerating my ridiculousness.
Kristy Dixon, an Austin native, has been dancing for 10 years. She trained at Broadway Dance & Fitness and went on to dance for Texas State University. She currently attends TSU and is pursuing a degree in psychology in hopes of becoming a therapist. IN her free time Kristy enjoys reading, dancing and playing with her dog Hallie.
Julia Duffy started her ballet training in Austin, TX under Eugene Slavin and Alexandria Nadal. She attended the University of Texas to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. She was a member of Dance Repertory Theatre for 3 years where she performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the World Congress of Dance in Athens, Greece, and Young Tanzsommer in Austria. Julia graduated from the University of Texas in August of 2007. She is currently working as a guest choreographer with McCallum High School, Fine Arts Academy and is performing in two pieces during the Big Range Festival. Julia would like to thank her family and her fiancé, Jason, for all of their support.
Robert Gallegos graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a degree in English and American Literature in 2006. Robert is currently an English teacher at Ysleta High School and is the Color Guard Director for the Bel Air High School Big Red Marching Band and Winter Guard. Robert will also be the Color Guard Director at Ysleta HS for the next coming school year. Robert was a member of the Color Guard for the 7-time DCI World Champions, The Cavaliers, in 2002 and 2003. While performing with the award-winning Cavaliers, Robert was fortunate to work with Choreographers Nick Pupillo, founder of Visceral Dance Chicago Company in Chicago, Illinois, and Michael James of Orlando, Florida. Robert has also studied ballet at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Chell Garcia-Trias, AKA Michelle Parkins received her BA in Dance and Acting in 1994 from Washington University in St Louis where she began her professional career as a dancer and choreographer. She later moved to Chicago, San Francisco, and Austin dancing for Mark Schultz, Steamroller, Bibliodance, Ellen Stader, Amy Cone and Spank Dance. While in San Francisco she founded the dance company Brigid's Daisy creating the multi-media works The Pink Room and The Tragedy of Levi and Gap, which was featured in Joe Goode's Bread and Butter series in 1998. She relocated to Austin in 1998 and went on to create several original dance pieces that have been perfromed in MOMfest, Mi Casa es Tu Teatro, Moves and Mayhem, Houston's Big Range and most recently in Dance Carousel, as well as singing for the punk/garage spy jazz band Puthy. Chell currently teaches dance, music and theatre throughout the city to children of all ages. Her true loves are her two children, Isa and Elio.
Ashley Gloor has been involved in dance and acrobatics since she was a child and continued her dance education at Kilgore College. Ashley began teaching dance in 1998 and is also a massage therapist. She is a part of the hula hoop community here in Austin. She is a certified AcroYoga instructor with adult classes at Bodhi Yoga. She has a performance act with Kiera Griffin called the Red Teasers. They also created a dance performance group called Out of the Loop Dance Company that is a combination of modern dance, acrobatics, and partner balancing. Ashley was in Red Cans in the summer of 2006 and in the performance entitled Cisne Negro. She is a conscientious person who believes in the simplicity of creative teaching for children.
Andy Hadaway Like a raccoon he enjoys shinny things. Well polished silverware and bicycle reflectors are his favorites. He thinks unicycles make people look kind of silly. His spirit animal is the giraffe. His favorite color is purple. Rye bread sometimes gives him a stomach ache. Andy now lives in Brooklyn NY.
Christina Houle is most grateful and excited to be performing and choreographing for Big Range. She has worked and studied with Redmoon Theatre, Second City, ComedySportz, Salsation, the Latino Laugh Festival and Zachery Scott Theatre. This summer her dance "Get in the Box" will appear at the Perpetual Motion Festival in Oklahoma.
Annie M. Hudson graduated from Texas State University in December of 2005. She received her Bachelors of Science degree in Dance with a minor study in Theatre. As an undergraduate, Ms. Hudson performed and choreographed for various concerts such as Dancers in Flight, Opening Door Dance Theatre, Choreographer Showcase, and the American College Dance Festival. She was part of the Orchesis Modern Dance Company as well as an improvisation performance company called Nowhere But Here at Texas State. She also performed and choreographed for musical theatre such as the shows Celebration and The Fantastiks. Ms. Hudson received the Connie Webb-Brown Memorial Scholarship for her work on Imperfect Demanding Perfect, a piece about struggling women comparing themselves to what they see in the magazines, billboards, and various other media around them. This piece was also chosen to be performed at the American College Dance Festival in Oklahoma for adjudication. Other honors include the Orchesis Dance Company scholarship and the Upper Level Fine Arts scholarship two years consecutively. After graduating Annie studied Contact Improvisation in a summer workshop under Pat Stone, the Jose Limone technique under Gabriel Masson at the University of Colorado as well the Erick Hawkins summer intensive at Texas State University under Katherine Duke. Ms. Hudson was recently asked to represent Texas State in the Promising Artists of the 21st Century program in San Jose, Costa Rica. While there, she taught movement classes to a variety of students, learned about the culture by conversing with the adult English classes at the Centro Cultural, and performed in a concert that was brought to share with the people of Costa Rica. Annie has also performed her choreography, Revel and The Next Step in 10 Minutes Max two years successfully as well as a year with Dance Carousel, 40 dances in 40 minutes, presenting her works, Bottom Up, Damnit Acute Stress Cardiomyopathy, and Angst as part of the Long Fringe Frontera Festival. She was recently seen in Katie Pearl Terrible Things as part of the Fuse Box Festival. In addition to dance, Ms. Hudson is also a practicing, Licensed Massage Therapist in the state of Texas as well as a Licensed Massage Therapy Instructor. In the future, Annie plans to attend graduate school to earn a Masters of Fine Arts where she will focus on healing the body with movement.
Katherine Hodges dancing makes Katherine happy. Before she had any formal training she performed daily for a rapt audience of stuffed animals in her living room, and since then has dabbled with everything from ballet/jazz to hip hop capoeira musical theater. She would like to thank Rebecca Valls, Chris Lidvall, and Linda Phenix for introducing her to modern dance at Rice University, and Kate Warren, Ellen Bartel and Andrea Ariel for their inspiration and teaching since she moved to Austin- also her husband for being awesome.
Pip von Impe likes to sew things. especially fancy dance things.Mysti Jace Pride completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of Texas in 2004. She is currently working on her Associate Degree in Dance at Austin Community College where she has choreographed four dance pieces. She also works as a creative movement teacher at Ballet Austin
Angela Johnson is a native of Houston, Texas and graduated from the University of Texas in Austin in 1998. In addition to her work with Elsewhere Dance Theater, she has performed with several companies in Austin including Ballet East, The Getalong Gang, Sharir + Bustamante Danceworks, Little Stolen Moments, and Zach Scott Theater. Angie has also studied and performed in northern California, Nevada, and New York. Aside from dancing, she is the producer for a commercial music and sound design company, and also teaches the Gyrotonic Expansion System® in Austin.David Justin is steadily revealing himself as a dynamic producer and curator of exceptional dance. Possessing an eclectic contemporary taste founded in classicism, David successfully draws the people and elements together from dance, music, scenic and lighting design to create a beautiful, meaningful experience for audiences. Whether it is his own choreography or the work of a great master, David's attention to detail within the broad artistic stroke is perfectly balanced. With a choreographic career over fifteen years and a performance career over thirty years, David has created works on dancers from around the world including New York City Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Ballet de Monte Carlo, Atlanta Ballet, Alberta Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Configurations, Dance Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Ensemble and others. David travels regularly as a guest teacher to work with ballet companies and schools around the world. These have included Boston Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Royal Ballet School of London, and Salzburg International Ballet Academy. Formerly a Principal Dancer with Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB), a Soloist with San Francisco Ballet (SFB) and Boston Ballet, David has toured extensively across the globe performing at Lincoln Center, NY, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, Paris Opera, Paris as well as major houses in Italy, Japan, Hong Kong and South Africa. His repertoire is vast, spanning many eras and genres of dance. He has performed principal roles from many of the classics; Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Copellia, La Fille Mal Garde, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote and others; to the Champion Roper in Agnes DeMille's Rodeo, and the Husband in Robins' The Concert, Pulcinella in Caniparoli's Pulcinella, King Arthur in Bintley's Arthur, and Gaveston in Edward II. David has also been privileged to dance Principal roles in many 20th century choreographers' masterpieces including the works of Balanchine, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, Val Caniparoli, Stanton Welsh, Jiri Kylian, James Kudelka, Hans Van Manen, Kenneth MacMillan, Paul Taylor and William Forsythe among many more. David's dancing has been described as 'alluring and mercurial', 'polished', 'brilliant', and 'fearless'. Most recently, David's critically acclaimed Solemn Opus: The Journey of Lost and Found has been performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, in Greece at the 20th World Congress on Dance, UNESCO, and at the Ballet Builders Choreographic Showcase in New York City. David holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom and serves as an Assistant Professor of Dance at UT, and Co-Producer of the University Co-op presents the Cohen New Works Festival, the largest festival of performance related student generated art in the country. As Artistic Director of American Repertory Ensemble, David combines his experiences to present a community organization founded on excellence in the pursuit of communication through art.
Hannah Kenah studied theatre at Dartmouth College, at The Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre, at The O'Neill Playwrights Conference, and with The SITI Company during their summer intensive. She has created original physical theatre with companies in New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and California. Since moving to Austin, she has had the opportunity to perform in I Am Not Tartuffe (Yellow Tape Construction Company), The Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Renaissance Austin), Voices Underwater (Salvage Vanguard), FronteraFest 2008 (Wildcard selection), and most recently in the Out of Ink Festival with Austin Script Works. Her next project will be Yellow Tape Construction Company's A Thumping, Raging Explosion of Light & Marvelous Texture.
Lisa Kobdish
Zeb L. West holds a BA from San Francisco State University in Theater Arts and is a graduate of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theater,where he studied Commedia Dell'Arte, clown, mask work, and ensemble play creation. He recently performed in both the Out of Ink Festival at the Blue Theater and in the 2008 Frontera Fest at Hyde Park Theater. He is a founding member of Brooklyn’s 16 Tons Theatre Company.
Julia Langenberg has been a collaborator and performer with thesite-specific aerial dance company, Blue Lapis Light, since 2006. She is also teaching ballroom dance at the Arthur Murray Dance Studios, singing in the Austin Lyric Opera Chorus, and has sung for the Grammy-nominated singing group, Conspirare. Additionally, Julia has performed with Keigwin + Company, Sharir+Bustamante Danceworks, Ariel Dance Theater, Ballet East Dance Theater, Komo Danceworks, Release Motion Dance Project, and Ballet Austin.
Emily Larsen has been dancing since the age of 4. She has studied in many studios in Austin including Ballet Austin and The Austin Conservatory of the Arts. She just recently earned her BA in Fine Arts with a concentration in dance and is looking for a professional track in performance.
Vincent Michael Lopez first studied dance in Pennsylvania for one year before moving to Phoenix, Arizona where he studied with Kee Juan Han and Truman Finney. From there he danced at The Alvin Ailey School in NYC before joining Ballet Austin II. Mr. Lopez has been privileged enough to perform choreography by Alvin Ailey, David Parsons, Dwight Rhoden, Gina Patterson, Stephen Mills, Thang Dao and most recently Thaddeus Davis.
Sharon Marroquín was born and raised in Mexico City. As a dancer she has toured nationally and internationally with companies in both Mexico and the United States. In Austin Sharon has performed with Wicked Cricket Dance Theatre, the Kathy Dunn-Hamrick Dance Company, and various independent choreographers. As a dance-maker she has created pieces for Ballet East, Tapestry Dance Company, and various Latino/a showcases. She was listed as one of the top ten dance events for 2006 by the Austin Chronicle, and was presented the Austin Critics Table Award for outstanding choreographer in 2004 and 2007. Aside from teaching dance at Tapestry Dance Company, Sharon is a bilingual fourth grade teacher. If you have any questions about fractions she will be happy to help you.Elissa Marshall is from the Washington D.C. area where she began her formal dance training at the age of nine. She received most of her training from Classical Ballet Academy of Northern Virginia under the direction of Cynthia Donavin Rudorfer and instruction from Jean Paul Comelin, Nell Hacker, and Alisher Saburov. Elissa has studied and worked for several summer programs such as American Academy of Ballet, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, Richmond Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. Elissa is currently pursuing a BFA in dance as well as a BA in photojournalism at the University of Texas. Most recently she represented the University of Texas by performing in the regional gala at the American College Dance Festival.
Kelly McCain (Dallas) is excited to be a part of this year’s Big Range Dance Festival. She received her M.F.A. in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and currently teaches choreography and dance technique as well as choreographs and performs for theaters in Dallas. Some of her favorite projects have been performing in Tommy and Hair for Uptown Players, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas for Contemporary Theater of Dallas, and Carousel and Hello Dolly for Lyric Stage. Other modern dance (ad)ventures have been Ewert & Company’s Shades of Light and Dark, Diverseworks’ 12 Minutes Max (Houston), Works Du Jour (Deep Ellum); Let’s Just Say We Got That; Art Salad; and FLY! (Addison); 3 On 3 (Dallas); A Joint Concert with Suchu Dance (Houston); and Merge Left (Minneapolis).
Megan McComic began performing in high school and finished her first dance performance this past spring with Austin Community College. She is currently pursuing a degree in social work at ACC while working with children at the School for the Blind. She spends her free time writing and playing with her dog.
Maia McCoy received a BA in liberal arts with a dual concentration in non-fiction writing and dance in 2007 from Eugene Lang College, New School University (NYC) -- one word: plastics?! At Lang, she studied movement and choreography under Rebecca Stenn, Karla Wolfangle, Todd Williams, and Colleen Thomas, among many others. She has also had the great pleasure of taking intensives from Carla Maxwell and transmedia artist Ralph Lemon. Her choreography was chosen to represent Lang College at the New England Chapter of the American College Dance Festival (2007) and has been performed at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre. Maia currently works for the Department of Theatre and Dance at UT Austin and dances for choreographer Cheryl ChaddickGinger McGilvray never knows what to write about herself in bios, but here goes. She is grateful to be invited by Amy Cone to perform in this dance piece, 15 years after her last modern dance performance at university. Ginger is a yoga teacher and massage therapist; thrives on traveling far and near; loves to read, cook, garden, bike, hike; adores her family, dog and cats; feels most at home in wilderness; dreams of the day that all people love our earth, our neighbors, ourselves as one. Amen.
Jennifer Micallef received her B.S. in Modern Dance/Cultural Diversity & Human Behavior from Eastern Michigan University in 2000. She began studying Modern dance and Contact Improvisation concurrently in Cleveland Ohio in 1996. Her opportunities for performance began in the university at Cleveland State, Case Western Reserve, and Lake Erie College as well as with a multi-media troupe, S.A.F.M.O.D. under the artistic direction of Young Park (choreographer) and Neil Chastain (composer).While studying and performing at Eastern Michigan University, Jennifer performed with Suzanne Willets-Brooks. Contact Improvisation quickly became her favorite technique and she has trained with many of the best teachers in the United States such as Nancy Stark Smith, Ray Chung, Kirstie Simmons, Andrew L’Harwood, Chris Aiken, Danny Lepkoff and others. Improvised dance is Jennifer’s biggest passion. She has performed Improvised work in Cleveland, Ann Arbor, Portland, and her current home Austin. Jennifer co-founded the Improvisational Dance Project, has been involved with performances with Refraction Arts, Frontera Fest, 10 Minutes Max, plus a variety if Independent choreographer shows, and is now a member of an emergent collaborative company called Surface Tension Dance Group. Currently Jennifer is studying improvised comedy and theater at ColdeTown Conservatory and is a proud member of Austin’s newest improvised comedy troupe Murphy. Murphy performs locally at ColdeTown Theater and The Hideout.
Christy Mitchell has received training in jazz, ballet, modern, and contemporary dance over the past eight years. In these eight years she has transformed from a beginning student into an educator, choreographer, artist, and dancer through hard work, dedication, and an avid love for dance. Christy recently received her B.F.A. in Dance Performance from the University of Texas at El Paso. While at UTEP she had the opportunity to work with Lisa Smith, Myron Nadel, Ingeborg Heuser, and Andre Harper. She now plans to teach and to continue to promote the awareness of dance within the El Paso community.
Jessica Montgomery first achieved performing notoriety with the acrobatic/kabuki/ burlesque review Tight and Shiny For All, before appearing in the smash cult film Menace Wears a Garter. She is a personal chef, a Certified Iyengar Yoga teacher, and is now training for the World Bare-Knuckle Cage Match Championships in Las Vegas.
Michelle Nance is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Michelle’s choreography has been commissioned and produced in the U.S. and abroad. Most recently, she has appeared as a choreographer and performer with Austin-based REALMdanceproject, Forklift Danceworks, and the Shay Ishii Dance Company. She has performed and taught internationally in Costa Rica, Greece, and France; with plans to perform in Scotland as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August. From 1996-1998, she served as Assistant School Director, teacher, and understudy with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. Michelle holds an MFA from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Rosalyn Nasky has a broad performance experience including the works of Doug Verone, Robert Battle, David Parsens and David Marquez. Miss Nasky has also performed with Broadway Stars Nicholas Rodriguez, May Gillemtine and Robin Lewis in George Abbott's Damn Yankees. She has been a featured performer in gala performances with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, and Lyric Opera. Additional experiences include corporate industrials with MPI Events and J&D Entertainment, Houston Texas and regular appearances at the Zach Scott Theatre in Austin Texas. Miss Nasky holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Marymount Manhattan College, NY. She has developed her own interest in choreography after recent success with performances of her new work 'Affirmation' at the New York choreographers showcase, Dancers at Work. V is the third collaboration with David Justin, for whom she is honored to be dancing.
Odile Nicole is an Austin based performer. She received her degree in Theatre from the University of Texas and travels regularly to Seattle and South Carolina to further train with Pacific Performance Project. In the past, she has enjoyed dancing with Wicked Cricked Dance Theatre and acting/training with the St. Idiot Collective. Most recently she created a Butoh and Slow Tempo inspired piece, Cisne Negro. It was performed on the Lamar Pedestrian bridge to an eclectic audience. She hopes to keep creating and supporting new work right here in Austin for some time.
Steve Ochoa has worked with numerous choreographers including Jerome Robbins, Mark Morris, and Eliot Feld. His broadway credits include the original cast of Jerome Robbin's Broadway, Carousel, Twelfth Night, and Sweet Smell of Success; and as Mistoffelees in Cats. He has performed with the touring companies of Fosee, Chess, and JRB. Steve has been a featured dancer with Dendy Theater and Dance, Feld Ballet, and Nixon in China, and has worked in film on Object of My Affection. He trained at WTSU, the School of American Ballet, and all over Manhattan. While in Austin he has worked with Ariel Dance Theater and Ballet East.Michel Orion Scott spent most of his youth exploring the thick wooded areas of central Texas where he was born and raised. The son of an old cowboy father and a Jewish hippie mother, Michel’s life has always reflected his eclectic upbringing. After earning a degree in film from the University of Texas at Austin where he also studied modern dance, Michel worked through a diverse range of projects that included set construction and design on narrative Hollywood films to abstract experimental work and feature documentaries. All the while, moving in and out of the American wilderness, studying native cultures and survival techniques, Michel has been deeply inspired by the ways that ancient knowledge and wisdom can inform and advance the current state of society. In 2004, continuing his study of dance, Michel joined Elsewhere Dance Theatre/Sheep Army. In this tight knit group of dancers, Michel has since been collaborating on dance pieces which share the core of human emotion and nature. Combining his passion for film and dance, Michel explores the way that expressive movement can influence the image and emotion of his film projects. Currently, Michel is directing The Horse Boy, a documentary on Autism and methods of healing (www.horseboymovie.com).
Allison Orr, Artistic Director of Austin-based dance company Forklift Danceworks, has been dancing and choreographing professionally for nearly 10 years. Allison is known for her dances that include non-traditional performers, such as firefighters, dogs and their owners, Venetian gondoliers, and Elvis Impersonators. Allison received her in MFA in choreography from Mills College, where she met and began dancing with fellow choreographer Ann Berman. Look for Ann and Allison this July when they perform in "SKATE! An Evening at the Rink" at Austin's Playland Skate Center. For more info., visit www.forkliftdanceworks.org.
Sara Paul began her dancing at the age of five in her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. She spent twelve years training in both ballet and modern under the direction of Carol Bartlett, Barbara Weisburger, and Melissa Stafford at the Peabody Preparatory. While still at Peabody, Sara had the wonderful opportunity of performing at the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina. She has attended many summer intensive programs including The Washington Ballet, American Ballet Theater and The School of American Ballet. In 2005 Sara was accepted to Ballet Austin’s summer intensive program, after which she was invited to stay as a professional division trainee. After spending a year as a trainee, Sara was promoted to Ballet Austin’s second company for the 2006-2007 season. During her time at Ballet Austin, Sara had the pleasure of working with many different choreographers including Gina Patterson, Thang Dao, and Stephen Mills. While in Austin, Sara began her work with Thaddeus Davis and Tanya Wideman-Davis. She is one of the original dancers in Out of Many…One: The Monologue Project choreographed by Thaddeus Davis.
Laura K. Phelan is a pianist, percussionist, teacher, and composer. She holds a Bachelor degree in Music from the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music. She has taught in public schools and private piano studios for 18 years. In addition to her teaching, Laura has worked as an accompanist and music director for the Firefly Project (a nonprofit dance company for fifth grade children) and The
Scottish Rite Theater. She teaches yearly workshops for Great Oaks Elementary, Parkside Montessori and the Austin Chamber Music Center. As a composer and performer Laura has worked with the Austin Soundscape Project, the Golden Hornet Project, Salvage Vanguard Theater, Ariel Dance Theater, Golden Arm Trio, Chris Black and the Holy Ghost, the Adam Sultan Moment, La Strada, The Transgressors,
RokkaTone, the Box Spring Hogs and Matthew Shepherd and the Ruckus.Victoria Pierce comes to us from The Woodlands, Texas here she performed with the Woodlands High School Color Guard and Winter Guard. She is currently a dance major at Austin Community College and will be continuing her formal dance education at the University of Houston this fall.
Janine Ploetz has been in and out of the Austin dance scene since 1993. Most recently, she's likely to be happily involved in whatever Spank Dance/Ellen Bartel is devising.Stephen Pruitt gave up a career in rocket science in 1992 to become a designer of lighting, scenery and sound, writer, director, performer, rigger, floor mopper and layabout. When not kayaking, backpacking or taking photographs, he can be found designing parties for Cirque du Soleil, and the Austin Film Society; sets for Rude Mechanicals (Requiem for Tesla, Stadium Devildare), Salvage Vanguard Theatre (Fugitive Pieces, Motherbone), and The Getalong Gang (We Have Separation); as well as lighting for St. Edward’s Mary Moody Northern Theater (Metamorphoses, Macbeth, Death and the King's Horseman), Tapestry Dance Company, Ballet East Dance Theatre and Spank Dance Company, among others; and he is the only designer in Austin to have been honored with multiple nominations by the Austin Critic’s Table and B. Iden Payne Awards in both the scenic and lighting design
categories. In addition to designing for others, Stephen has also created performance art and theater about obscure mathematicians, uncertainty and the history of cosmology, among other topics, in works such as Catastrophe Theory, Escape Velocity and A History of the World as the Center of the Universe to bits of great acclaim. His design and photography work can be seen at www.fluxiondesigns.com
Josh Rios is a working visual artist, curator, published writer, book designer, and musician, as well as a founding member of Okay Mountain, an art collective and nationally recognized art gallery located in Austin, Texas. His artwork has been featured in various galleries across the United States as well as in Mexico City. He presently lives in San Marcos, where he is studying art history at Texas State University.Rhianon Renae Kjar is an independent dancer/choreographer and artistic director of Surface Tension Dance Group. She has recently performed in Fronterafest, Dance Carousel, and September Flurries. Rhianon has had the opportunity and pleasure to dance with numerous Austin based dance companies, as well as teach, study, and collaborate with other shining artists here and in NYC..
Mackenzie Rosales is the Artist Director of Mackenzie Rosales Dance & Company. She received a BFA in Modern Dance and minor in Psychology from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. She has also studied twice at the Ballet Austin Summer Intensive, as well as American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina. Throughout her training Mackenzie has had the opportunity to study with noted professionals such as Fernando Bujones, Kerry Kreiman, Li-Chou Cheng, David Dorfman and Helen Hayes. She has also had the opportunity to perform works by Susan Douglas Roberts, Andy Parkhurst, Nina Martin, Caryn Heilman and while at ADF Mackenzie had the privilege of performing with the Liz Lehrman Dance Exchange. Mackenzie’s choreography has been performed at numerous events across Texas, while at TCU Mackenzie’s choreography was chosen to be presented at the American College Dance Festival as well as many other performances. She is also excited about the opportunity to choreograph on the New Mexico State University dance ensemble this coming year. Mackenzie presently teaches the Whole Arts Dance Lab, at the University of Texas at El Paso where she enjoys teaching education majors how to use dance in the classroom. As well as, teaching Modern and Jazz technique classes at El Paso Community College. Mackenzie is excited to be participating in the Big Range Austin Dance Festival.Lisa del Rosario began her dance studies at the Margo Marshall School of Ballet and the Cleveland San Jose School of Ballet. She continued her training as a presidential scholarship student at the University of Texas at Austin where she received her B.F.A. in Dance. She also studied classical piano and violin for many years and in her later years studied Pilates, Yoga, Tai Chi, Vipassana Meditation, Qigong, and the Feldenkrais Method® of movement education. Lisa has danced professionally in the Philippines with The Philippine National Folk Dance Company, Bayanihan. She currently dances locally with Moving Voices Dance, Sheep Army/Elsewhere Dance Theatre, Subclavian Groove Dance Company, Yellow Tape Construction Co., and other independent choreographers. Lisa has taught and choreographed for UT’s Informal Classes, the Dougherty Arts School, the McCallum High School Fine Arts Academy, and the Texas Arts Project at St. Stephen's Episcopal School; she is currently in her fifth season teaching at Ballet Austin and fourth season at St. Stephen's. Lisa is undergoing training in New York to become a Guild Certified Practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method® under the tutelage of educational director Dr. Larry Goldfarb and will be fully certified in July 2008.
Schave & Reilly is the husband and wife team of Ben Schave and Caitlin Reilly. They have been clowning together for over ten years after receiving extensive training in clown, theater, and dance from the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater, University of Texas, and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. They relocated to Austin in 2000 where they continue to develop their own brand of vaudeville style comedy. In 2001, their first show, “On Earth” ran to great acclaim and sold out crowds at the Mind Over Money Theatrical Festival in Austin. They have toured original works in England, Wales, and Finland and on cruise ships, fairs, and cabarets. In 2007, they received Frontera Fringe Festival’s Wild Card Best of the Fest award for their newest show, “Department of Angels” which will have its national premiere at the Minnesota Fringe Festival later this summer. In addition to their extensive performing experience, Schave & Reilly also teach physical comedy in workshops at universities, theaters, and dance academies. Currently, they are guest lecturers at Austin Community College in the Visual Communications Department of Animation.
Kaysie Seitz Brown holds a Lecturer position in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Texas State University. She received her MFA at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. From 2002 – 2005 Brown worked as a teaching artist in NYC, integrating dance into the curriculum at elementary schools throughout the five boroughs. She also choreographed and performed with several choreographers and on her own. Brown continues her love of working with children as a dance teacher with Dance Associates in Austin where she also dances with the Shay Ishii Dance Company.
Fadi Skeiker is a third year student in the PhD program Performance as Public Practice at UT. He received his BA in Theatre studies from the Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts, Damascus, Syria. Fadi was the dramaturge for a modern dance company in Damascus "Ramad." He was offered a Fulbright grant which allowed him to earn his MA in Theatre education at Emerson College in Boston. While in Austin, Fadi has been active in leading workshops on "Dream work for actors" and "Shadow Theatre" both at UT and in the Austin area. He was the production dramaturge for Kneeling Down at Noon written by Steve Moore, he directed Sycroax by Susan Todd for the University Co-op Cohen New Work Festival. He also directed week 10 of Suzan Lori Parks 365 Days/Plays. Fadi's main influence has been Eugenio Barba. Fadi's passion is to find a common ground for communication between the West and the Arabs. Fadi is also interested in the way the theatre can be used as a tool for social change especially in Arab communities. Fadi is currently infatuated with Sufism and its performative aspects. Fadi is also taken by hand drumming, puppetry and photography. He is a member of the percussion group Belaharr (www.belaharr.com)
Leah Smiley Tubbs is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. She studied dance at Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) and University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. She toured with the Alabama Ballet during her time at ASFA. She is a former scholarship recipient of the American Ballet Theater Summer Intensive. She has been blessed to dance with several prominent companies such as Dayton Contemporary Dance Second Company (DCdC2), Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT), Lula Washington Dance Theater, Project 21, LA Dancers and Choreographers, and Donna Sternberg and Dancers. She is currently working with Jazz Ballet Company in Austin.
James-Michael "J-M" Specht, a Texas native, is currently a film acting student at UT Austin. Most of his most constructive performance experience, however, came from the Collin County Community College theater department, under the tutelage of Gail Cronauer.
Caroline Sutton Clark is Artistic Director of Wicked Cricket Dance Theatre in Austin, TX and teaches dance at Texas State University. Caroline has enjoyed a wide-ranging career in dance, performing professionally with ballet, modern, and butoh companies in addition to studying several Asian, Pacific, and African forms and obtaining her MFA from the University of Hawaii. Her choreography has been commissioned by companies in St. Louis, Honolulu, Seattle, Austin, and Minneapolis.
Dot Smith has a penchant for puppets, geeks out on gardens, and makes mistakes while menstruating. you may recognize her from the broken clock cabaret as the puppeteer behind the curtain.
Rashana Smith is one of the few dancers/choreographers who is also a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Texas at Austin, she moved to Seattle to continue dancing and ended up adding a technical certification and career as well. Currently, Rashana teaches at Contemporary Dance Techniques in Tyler and Morning Glory Yoga Studio in Nacogdoches, freelances as a choreographer and performer, is the Artistic Director of Motor Dance and is also the Network and Web Administrator at an East Texas K-12 school. Primarily trained in modern dance and improvisation, Rashana also has training in ballet, jazz, yoga, T'ai Chi, Pilates and acting. She has performed the works of Heywood “Woody” McGriff, Llory Wilson, Susan Marshall, Kathy Dunn Hamrick, Megan Lyle, A.C. Peterson, Sheri Cohen and Krisen Day. She was a founding member of Tom Truss Dance Company as well as a member of Dixie Fun Dance Theatre in Seattle. In Austin, she performed with Tongue and Groove Theater directed by David Yeakle and enjoyed being a part of the successful ongoing musical revue, Rockin’ Christmas Party, under the direction of Zach Scott Theatre’s Dave Steakley. Focusing on offering diverse dance works, Rashana's choreography and teaching spans modern dance, improvisation, ballet and jazz for children, musical theater and dance for camera projects
Ellen Stader is one half of RubyRico Productions, and one whole lotta woman.Cherami Steadman is a resident of Austin Texas and currently dances with Kathy Dunn Hamerick Dance Company. Cherami has a BFA in Dance/Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. There she had the privilege of working with teachers and choreographers such as Chris Burnside, Barbara Grubel, Gus Solomon Jr., Carl Mosley, Mark Haim, Nicholas Leichtor, and Joe Goode. Cherami has also danced with Lisa Nicks, Alma Esperanza Cunningham, and Christine Cali. As a choreographer Cherami has presented her own work in 10 Minutes Max and Hot September Flurries. This is Cherami’s first season with Wideman/Davis Dance.
Michelle Stuckey Michelle is a BFA Dance student at the University of Texas at Austin. She grew up as a competitive gymnast and found dance when she was 15 years old. Now, she hopes to move to New York and pursue a career in dancing and musical theater.
Peter Stopschinski has been a performer, composer, teacher, and producer in Austin, TX for the past 13 years. Peter has a B.A. in Composition from the University of Texas where he studied Music Theory, Piano, and Music Composition.After completing his undergraduate studies, Peter went on tour with the experimental punk rock band Brown Whornet playing gigs in most of the United States and releasing 6 albums. In 1999 Peter joined forces with Golden Arm Trio bandleader Graham Reynolds to form the Golden Hornet Project, an organization dedicated to the composition and performance of newly composed music for any instrumentation from solos to rock band to symphony orchestra. Through Golden Hornet Project, Peter has composed and had performed 5 symphonies, a Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, 5 multi-movement String Quartets (some of which include drum machine and/or electronics), and many other works for percussion ensemble, chorus, brass quintet, piano, etc. Golden Hornet Project won the Austin Critic's Table Award in 2004 for the premier of Peter's 3rd symphony as well as earning a listing in Rolling Stone's "Top 10 Under The Radar (bands you probably don't know about but should) 2003." He is the resident composer (since 2003) at the Austin Waldorf School where he has composed many works for Boys Chorus, Girls Chorus, Percussion Ensemble, Orchestra and a large scale cantata based on text by Ralph Waldo Emerson entitled "The Darkest Things Sing" for large orchestra, chorus, soloists, and children's chorus for the dedication of their performing arts center (2004). He is currently working on a commission for a 2-hour musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities for The Austin Waldorf School due for production in 2009. Peter has composed scores for Spank Dance Co., Ariel Dance Theater, Rude Mechanicals Theatre Collective, Salvage Vanguard Theater Company, Texas Viola Society, Viola By Choice, and the Austin Chamber Music Center. He received an Austin Critics Table nomination for "Best Composition" in 2005 for his 5th Symphony. Currently Peter is at work on the score for an untitled play about Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace for Salvage Vanguard Theater due for production in 2008. Peter has also composed film scores for the silent classics Nosferatu (1922), The Lost World (1925), Metropolis (1927), The Gold Rush (1925), The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), Haxan (Witchcraft Through The Ages) (1922), Faust (1926), as well as many short films including Chickenfut (Winner Best Short Saleno Fear Fest 2007, Official Selection San Francisco Short Film Festival, Official Selection New York Horror Film Festival). Peter teaches Music Theory and Composition at the Austin Chamber Music Center, Austin Waldorf School, and privately.
Adam Sultan has worked with numerous theater and dance companies, including The Improvisational Movement Project, Spank Dance Company, and Ariel Dance Theater. He has composed music for Shrewd Productions’ Io-A Myth About You, Salvage Vanguard Theaters’ Thrush, and St. Idiot Collective’s Vaudeville Vanya, among other theater, music and film work. He is currently finishing an album of his Sado-vaudevillian punk act, Mistress Stephanie and Her Melodic Cat.
Lindsey Taylor has been choreographing, teaching and dancing professionally in Austin for four years. She graduated from the University of Texas in 2004 with a BFA in Dance. She has performed with Blue Lapis Light, Sharir + Bustamante Danceworks, Spank Dance Co. and is a collaborator in the anarchistic dance society known as Sheep Army/Elsewhere Dance Theatre. Additionally, she founded the award-winning song and dance trio, Little Stolen Moments. www.myspace.com/littlestolenmoments www.lindseytaylorart.comJohn Thoms is an active and outrageous father to two amazing children: Zora Ruby and Sasha Byron. In his spare time he rides his bike to his job as a middle school teacher and possitive behavior specialist
Tanya Wideman-Davis, ( NYC/Austin) as “distinctive for the power of her secure pointe work and her personality.” (New York Dance Fax) She has received International acclaim and was given the honor of “Best Female Dancer of 2001-2002” by Dance Europe Magazine. Ms. Wideman-Davis has trained with some of the premier schools in the country, starting with The Academy of Movement and Music, The Ruth Page Dance Foundation, The Joffrey Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Chicago City Ballet, and The Dance Theatre of Harlem. In 1993 she was invited to join The Dance Theatre of Harlem where she danced works by Balanchine, Glen Tetley, Michael Smuin, Geoffrey Holder, John Taras, Billy Wilson, John Alleyne, Alonzo King, Vincent Mantsoe, Jose Limon, Choo San Goh, and Dwight Rhoden. Ms. Wideman-Davis joined the Joffrey of Chicago in 1999 where she danced many roles in the company’s vast repertoire. Upon returning to the Dance Theatre of Harlem she was named Principal Dancer. As a result of her diverse career she has also danced with The Cleveland San Jose Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY, Donald Byrd/The Group, and Ballet Memphis.Seeking an experience that required more self-exploration Ms. Wideman-Davis joined Alonzo King’s Lines Contemporary Ballet in 2002 and worked there for two seasons before going to work with Donald Byrd at Spectrum Dance Theatre. As Co-Artistic Directors for Wideman/Davis Dance she has assisted in creating new works and setting existing works for Ballet Memphis, Phrenic New Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY, The Julliard School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Reflections Dance Company, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Ballet Austin, and Wideman/Davis Dance.
Maggie Wilhite hails from Houston, Texas, where she began dancing at the age of 5. She earned a BFA in musical theatre from Sam Houston State University. She dabbled in theatre and film in New York City before relocating to Austin in 2005. Maggie has involved herself in various creative projects around town, performing in the Coda Project's The Play About the Bab as well as Hyde Park Theatre's installment of Susan Lori Parks' 365 Plays/365 Days. Dancing with Spank has been the ultimate artistic endeavor. Many thanks to Ellen for the opportunity.
Dawnerin Wilkinson Besides when spending time with her daughter Zoe Sky or her new husband Graham, she feels best when performing. It's something about the stage lights penetrating her pale skin, straight through to her heart and soul… allowing it to float out and dance around! Maybe you were touched by it, maybe it made you giggle, ruminate, or revel. Either way, it's bliss for her and has always been.
Matthew Young is a dancer/musician/photographer/sculptor/carpenter based in Austin, TX. He has been creating dance works there for eight years and has trained informally since childhood. Matthew is a dedicated choreographer and improviser and manages to bring many of his aforementioned talents to bear on his dance works. Matthew’s collaborative experience with Elsewhere Dance Theater over the past four years has been an extremely fulfilling artistic endeavor that has brought him both critical acclaim and personal fulfillment.Leanne Zacharias Canadian cellist Leanne Zacharias' diverse musical life has been compared to extreme sport—from soloist with baroque orchestra Tafelmusik, apprentice with Montreal's Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, finalist in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, substitute in the Houston Symphony, artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for Arts to new music director on campus radio, she collaborates with musicians of all stripes, composers, choreographers, architects, painters, poets, video artists, leads canoe trips + volunteers with the Sierra Club. With songwriter Christine Fellows she has toured the continent + created original music for BRAVO, CBC, Trip Dance, the Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers + four albums on Six Shooter Records. Armed with a Masters degree from Rice University, Ms. Zacharias landed in Austin in 2005 to pursue an experimental doctoral program at UT. Her performance project Music for Spaces explores intimacy in art music through unorthodox venues + unlikely collaborations.
AMERICAN REPERTORY ENSEMBLE The Austin based contemporary-classical dance and music ensemble received its non-profit status in 2005. The ensemble presents an intensely eclectic repertoire performed by award winning classically trained artists. ARE's focus is to present original, contemporary and classical music and dance in the same program as highly regarded and established works from the music and dance cannons. Working with the highest of standards, ARE has been embraced by the community as a place where 'highly professional, intelligent, inventive, and entertaining music and dance' (The Austininst) is to be found. Some other things people have said about us are: 'We witnessed the birth of a truly world-class performing arts organization.' Austin 360. 'It was Alchemy,' 'Daring, creative,' 'Wonderful on every level.' Audience members. 16 Nominations in the Austin Critics Table Awards, 2008. 11 Nominations in the Austin Critics Table Awards, 2007. 'Top Ten List of Dance and Music Events That Made 2006 a Year to Remember.' Austin Chronicle
Individuals:
28 Angles, Sam Allen, Andrea Ariel, Ballet East Dance Theater, Paul and Caroline Bartel, Andrea Beckham, Phyllis Boonchai, Toni Bravo, Steve Canty, Karen Carlson, Jim Chappeleaux, Mary Chase, Tom Cole, Mariann Danielson, Lisa Del Rosario, Case Dillard, Elsewhere Dance Theatre, Jonathan Friedman, Stan Friedman, Forklift Danceworks, Sarah Gerichten, Acia Gray, Brett Hatton, Deborah Hay, Katherine Hodges, Annie Hudson, Tim Hurst, Brook Jones, Leap of Joy, Andrea and Nicholas Keene, David Kerr, Tamara Klindt, Alisa Laraway, Sharon Marroquin, Amy McCartney, Lisa Rose McCready, Shannon & Lacey McCormick, Nancy Moran, Hung Nguyen, Julie Nathanielsz, David Paul Ohlerking II, Ashley Ortego, Mark P., Aubrie Parsons, Michele Owens-Pearce, Performance Encounters, Diana Phillips, Janine Ploetz, Manfredo Ploetz, Jodi Roth, Cookie Ruiz, Wesley Shackelford, www.Southpawjones.com, Ellen Stader, Tapestry Dance Company, www.ToddPilates.com, www.austinnakedyoga.com, Holly Williams.Big Range Austin Dance Festival is funded and supported in part by the Austin Community Foundation, the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. Sponsored by Salvage Vanguard Theater, KOOP radio, Odic Force Magazine, Four Hands, thinktiv, Wicked Cricket Dance Theatre, Little City and several generous individuals. Produced by Spank Dance Inc., a tax-exempt organization under section 501c3 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Big Range Austin is a dance festival that strives to present quality contemporary dance that explores diverse concepts within the movement arts. We encourage experimentation from choreographers to stretch their own ideas of dance, collaboration, and performance excellence. We seek to engage the audience through fresh new ideas that are challenging and fun, with a strong emphasis on community building through each individual voice.
Big Range Austin is facilitated through Spank Dance and is a sister festival to the original Big Range Houston founded in 2003 by Suchu Dance Company. Spank Dance encourages the growth and collaboration of the contemporary dance communities in Central Texas by bridging ideas, people, and diverse artistic expression.
Production Team:
Stephen Pruitt - Technical DirectorDani Pruitt - Stage Manager
Elle Mahoney - Backstage Manager
Annie Bradley - Sound Operator
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Spank Dance Board of Directors:
Sarah Gerichten: President
Sharon Marroquin: Vice President
Ellen Bartel: Executive Director
Mari Akita: Secretary
This project is funded and supported in part by the Austin Community Foundation, the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art, and ponsored by Salvage Vanguard Theater and underwritten by KOOP.
