PRESENTERS

Mary Elizabeth Anderson is a performer, artist and activist with a background strongly rooted in West African dance. Currently a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at UC Davis, her dissertation research reaches into the poetic construction of Victorian philosophies of land management and asks how contemporary site-specific performances in the Australian Central Desert are attempting to integrate the repeated emergence of a consciousness of Empire with an ancient consciousness that we understand in terms of dreamings and songliness.

Courtney Andrews is a second-year graduate student pursuing an MFA in performance and choreography at SUNY Brockport. She earned her BA in Dance from the University at Buffalo in 2003, and currently resides in Rochester, NY. While her main areas of interest are in modern and tap dance, she continues to study other forms, as well as teach students of all ages at local dance schools in the Greater Rochester area.

Ramie Becker, a PhD candidate in Dance History and Theory, whose work is based in the intersections of popular culture, technology, and dance. Coming from a background in theater and modern dance, she has also performed with various companies, such as the University of Kansas Dance Company, The Bowery Dancers and Ragesties. She is also the founder of Random Acts of Irreverent Dance (RAID), a collective that combines street theater and dance with flash mob tactics, currently performing in the Los Angeles area.

Harmony Bench is a doctoral candidate in Culture and Performance in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA. Before moving to Los Angeles, Harmony earned her MA in Performance Studies from New York University, as well as a BFA in Ballet and a BA in Women's Studies from the University of Utah. She is currently writing her dissertation on dance on the Internet, while taking some time to perform in Cid Pearlman's work.

C-c Braun has recently received her BA in Dance and Communications from Slippery Rock University and is currently studying for her MFA in dance at Arizona State University. During her first year at ASU, she has performed on and off campus, organized auditions, worked with the technology department, and most importantly has been working with underprivileged children at a local homeless shelter. C-c is currently studying the effects of body language between different cultures, mental states, and different upbringings.

Mark Broomfield is a second year doctoral student in Dance History and Theory at UC Riverside. He taught in the Theatre and Dance Department of Phillips Academy Andover and as an Assistant Professor at Santa Fe Community College, Gainesville, Florida. Performance experience includes Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Snappy Dance Theater, and Gerri Houlihan and Dancers. He holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and is guest choreographer for Cypress College’s spring concert.

Hilary Bryan is certified in Laban Movement Analysis.  Her choreography has been critically acclaimed in Taiwan, Russia, New Zealand, and the US.  She teaches dance and LMA in professional studios, universities, and international dance festivals, and curates the Somatics Series of workshops ( www.SomaticsSeries.org ).   In 1999 she founded The Body At Work Ergonomics, training computer users to sit actively and prevent injury ( www.thebodyatwork.com ).  Ms. Bryan teaches and studies at UC Davis in an MFA program for mid- career professional artists.

Liz Casebolt is currently pursuing an MFA in experimental choreography at UCR. She has a BFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Liz was on faculty at Scottsdale and Glendale Colleges in Arizona, and her work has been presented throughout Arizona and southern California. Liz currently dances with Hassan Christopher's Company of Strangers, and also Susan Rose. She has been exploring collaboration with Joel Smith since 2005.

Annie Cheng is a first-year PhD student in dance history and theory at UCR. She obtained her MA degree in English literature at Peking University, Beijing, China. Ms. Cheng’s major dance training is in Chinese folk dances, among others. Her research interests focus on cross-cultural analysis of dance, gesture, and the body. Her interested areas include India, Indonesia, Japan, and particularly contemporary dance practices in China.

Darryl Kent Clark, BA, Columbia College Chicago, MFA, SUNY College at Brockport, has a total of twenty four years in the field as a dancer, choreographer and teacher.  He has danced the concert works of many contemporary choreographers, performed in musicals and Shakespeare, and has toured with Sesame Street Live.  He has taught jazz dance, modern technique and tap in the midwest, New York state and the Netherlands.

Jenn Joy is a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at New York University. She teaches in the Art History department at Rhode Island School of Design, is Managing Editor of TDR (The Drama Review), and writes for Contemporary, Dance Theatre Journal, and TDR. From 1997-2001 she directed jennjoygallery in San Francisco.

Andreana Karabotsios is a longtime student of movement and Buddhism and has studied under traditional and modern dance masters including Asako Takami, Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya and Molissa Fenley. She holds a BA in Dance and has offered classes in the principles of Buddhism and Dance around the world. Her work as a choreographer has focused on collaboration with multinational and multidisciplinary artists. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of traditional forms.

Cynthia Lee's choreography dialogues between postmodern dance and Kathak (North Indian classical dance).  She holds a BA in English Literature from Swarthmore College and was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study religious dance in Thailand (Thai classical dance), Brazil (Candomblé), and India (Kathak) in 2002-3.  Currently pursuing an MFA at UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures, her work is rooted in collaboration and embodies an acute interest in translations across cultural difference.

Justine Lemos holds a Master's degree in Dance Studies from Mills College, a Master's degree in Anthropology from UC Riverside, and a Bachelor's degree in Dance Ethnography from Hampshire College. She has received training from Guru Ranjanaa Devi in Odissi dance since 1995. Justine completed a Fulbright Grant in India where she intensively studied Mohinniyattam dance at Kerala Kalamandalam under Guru Hymavati. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Cultural Anthropology.

Rachel Mann is a PhD candidate in English at UCSB. Before beginning graduate work, she completed a BFA in Ballet at the University of Utah. She is currently working on a dissertation that examines the semiotics of body language and movement in three nineteenth-century art forms: narratives by women (Austen, Bronte, Eliot), Romantic ballet, and Pre-Raphaelite painting.

Catherine Massey recently began a graduate program in Dance Writing at the Gallatin School, NYU.  After completing a BFA in Dance at Virginia Commonwealth University, Catherine studied Dance Theory at the Laban Centre London.  Catherine worked as a grant writer for dance companies and museums in North Carolina and San Diego, CA, where she also curated performance events.  Catherine has performed professionally with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Lower Left Performance, Alicia Peterson, and others. 

Carla Melo is a third-year doctoral student at UCLA's Theater department and has an interdisciplinary background that merges theater, visual arts, and dance. Her main scholarly interests are the phenomenology of the performing body, theories of space, performance as urban intervention, and Brazilian culture. She currently co-directs Corpus Delicti Butoh Performance Lab, a group of 'movers' whose performative protest has been highly visible on the streets of Los Angeles since the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Cortney Mild is a third year honors ballet undergraduate student at the University of Utah. She has researched and presented choreography based on women in the 1940’s and 1950’s, social awkwardness, and bird behavior. Her research interests include choreographic copyright and dance in the K – 12 public education system, as well as August Bournonville and the Bournonville School. She has been invited to speak at interdisciplinary conferences in Salt Lake City and Durham, UK.

Shakina Nayfack holds a B.A. in Community Studies and a Graduate Certificate in Theatre Arts from University of California Santa Cruz, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Experimental Choreography and a Ph.D. in Dance History and Theory and at UC Riverside.  As a performance artist, theatre director, and educator, Nayfack works to explore the social and political efficacy of postmodern ritual in process and performance.

Laura Osweiler is a versatile Middle Eastern dancer who has performed all over the United States. She teaches dance studio classes and at Cal Poly, Pomona. In addition, Laura is the Director of Ya Helewa! dance company and produces EEMED and X-MED. She holds a degree in Music History and Literature and a certificate in Ethnomusicology (FSU) and worked towards an MA in Dance Ethnology (UCLA). Currently, she is a doctoral candidate (UCR).

Cid Pearlman’s choreography has been presented by numerous venues, including Joyce SoHo, The Getty Center, Highways Performance Space, and Theater Artaud. Her most recent collaborations have been with Joan Jeanrenaud, formerly of Kronos Quartet, Jonathan Segel of Camper Van Beethoven, and filmmaker Ann Kaneko. Pearlman is the founder of max10 Performance Laboratory, the co-founder of THEN, and is currently pursuing her MFA in Dance in the Department of World Arts & Cultures at UCLA.

Denise Posnak is a choreographer, performer, teacher and writer. Her choreography and performance has been presented in California, the Midwest and Hungary. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from Chapman University, she moved to Budapest, Hungary where she taught in public high schools from 1998-2000. She is currently a MFA candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where her research includes somatic practices in the dance classroom, feminist choreography, and site-specific art.

Stephanie Powell received her MFA in Dance from UC Irvine and danced professionally with the Oakland Ballet Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Donald Byrd/The Group, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Lion King. She has danced commercially for artists such as Jay Leno, Janet Jackson, and Beyonce Knowles. Ms. Powell is a full time Dance faculty member at Long Beach City College and continues to research African American dancers in ballet and modern dance.

Sue Roginski graduated from Wesleyan University with a BA in Dance and Psychology. In 1988 she moved to San Francisco, where she performed in the works of the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Dandelion Dance Theater, Stephen Pelton Dance Theater, and Navarette Y Kajiyama. She has produced her own work as well as performances to benefit Project Inform, Breast Cancer Action, and Women's Cancer Resource Center. She is currently pursuing her MFA degree here at UC Riverside.

Mathew Sandoval is a graduate student at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study where he is currently working on his thesis Putting Performance Back Into Performance Studies: Simulation as Research Methodology.  At present Mathew is also serving as a teaching and research assistant for Roselee Goldberg and the PERFORMA arts organization.  As an artist he has performed in Las Vegas, New York, London, Scotland, and Central America.  But all in all, he’s just a small town boy in the downtown scene.

Ariel Osterweis Scott is completing her BA in Anthropology at Columbia University. After training with San Francisco Ballet, Martha Graham, and Alvin Ailey on full scholarship, Ariel danced professionally with Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson’s Complexions, Mia Michaels R.A.W., Heidi Latsky, and more. Her choreography is presented widely. This fall, Ariel will begin a performance studies PhD program, investigating postcolonial implications of the intersection of hip hop and concert dance in America, Senegal, and beyond.

Joel Smith is a Los Angeles-based dancer/choreographer and has trained, performed and produced work around the country. He has studied with various artists including Susan Rose, Doug Varone, Joe Goode and Lea Anderson, is a currently member of The Company of Strangers in LA and was recently named one of LA’s Finest contemporary male dancers by Dance Spirit Magazine. Smith has an MFA in Experimental Choreography from UC Riverside and is on faculty at Scripps College in Claremont and Cerritos College in Norwalk.

Noémie Solomon has a Master degree in Dance Studies from Université Paris-8. She is currently a PhD candidate at New York University in the Performance Studies Department.

Adrienne Stroik is a PhD candidate in the Dance History and Theory program at the University of California, Riverside.  Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, she earned her BA in Theatre Arts: Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  Adrienne is presently writing her dissertation in which she analyzes fairgoers and certain staged performers as sites of inscription and reception at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, Illinois.

Rosie Trump is a first year MFA graduate student at UCR where she is currently receiving a Gluck and Graduate fellowship.  Rosie comes to  Riverside from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she choreographed, performed, produced, and taught dance.  She earned a BA in dance from Slippery Rock University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2003.  Her current research and choreographic interests include digital video technology, dance improvisation, and identity construction.

Hana van der Kolk is currently an MFA candidate in choreography at UCLA. Formerly based in New York, her work was presented in several venues there. She toured her adaptation of Deborah Hay's "The Ridge" in NYC parks, receiving support from The Puffin Foundation. Her writing on the project will be published in an upcoming issue of Contact Quarterly. Hana will present her new adaptations of two of Hay's dances throughout Southern California this fall.

Elizabeth Venable is a PhD Student in Dance History and Theory at the University of California, Riverside. She previously earned her BS in Ecology and Environmental Science from Arizona State University.

Vicki Watts holds an MFA from Ohio State University, is an accredited teacher of Labanotation and Benesh Movement Notation, and is currently enrolled in the PhD program in Cultural Studies at George Mason University, where her research interests are narrowing towards an investigation of dance literacy. Awards she counts herself fortunate to have received include a Fulbright, the Selma Jeanne Cohen Award presented by SDHS, and a Vice-Provost's Office award from GMU to fund her current studies.

Emily Wilcox is a doctoral student in Medical Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Interested in how medical views of the human body mediate training in dancers and how dancers produce "expressive physiologies" through the manipulation of cultural signs, personal experience, and physical development, Emily works in urban mainland China, primarily with contemporary dancers whose performance art addresses the questions shaping life during China's sweeping social transformations in the post-reform era.

Jin-Sook Yang is a dancer, choreographer and instructor of Korean dance. She is especially interested in the relationship between traditional and contemporary women’s issues and the role of shamanistic rituals so prevalent in Korean society today. Jin-Sook Yang is a recipient of the Korean Honor Scholarship, Forti Family Scholarship, Sookmyung Women’s University Alumnae Scholarship. She is currently completing her MFA in Dance and Choreography in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures.

Latika Young is currently enrolled in the MA program in American Dance Studies at Florida State University where she is writing her thesis about dance on the Internet. She completed her undergraduate work in Dance and Environmental Studies at Swarthmore College for which she wrote about the community-involved dance making of Liz Lerman DanceExchange and Silesian Dance Theater ( Poland). Having spent the previous summer in the Balkans, she plans to return to this region after graduation.