WDS#1

Concept & Direction: Charlie Slender-White

Choreography & Performance: Keanu Forrest Brady & LizAnne Roman Roberts

Lighting Design: Charlie Slender-White

Music: Trentemøller

Costumes: Sporadic Assembly

FACT/SF is a San Francisco-based contemporary dance company, founded in 2008 by Charlie Slender-White as a platform for organizing collaborators, building community, and creating choreography. FACT/SF is a Home Company at ODC Theater, regularly performs in the San Francisco Bay Area, maintains a core group of local collaborators, and has developed an extensive international network of partners. FACT/SF has premiered 42 works, with tours throughout the US, across Russia, and to Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Macedonia. FACT/SF’s Fieldwork programs provide support and material resources to contemporary dance artists outside FACT/SF.

About the Artists

Keanu Forrest Brady (he/they) is a San Francisco-based dance artist working at the intersection of contemporary improvisation, hip-hop and post-modern movement forms. Keanu received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Modern Dance at the University of Utah. Over the years, he has worked closely as a performer and creative collaborator with various San Francisco based companies and arts nonprofits such as LEVYdancy (2017-2021), AXIS dance company, ODC, Kinetech, and Sarah Shelton-Mann, alongside other local choreographers and drag performers. Within the United States, he has worked on stage and screen with Carl Flink, Eric Handman, Satu Hummasti and Scotty Hardwig, among others. His performance work has allowed him to tour within the United States and Internationally. He is currently a company member of FACT/SF since 2018, as well as serving on the board of directors as Dancer Liaison as of 2022. If you are unable to find him dancing in the studios, stages and streets of San Francisco, you can find him on instagram, @keanu.dance.

LizAnne Roman Roberts fell in love with dance at age four after seeing Giselle on TV in her hometown Tulsa, Oklahoma. Honored to have been working in the profession of her dreams for over twenty years, LizAnne began her career with Tulsa Ballet while finishing high school and earning a BFA at the University of Oklahoma. She has worked with various artists throughout the Bay Area, including collaborating with FACT/SF since 2012. LizAnne has appeared internationally in Avignon and Claremont-Ferrand, France; Belgrade, Serbia; and Sofia, Bulgaria as well as across the United States. LizAnne is the mother of two, and lives in Oakland, CA. She is also a certified Pilates instructor.

Charlie Slender-White is a choreographer, teacher, performer, and organizer, and the Artistic Director of FACT/SF. Charlie believes that artists deserve a living wage and that artists’ labor should be recognized, and he utilizes FACT/SF as a framework to realize these values, make art, and engage community. He began his career in 2006 as a dancer with Provincial Dances Theatre in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and has since created more than 35 original works. Charlie's choreography has been commissioned by ODC Theater, CounterPulse, the US Department of State, and numerous others. He is one of 52 Countertechnique Teachers worldwide, teaches on faculty at the American Dance Festival, and served as a Guest Curator and Resident Strategist at ODC Theater from 2021-2023. Charlie completed his undergraduate degrees in Dance & Performance Studies and English Literature at UC Berkeley.

Standard Impatiens

Choreographed and Performed by Kim Ip

"Standard Impatiens" is a solo about coming to terms with being culturally and emotionally socialised in a Western country and what it means to tend to a relationship with an immigrant mother. Standard Impatiens is a kind of flower that is able to grow in complete shade--this serves as a metaphor for survival and the desire to grow even in dark conditions.

About the Artists

Kim Ip is a New Zealand born, Queer femme, Chinese American choreographer and movement artist based in the Bay Area. Aesthetically, Kim’s choreography is inspired by femme fatales of film noir and video vixens of pop culture. The physicality of her choreography is informed by her artistic practice: Queer nightlife, pole class, hip hop, and long term friendships with elders. She seeks to ask questions that create more questions and less answers??? cultural poetics?! She has received residencies from Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, SafeHouse, and CounterPulse. She has shown her work at Edge on the Square, Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, CounterPulse, B4BEL4B Gallery, and Gray Area. Kim is incredibly humbled and honoured to be presenting an excerpt of "Standard Impatiens" for the FACT/SF Winter Salon. Check out more of her work here: www.krimmip.com. IG: @krimmip

Love Stories Part 2

Artistic Director: Zoe Fyfe

Collaborators: Emma Andre, Henry Winslow, Liam Fleming, Risa Ofelia Diaz, Sophia Grimani, Will Loewen

Sound Engineer: Ryan Huber

Composers: Sound bites from Philip Glass, Gotye, Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova, Astor Piazzolla, Cinematic Orchestra

Costumes: Zoe Fyfe with Emma Andre

My piece explores relationship dynamics in the context of deeply personal stories and universal themes of love, loss and self discovery.

About the Artists

Zoe Fyfe is a San Francisco based dance artist, educator, and artistic director of ZOEmotion Dance Collective. She creates work with dancers from San Francisco and NYC exploring the embodiment of personal stories, physical emotion, and energy dynamics as material for dances that inspire self discovery and interconnection. Zoe received an MFA in Choreography from Mills College and taught Contemporary dance and creative practice to many generations of students. She developed and directed the dance program at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, has shown work through ODC Pilot Program, Dance Mission Theater, Dancers Group, and extensively as faculty at Lick-Wilmerding, Marlboro College and Northfield Mount Hermon. Zoe is a Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum-in-Motion artist and taught in NYC through Movement Research’s ‘Dance Makers in Schools’ program. She is an avid practitioner of Countertechnique and can be seen dancing on beaches, mountains and city streets to pursue solo dance filmmaking with a focus on the interplay of movement, emotion and environment.   Zoe is a devoted student and teacher of yoga and is currently opening a private practice as a mentor for Wellbeing.

Emma Andre is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher based in Oakland, California. Emma is originally from the North Shore of Massachusetts, where they started dancing at the age of 3. They studied contemporary dance with an emphasis in ballet at Boston Conservatory, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2021. After graduating they moved to New York and had the pleasure of working with Spark Movement Collective, Joyce King Dance Company, Zoe Fyfe, & John Passafiume. Emma moved to Oakland in June of 2023, and they have been blown away by how welcoming and lively the Bay Area Dance Community is. Since moving, Emma has received a Merdé Project grant to create new work, a SAFEhouse Arts RAW residency in collaboration with Henry Winslow, and a solo residency at Deborah Slater's Studio 210 under the mentorship of David Herrera. Emma is proud to be a faculty member at Berkeley Ballet Theater and Smuin Center for Dance. Outside of the studio Emma likes to spend their time crafting, cooking, and going for walks around Lake Merritt.

Henry Winslow grew up dancing in Bellingham, Washington. At 17 he moved to Oregon to study in The Portland Ballet’s Career Track. He has also trained at programs with Limon, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Jacob's Pillow, and Springboard Danse Montreal. In 2021 he graduated with a BFA in Contemporary Dance from Boston Conservatory. While living in Brooklyn, NY he began working with Fist and Heel, and John Passafiume & Kristin Vining Collaborative, among others. Currently he lives in Oakland, California, working as a performer, choreographer, and dance teacher, and he hopes to continue building a sustainable and enjoyable career in the arts.

Liam Rose (he/they) is a dance artist and fitness professional based in San Francisco. Originally from the south side of Chicago, Liam began training at the Chicago High School for the Arts and the former Lou Conte Dance Studio of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He completed his pre-professional training at LINES Ballet Training Program in 2023. Liam has since collaborated with companies like Xochipilli Dance Company, FACT/SF, Ballet22, and Zoemotion. Currently, Liam is a collaborator with Aleño Dance Project, and studies Kinesiology at City College of San Francisco. In all they do, Liam is committed to centering and uplifting transgender and queer people, especially as it relates to promoting their body autonomy and increasing their access across dance and fitness spaces.

Sophia Grimani is a Bay Area based artist and educator focusing in the mediums of dance, photography, and filmmaking. She obtained her BA from Bennington College in May 2022 and is now freelancing in San Francisco. Her work functions around the themes of the female experience, sexuality, the gaze, and nature. She is interested in the intersection of dance and media, making the majority of her work multimedia performance. She works as a solo and collaborative artist and is especially interested in interdisciplinary making. As a choreographer and dancer, Sophia has shown work at Dance Mission theater and SAFEhouse Arts. Her photographic work has been displayed at Harvey Milk photo center and featured in publications of Pamplemousse magazine.

Will Loewen is an Austin born dancer who has recently moved to San Francisco. Will has performed and trained in Berlin, Dublin, Amsterdam, and Prague. After studying dance at Bennington College and Austin Community College, Will has continued his practice based in improvisation, partnering, and floorwork. With experience in modern dance and athletics, Will is seeking to develop his technical and artistic skills.

Risa Ofelia Diaz is a Cuban-American dancing artist. She is a recent graduate of the California Institute of the Arts where she earned a BFA in dance. Her dance practice is rooted in West African dance styles as well as somatics based practices such as Feldenkrais. Dance to Risa is a universal language that builds bridges and expresses the fullness of humanity. She is a lover of movement in general and can often be seen watching the way waves collide with one another or the way that trees react to the sun or the breeze.

Entangled in the Tall Grass

Choreographed and Performed by Hannah Westbrook

Music by Michael Wall and Norah Jones

Poetry by Natalie Myers-Guzman

“Entangled in the Tall Grass” is a solo dance project tracing the artifacts of loss between personal and collective grief across a changing life. In this piece, movement is working in collaboration with spoken word texts exploring the loss of agency, nostalgia, joy, and emotional entrapment associated with grieving. Through a series of state based movement scores, this piece navigates memories of loss while simultaneously tending to the wild pools of bereavement on a poetic embodied journey back to self, and a reflection into the depths of recomposition.

About the Artists

Hannah Westbrook (she/her) is a white queer dance artist and educator. She creates work for stage, site, & screen, with movement vocabulary expressing affective subtleties through rigorous physicality. Her practice is based in devised dance-theater, improvisational movement scores, and site-specific explorations. Hannah’s performance & choreography work has been seen on stages and in film festivals across the US and abroad, including choreography for the multi-award winning music video/protest prayer “Walk With Us” by Willa Moore. She has performed with Stephan Koplowitz/AXIS Dance Company, Tim Rubel Human Shakes, animi motus (DE), Sarah Bush Dance Project, Tara Pilbrow Dance, and an ensemble role in Anna Halprin’s Parades and Changes. Hannah is a graduate of UC Berkeley, earning the Departmental Citation for Excellence in Dance and currently resides in Oakland, CA.

Michael Wall has been playing music for dance classes for nearly 30 years, working with hundreds of teachers and thousands of students. A versatile musician, he plays piano, trumpet, harmonica, djembe, congas, modular synths, and sings—all blending traditional instruments with modern technology. He’s experienced with all types of dance techniques, including improvisation, contemporary, modern, ballet, pointe, Gaga, contact improvisation, partnering, West African classes, yoga, meditation classes, and various hybrid styles that mix different musical genres and movements. As a composer, Michael has created thousands of pieces for choreographers, dance filmmakers, international TV and film companies, students, and friends. He currently works on over a hundred music for dance projects each year. He has also taught at several universities and guest lectured at smaller dance programs, where he developed a curriculum to teach music to dancers. By sharing what he’s learned, he helps dancers create their own music using software—a method now widely used in the dance community. He’s also helped several dancers build music careers alongside their dance work.

sorry that happened

Choreographed by Quinn Dior

Performed by Dasha Yurkevich, Will Loewen, and Quinn Dior

Composed by Sean Kovacs

Vocals by Quinn Dior and Annika Wong

Quinn Dior is back with a dance embracing tense dynamics and queer shenanigans. Dancers Dasha Yurkevich and Will Loewen join her in a duet bursting with soft athleticism and a familiar tenderness. A theatrical piece set to music that seeks trans love, shield from abuse, and the approval of one's parents

About the Artists

Quinn Dior went to UC Davis where she received training in modern dance and performing opportunities in Butoh. After college, she had the chance to work for Elizabeth Streb which led her to develop an insatiable hunger for risk and air-time in dance. She currently dances for Flyaway Productions under the artistic leadership of Jo Kreiter. She presented a solo at Shawl-Anderson’s Queering Dance Festival and later a shorter work for Circo Zero in collaboration with forever failing which is run by Clarysa Dyas and ainsley tharp.

Dasha Yurkevich (they/them), is a teacher at SFUSD as well as a student at UC Berkeley studying Anthropology and City Planning. They have been training Capoeira at the Abada School of Capoeira for two years, as well as receiving previous training in ballet, contemporary dance and eastern european folk dance. They are an avid cyclist and sustainable transportation advocate.

Will Loewen is an Austin born dancer who has recently moved to San Francisco. Will has performed and trained in Berlin, Dublin, Amsterdam, and Prague. After studying dance at Bennington College and Austin Community College, Will has continued his practice based in improvisation, partnering, and floorwork. With experience in modern dance and athletics, Will is seeking to develop his technical and artistic skills.

Annika Wong (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, artist and occasional voice actor who has worked in theatre, immersive theatrical experiences, and film in NYC. As a choreographer, her upcoming work includes movement direction for director Nuala Vizard's short film, Lamentations, premiering in 2025, as well as movement direction for the new play Jason, Medea and the Tragedy at the PS19 Talent Show, which opened November 2024 written by and starring actor Mark Blane. Annika is a company dancer with Gotham Dance Theater directed by Marc Nuñez, as well as The Dynasties, directed by Preston Mui - whose newest show, New Asia will premiere in April 2025 at Sleepwalk Bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She is a 2022 graduate of Peridance Center's Certificate Program. @annikatofu

Sean Kovacs is a queer multidisciplinary artist living and working in Brooklyn New York. Through songwriting, producing, painting, and film making she aims to create visceral moments with her art, letting the viewer into the moments that break her. Currently they are the creative force, vocalist, and guitarist in Brooklyn based Emo band One Hour Photo, as well as lead guitarist in queer dance punk band Crush Fund.

“Unwinding,” a section of Heart String

Directed and Choreographed by Ciarra D’Onofrio

Dance Collaborators: Devon Chen, Derek DiMartini, Olallie Lackler, Kriss Rulifson, Hannah Westbrook

Musical Collaborators: Kate Munger and the Threshold Choir

Heart String, directed and choreographed by Ciarra D'Onofrio, is an original aerial dance project focused on the complex tapestry of death, grief, and resilience, and the bonds between the dying and their caregivers. Featuring a cast of talented dancers, many of whom have experienced the loss of someone close to them, Heart String explores what it means to lose those we love and how we can come together to move forward. The dance performance will be set to live music sung by Kate Munger and the Threshold Choir, a choir that sings to those in hospice. Join us for Heart String May 30-June 1 at Zaccho Dance Theater. In the Fact SF Winter Dance Salon, we are sharing one section of the evening-length project entitled "Unwinding."

About the Artists

Ciarra D’Onofrio (they/them) is a queer dancer, aerialist, and educator with a passion for using dance as a means of storytelling, social analysis, and community building. They specialize in vertical dance, dance trapeze, and contemporary dance. They have performed in redwood forests, cathedral spires, and on trampoline walls. Their current choreographic work explores grief, the co-creation of queer identity, and how gender lives in the body and in physical space. Recently their work has been presented in the San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival, the Tenderloin Arts Festival, and the CounterPulse Festival. They are a company member of Zaccho Dance Theater, where they recently performed for sold out crowds while suspended in the dome of SF City Hall. Other favorite collaborations include Nina Sawant, Epiphany Dance Theater, Olallie Lackler, and Helen Wicks Works. In 2023 they were a member of Bandaloop’s Training Group, and were recently awarded artist residencies at Shawl Anderson Dance Center and Zaccho Dance Theater, where they are developing their current project Heart String.

Devon Chen is a freelance dancer hailing from the SF Bay Area. She has performed professionally with numerous dance companies, including Dancing Earth, Loose Change Dance, Visceral Roots, Soulskin, LV Dance Collective and FACT/SF. From her early years studying ballet, to her discovery of contemporary dance in college, to her more recent explorations of vertical dance with Bandaloop, she has continuously evolved as an artist. She embraces the art of storytelling through dance, seeking to connect with audiences on a deep and visceral level. She earned a Bachelor’s in Neuroscience and Behavior and later obtained her Doctorate in Physical Therapy and now specializes in dance and sports medicine. She is thrilled to be joining Ciarra D’Onofrio and Dancers for Heartstring!

Creator. Performer. Movement Artist. Bodyworker. Derek DiMartini (he/him) embraces dance as a medium that can recontextualize how we take up space in the world. Drawn to moments of transformation, he is preoccupied with creating environments where the multiplicity of being can be revealed. As a performer, he effortlessly interweaves moments of full-bodied abandon with delicate tenderness and emotional authenticity. Derek is a founding member of Hypothetical Circus, and has performed with LEIMAY Ensemble (New York), Human Shakes, Epiphany Dance Theater, and Erik Wagner, among others. Follow him @derek.moves on Instagram.

Olallie Lackler is a queer, non-binary experimental dancer, creator, and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their work explores the universes between contact improvisation and contemporary/experimental dance. Frequent themes of exploration include relationships, queerness, the realms of the inner cosmos, and power. They have self-produced their work in the east bay, and have presented work through LABA Bay Area, Performance Primers and the SAFEhouse RAW Residency. They teach dance in various public schools and throughout the Bay Area.

Kriss Rulifson dances writes makes twirls questions confronts doodles directs, holds space, creates space, and finds magic in the mundane. They find peace in holding their breath for long periods of time underwater, is a housing advocate for survivors of violence, researches emergent anchors in disorienting scenarios, are in constant practice of deconditioning the colonizers’ imprint, and ultimately dreams of a world where God is a flower. Kriss’s creative work surfaces visceral remembering and integration of stories that don’t follow a linear narrative. Their expression has been informed through contact improvisation, contemporary dance, house dance and music, aquatic therapy practices, vertical dance and free diving. Kriss trained in contemporary dance from Tanzfabrik Schule (Berlin) and was an Artcorps scholar at the Tamalpa Institute, studying Expressive Arts Therapy. They received their B.S. in Neurobiology Physiology and Behavior (UC Davis) and is currently an Axis Syllabus teacher candidate. They Co-direct Twin Moons Productions, offering aquatic experiences that supports embodiment in disorienting scenarios, freelances locally and internationally as a choreographer, dancer, and teacher. They have collaborated & performed with local and international artists such as Diana Lara, Krista DeNio, Scott Wells, James Graham, Mei Bao, and Jessica Yactine, and Artship. www.kristenrulifson.com

Hannah Westbrook (she/her) is a white queer dance artist and educator. She creates work for stage, site, & screen, with movement vocabulary expressing affective subtleties through rigorous physicality. Her practice is based in devised dance-theater, improvisational movement scores, and site-specific explorations. Hannah’s performance & choreography work has been seen on stages and in film festivals across the US and abroad, including choreography for the multi-award winning music video/protest prayer “Walk With Us” by Willa Moore. She has performed with Stephan Koplowitz/AXIS Dance Company, Tim Rubel Human Shakes, animi motus (DE), Sarah Bush Dance Project, Tara Pilbrow Dance, and an ensemble role in Anna Halprin’s Parades and Changes. Hannah is a graduate of UC Berkeley, earning the Departmental Citation for Excellence in Dance and currently resides in Oakland, CA.

Kate Munger has been passionate about community singing since she was 8 years old at Girl Scout Camp and has led community singing now for over 45 years. In 2000 she founded the first of now 200 Threshold Choirs around the world. Today at 73 she is retired and has returned to her passion of singing at the bedsides of people who are dying, in coma and with folks who are incarcerated. She is a popular speaker among palliative care and prison reform professionals at conferences and is a gracious, skillful musical host and choral director whose joy is reminding us that we are singing beings, bringing community singing back to “the community.” Kate knows that this work is deep and serious and she offers a fresh, lively, sometimes irreverent, always relevant perspective.

Intro to Frenetic Doing

Choreographed and Performed by Emily Hansel and Meredith Webster

About the Artists

Emily Hansel is a San Francisco-based dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, arts administrator, and artist advocate. Originally from Rochester, Minnesota, Emily received their BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida. Emily has danced with SFDanceworks, Post:ballet, Christy Funsch, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Robert Moses’ KIN, Garrett-Moulton Productions, Rebecca Fitton Projects, David Herrera Performance Company, Jennifer Perfilio, FACT/SF, and ZiRu Dance, among others. Emily has also performed in Alexandra Pirici’s Re-collection at SFMOMA and in Cunningham repertory in “Signals from the West: Bay Area Artists In Conversation with Merce Cunningham at 100.” Emily’s choreographic work, which is centered around dismantling systems of oppression in the concert dance field, has been commissioned by a variety of companies and presented at numerous venues throughout the Bay Area and across the country. Emily recently received an San Francisco Artist award from the San Francisco Arts Commission, was selected to participate in MANCC’s Forward Dialogues program, received an ODC Theater RDI Award, and was named an Individual Artist Fellow by the California Arts Council. Through their choreography, writing, speaking engagements, teaching, and other creative work, Emily advocates for healthy and equitable working conditions for dancers.

Meredith T. Webster grew up in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, studying under Jean Wolfmeyer. She worked with Sonia Dawkins's Prism and Donald Byrd's Spectrum Dance Theatre in Seattle, and earned a B.S. in Sustainable Resource Sciences from the University of Washington before moving to San Francisco to work with Alonzo King LINES Ballet. She danced with LINES for 9 seasons, during which she originated many central roles and won a Princess Grace Award. She then served as Rehearsal Director for 6 years and has staged Alonzo’s work for companies such as American Ballet Theater, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Miami City Ballet, and Rambert Dance, among others. Meredith has created site-specific work in collaboration with visual artist Ana Teresa Fernandez and composer Miles Lassi, performed with Sharp&Fine, Ledoh/Salt Farm, and Maureen Whiting & Co, and co-created the Ladysmith Draw and Empress Archer evening-length duets. Her work for film includes Mirrors, Evidence of it All, Miles Away and Numenon. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Maureen Whiting & Co and lives on the unceded Ohlone land of xučyun (Huchiun), also known as Oakland, California.

Lilac

Choreographed by Héctor Jaime and Brandon Graham

Music: Dinah Washington & Max Richter, “This Bitter Earth - On the Nature of Daylight”

Costume Design by Héctor Jaime

This the debut of “Lilac” as a live performance. This choreographic composition began as a collaboration of Xochipilli Dance Company, to create a dance film with Bryan and Vita Mei Hewitt and Lauren Jade Szabo. This piece is filled with the power of fluid softness that holds gentle movement and caring touch. Representing an ultimate surrender and innocent love.

About the Artists

Héctor Jaime (They/She/He) is a shaman of movement, artistic director of Xochipilli Dance Company, and dance artist born and raised in Mexicali, Baja California, México. Upon graduating from the Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet BFA Program in 2021 Héctor has integrated himself into the Bay Area art field. Héctor uses a mixture of different media as inspirations that comes from Mexican history, pictography, sculptures, folklore, music, and poetry to mutate movement into choreographic compositions. These elements have led them with interest to persist in the creation of dance pieces that can reflect his Mexican culture and how it influences her artistic work. The enhancement of art as a way of healing plays an important key factor on Héctor’s vision on dance composition. Having had the opportunity to learn about Mexican culture's divine supernatural point of view has impacted his approach to dance.

Brandon Graham (he/they) was born in Rochester NY and trained at School Of The Arts and Odasz Dance Theatre under Jessica Odasz. He since has graduated from Alonzo King Lines BFA program. He has had the opportunity to work with Flock Works, Robert Moses, Kara Davis, Christian Burns and Gregory Dawson. After graduating the BFA program in 2020 he has been doing freelance work with Kristin Damrow, David Herrera Performance Company, Peninsula Ballet Theatre, Alyssa Mitchel and more. This is Brandon’s second season with Sean Dorsey Dance.

Folding and Unfolding

Co-created by KT Nelson, Cauveri Suresh, and Kira Fargas

Directed by KT Nelson

Performed by Cauveri Suresh and Kira Fargas

Music: Excerpt #2, Nils Frahm

This duet explores an old self and a future self. The work is in response to realizing that who I was at the time of my husband’s death, after 47 years of partnership, can no longer be. I am presently trying to find my way in reintegrating myself in life. Not sure we did this but it was my inspiration for being in rehearsal.

About the Artists

KT Nelson

Kira Fargas is a queer, first generation, Filipina American movement artist and choreographer. She was raised in the Bay Area and trained at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts. In 2017, she received her BFA in dance from the University of Arizona. She dances with UNA Productios (Chuck Wilt) and EIGHT/MOVES (Mia Chong), and has worked with and performed works by New Dialect (Banning Bouldin), Rosie Herrera, Alex Ketley, Ariel Freedman, KT Nelson, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, and Rena Butler, and more. Kira co-directs the Contemporary Training Program at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts with Hadassah Perry, and is extremely passionate about progressing the field with the upcoming generation.

Cauveri Suresh is an artist whose work orients around geometry, color, and relation to physical environment. They have performed work by Lauren Simpson, Joanna Kotze, Kickbal, Risa Jaroslow, KT Nelson, Christina Robson, Gerald Casel, and Jodi Melnick. Cauveri collaborates frequently with San Francisco-based choreographer Emma Lanier. Cauveri’s work has been supported by residencies with Nava Dance Theater, Sonoma Ceramics, Destiny Arts Center, Merde Project, to be like the river, and Creativity Explored. They graduated cum laude from Barnard College in 2018 with a B.A. in dance.