Luna Dance Institute presents our 7th annual event, 20 Points of View: a peek into dance-making. A free, open-studio event, 20 Points of View features 20 local choreographers, each with 30 minutes to share their creative process rehearsing, improvising, or making a dance while engaging with audience in Luna’s studio. Dance lovers, individuals curious about the creative process, school groups, families and community members are invited to drop in all day, at any time to see artists in action. 20 Points of View celebrates the intersection between artists and audience, and we encourage all ages to watch, ask questions, interact and respond, increasing the potential for lively and expressive artistic exchange.
Thursday April 25th
9:30am-7:30pm
Luna Dance Institute
605 Addison Street, Berkeley
FREE
Meet the Choreographers
Zoë Klein is an acrobatic dancer, performing and visual artist and light designer in the Bay Area. She makes work as an indigenous international adopted person, born in Colombia and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated Hampshire College with a degree in Dance & Culture and Lighting Design.
In 2005 she co-founded Paradizo Dance with David Paris and since toured 28 countries over 6 continents. She won multiple 1st place cabaret dance awards, was seen on So You Think You Can Dance, and was a top Finalist on America’s Got Talent in 2009. She moved to Bay Area 8 years ago and dances with Kim Epifano, Ramon Alayo, Rosy Simas, as well as Zaccho Dance Theater and Dancing Earth.
Zoë Klein Productions was presented in 2013 & 2015 SF Salsa Convention, 2014 Trolley Dances, 2016 D.I.R.T festival, CounterPulse 2016 ARC:Edge residency, and FLACC 2016 & 2017 festival. Zoë was invited to lecture at an indigenous contemporary choreographers festival at the Ordway Theater 2017 curated by Rosy Simas in Minnesota. Zoë was CounterPulse Producing Director 2013-2017, Development Fellow and Communications Manager with Adoption Museum Project, and now Development Assistant with Luna Dance Institute.
Stephanie Hewett is a choreographer, movement researcher, performer, and teacher from the Bronx, New York (Lenape territory). She is a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts and has studied at the Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. She holds an MFA in Dance from Mills College and was recently on faculty at the College of San Mateo. Her movement-based performance work aims to highlight fluid identity and reimagines the future as a site of rebirth. Her current research entails navigating performance through injury, pleasure frequencies, and excavating ancestral vestiges in the body.
Stephanie-hewett.com
Joslynn Mathis Reed hails from Detroit Michigan. Her lifelong passion for dance has taken her on a journey that includes performing with Aretha Franklin as a teenager, studying West African dance in Ghana as an undergraduate, and continuing to teach dance to a wide range of students over the past 15 years. Joslynn’s unique style of movement and choreography is driven by a high-energy fusion of hip-hop, modern and ballet forms, resulting in her own unique style. Joslynn holds a B.A. in Dance/Theater Arts from California State University, East Bay and an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Mills College in Oakland, CA where she currently lives and works. Joslynn has trained in Dunham, Ailey and Graham Techniques.
Jocelyn Reyes is a contemporary/modern choreographer, performer and teaching artist based in San Francisco.
Reyes earned a B.A. in Dance and a B.S. in Cognitive Science at the University of California Los Angeles, and her choreography has been featured in venues around the Los Angeles area. Reyes has performed in works by Ana Maria Alvarez, Gracie Whyte, Shahar Binyamini, Janie Gieser and Cheng Chieh Yu.
Reyes is currently a teaching artist at the Heart with Lines program and a RAW resident artist at SAFEHouse Arts SF.
Artist Statement:
I aim to create honest and purposeful dances that can impact both artists and people who have never been exposed to dance. My work is informed by the curiosities and inquietudes about cognitive processes and social interactions: building on a foundation of scientific explanations of ‘how’, I use dance to ponder ‘why’, creating work that presents alternatives to the ‘truths’ and assumptions we take for granted.
Antwan is a multi-percussionist that has Co founded the Las Vegas based performance arts company Molodi, performed with the Las Vegas and North American production of Stomp, and tour nationally with Step Afrika. He is actively performing and teaching workshops and residencies in the U.S and internationally.
https://www.antwandavis.co/
Liv Schaffer received her Bachelor’s degree from Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University of California in 2013, and has spent subsequent seasons performing with AXIS Dance Company, DanceWorks Chicago, and Robert Moses’ Kin. Liv is an artist and educator with The Dance Exchange, Jacob’s Pillow, and LINES Dance Center, and is a Shawl Anderson Dance Center 2019 Emerging Artist in Residence. Liv teaches contemporary dance and directs the University of San Francisco’s intergenerational dance company; the Dance Generators. Liv’s choreography has been presented by DanceWorks Chicago’s DanceMoves Choreographic Competition, Jacob’s Pillow Lab In Process Series, the JUNTOS Collective, The Big Muddy Dance Company, Western Michigan University, and Yerba Buena Gardens Festival ChoreoFest.
Janet Collard is a contemporary dancer, choreographer, and teacher based in the San Francisco bay area. Janet fuses her backgrounds in dance, voice and theater to create exciting works of dance and physical theater.
Janet studied dance and choreography as an undergraduate at CalArts. There she received excellent training from faculty such as Lyndon Branaugh, former Graham Company dancer, Colin Conor, former Limon Company dancer, and Tina Yuan and Christine Lawson, both former Ailey dancers. She then went on to receive her MFA in dance performance and choreography at Mills College, rounding out her education in dance history, film and avant-garde performance artists.
Janet has presented her own original dance works in Southern and Northern California. As part of West Wave dance festival 2016 she participated in Amy Lewis’s ‘Six Suites’. Where she choreographed a solo to Bach’s Cello Suite No.4 with cellist Alex Keitel at the Community Music Center in San Francisco. In June 2018 Janet premiered her dance theater solo show based on the life of Valeska Gert. A unique and wild dancer and actress of the Weimar era. She will continue to work on this project to perform the solo in its entirety in 2019.
Samantha Stone received her BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan. Upon graduating, she has continued her dance studies both outside of the US in Brazil, Mexico and Europe as well as here in the Bay Area focusing her studies primarily towards Axis Syllabus Dance. Sam has had the pleasure to work with choreographers Kathleen Hermesdorf, Bianca Cabrera, Rosemary Hannon, Ashley Trottier, Aura Fischbeck and Leyya Tawil. Her own work has been shown in several local theaters though she prefers enchanting the homes, galleries & shops around her with movement and design. Sam is also a founder of vîv, a collaborative women group focused on reimagining dance in the Bay area. Sam engages in teaching, choreographing & performing on both sides of the Bay, always pushing for arts awareness & opportunity for all.
ayanadancearts aims to create highly innovative choreography that is rooted in contemporary dance aesthetics with a strong Japanese cultural narrative. Ayana Yonesaka, founder and artistic director of ayanadancearts, navigates seamlessly through her Japanese and American identities, dancing and choreographing through a unique cross-pacific framework.
Photo credit: Mark Shigenaga
Claudine Naganuma/dNaga I began working with this community by teaching Dance for PD® at Danspace, where an amazing community has since grown into their own 501c3 called PD Active. Along with my dance company dNaga, dancers with Parkinson’s have been thoughtfully delving into issues of identity and are working to overcoming the oppression of this debilitating disease. Together in the studio, we engage in an intellectually rigorous inquiry about issues that we all face include aging, discrimination and disempowerment. These ideas are then transformed into movement, dances and eventually larger bodies works over time. The work around Parkinson’s Disease is called the PEACE Project and started in 2010. My interest in working with differently-abled bodies is to find the interconnectedness and balance that bring the struggle, wisdom, strength and fragility of real life stories onto the stage. The art serves as a tool for transformation and through its transformation the art becomes a larger vehicle for building change, acceptance and awareness in the greater community.
I’ll most likely have 6 to 8 dancers with me and it will be an open rehearsal to talk about how we use imagery and improvisation to create movement vocabulary.
dNaga.org Youtube: reelwlogos HD 720p Video Sharing
Kim Ip’s dance aesthetic is broadly influenced by female music video stars, femme fatale figures, release technique, and avant-garde Japanese dance. Her work is inspired by a desire to confront her Asian-American identity through rendering physical what she perceives to be taboo in Asian culture, specifically sensual movement, witnessing and showing pleasure, and discussing what defines femme sexual expression. She has performed her work at numerous Bay Area venues and festivals and as part of the Wax Poet(s) and the Slick Babble Dance Company. She has been artist-in-residence at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, Babeland, and Safehouse Arts. Kim earned a BA in dance and choreography from Mills College.
https://www.krimmip.com/
“ROOTED! In Self Resilience” –Bahiya Movement’s Believe In Self (BIS) Mentorship Program residents will present a 45min showcase of their choreographic work developed during the 7-week BIS residency. Show Dates: April 13 at Joe Goode Annex 401 Alabama, SF @ 4p-5p & April 27 at SAFEhouse Arts 145 Eddy St., SF @ 12:30p – 1:30p Cost: $10- early bird tickets |links: ROOTED!-April 13th & ROOTED!-April 27th
Molly Rose-Williams is a mover, dance-maker, educator, writer, and community arts organizer. She grew up in Berkeley and came to dance from a background in acrobatics, circus, and soccer. These early influences shape her work, which melds rigorous, highly-athletic movement, a deep interest in the innate humanity of the moving body, and humor. She has presented throughout the Bay Area, Vermont, Maine, and Mexico; and has performed in works by Christal Brown, Tania Isaac, Francisco Córdova and others. She collaborates regularly with her sister, Europe-based circus artist, Aviva Rose-Williams. Molly also produces “Show & Tell,” a quarterly multi-disciplinary performance salon, and facilitates “Creation Labs”, an on-going project for community research of the choreographic process. She teaches acrobatics at the Athletic Playground, develops experiential-based academic curriculum, and trains educators to facilitate engaging, equitable learning experiences for all their students. Molly writes regularly for the national dance blog “Life As A Modern Dancer”.
Bhumi B. Patel is a dancer, choreographer, educator, writer, and historian. She creates queer, feminist movement art that holds the focus of creating movement at the intersection of embodied philosophy and dynamic sensation taking precedence over stagnant form and has been presented at SAFEhouse Arts, in RAWdance’s Concept Series, at max10 Santa Cruz, at Shawl-Anderson’s Salon, and at LEVYsalon. She earned her MA in American Dance Studies from Florida State University and her MFA in Dance from Mills College. Bhumi is on faculty at West Valley College and teaches at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. She was a 2018 SAFEhouse Lead Artist, a 2018 Emerging Arts Professionals Fellow and is serving as a Women of Color in the Arts Fellow for 2019.
“I create multidisciplinary, queer, feminist movement art that holds the focus of creating movement at the intersection of embodied philosophy and dynamic sensation taking precedence over stagnant form. My choreographic work holds the focus of listening to individual bodies in conversation with the assemblage of identities that each dancer embodies. The body holds memories and for me, movement is a series of embodied investigations in listening. Continuing to learn myself as a dance artist informs the research-based, thematic content of my dance-making. When I generate movement, I strive to challenge the way that diverse bodies can co-habitate space and cooperate kinesthetically. I don’t choreograph a corps de ballet where replication takes priority. My intention in creating art is to open channels to the humane and to open channels of communication. Making art is my way of coping with the world at the moment. It is through dance that there is hope to speak clearly about the things I care so deeply about.”
http://www.bhumibpatel.co/
Heather Stockton is a choreographer, educator, and multi-disciplinary collaborator with a passion for collective, creative growth and systemic change. Heather is the Co-Director and founder of the local dance collective, Wax Poet(s), where she dances between roles as director, choreographer, and performer. Heather has choreographed and produced evening length shows at ODC Theater, CounterPulse, Joe Goode Annex, and Noh Space. Her choreographies have been presented nationally at On the Boards Theater (SEA), Velocity Dance Center (SEA), Littlefield Concert Hall (OAK), Temescal Arts Center (OAK), Lisser Theater (OAK), Harvard University (MA), and Landis Performing Arts Center (RIV). Her work has been supported by CA$H grant, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and the CounterPulse co-production grant. Originally from Riverside, CA, Heather had the honor of dancing in works by Amy O’Neal/Tiny Rage, Katie Faulkner, Sheldon Smith, Shinichi Iova-Koga, Merce Cunningham (staged by Holley Farmer), and Wade Madsen. Heather received her BFA Cum Laude and MFA in Choreography and Performance with an emphasis in social justice at Mills College and was awarded the E.L. Wiengand Foundation Award for outstanding merit in performance and choreography.
Irene Hsi is a performer, dancemaker, and movement teacher who has been making movement-based performance for fifteen years in NYC, New England, and CA. Her work puts questions about identity and politics in dialogue with the body. Irene is also interested in creating context-specific performance structures and processes for art making. Her work has been shown in places such as the LEVYStudio, (SF), Dance Complex (Cambridge), Third Life Studio (Somerville) and the Trident Gallery (Gloucester). Other artists she has had the pleasure of working with include Michelle Boulé, Jill Sigman/thinkdance, Anneke Hansen, Emily Beattie, Caitlin Corbett, E.K.K.O Dance Collective, Ming Wong, and Allyson Green. Irene also developed multiple theater/installation works with NYC-based theater company The Nerve Tank. Irene has also taught dance at Green Street Studios and Dance Complex in Cambridge, MA., and as a teaching artist in Queens, NY. She is currently a 2019 SAFEhouse Lead Artist Resident.
Photo Credit:
Photography by Rafael Gamo
Performers: Irene Hsi and Corinne Cappelletti in last days/first field by Jill Sigman/thinkdance
website: irenehsi.com
Audrey Johnson is a movement artist with roots from Detroit, MI, currently living in Berkeley, CA. Audrey’s current work and research is centered on black and queer futurity and joyous survival.
She graduated from Wayne State University in 2017 with a BFA in Dance with Honors. She has worked with Jennifer Harge as a collaborator and performer in Harge Dance Stories for three years. Additional performance work includes collaboration with Biba Bell in Detroit and St. Louis, with Dafi Altabeb in the ADF Footprints program, and most recently with Stephanie Hewett in San Francisco. Audrey was recently an artist in residence at 2727 California Street in Berkeley, where she led a month long queer time travel class series and held a solo performance evening of her work [opening].
She is a founding member of Collective Sweat Detroit, an artist led collective of dancers interested in advancing the rigor and relevance of dance in Detroit. In both her teaching and choreographic practice, Audrey approaches movement as a way to transform and shape the past, present, and future. www.audreyjohnson.space
Hannah Ayasse is dance artist and educator born and based in Oakland, CA. Her work has been most recently presented at West Wave Dance Festival (SF), SAFEhouse (SF), Klanghaus (Oakland), and Finnish Hall (Berkeley). She also co-curates the Performance Primers, a regular performance and feedback series that maintains space in community for emerging marginalized artists and teaches dance and creative movement in preschools and elementary schools. She received a BA in Dance and Psychology from GWU and is a current participant in the Luna Dance Summer Institute. www.hannahayasse.com
Aiano Nakagawa (she/they) is a queer femme dancer, writer, scholar, and educator. Their work lives at the intersection of the body, power, pleasure, and intuition. Aiano is dedicated to the liberation and prosperity of Queer/Trans/Black/Indigenous/
“We dancers age 60-80 loved this year’s 20 Points of View where we inspired middle school boys from a nearby school to improvise with us!” Impromptu No TuTu
“As a choreographer, I welcome this intimate and informal setting where I may open a window into my creative process for new eyes and new viewers. Luna’s 20 Points of View showcases the diversity of perspectives and practices by local dance artists while giving back to the community.” 20 Points of View Participating Choreographer
“Many people today interact with dance primarily online; we seek to offer an inclusive and inviting experience in real time and space of artistry and community. 20 Points of View accomplishes this and more.” Participating Choreographer
Schedule subject to change
9:30 – 10 Wax Poet(S)
10 – 10:30 Ayana Kathryn Yonesaka
10:30 – 11 Antwan Davis
11 – 11:30 Claudine Naganuma/dNaga Dance
11:30 – 12:00 Zoë Klein Productions
12 – 12:30 Joslynn Mathis Reed
12:30 – Stephanie Hewett
1 – 1:30 Patricia Reedy
1:30 – 2 Jocelyn Reyes
2 – 2:30 Irene Hsi
2:30 – 3 Hannah Ayasse
3 – 3:30 Aiano Nakagawa
3:30 – 4 Samantha Stone
4 – 4:30 Kim Ip
4:30 – 5 Janet Collard
5 – 5:30 Molly Rose-Williams
5:30 – 6 Audrey Johnson
6 – 6:30 Afia Thompson/Bahiya Movement
6:30 – 7 Bhumi B. Patel/ pateldanceworks
7 – 7:30 Liv Schaffer