// Instructors //
Lora Lue Chiorah-Dye is a native of Zimbabwe who has resided in the Pacific Northwest for a while and has been one of the people responsible for making african Dance in Seattle stay alive. She is the Artistic Director for LORA & Sukutai Marimba and Dance Ensemble which has been captivating audiences in USA, Canada, England, Scotland, Belgium, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Hungary and Bosnia in it’s high energetic music and dance performances. Lora believes in her teachings following the Shona saying that “If you can talk you can sing, and if you can walk you can dance!” She believes in making sure that given a chance to learn from her everyone can enjoy Zimbabwean song and dance, so she is offering this class just so that everyone can have a chance.
Dance Art Group (DAG) fosters and promotes the study, practice and appreciation of improvisational dance in Seattle. It produces the annual Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI) and other events that encourage and support innovative dance. DAG is supported by 4Culture, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, and generous individual donors. Please visit www.danceartgroup.org for more information.
Daniel Cruz is experienced in many different types of roles in the dance industry. He has danced for artists such as Prince, Ashanti, Nsync, and Michael Jackson with choreographers such as Wade Robson, Brian Friedman, Fatima, Marguerite Derricks, Tabitha and Napoleon and the like on stage, television, commercials, and video. Daniel was in the national tour of Fame: The Musical. He has appeared and served Dance Captain in numerous productions at the 5th Avenue and Village Theater. He has choreographed for the Sonics Dance Team, Seahawks Half-Time Shows, Microsoft, Nordstrom, The Paramount and Moore Theaters, Tacoma Dome, Key Arena, EMP, KIRO, KCPQ, KUBE and is the director of his dance group, Cruz Control. Daniel and Cruz Control are currently rehearsing for their show at the Moore Theater on February 15, 2008.
Mark Haim is a Choreographer, Teacher & Dancer. Formerly Artistic Director of Mark Haim & Dancers and Companhia de Danca de Lisboa. Commissions include Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet Frankfurt, the Limon Dance Company, the Joffrey II Dancers, the Rotterdamse Dansgroep, the Silesian Dance Theater, Companhia de Danca Contemporanea, Companhia de Danca de Lisboa, Cornish Dance Theater, CoDanceCo. Restagings include The Joffrey Ballet, the Bat-Dor Dance Company of Israel, Djazzex, the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, Cornish Dance Theater. Grants from the NEA, New York Foundation of the Arts, National Performance Network, ArtsLink, Harkness Foundation and the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. Work has been presented at the Kennedy Center, American Dance Festival, Danspace Project, On The Boards, among others. Faculties of the American Dance Festival (1993- present), NYU- Tisch School of the Arts (1995-6), the UW Dance Program (2002-08) and Reed College (2009). BFA from The Juilliard School and an MFA from Hollins University.
Kristin Hapke, (Artistic director tindance) has recently relocated from New York, where she was a guest teacher at Hunter College and presented work at such places as Joyce Soho, WAX Works, DNA, Danspace and Dumbo Dance Festival. Her teaching experience includes technique, somatics, improvisation and movement analysis at The Ohio State University, Cornish College of the Arts, Columbus Dance Theater and Velocity as well as many festivals such as SFDI and Silesian Dance Festival in Poland. Hapke received her MFA in Dance from Ohio State and has danced works of Bebe Miller, Zvi Gotheiner, Scott/ Powell Performance and Maureen Whiting as well as many others.
Jaret Hughes has 14 years of dance experience, with Hip Hop being his specialty along with training in Modern, Jazz, Ballet and African. Jaret has 11 years of choreographing and teaching experience with all ages, including 8 years at Elizabeth’s Dance Dimensions in Bellevue, Washington. Jaret’s choreography credits include the L.A. Clippers Spirit Dance Team (guest choreographer), Seattle Supersonics Dance Team for 5 years, founder of 2wisted Elegance from Seattle and LA’s debut of 2wisted Elegance with the help of his good friend Joey Cooper, Modazz Competition Teams at Elizabeth’s Dance Dimensions, co-choreographer and dancer for EVE in LA, and assistant choreographer / assistant Artistic Director for the “Invitation Feedback” video contest submission for Janet Jackson. Jaret Competed on Destination Stardom in Hawaii. Jaret’s performances include: Seattle’s Kube 93’s Summer Jam for 3 years with Twisted Elegance, which included sharing the main stage with artists such as Destiny’s Child, Ginuwine, Busta Rhymes, Blackstreet, Naughty By Nature and many more; various Hip Hop shows throughout Seattle including Daniel Cruz’s Battle of Seattle Remix 3 and 4 and, most recently while living in LA for 2 1/2 years, performances with Breed OCLA for numerous dance competitions and guest performances for the DVD Release Party for “Step Up 2: The Streets”. Jaret has shared his choreography expertise with various high school and college dance teams throughout Washington, California and Idaho.
Lila Hurwitz is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner who has been teaching since 1987, including one of Seattle’s longest-running weekly Feldenkrais classes since 1995. She’s performed with Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders, Nina Martin, Karen Nelson, Lisa Nelson, Oslund & Co./Dance, Stephanie Skura, Crispin Spaeth Dance Group, Linda K. Johnson, Bebe Miller, Ann Carlson and many others. More at www.feldenkraisteachersinseattle.com
Jeromeskee started breakdancing in 1996 and has been performing in b-boy events and competitions ever since. Jerome is a member of several competitive, successful b-boy dance groups: World champion Massive Monkees, Legendary Rocksteady Crew N.Y., and the NBA Sonic’s BOOM Squad all stars. Jerome has participated and won numerous B-boy titles throughout the world: London, France, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Canada, and areas through out the U.S. He has done performances, taught, and worked for many corporations, publications, and universities world wide. Jerome along with the Massive Monkees crew, was recently featured as one of the coaches on MTV Made, “I want to be a b-boy.”
Karn Junkinsmith has taught for over 25 years. She is primarily a modern dancer, choreographer, dance filmaker and performance artist. Her ballet pedagogic mentors include; Francoise Martinet (Joffrey), Hannah Wiley (Ballet West), Jocelyn Lorenze (NYC). She has a MA in dance from the University of Iowa and BA in dance from Mount Holyoke College. A scholarship student at workshops by Twyla Tharp, Alwin Nikolai, and Mark Morris; Karn was an award winning R.A.D. (Royal Academy of Dance) student when she was a child.
Aiko Kinoshita has been teaching dance for the past 17 years and currently teaches at Velocity Dance Center where she was also managing director until 2005, and at Open Flight Studio where she is a resident artist. She has also taught at Cornish College for the Arts, University of Washington, Beloit College, University of Illinois, and University of Oregon, among other places. Aiko directs acornDance and the annual SITE SERIES and also collaborates with Aaron Swartzman as UMAMI Performance. Her choreography has been presented nationally and in Canada, Japan, Korea. She holds a MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois and was a member of Lingo dancetheater from 2003-200. Her work and teaching reflect her interest in improvisation, natural physicality, dynamic partnering, technique and community.
Troy Lucero has been practicing yoga asana for 20 years, almost exclusively in the Ashtanga Yoga Tradition. He has been teaching in Seattle since 2003. Before that he spent seven years teaching at Richard Freeman’s Yoga Workshop in Colorado following his apprenticeship with Tim Miller in California. In 1993, Troy traveled to India to study with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Troy draws out the natural intelligence inherent in each student with humor and patience. He has a rare ability to assess and understand each student’s body and yoga practice. His teaching style is simultaneously vigorous and contemplative; his adjustments are skillful and astute. Troy leads workshops across the country and abroad. Please visit troylucero.com for more information.
Wade Madsen has been in Seattle makeing dances, teaching, mentoring, observing, criticing, learning, touring, guest artisting, developing, cooking, eating, dancing, singing, acting, joking, laughing, living, loving, costuming, for thirty years. YOU can always google him if you really want the details.
Ricki Mason has been teaching various forms dance for the past eight years. She is a firm believer in movement both as a mode of articulate expression, and as one of our most basic human instincts — shaking your butt to music just feels so good! She currently teaches social dance to queer and non-homophobic people at Century Ballroom in addition to beginning ballet at Velocity. Ricki directs the contemporary dance company LAUNCH dance theater, and also performs as Lou Henry Hoover of The Launchettes. Check out rickimason.com for more information.
KT Niehoff was the 2007 dance artist of the Year by Seattle Magazine. She was also a featured artist in Dance Magazine’s April, ’08 issue, “International Women in Dance” and is a 2006 Fellow at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC). In 1998, KT created Lingo, a roving band of artists, brave hearts and lunatics, which has since been the major platform for her work. Lingo’s work has been presented in Canada, Germany, Japan, Ecuador, and Cuba, and throughout the U.S. including On the Boards (Seattle), SUSHI (San Diego), Joyce SoHo (NYC), Alverno Presents (Milwaukee), Jacob’s Pillow, Inside/Out (Mass), The Southern Theater (Minneapolis) and others. Lingo’s artistic integrity has been recognized by The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Dance Project, The National Performance Network and Arts International. KT has been teaching worldwide for over 15 years at institutions including the SNDO (Amsterdam), The Hong Kong Arts Academy, Oberlin College, Cornish College of the Arts, Tisch School of the Arts, and others. She was the co-founder/director of Velocity Dance Center in Seattle from 1996-2006. Most recently, KT is working on her first film short titled Parts Don’t Work, an creating a new non-proscenium dance event set to premier in the Seattle Art Museum and Seattle’s ACT Theatre in May, 2010. For more information about KT, visit lingodance.com
Press Quote ~ “These seven dancers (including Niehoff) were virtuosos. Movements whipped through their bodies, an impulse starting at one foot and traveling to a shoulder with such clarity and articulation, you could see it hit each joint along the way.”
-Janice Steinberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, April 2006
Amy O’Neal is a performer, choreographer, teacher and the co-director (along with Zeke Keeble) of locust (music/dance/video company) based in Seattle. Amy teaches contemporary dance technique and funk regularly at Velocity Dance Center and has taught and/or conducted residencies at the University of Washington, University of Idaho, University of Oregon, Lane Community College (Eugene, OR), Northwest Vista College (San Antonio, TX), and Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle, WA). Her work has been commissioned by Spectrum Dance Theater, Moving Current in Tampa, FL, and Seattle Theatre Group’s Dance This…where she collaborated with Sonia Dawkins and Savion Glover. As a performer, she worked with the Pat Graney Co. for 3 years, was a 6-year member of Scott/Powell Performance, was the lead singer of the Seattle band Marrow for 3 years, and performed in Mark Haim’s acclaimed Goldberg Variations. Amy also frequently collaborates with musician/comedian, Reggie Watts. For locust, Amy has received funding from the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, the international DanceWEB scholarship, the Mary Levine Fund, Artist Trust (Fellowship ‘05, GAP ‘04,’06), 4 Culture, the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation of the Arts, the National Performance Network, and the Creative Capital Foundation. In 2007, Amy will be choreographing for Cornish Dance Theater, will be in residence at Idaho State University, Texas Women’s University, and Bates Dance Festival, and will be touring with her company locust. Amy holds a BFA in dance from Cornish College of the Arts. You can check out her out on the web at locustsucka.com and tinyrage.com
Kara O’Toole, Executive Director of Velocity Dance Center, has an extensive background as a dancer, educator and artistic administrator within the Seattle and national dance community. She is a founding member of Seattle-based dance organizations DanceNet newspaper, the d9 Dance Collective and Kick, a dance service organization. She has performed professionally with the Pat Graney Company and the Chamber Dance Company. O’Toole has been on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts, George Mason University and University of Memphis, and taught for 10 years in the University of Washington Dance Program, where she earned her MFA in Dance. O’Toole completed her undergraduate studies at Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in Dance and History.
Ratna Roy completed her Masters in English from the University of Calcutta and her Ph.D. in English, with specialization in American literature, from the University of Oregon, USA. Currently, she is Senior Professor, Dance and Expressive Arts, at The Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington. She is also a senior disciple of Late Padmashri Guru Pankaj Charan Das and has written several articles on his “Mahari” (devadasi) legacy in classical Odissi dance, little known in its home country, India, today. She has received three Fulbrights (1985-86, 1988, and 1991), National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Award (1989), American Institute of Indian Studies Fellowship (1988-89), Arts International Award (2001), and Fund for Folk Culture Award (2005) for her work on Odissi dance. Most recently she received the Washington State Arts Commission Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program Award as a Master Artist, 2006-07, and 2007-08 and the Gordon Ekvall Tracie Memorial Award (2008) for her artistic contributions to the Pacific Northwest. She is the Artistic Director of Urvasi, a dance company that was featured in the Guru Pankaj Charan Das Festival, 3rd International Odissi Festival, and the Kharavela Festival in Orissa, 2006-2007. America for the Arts has acknowledged Guru Pankaj Charan Das. Odissi dance style as the national heritage of the USA.
Ellie Sandstrom, a Seattle Magazine 2009 “Spotlight Award Winner”, is originally from Minneapolis, where she began her movement training in the early 80’s with Minnesota Dance Theater and later BalletArts Minnesota. She has studied various forms of dance technique, body conditioning, composition, improvisation and performance techniques throughout her life at many celebrated dance festivals and schools across the country including Cornish College of the Arts, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. She is based in Seattle and has worked consistently with dance companies, locust and Scott/Powell Performance since 2000, and has been touring nationally with both groups since 2004. She is known to bring many other projects into the mix, both live stage and film work. She has been commissioned to create new dance locally and nationally and uses the name SANDSTROMMOVEMENT for her choreographic work. She has taught at many prestigious schools and universities in Seattle and across the country. She currently teaches at Velocity Dance Center (since 2002) and at the Northwest School (since 2006). See sandstrommovement.com for more information.
Daniel Wilkins graduated from the School of American Ballet, and went on to dance professionally with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Donald Byrd/The Group, Complexions, and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Daniel formed danielandsomesuperfriends (DASSdance) in 1996, with the intention to push the athletic and architectural limits of dance. His All-Terrain and multi-media choreographic endeavors have been commissioned nationally and internationally, including for the Chrysler Salon, Spectrum Dance Theater, Cornish College of the Arts, and a partnership with Flux Laboratory in Switzerland. DASSdance has its New York home base at Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) – The Theater, which has presented six full evening works by DASS with costumes designed by DVF. Additionally in New York, DASS has been presented by DanceNow, the d.u.m.b.o. Dance Festival, the JoyceSoho and the Baryshnikov Arts Center. In Seattle, DASS has been featured at such Festivals as Bumbershoot, Siteworks and 12 Min. Max and presented seasons at the Bagley Wright Theater, Velocity and Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center where DASS was recently named Artistic Partner. DASSdance has been featured in Fashion Wire Daily, Flaunt, Paper Magazine, Art News, W Magazine, Spin Earth, New York Magazine, The Seattle Times, The Daily and the New York Times radio WQXR.
