Keyes Wiley (they/them) is a multi-hyphenated performing artist, dj, light and sound designer. They are currently a dance faculty member at Cornish College of the Arts, resident dj of the drag performance show TUSH and the artistic director of the performance group The NoGoodDoers. Not too long ago they were a Managing Artistic Director for the DIY performance space Studio Current. From 2010-2015 Keyes formed the dance co. The New Animals and was also a member of Lingo Productions directed by KT Niehoff before branching off into solo performance. Beyond that Keyes has performed/collaborated with Keith Hennessy (SF), Keyon Gaskin (PDX), Alice Gosti, Ben de la Creme, Jinx Monsoon and many others. More recently Keyes has and continues to perform in the works of dani tirrell, Kitten n Lou and will be touring with the drag queen Betty Wetter. Their work has been seen/presented at On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Inscape Arts, Bumbershoot, Co-, Washington Ensemble Theater, Seattle International Dance Festival, Gibney (NYC), Risk Reward (PDX) and others. Keyes’ considers themselves a natural born collaborator and thrives in rooms with artists who feel the same.

*Photo by Erin O’Reilly

Emma Lawes (she/her) is a dancer, educator and producer based between Los Angeles and Seattle. Currently, she is exploring her own solo work, teaching on faculty at Orange County School of the Arts and California School of the Arts SGV, and producing work with CO-. She has presented work at Base: Experimental Arts + Space, 10 Degrees Arts + Events, Mutuus Studio and Atwater Village Theater. She is a graduate of the University of the Arts with a BFA in Dance Performance under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield.

Lore Aschoff is a human being who cares! Their background is a watercolor collage of dance, creative movement, performance art, political activism, and healing practices. They have had the joy of collaborating with Keyes in many iterations, including working together as former managing artistic directors of Studio Current in Seattle, WA.  Other performance projects have included the Grief Girls and Lesbian Death Bed. Lore is currently in their last year of graduate school for Couple & Family Therapy. They strive toward personal and collective liberation from colonialism in all aspects of life.

Nia-Amina Minor (they/she) is a movement artist, choreographer, curator, and educator originally from Los Angeles. Her work focuses on the body and what it carries using physical and archival research to explore memory and history. She approaches her practice as an imaginative space grounded in rhythm where improvisation, Black vernacular movement, and choreography meet. Nia-Amina has received regional and national commissions for her choreographic and film work and has a working background as a performer and dramaturg. She is co-founder of Black Collectivity, a collaborative project that explores and celebrates memory and culture through embodied responses. As a performer Nia-Amina has worked with artists such as dani tirrell, Zoe Juniper, Will Rawls, Alice Gosti, Keyes Wiley, and Amy O’Neal. From 2016-2021 she was a Company Artist at Spectrum Dance Theater under the direction of Donald Byrd and in 2021 she was recognized as Dance Magazine’s 25 Artists to Watch. Nia-Amina has also provided dramaturgical assistance to choreographers Jade Solomon-Curtis (Keeper of Sadness 2023) and Donald Byrd (Grief 2022). As a curator, she has developed programming at On the Boards, Wa Na Wari, Velocity, and Base. From 2014-2016, she was a co-founder and curator of Los Angeles based collective, No)one Art House. As an educator, she has taught, guest lectured, and been a visiting artist at Cornish College, University of Minnesota, CalArts, University of Washington, Saddleback College, Cypress College, and UC Irvine. Nia-Amina received her MFA in Dance from UC Irvine and a BA from Stanford University and is based in Seattle.

Olivia Anderson (sher/her)  recently graduated from the University of Washington’s dance program. Right now she is busy teaching dance, stage managing, and dancing around Seattle (dani tirrell and the Congregation, El Sueño, MALACARNE, Margaux Gex + Lael Battiste).

Ryan Rose Rubythroat Vinson-Jacobs (they/‘em/th’air) is a dad and husband, making worlds with th’air family, headquartered in Downtown Renton, Washington. They’ve rapped under the moniker sketch lightly, with the accompaniment of Devin Bews as BOON, and with Adam Prince as said the startling. They’ve performed with HATLO and Rosa Visser’s PE|Mo, Keyes’s New Animals, Via Vinson-Jacobs, and Lore Aschoff, as well as solo in a bunch of experiments, usually combining text and movement. They’re currently working on some new rap stuff, doing research for a solo show, and studying relational therapy.

Symone Sanz (she/her) is a dance artist versed in performance, improvisation, and choreography from Los Angeles. She holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since living in Seattle, she has enjoyed creating work with artists Heather Kravas, Cherdonna Shinatra, and zoe|juniper, among many others. She also teaches Dance Church® classes.

Symone supports the Seattle dance community through her work in arts administration, with a focus in marketing. She currently serves on the board for Velocity Dance Center.

*Photo by Leah Russel

Will Courtney (they/ them, he/ him, She her) has been performing as a part of Fox Whitney/ Gender Tender, which has recently evolved into a performance art band called Light aloud, since 2010. SHe is thrilled to be a part of NowHere and to share the outcome of this collaboration with all of you 🙂

Cameron Day O’Connell is a trans photographer and multimedia artist residing on Unceded Duwamish Land (Seattle, WA). They focus on capturing intimacy in motion, the metaphor of the queer figure in the environment, and golden moments in the light. They are a former birth and abortion doula, herbal medicine nerd, and a Gemini double Sagittarius. They are currently focusing on their upcoming solo show Surrender, a photographic exploration of queer intimacy that opens at Gallery 4Culture on April 4, 2024.