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Current Collaborators

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Caroline O'Brien  A Philadelphia based movement artist since 2007, Caroline has worked with many inspirational artists and choreographers; including Olive Prince Dance, Artistic Director Angela Liong of ArtsFission Dance Company in Singapore, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (as part of the community participant collective in "Deep Blue Sea" at the Mann Center in May 2022).

As of late, Caroline is reclaiming and redefining her artistic identity, processing the grief and reflection of the last 3 years, and committing to curiosity of what the future holds. Throughout her week, Caroline works as a CPhT at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital; connecting with patients and families to uphold the highest standard of medication reconciliation within the transitions of care. In addition, she is the owner/founder of HelloCollo Organizing; helping small businesses and families find peace and purpose within their spaces.

www.hellocollo.com

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Rori Smith is an artist, somatic movement educator and researcher of bodily experience. She earned a master of fine arts in dance from Temple University and is currently engaged in doctoral studies with the departments of art and philosophy at University of Maine. Through her own practices of performance and making, in collaboration with installation artists and sculptors, and through theories rooted in new materialism and phenomenology she studies horizons, indeterminacy, limits, and surfaces. Rori is a member of the Continuum Teachers Association, a Pilates educator, and editor for Watermarks Arts, an organization supporting artists working across art and somatics.

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Project Trans(m)it

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Lora Allen is a Philadelphia based artist. She is the artistic director of allendance, a dance company whose work has been presented throughout the US and abroad. allendance was recently awarded a 10 month HATCH artist in residence, and has been a recipient of The Philadelphia Cultural Fund. She is the founder and director of The Iron Factory, a space that works to support the challenging and experimental work of performance artists with residencies, live work spaces, on-going classes, and performance opportunities. She's lead workshops, lectures, and residencies at institutions such as Wilson College, Dickinson College, Charleston University, DeSales University, Kansas University, and Coventry University. Lora is a collaborator with Project Trans(m)it, a collaborative, transcontinental dance study led by four female choreographers investigating how to make dance across distance. Their recent journal "Project Trans(m)it : creating dance collaboratively via technology- a best practices overview was published in the Research in Dance Education Journal and was awarded the New Writers Prize. Lora was additionally the general manager for Leah Stein Dance Company and has performed with numerous independent artists in Philadelphia PA. 

 

Rebecca Weber (PhD, MFA, MA, RSME, RSDE, FHEA) investigates intersections between dance, science, and somatics from theoretical, practical, and artistic approaches. She is currently a Lecturer in Dance Studies at the University of Auckland. Weber holds a PhD in Dance Psychology from Coventry University, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. She is a registered somatic movement and somatic dance educator who has published widely, including in Dance and the Quality of Life; Research in Dance Education; Multimodal Perspectives in the Performing Arts; The Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices; Dance, Movement and Spiritualities; and the anthology Dance, Somatics, and Spiritualities: Contemporary Sacred Narratives, which she co-edited. As director of Somanaut Dance, her work has been presented internationally and been supported by Dance/USA, Dance/UP, World Dance Alliance Americas, Decoda, Mascher Space Co-operative, the Rebecca Skelton Fund, and others. In addition to being Director of Somanaut Dance and Co-Director of Project Trans(m)it, Weber is also an Associate Editor of Dance, Movement and Spiritualities, and Board Member of Carolina Dancer Wellness. www.somanautdance.com

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Andrea Lanzetti is a New York based dancer and teacher. She is one of the 4 female co-directors of Project Trans(m)it, a collaborative research project that investigates dance making from a distance. She’s had the opportunity to perform and teach throughout the US and abroad with Project Trans(m)it as well as with additional companies such as BAIRA movement philosophy, allendance, BODYART, Marie-Christine Giordano Dance, Dante Brown|Warehouse Dance, and Megan Bascom & Dancers. Andrea has 600+ hours of comprehensive Pilates training and strongly believes in the method as a way of training the body in both a functional and therapeutic way. Additionally, she is the owner and founder of Bodies & Plants; a Pilates and movement studio located in the Catskills. Andrea is a firm believer that movement is both physical and emotional therapy and can transform lives.

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Screendance Collaborators

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96B Dance Theatre - Audrey Pincus and Lillian Stamey co-direct  this ensemble, which harnesses elements of surrealist movement, absurd humor, and dance theatre; to honor, challenge, and reflect the human condition. 

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ProArts Media - Doug Schale and Laura Huber co-direct this video and photography company, based in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. 

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Interdisciplinary Collaborators

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Sienna Martz (Costume Designer and Installation Artist) primarily concentrates on soft sculpture installations, fiber art, and wearable design with a focus in alternative material manipulation and textile techniques. She has exhibited her work internationally in solo and group exhibitions including in Seoul, South Korea; New York City; Rome, Italy; Los Angeles, California; Philadelphia, PA; Providence, Rhode Island; and Wilmington, North Carolina. Sienna has been commissioned by art museums, galleries, dance companies, and musicians. She was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree as a Dean's list scholar from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University. 

 

Elisabeth Turchi (Soprano)  From Broadway and cabaret to oratorio and the operatic stage, Ms. Turchi’s versatility as an artist is evident in the diverse roles she has performed, comic to dramatic. Favorite roles include Cinderella (Into the Woods), Julie Jordan (Carousel), Violetta (La Traviata), Musetta (La Bohème), the Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), and Lucy (The Telephone). She has sung with the Pittsburgh Opera, Caramoor International Music Festival, Opera Camerata of Washington DC, Annapolis Opera, Opera Delaware, Harrisburg Opera, New Opera Festival of Rome, and Gotham Chamber Opera.  Career highlights include a European tour of Haydn’s Creation with two-time Grammy winner Robert Page and performing Dave Brubeck’s Canticles of Mary with the Grammy-winning composer and his famous quartet.  Ms. Turchi is an alumna of Bel Canto at Caramoor, The International Institute of Vocal Arts, and The Ezio Pinza Council of American Singers of Opera. She holds degrees in vocal performance from Carnegie Mellon University and Shenandoah University. She is currently available as a voice teacher in Shippensburg and at the Cumberland Valley School of Music in Chambersburg.

 

Paul Fairall and Linda Danz write songs together. Paul studied under world-renowned guitar player, Joe Pass and performed with various members of FAMILY, including Roger Chapman, Charlie Whitney and Rob Townsend. Whilst on tour with the London-based band SWIMMING IN SAND, he met his future life and songwriting partner—Linda Danz—an American artist in Paris. He emigrated to America in 1989. Paul has self-produced a number of musical projects and has played clubs like: Rockwwod Music Hall, The Living Room,The Gaslight Cafe, CBGB’s, The China Club, The Bitter End, Kenny’s Castaways and many more. Paul has worked with artists like, James Maddock, Joy Askew, Randy Burns, Chris and Craig Bennelli, Laura Berman, Gregg Gerson, Mark Christensen, and Andy Newmark. Linda Danz is a Native New Yorker who was born on the lower eastside before it was trendy. Along with collaborating with Paul, she has written a full-length screenplay, a novel, numerous short stories.

 

Hilary Bucell is a classically trained opera singer, having performed both throughout the United States and Europe. She holds a Master of Music from Temple University (USA) and a Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College (USA), magna cum laude. Aside from her performance career, Hilary has held positions in Venture Capital, Private Equity and Real Estate. Such a varied background enables her to work skillfully with clients from a multitude of areas ranging from non-profits to tech start-ups. Her performance training, coupled with her business expertise, finds Hilary as a poised, highly engaging speaker and sought-after corporate trainer. Additionally, Hilary is pursuing a master’s degree in clinical social work from Columbia University in New York City.
 

Previous Collaborators

 

 

Kate Abernethy is the Associate Artistic Director and company member for Birds on a Wire Dance Theatre. As part of the thriving Philadelphia dance community for the past seven years, she has performed with keila cordova dances, Birds on a Wire Dance Theatre, Leyya Mona Tawiil, BRAT Productions, Lyons and Tigers, and collaborates frequently with choreographers Melissa Rodis and Megan Mizanty. Her self-choreographed solo, When There’s No One, was produced by InHale Performance Series and ETC. Performance Series. Kate studied Dance and Performance at Mount Holyoke College and The Victorian College of the Arts.

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Joan Bradford is a dancer, choreographer, teaching artist, and arts administrator born, raised, and still residing in the Bronx, NY. Joan holds her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance and minor in Theatre from Long Island University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with awards in Excellence in Choreography. Joan has performed with the Post Concert Dance Company, Praevado Dance Collective, kamrDANCE, Haven Movement Company, Mary-Kate O'Toole Choreography, and Mise en Danse in venues including Symphony Space, Citigroup Theater, Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, The Brookfield Place, and The Ritz Theater. Choreographically, Joan has shown her own work at The Socrates Sculpture Park, Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse, the Old First Reformed Church, and Atlas Studios. Most recently, Joan completed a choreographic residency with Lost Dog Dance Theatre in Lewes, England. Currently, Joan is a teaching artist with The Coalition for Hispanic Family at PS 123, The Bronx House, Fancy Feet Performing Arts Day Camp, and Villa Maria Academy’s Drama Program. Additionally, Joan works as a box office associate at Trisklelion Arts and as an associate producer with WAXworks (Williamsburg Art Nexus).

 

Kailey Mccrudden fostered a love of dance and football in upstate NY. She received a BFA in dance from Temple University. She has performed  in works by Andrea Miller and Larry Keigwin, and studying under Kun Yang-Lin, Jillian Harris and Merian Soto while there. Now a NYC based choreographer and dancer, Kailey's work has been performed at various venues in NYC, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. She has studied with Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, David Dorfman Dance, Nancy Stark Smith, and Stephan Koplowitz. Kailey is currently training and education assistant and a community actionist dancer  at Gibney Dance Center. Kailey dances for Aaron Mcgloin dance and mizantymoves among others. she teaches contemporary forms classes at Gibney Dance Center and is a trainer for NWMethod. Her work has been commissioned by Nacre Dance Company and Ballet Forte.  Kailey allocates her free time to absorbing as much sports knowledge as possible. 

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Madison McGain hails from Maui, Hawai'i. She received a BFA in dance from Adelphi University.  At Adelphi, Madison performed works by Martha Graham, Orion Duckstein, Oliver Tobin, Lar Lubovitch, Earl Mosely, and Manuel Vingoule. In addition to her university training, she has studied at San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and Bates College, where she has performed works by Ohad Naharin, and Kate Weare and others. Most recently, Madison has been an apprentice for CoreDance Contemporary, an Australian dance company based out of New York City, for their 2017 season. 

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Caitlin Bailey is a NYC-based dancer and visual artist.  After two years of dance training at Marymount Manhattan College, Bailey went on to receive her Bachelor of the Arts degree in Dance from Hunter College. Most recently she has performed at Spoke the Hub with Amaris Dance, Brooklyn Dance Festival and Ailey Citigroup Theater with Joyce King Dance Company, the Vision of Sound tour with Matthew Frazier-Smith, at a Salon event and Gibney Show Share with Mizanty Moves, and at Dixon Place with The Moving Architects. Bailey is also a choreographer and performing artist for Eden Productions and has been showcased at Culture Project’s Women Center Stage Festival as well as in IHI Therapy Center’s “LOVE, YOURSELF” Gala alongside Olympia Dukakis.  Bailey’s movement quality is heavily influenced by her Personal Training and Adventure Racing background.  Currently, she works with PhilanthroFITTraining leading both group and private sessions while dancing for Amaris Dance, The Moving Architects, and Mizanty Moves. 

 

Melissa Cameron is the artistic director of Birds on a Wire Dance Theatre.  She has danced and choreographed primarily in Philadelphia, PA, Amherst, MA, and Melbourne, Australia.  While in Melbourne, she produced a season of emerging works at Dancehouse, providing several talented Australian artists the opportunity to showcase their work.  There she discovered a commitment to supporting emerging artistic voices and a belief in the entrepeneurial possibilities of performance art -- an industry in which the goal is not material profit but cultural enlivenment. 

 

Shan Chuang is trained at Circle in the Square Theatre School for the past two years. She is a company member of LINKED dancetheatre.  Shan is an actress, dancer, singer, musician and choreographer.  Off-broadway credits include: include Gen 根 (Dolce Vita), The City (Alive Worldwide). Theatre credits include Anything Goes (Angel), Smokey Joe’s Cafe (DeLee), Bat Boy, The Lesson(Maid), Fork in the Heart (Beverly).  Shan’s choreography is available at Shan Y. Chuang on Youtube. She received her BFA in classical voice and MFA in Musical Theater in Taiwan. 

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Coation Dance Collective (Philadelphia) seeks to engage the community of Philadelphia. CDC is composed of three women, Gracianna Coscia, Emma MacDonald, and Julee Mahon, with three different styles, three different stories, and one focus: collaboration. Movement is the motivation behind this collective, with each choreographer working both independently and as a group. CDC also invites other artists to join in creating holistic and unique performances, via visual art, music, etc. CDC looks forward to keeping the community’s, the artists’, and our own creativity alive.

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• Gracianna Coscia is a dancer, teacher and choreographer based in the Philadelphia area. She received her BFA in dance from Temple University in 2013. Throughout her career she has worked with artists including Merion Ramirez, Francis Germillion, Rebecca Weber, Megan Mizanty, Scott McPheeters, and Tiffany Mills Dance Company, in their summer intensive and residency. While at Temple University Gracianna studied with Dr. Teresa Benzwie, teaching academic lessons through movement. She received the Teresa Benzwie Dance in Education Award in 2012. Gracianna currently is the Youth Education Coordinator for Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, as well as a dance teacher and administrator for ZoomDance in Philadelphia. When she is not teaching children, she enjoys choreographing. She has recently been working on a project connecting movement to poetry. She is a co-founder of Coaction Dance Collective, founded in 2014.

• Emma MacDonald graduated with a BFA in Dance and concentration in Improvisation from Temple University, with the Dance department’s Promising Performer Award, the Who's Who Award, and cum laude honors. She is originally from Hartford, Connecticut, where she began dancing at the humble Limelite Studios. She then moved on to the competitive Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in high school, with a major in dance and minor in Theater. In her four years at Temple, she was able to further her career in dance by presenting four original works and working with Joellen Meglin and Kun-Yang Lin in Crystallina, Leah Stein in Across the Grid, and Jillian Harris in The Gjeilo Project and Inferno, a site specific work performed in Rome, Italy. Upon graduation, she has performed freelance with Philadelphia dance artists and theatre companies and has presented independent productions.

• Julee Mahon is a creator, dancer, producer, and writer. In her hometown of Bridgewater, NJ she studied at Serova School of Dance . She was later accepted into the Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School’s Gifted and Talented Dance Program. In 2009 Julee moved to Philadelphia to pursue a degree in Dance and a minor in history at Temple University. While at Temple, she had the opportunity to create four original works and perform in works by esteemed faculty; Kun-Yang Lin, Dr. Joellen Meglin,  Dr. Luke Kahlich, Phil Grosser as well as Jillian Harris in her works, The Gjeilo Project and Inferno, a site specific work performed in Rome,Italy. Julee also worked with residency artists such as Tiffany Mills, LEVYdance, and Leah Stein. Upon graduation she received the Who's Who Award and was the 2013 recipient of the Frances Bowden Scholarship. 

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Julie Edwards is a dancer and educator based in New York City.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Theater and Dance from Middle Tennessee State University.  She is currently training to become an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher at the Balance Arts Center in Manhattan.  As an artist she is interested in experiencing and investigating possibility, spontaneity and play.  Julie is thrilled to be working with Megan and cast in this ongoing exploration.

 

Matthew Frazier-Smith has worked as a magnificently bearded dancer, actor, musician, and choreographer with a variety of theater and dance companies throughout the US and abroad. In 2012, he toured nationally with Scarborough Fair, an original comedy featuring the sweet and sassy sounds of Simon and Garfunkel. Matthew's choreography has been produced in Virginia, New York, Maryland, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Switzerland. He spends his Summers at The American School in Switzerland where he serves as the Summer Programs Director for the Performing Arts.  He is currently finishing his MFA in Dance from the College at Brockport while working for the Disney Theatrical Group and creating with beautiful people in NYC.

 

Maya Gonzalez graduated from The College at Brockport, SUNY, with a BFA in Dance in December 2014. A born resident of NYC, most of her dance training prior to Brockport took place at Brooklyn Arts Exchange in Park Slope, Brooklyn. There she studied with Helen Tocci, Rachel Lane, Kelly Bartnik, Beth Bradford and various local artists. At Brockport, Maya studied with and danced for Mariah Maloney, Karl Rogers, James Hansen and Juanita Suarez, among others. Maya has studied music since the age of 12 and was a vocal major and LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. She aspires to blend her experiences with different art forms increative process and performance. In the summer of 2014, she attended the Bates Dance Festival Professional Training Program in Lewiston Maine, during which she danced with Angie Hauser, Chris Aiken, and Mark Dendy. She has performed in the city and throughout the country with fellow company dancers Julie Edwards and Matthew Frazier-Smith as a performer for And Yet Dance Theater.

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Ellyn Sjoquist, a native of southern Illinois, inexplicably found herself at The University of Akron in northeast Ohio, where she earned a BFA in Dance with a concentration in news and media production. En route to that degree, she worked with some lovely artists and companies [omitted due to word count; imagine them here].  She also toured Ohio and Pennsylvania with a band of unscrupulous dancing bodies under the direction of Robin Prichard. Currently based in Queens, Ellyn works in marketing and programming for Doug Varone and Dancers and as a freelance proofreader for whomever will tolerate her grammatical preferences.

 

Kendra Slack is a New York based actor, dancer and choreographer.  She studied acting at Ithaca College and Circle in the Square Theatre School.  Her most recent roles have included Irene in Dividing the Estate (Brooklyn Heights Players) and Viola in Twelfth Night or What You Will (Teatro Circulo). For the past year she was a performer at The McKittrick Hotel as a company member with Punchdrunk.  As a dancer, she was a featured soloist in a production of Medea directed and choreographed by Noel MacDuffie (American Theater of Actors) and for the past two years she has danced in pieces created for The Group Theatre Too's Choreographer's Canvas.  Her choreography has been featured in the NY Fringe Festival and in the Big Range Austin Dance Festival in Austin, TX.  She is the creator of LINKED dancetheatre which premiered its first show, Gone, here in NY this past March.   www.linkeddancetheatre.com.

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Jonathan Taylor (Artistic Director, In the Water Theatre Company) is a Director, Theatre Artist, and Dancer. ITW works include Bacchic (Director) Tokalynga Project (Ensemble Member). Previously, he has directed for The Rhapsody Collective, the Accademia dell’Arte, and New Rep Theatre’s SummerStages. As a performer he has worked with Kairos Dance Theatre, Anikaya Dance, Roadkill The Show and Two River Theater. Jonathan Holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University.

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