Fall Concert Festival 2020 Q&A Host & Choreographers Biographies

Moderator for Both Q&A Sessions:

Kaelie Osorio Kaelie Osorio has been dancing since she was three years old training in , jazz, modern, contemporary, and acrobatics with In Motion Dance Project in FL and Murrieta Dance Project in CA. She is currently a BFA Candidate in dance at California State University Long Beach with a Department of Dance Scholarship the past three years, and plans on graduating spring of 2021. Kaelie has been a United Spirit Association dance instructor for four years and has choreographed for multiple dance teams. She has choreographed and performed for American College Dance Association, trained with Peter Chu at the exclusive Chuthis summer intensive and has worked with well known choreographers such as Kevin Williamson and Rebecca Lemme. Kaelie aspires to earn her yoga certification and combine with yoga practices. She also aspires to perform in both commercial and concert professional work with a goal to travel while doing so.

Show 1 Choreographers [Panelists]

Derrick Paris

Derrick Paris (he/they) is a queer black & latinx artist based in the greater Los Angeles area. As a current BFA candidate in the Department of Dance at CSULB, Derrick will be the first in his family to graduate with a College degree. While he started dancing at the age of 7, he started choreographing at the age of 13 leading to holding choreographer and coaching positions throughout the Los Angeles area. Recently, he has started to assist in and music editing for dance teams in both the Collegiate and Pro Team worlds. His competitive, stage & screen work has earned local & national titles and has premiered across his home state of California, including The Broad Stage in Santa Monica. In 2015, Derrick had the honor of assisting in choreography for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of The Special Olympics alongside Debbie Allen, which led him to working with Karen McDonald in the coming years. His current focus is rooted in the research of discovering the intersectionality of his upbringing alongside his unearthing as an adult. He plans to continue producing work through this new virtual lens, while generating platforms for himself and dancers alike to be visible. Dani Burd

Dani Burd is a choreographer from Los Angeles, CA with a background in modern, contemporary, and improvisational movement. Her choreography has been featured in dance films, live music productions and dance/theatre performances. Burd often works in collaboration with musicians, visual artists and live performance venues. She has presented for Glendale College, EDC Las Vegas artists, Avalon Hollywood as well as her own independent work. With her most recent works being in dance film, she is currently exploring different ways of using virtual mediums in collaboration to create pieces that are as impactful as those in person. She strives to interrupt the expectations of traditional dance and the viewer by challenging different points of view, , and location. Burd is currently a BFA candidate in Dance at Cal State University Long Beach graduating in the Spring of 2021. Following graduation she hopes to train and perform internationally with a dance company. In the future she intends to create her own dance company as well as obtain her MFA in Dance.

Elizabeth Smith

Elizabeth Smith grew up in Thousand Oaks, California. She started dancing at the age of five, and training at California Dance Theatre in ballet, contemporary, and jazz until graduating high school in 2017. Elizabeth has performed and competed with Pacific Festival Ballet in Youth America Grand Prix and danced for the Young! Tanzsommer festival’s European tour. She is currently in her final year as a BFA Candidate in Dance at California State University, Long Beach, where she is also earning a minor in psychology. Last spring, she had the opportunity to co- choreograph and perform in a piece for the CSULB Contemporary Dance Concert, which was selected to be shown at the 2019 American College Dance Association informal concert. Elizabeth recently attended intensives with BODYTRAFFIC, Entity Contemporary Dance Company, and Ballet Austin, Acts of Matter, LA Contemporary Dance Company, and TL Collective. After graduation, she hopes to dance in a Southern California-based contemporary company as well as continue to strengthen her abilities in commercial dance. Elizabeth would like to thank all of her teachers for creating her passion for dance, her family, and her fellow artists for making these visions possible.

Vanessa Cruz

Vanessa Cruz is an emerging disabled dancer and choreographer. Her roots come from Mexican descent. She is currently living in Los Angeles, California. She received her Associates Degree in Dance from Santa Monica College in 2018. She successfully transferred in the Fall 2018 to an audition based dance program at California State University Long Beach. She is the first physically disabled dancer to join the dance program. Vanessa recently showcased two new pieces; a solo “Fumes in the City of Glitches” and a group piece “Fingerprints of Humanity” for Ballet Beyond Borders held in Los Angeles. Her received the award for Cultural Diplomacy for Innovation in Choreography. In 2018, She won first place in the Global Citizenship Research Symposium: Dance & Disability in Santa Monica College. She presented her first dance film “Grey City” and presented her experience as a disabled dancer/choreographer. Her lifetime project is to continue to develop dance films for her own work. This idea stemmed from the lack of platforms to showcase work and the barriers between mainstream dance and disability dance. As she continues to find ways to merge the communities together as one, she will continue to perform and create dances that will challenge the norm.

Bethany Wolfman

Bethany Wolfman is a 20-year-old dancer from Las Vegas, now based in Los Angeles. She trained at Bunker Dance Center until graduating in 2017. Bethany is currently attending CSULB as a candidate for a B.F.A. in Dance and B.A. in Dance Science, expected graduation Spring 2021. While training, she has performed in the works of Travis Wall, Micaela Taylor, Peter Chu, Andrew Vaca, Colleen Dunagan, Aaron Turner, Ben Green, and Haley Heckethorn. She has attended intensives with BODYTRAFFIC and chuthis., where she got to train under company members. She has trained in a variety of styles with focus on ballet, contemporary and jazz. Bethany’s hard work was recognized by the University, allowing her to receive scholarships every year she has been in the program. Bethany is BASI Pilates certified with a Dance Specialization, and currently teaches to help continue developing her dance science research. While studying at CSULB, she has also held leadership roles working as Treasurer for the student-run organization for dance majors, Dance Collaborative. She also has also been Technical Coordinator for a student-run dance festival in Fall 2020 for her Senior Seminar project.

Mary Leopo

Mary Leopo is a 23 year old artist born and raised in Santa Ana, CA. Her dance training began at The Wooden Floor where she studied modern and ballet. Upon graduation from The Wooden Floor, she continued to refine her artistry at Santa Ana College. There she jumped at every dance opportunity given. During her 4 years at Santa Ana College, she performed and volunteered for each dance production and choreographed two works. Mary expanded her performance experience at intensives with Backhausdance, Limón Company, Bill Evans, and Jacob Jonas The Company. She also has had the honor to perform and attend American College Dance Association for 4 consecutive years. Currently, Mary is a junior at CSULB and obtaining a BA degree in Dance. Already in her second semester, she has become involved with the dance community by volunteering her time for events held by the Dance Department. Her community involvement continues as she joins CSULB Affinity Aide as a Secretarial Assistant. Mary hopes to continue expanding her horizons at CSULB by collaborating with students and faculty. After graduation, Mary hopes to join a dance company within the Orange County/ Los Angeles area. Along with that, Mary wants to continue her education with a focus on Costume Design and Lighting Design to create her own future dance productions.

Gaby Sanchez

Gabriela (Gaby) Sanchez is a Mexican American dancer based in Los Angeles, CA. She grew up dancing in competition dance studios, ran her high school dance team, and continued her dance journey in college. She has trained in ballet, modern, jazz, contemporary, and hip- hop. She earned her Associate Degree in Dance from Mt. San Antonio College where she trained before transferring. Gaby is currently a BFA candidate in Dance at California State University of Long Beach. She has worked with Rebecca Lemme, guest artist, Shyamala Moorty, MFA Candidate, Tashara Gavin-Moorhead, and student choreographers, Raphael (Ace) Austria and Alyssa Urrutia. Gaby has choreographed pieces for special occasions, such as Quinceaneras. She plans on presenting more of her personal commercial and concert work to the public and filming more to make it more accessible. Her most recent concert work, “Beyond the Horizon,” was presented at Mt. San Antonio College in Spring 2019. Gaby will be presenting her new dance film, “MUTUAL,” in the upcoming CSULB Department of Dance’s “Fall Dance Festival,” streaming on November 13 and 20.

Kevin Holland Kevin Holland is a dancer and choreographer born and raised in Ventura, CA. Kevin’s passion for movement as an aerialist in 2012, learning how to move on various apparatus. He’s been choreographing and teaching aerial ever since. After being forced to take some contemporary dance classes, he began to incorporate dance and aerial into his training. He has experience in modern and jazz while dancing with Moorpark College and Megill & Co. At Moorpark College, he choreographed many pieces for their dance concerts and his most recent piece, “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, was performed at the American College Dance Association event. He has also worked with Beth Megill, Terry Beeman, Wendi Baity, Leslie Bitong, and Vivian Goldes. Currently, he is pursuing a BA in Dance from CSULB and hopes he’ll get the opportunity to perform and choreograph for the rest of his life.

Show 2 Choreographers [Panelists]

Edu Hernandez

Eduardo Hernandez (Montebello, CA) was born in Mexico but migrated to the United States when he was ten years old. Currently he is pursuing a double major of a BFA in Dance and BA Dance Science from the College of the Arts at CSULB. At CSULB, he had the opportunity to work with Lula Washington choreographer Quela Clancy for her MFA thesis project. Eduardo, had the privilege to dance along with Queala Clancy and Tashara Gavin for the CSULB Black History month event in Spring 2020. In addition, he has performed the work of choreographer MFA Candidate Issa Hourani. He is a recipient of the Lana Alper Endowed Scholarship as part of the Department of Dance. Recently, his work was selected as official selection for the 3rd annual 92Y Mobile Dance Film Festival 2020, under the production of Andrew Chapman in New York City. Also, Eduardo became a certified Mat Pilates instructor through Synergetic: Robin Kish, and Steven Sofia. In the past, Eduardo was part of The Let’s Dance Company under the direction of Kimberly Rabins and Kristin Reutimann at East Los Angeles College where he had the privilege to learn from master classes by Alvin Ailey, Batsheva, Jacob Jonas, Diavolo, and Versa Style dance companies. In addition, he was chosen as a choreographer and soloist for the Fall season performance in 2018. Eduardo Hernandez is happy to be part of the CSULB Fall Concert Festival as a Director and a Choreographer and he wishes the rest of the choreographers an amazing virtual show day!

Jose Argueta

Jose Argueta, originally from El Salvador, is a Los Angeles based artist and educator as well as a second semester transfer student at CSULB where he is currently in the Dance BFA program as well as pursuing a minor in Psychology. Jose has presented dance work at Pasadena City College, Glendale High School, American College Dance Association, California Institute of the Arts, National Choreography Month Festival (NACHMO), the LA County Fair and has been accepted to present work at the New Century Dance Project as well SYNTHESIS VII which is hosted by Fuse Dance Company. Jose is also the Color Guard Director at Glendale High School where he teaches the award-winning color guard which has performed at venues such as the Bren Events Center in Irvine, CA and has been a guest instructor for many other groups throughout Southern California. Jose has danced in works by Andrea Gise, Victor Hugo, Rachel Turner, Milka Djordjevich, Sarah Swenson, and Alan Perez. Jose is a recipient of the Dance Department Scholarship and is also Pilates Mat Certified through Synergetic Movement and hopes to add a reformer certification in the near future. Jose holds Associate Degrees from Pasadena City College in Social and Behavioral Sciences as well as in Humanities. Upon graduation, Jose plans to pursue an MFA in Choreography and then found his own company and eventually become a professor to give back all the knowledge his teachers have given him.

Tiffany Martinez- Delgado Tiffany Martinez-Delgado is an emerging Mexican American dancer and choreographer from San Diego, CA. She has a background in improvisation and contemporary modern that has come to influence the type of work she produces. Tiffany began her training at San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts where she got to show her own choreography for the first time. She then continued her training at Grossmont College where she got to work with various choreographers based in the San Diego dance community. Tiffany received her Associates Degree in Dance as well in Humanities and Fine Arts from Grossmont College in Spring 2020. She has started her first semester as a transfer student at California State University, Long Beach and is excited to continue to explore new ways of creating especially in a virtual setting. Her most recent work, “what it means to be Free” was presented at Grossmont College in Fall 2019. Tiffany is excited to be presenting her first dance film, “This Is What I See” for the CSULB Fall Dance Festival where she has been collaborating with other artists to bring her vision to life. Jasmyn Hamblin

JASMYN HAMBLIN (Forestville, CA) is a Southern California based dance artist and choreographer exploring queer themes within her movement practice. She has trained in contemporary modern, jazz, ballet, and improvisation in both elementary and higher education. While pursuing her BFA in Dance from Cal State Long Beach, she traveled to Ecuador under the direction of Rebecca Bryant to perform “Criatura: Parte Uno”, also presented at HHII Dance Festival in Santa Barbra. Hamblin has performed professionally with San Diego based Mojalet Dance Collective, studied abroad under Andre Delaroche for DanzARt festival in Italy, and trained with members of Pilobolus and Bossy Flyer. As a dance maker, her work has been performed by Mesa College Dance Company, Mojalet Dance Collective, and during her time at Cal State Long Beach. After premiering her work “Process” at the Department of Dance’s BFA Variance concert, it was selected to be adjudicated at the 2020 ACDA Baja Conference. She is the recipient of the Nicki Carano Scholarship from San Diego Mesa College and the Jamiesson- Pechstein College of the Arts Endowed Scholarship from Cal State Long Beach for her involvement in the dance community. As a visual artist and illustrator, Jasmyn uses both digital and traditional art mediums, drawing inspiration from nature as well as the human form. She is interested in the cross over between creative mediums, and how different art forms such as painting, movement, and text interact.

Keilan Stafford Keilan Stafford (he/him) is a movement artist based in the Los Angeles area. Keilan is a BFA candidate in Dance at California State University, Long Beach where he is a current Fine Arts Affiliate Scholarship recipient and University Honors Presidential Scholar. There he has had the privilege of performing in works from faculty members Rebecca Lemme, Rebecca Bryant, Keith Johnson, and Andrew Vaca and has also worked with guest artists Micaela Taylor and Kevin Williamson. Keilan has also choreographed and presented three works at the university, one being performed at the 2020 American College Dance Association Baja Regional Conference. Outside of the university, Keilan has worked as a freelance artist with a number of choreographers and pick-up companies including X2 Dance Collective and Temria Dance Haus. Additionally, Keilan has trained at intensives and workshops with LA Contemporary Dance Company, Gaga/People/Dancers, No)One. ArtHouse, Acts of Matter, Entity Contemporary Dance and lastly The Ailey School, the latter where he worked with and performed in a new work by Stefanie Batten Bland. His artistic interests lie in creating and performing both concert and commercial work.

Rivka Villanueva Los Angeles native and current BFA student in Dance at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), Rivka Villanueva, has trained in jazz, hip hop, ballet, modern, and improvisation with Andrew Vaca, Rebecca Lemme, Keith Johnson, Rebecca Bryant, Rosanna Tavarez, Kristina Urteaga, Alyson Cartagena, Rachel Lopez, and Lisa Jay. During her time at CSULB, Rivka has performed in works by second year MFA Candidate in Dance Queala Clancy, titled ASE! and by first year MFA Candidate in Dance Amber Allgyer, titled Constant/Change. Rivka began training in dance her sophomore year at Montebello High School where she was invited to be a guest performer at Rio Hondo College (RHC) and fell in love with the art of performance. Following her high school graduation, Rivka decided to pursue a degree in dance and continued her training and education at RHC to transfer to CSULB. Rivka was able to participate in a three day intensive, Focused Study 1: Summer 2020 with LA-based performance group Acts of Matter, directed by Rebecca Lemme and will also be participating in Focused Study 2: Winter 2021. Rivka Villanueva is currently assisting with the production and direction of CSULB’s Fall Dance Concert Festival 2020 where she will also be premiering her most recent work titled ROOMS, as well as performing in Lemme’s work titled IN/SPACE/S.

Rebecca Lemme

Rebecca Lemme is a choreographer, performer, educator, and visual artist. Founded in 2014, she is Artistic Director of the Los Angeles-based performance group Acts of Matter. Rebecca has been commissioned and presented by LA Contemporary Dance Company, Heidi Duckler Dance Theater, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, Los Angeles Theater Center, River North Dance Chicago, Thodos' New Dances, California Institute of the Arts, Loyola Marymount University, Columbia College Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, Grand Valley State Photo: Cheryl Mann University, The Harvest Chicago

Contemporary Dance Festival, and was a finalist chosen to present choreography for The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: Chicago. Additionally, she has toured nationally with contemporary repertory companies Luna Negra Dance Theater, River North Dance Chicago, and Hedwig Dances. She teaches extensively in contemporary, ballet, and jazz technique for which she has created a unique movement style that encourages investigation, problem solving, and versatility. An Associate Professor at California State University, Long Beach, Rebecca co-facilitates the BFA program and coordinates the Scholarship Program. She was formerly a full-time faculty member at CalArts and has additionally been on faculty at Columbia College Chicago, Roosevelt University, Hubbard Street’s Lou Conte Dance Studio, Visceral Dance Center, and Joffrey Ballet Chicago. Rebecca holds a BA in English and Theater from Princeton University and an MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts. rebeccalemme.com