PERFORMING ARTISTS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS OF THE WAKE FOREST DANCE FESTIVAL 2018 JOSÉ LIMÓN (Founder of the José Limón Dance Company/Choreographer, 1908-1972) electrified the world with his dynamic masculine dancing and dramatic choreography. One of the 20th century’s most important and influential dance makers, he spent his career pioneering a new art form and fighting for its recognition. Born in Culiacán, Mexico in 1908, he moved to California in 1915, and in 1928 came to New York where he saw his first dance program. Limón enrolled in Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman’s dance school and performed in several of their works from 1930 to 1940. In 1946, with Doris Humphrey as Artistic Director, Limón formed his own company. His company was a major force of 20th century (and now 21st century) dance.,distinguishing itself as the first dance group to tour internationally under the auspices of the State Department and the first modern dance company to perform at Lincoln Center in New York, as well as performing twice at The White House. Thematically, José Limón possessed a social awareness that transcended distinct groups to address how we all search for commonality, earning him a special place in American culture. With their arresting visual clarity, theatricality, and rhythmic and musical life, his works continue to influence the evolution of the art form more than 50 years after his passing. The José Limón Dance Foundation, encompassing the Company and the educational and licensing Institute, was awarded a 2008 National Medal of the Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence. Limón created a total of seventy-four works, including The Moor’s Pavane, Concerto Grosso, andMissa Brevis. PEDRO RUIZ was trained in his native country, Cuba and in Venezuela, Mr. Ruiz choreographed three celebrated ballets while a principal dancer with Ballet Hispanico for twenty-one years. Choreography credits include: The Joffrey Ballet, Luna Negra, New Jersey Ballet, The Tribeca PA C, The Jacob's Pillow Festival, The Marymount College, the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. Program, Ailey’s Spring Celebration and Summer Sizzler concerts. He is on the dance faculty of Marymount College, the staff of The Ailey School and Scarsdale Ballet. Awards include: the Bessie Award, the Choo-San Goh Award, The Cuban Artist’s Fund, and The Joyce Foundation Award to create a new work for The Joffrey. Mr. Ruiz has performed at the White House and was profiled nationally on PBS’s In the Life. For extended bio please visit:​ ​https://www.wakeforestdancefestival.org/blog/2018/5/3/pedro-ruiz GREGORY DALBASHIAN - Born and raised in New York City Gregory made his professional stage debut at the age of eight with the Glimmerglass Opera Company and in the Philip Glass/Robert Wilson world tour of Einstein on the Beach. Gregory received his dance training at the Alvin Ailey School, then graduated cum laude from SUNY Purchase dance conservatory. Awards include The Bessie Schoenberg Residency at The Yard, winner of The Pretty Creatives Competition for Northwest Dance Project and The Hubbard Street 2 International Choreographic Competition, second place in Ballet Austin's New American Talent competition, and the audience prize at DanceNOW at joe’s pub in 2014 and again in 2017. Company commissions include Atlanta Ballet, TU Dance in Minnesota, Zenon Dance Company, Ballet Austin, LA Contemporary Dance Company, Hubbard Street 2, City Dance Ensemble in D.C, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance in Dallas, and Northwest Dance Project in Portland Oregon, and most recently for St. Louis Ballet as part of the Dance St. Louis Festival. Dolbashian has also received commissions from American Dance Festival as a featured choreographer in The Footprints Program and also has created multiple works for principals and soloists at American Ballet Theater including Jeffrey Cirio, Daniil Simkin, and Hee Seo, all premiering at The JOYCE and The Great Mountains Music Fest in Seoul, Korea. College commissions include SUNY Purchase, University of Minnesota, University of Hawaii, DeSales University, The Hartt School, Point Park, Fordham/ Ailey, Long Island University, NYU Tisch, James Madison University, and the Juilliard School. He debuted his own company The DASH Ensemble, in December 2010 at JOYCE SoHo. (See Company Bio for more background) Dolbashian also teaches workshops and intensives all over the country at universities, companies, and competitive studios. As a soloist and performer, Gregory has performed in multiple DASH repertory shows. His solo work was also presented at American Dance Festival in his one man show Awkward Magic. In addition to his choreography, Gregory, alongside fellow choreographer Loni Landon, is the co-founder of The Playground, a choreographic initiative that was voted 25 to Watch in 2013 by Dance Magazine. M. CLAYTON BARRIER is a native of Durham, North Carolina and graduated from North Carolina Central University. While in college, he took every opportunity to be involved in fitness and dance. Most recently, he is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher for various dance organizations and an up-and-coming local dance company. In addition to being a theater, dance, and physical education/health teacher at a public college prep charter school, Clayton is trained in various yoga practices through YogaFit. Currently, he teaches yoga and barre in various locations around the Triangle. Additionally, he teaches ballet and jazz for adults. Clayton prides himself in meeting his students at their level, raising the bar, and serving as support to reaching that goal. His no-nonsense approach has a number of dancers and athletes who train under him independently. MANUEL BARRIGA Born in Holland and raised in Madrid (Spain), Manuel Barriga studied ballet with Victor Ullate Ballet Academy and Carmina Ocaña School of Ballet. He started his professional career with Ballet San Jose (San Jose, California) then moved to New York City to dance with New York Theatre Ballet while occasionally performing with Barcelona Ballet (known formerly as Corella Ballet) in Natalya Makarova’s La Bayadere and the Paris Opera Ballet in Maurice Bejart’s Bolero for the Lincoln Center Festival. In August 2012 Mr. Barriga joined Carolina Ballet for their 15th season and continued to perform with them for five more seasons. In May 2017, Mr. Barriga retired from the stage to continue teaching ballet, he became a Certified Gyrotonic® Trainer, and recently graduated as a Massage Therapist from Wake Tech Community College. This is Mr. Barriga’s second appearance as a guest artist for the Wake Forest Dance Festival. In his first appearance in 2017, he performed “Yo te quiero siempre”, a song by composer Ernesto Lecuona, with his wife and dancer Mayerlin Muñoz. Mr. Barriga is currently a faculty member at Destiny Dance Institute in Wake Forest. MAGGIE BRADLEY Born in Los Angeles, CA, Maggie Bradley is a wife and mother, community herbalist and dance artist living in Chapel Hill. Her training included the high school program at UNCSA, The Hungarian National Ballet and Cornish College of the Arts. While living in New York, Maggie danced with various companies, taking company class and learning repertory with Merce Cunningham. She currently performs with Tornow’s COMPANY. ANTONIO BROWN is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, where he began his dance training at the Cleveland School of the Arts. In 2007, he received his BFA from The Juilliard School under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes. While there, he had the opportunity to perform works by Jose Limon, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Eliot Feld, Aszure Barton, Jessica Lang, Susan Marshall, Larry Keigwin, among others. Mr. Brown has also worked with Nilas Martins Dance Company, Stephen Pier and Sidra Bell Dance New York. Antonio is currently dancing with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Camille A. Brown & Dancers and is grateful to share his gifts and talents with the world. CORRINE CANAVARRO ​is a graduate of NCSU and holds BS degrees in both Chemistry and Environmental Technology & Management. She began her dance journey in the public school system where she was fortunate to have several dedicated dance teachers who encouraged her to continue learning. While at NCSU she was a member of the Panoramic Dance Project under the direction of Tara Mullins where she had the opportunity to work with choreographers Lavender D. Burris, Baba Chuck Davis, Willie Hinton, and Autumn Mist Belk. She also participated and choreographed for several student dance groups on campus. Her training includes ballet, modern (Horton technique), jazz, improvisation techniques, and Latin dance. Corinne attended the American Dance Festival six-week school in 2014 and has worked with Code f.a.d. Company (Autumn Mist Belk). She has been a member of Koffee Dance Company since 2012 and is currently a member of Mambo Dinamico. In addition to working full time in the pharmaceutical industry, she is also active in the hip hop community. JUDE CASSEDAY aka dejacusse is a soundscape artist and electronic musician from Durham, North Carolina. Her work ranges from sound experimentation to more structured compositions for dance, film, art events and yoga/movement classes. Her band iBoD (the idiosyncratic beats of dejacusse) creates Nested Soundscapes in acoustically interesting spaces. In October, she will begin work on her first data sonification project in conjunction with Rob Dunn Labs at NCSU and the As If Center in Penland NC. Her soundscapes have been featured at the Durham Arts Council, NC Museum of Natural Sciences and American Dance Festival classes. Her work can be downloaded at Soundcloud and Bandcamp. JAM NIEL DELGADO was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He started dancing at the age of sixteen. In 2010, he started his studies at the School of the Arts, Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, and right away Mr. Delgado was offered a position in the company, as well as an invitation to attend competitions with HB (formerly known as Heavenly Bodies).