Shakiri has a long history as a dancer, choreographer and arts educator. She has directed her own dance and theater company SHAKIRI/ROOTWORKERS, and is presently rewriting one of her pieces in novel form to be published by Edgework Books. Shakiri has been a member of Zaccho Dance Theatre since1988.
Alex Allan is a New Circus creator and performer with an extensive history in devised and classical theatre. Born and raised in Australia, Alex completed his Bachelor of Arts in Communication – Theatre/Media, during which time he acquired the technical and conceptual skills required to create relevant theatre for contemporary audiences. After the completion of his undergraduate studies, Alex moved to San Francisco to pursue his career as a professional performer, while simultaneously training in the Professional Aerial Program at the San Francisco Circus Center. Alex now strives to create performance that blends the boundaries of circus and theatre.
Paul Benney comes from a large family where rough-housing was not discouraged. His professional dance career began in 1986 at Brown University, where he also began his partnership with Jessica Lutes. In 1987, he and Lutes attended the Harvard Summer Program and studied with Elizabeth Streb, who proved to be a major influence in the development of their performance style. Since then, Benney and Lutes have created numerous performance events in the San Francisco Bay area and abroad. Their company, OnSite, has received several grants and residencies and was awarded the San Francisco Bay Guardian GOLDIE for best new dance company in 1993. Benney has worked with Margaret Jenkins, Joanna Haigood's Zaccho Dance Theater, and the Joe Goode Performance Group, among others. His one-man show, "Whatever Happened to Baby John", was voted "Best of the Fringe" in the 1995 San Fancisco International Fringe festival. Benney moved to New York City in November 2002, and he is a 2002-03 Artist-In-Residence at Movement Research. He is currently touring with the infamous San Francisco-based experimental art rock band, The Residents, playing a dancing demon.
Byb Chanel Bibene is a dance/theater performer and choreographer from the Republic of Congo and has been dancing for the past 12 years in the contemporary dance style rooted in African dances waves. He has trained with several international companies and teachers originating from Africa, USA, Italy, England, and France, and he has performed with Li-Sangha Dance Company throughout Africa, Europe, Asia and the USA. Upon Byb’s relocation to San Francisco, USA, he has had the opportunity to present his works in various venues and dance festivals such as SFIAF, the MoAD, the Back Choreographer Festival and dance with local choreographers such as Paco Gomes, Amara Tabor Smith, Sherwood Chen, Robert Henry Johnson, and Joanna Haigood. For more info, please visit www.kiandanda-dance.com.
Antoine Hunter is an African American Deaf and Hard of Hearing Choreographer, Dancer, Dance instructor, model, actor and poet. Hunter was born deaf and was raised Oakland, California and began dancing with Dawn James at Skyline High School. He has studied West African Dance with Master C.K. and Betty Ladzekpo, and studied at the Paul Taylor Summer Intensives in 2003 and 2004 as full scholarship.
Robert Henry Johnson is a dancer and playwright who mixes movement style and literary influences with equal fluidity. The son of jazz singer Lady Mem'fis and guitarist Robert Gonzales, he was one of the first students to graduate from San Francisco's School of the Performing Arts. He attended the San Francisco Ballet School on full scholarship. His performances are an arresting mix of muscular virtuosity, manic energy and naked emotion. In addition to founding the Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company in 1993, Johnson has created works for Oakland Ballet, Bavarian State Opera Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater and others. He has since disbanded his company to focus on solo work mixing dance and text, and is working on several new plays: "The Othello Papers," commissioned by the African American Shakespeare Company, and two plays commissioned by the Buriel Clay Play Reading Series.
Calvin Kai Ku, physical comedian, magician, and acrobat has performed in the prestigious WuQiao Festival of Circus in China, corporate events in the U.S. including eBay, Swissnex and Bread and Roses, as well as the San Francisco Symphony and Circus Center in San Francisco. Through the culmination of his many talents, he now performs his signature comedy pole act, which was recently featured in Bay Area Children’s Theatre’s production of “Circus Adventure”. Additionally, his new passion is spreading laughter through his work with the Medical Clown Project in hospitals of San Francisco.
Danielle Sandia Langlois is an aerial performance artist and choreographer, athletic coach, and teaching artist at with Zaccho Youth Company. She has a degree in biology and nutrition and is an alumni of San Francisco's Circus Center from 2004 to 2009 - where she specialized in trapeze, acrobatics, and athletic performance composition. Sandia has performed for Zaccho Dance Theatre, Capacitor, Flyaway Productions, Supper Club SF, and is a freelance performance artist throughout the Bay Area.
Emily Leap is an aerialist and dancer. She trained at the San Francisco Circus Center with Elena Panova. In addition to Zaccho, she is also currently working with Keith Hennessy/Circo Zero and Sara Shelton Mann. She has also danced for Lizz Roman and Nita Little and has shown her solo trapeze act at a pretty wide variety of venues around the world. In 2008 she received the Isadora Duncan Dance award for best individual performance for her work with Circo Zero and in 2005 she was given the award for Best Aerial act at the American Circus Festival. She has a BA in English Literature from UC Berkeley.
Jodi Lomask - The Royal Ballet Academy, Merce Cunningham Studio, London Contemporary Dance School and the Rotterdam Dansacademie preface her cum laude graduation from the dance conservatory at SUNY Purchase. With performance credits in the Purchase Dance Corps, NMH Performance Group, Erica Essner Performance Co-op, Project Bandaloop and Kneejerk, Lomask now directs Capacitor, founded in 1997 to explore the fusion and explosion of varied artistic disciplines in dialogue with audiences.
Travis Rowland interdisciplinary performing artist, holds BA degrees in both Drama (Popular Theatre) and Dance (Performance & Choreography) from San Francisco State University where he served as Student Artistic Director for the University Dance Theater, and was honored by the School of Music & Dance with the award of Outstanding Student in Performance. He has performed for Paco Gomes & Dancers, Della Davidson’s Sideshow Physical Theatre, Emily Keeler, Printz Dance Project, TalisMANIC Physical Theatre, Aura Fischbeck Dance, Natalie Greene, Fauxnique/Monique Jenkinson, The Tim Carr Project, Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble, Cathleen McCarthy & Dancers, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Kevin Clarke/Falsetta Knockers, Trixxie Carr, and in Taylor Mac’s "The Lily’s Revenge" at Magic Theatre. Presently, he enjoys performing as a creative collaborator with The Erika Chong Shuch Performance Project, Joanna Haigood’s Zaccho Dance Theatre, Raissa Simpson’s Push Dance Company, and Erling Wold's Fabrications.
Raissa Simpson is an independent dancer, choreographer and A.D. of Push Dance Company. An award-winning dancer, she worked & toured extensively with Robert Moses' Kin (2002-2007) including prestigious tours to Jacob's Pillow, Bates Dance Festival & City Center New York. As a guest artist she has performed with numerous companies including her work with Zaccho Dance Theater's Departure & Arrival (SFIAF) & Invisible Wings (Jacob's Pillow '07). She has been on the faculty of San Francisco Dance Center, City Dance Studios, and Santa Clara Ballet. Raissa holds her BFA from SUNY Purchase and has trained at Dance Theatre of Harlem, San Jose Dance Theater & the Paul Taylor School. She master taught at UC Santa Cruz and Berkeley High School among many others. Ms. Simpson was recently featured in Dance Spirit Magazine, the Village Voice and The New York Times. Her work was curated at the Black Choreographers Festival, Cowell Theater, American Cancer Society, and 418 Project in Santa Cruz. Since its formation in 2005, Push Dance Company has received critical acclaim as well as the 2007 ³Peoples Choice Award,² from San Jose State University.
Amara Tabor-Smith is a San Francisco Native and Oakland resident. In addition to the work of Joanna Haigood, Amara has performed in the work of choreographers such as Ed Mock, Anne Bluethenthal, Jacinta Vlach, Adia Tamar Whitaker and Ronald K. Brown. Amara is the former associate artistic director and dancer with The Urban Bush Women Dance Co. in NYC. In addition to dance, she has worked extensively in theater with artists such as Herbert Siquenza, Aya de Leon, Anna Deveare Smith, SF Mime Troupe and Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Amara is the artistic director of Deep Waters Dance Theater (DWDT) and is the co artistic director of Headmistress, an ongoing international collaboration with dancer/choreographer Sherwood Chen. She was a 2010 artist in residence at The Headlands Center for the Arts and a 2007 recipient of the CHIME Mentorship Exchange grant. Amara is on faculty in the Theater, Dance and Performance Studies Department at UC Berkeley.
Michael Velez has worked most notably and closely with two dance companies in Philadelphia- four seasons with the Koresh Dance Company (Ronen Koresh) and since 2003 with Charles O. Anderson's dance theatre X on a project-by-project basis. Both of which, he’s gained the opportunity of placing choreography onto. After attending the University of the Arts (2000-2004), he continued to learn, inspire and dance for such widely recognized choreographers as Robert Moses, Kara Davis, Ron K. Brown, Robert Battle, Zane Booker, Brian Sanders, Donald Byrd, and Itzik Galili (of the Netherlands Dance theater and Galili Dance). Michael's choreography and Modern Funk dance style has recently gained ample recognition in the 2008 National Ice dance Competition televised by CNN, where Kim Navarro and Brent Bommentre placed 3rd for their division, qualifying them for the 2008 Olympics. In addition to co-founding Adhesive Physical Theater(est. 2009 www.adhesivept.com, Michael also leads a dynamic Modern class at the Alonzo King Lines Dance Center in San Francisco.
Shereel Washington is an accomplished performer, choreographer, and presenter in local, regional, and national venues; Belhaven College in Jackson, MS; Kodak Theater's Babylon Court in Hollywood; Union Square Park in San Francisco, CA; Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, CA; The Malonga Casquelourd Center Theater in Oakland, CA; ODC Theater, Venue 9, Dance Mission, and Brady Street, all in San Francisco; and Temescal Arts in Oakland, CA. She was assistant choreographer for the University Dance Theater at San Francisco State and was assistant instructor for Albirda Rose for Pacific School of Religion and for CSU Summer Arts, Long Beach. She has taught dance for the West Contra Costa Adult School in Richmond, Ross Dance Company in Emeryville, San Leandro Adult Education, San Mateo Parks and Recreation, the Teen Dance Company of Mountain View, Wajumbe Cultural Institute in San Francisco, Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, Bally's Total Fitness in Hayward and Hayward Area Recreation District. Shereel served as guest dance faculty at Belhaven College in Jackson, MS, in 2005.
A native of the Bay Area, Patricia West is a dancer, choreographer, and elementary school teacher. She earned a B.A. in English, Dance, and Education at U.C. Berkeley and an M.A. in Education at San Jose State University. Patricia has worked and performed with Bay Area Repertory Dance, Capacitor, LEVYdance, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, and Robert Moses' KIN. Currently, Patricia is honored to be performing with Joe Goode Performance Group, Alayo Dance Company, and Zaccho Dance Theatre. When not performing, Patricia fulfills another of her passions, teaching kindergarten and third grade at Berkwood Hedge School in Berkeley, CA.
Matthew Wickett, born and raised in Oakland, CA has been dancing for six years under the direction of Carla Service, Artistic Director of Dance-A-Vision Entertainment. With Hip Hop as his foundation of dance, he has ventured into more creative movements such as Jazz and Modern. Through his dance experience he has performed in numerous shows and yearly venues such as; Oakland's Art & Soul Festival, Miss Oakland's Beauty Pageant, The Wiz (Belasco Theatre Company), and San Francisco's "Jewels on a Square". He has performed with Zaccho Dance Theatre in the previous work "Sailing Away" and has recently performed in New York with PUSH Dance Company. Matthew absorbs the dance life fully and continues to reach even higher goals through dance.
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