Choreographers
Alex Dugdale was adopted from Cali, Colombia and raised in Seattle, WA. After graduating from Roosevelt High School in 2008, Alex studied saxophone performance at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. He returned to Seattle in 2013, forming his own jazz quintet and becoming a first-call performer with many of Seattle's finest bands including the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and The Seattle Symphony. Alex is also a passionate educator, teaching both tap dance and music as a full-time teacher and guest educator for the last decade. He currently teaches for Seattle Public Schools and the UW Department of Dance. Alex fell in love with tap dance after seeing Savion Glover on Sesame Street when he was four years old. At age six he began taking tap dance lessons with Cheryl Johnson and Anthony Peters. In 2001, Alex was invited to perform at the NYC Tap Festival as part of the Young Talent Showcase. During this festival, Alex experienced a rhythmic and musical awakening after jamming with a busking musician in the subway. He realized that music was a tool of expression just like a language, connecting people to each other and bringing them together. As a tap dancer, Alex has performed throughout the United States and Canada, most notably with the Rochester Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony, Space Coast Symphony and the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. Alex treats his tap dancing like another musical instrument, a tool for expression and a gateway to ultimate freedom.
Rujeko Dumbutshena is a Zimbabwean-born dancer, pedagogue, and performer who specializes in neo-traditional and contemporary African dance. She holds an MFA in dance from the University of New Mexico. She has been on faculty at the Central New Mexico Community College, the University of New Mexico, and Sarah Lawrence College. Rujeko was invited to be an artist in residence at Williams College, the University of Rochester, and Duke University. She conducts her scholarly research on the interplay of gender, and power, in ritual performances of communities in southern Africa. Rujeko was an original ensemble member in Bill T. Jones’ Off-Broadway and Broadway musical production of FELA! She was commissioned to produce a choreo-poem for the Smithsonian African Art Museum’s African Cosmos exhibit. She is a recipient of City of Albuquerque’s Creative Bravos Award, a New Mexico Arts and Brooklyn Arts Council grantee and a BAM/De Vos Institute fellow. Rujeko has directed and been a guest artist at African drum and dance conferences across the country for over 20 years.
Alice Gosti (she/her) is an Italian-American immigrant choreographer, hybrid performance artist, curator, DJ, and architect of experiences. She is based out of occupied Duwamish and Coast Salish land, now named Seattle. Raised in a bi-cultural family of installation architects, her performances live and breathe the dualities within a multicultural environment. Gosti works simultaneously with film, installation, wearable art, sound, poetry, digital platforms, and audience interaction to create durational performances integral to their non-traditional sites, to create cultural moments for audiences from one to 15,000. Gosti’s work has been recognized with numerous awards and residencies, and has been commissioned and presented nationally and Internationally in universities, theaters, museums and galleries. She is a UWDP Alumni. gosita.com @gostiaa @malacarneco
Alana Isiguen is a pedagogue, performer and choreographer of Filipino, Cuban and Russian descent. She holds an MFA in Dance from the University of California Irvine and a BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She received her formative training as an apprentice with the Charlotte Ballet, formerly the North Carolina Dance Theater, under the direction of Jean Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride. Her performance credits include works by George Balanchine, Ohad Naharin, Mark Morris, Jessica Lang and William Forsythe. Alana furthered her studies at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Chautauqua Ballet, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria and with Summer Lee Rhatigan at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. Her choreography has been presented at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club in New York, and she has served on faculty at the University of California Irvine, Cornish College of the Arts, Santa Ana College and The School of the Sacramento Ballet.
Rachael Lincoln has been an active dancemaker and performer for over 25 years. Her performance and directed work (alongside fellow makers) has been presented around the world for audiences that range from zero to several millions of viewers, in venues including the Kennedy Center, The Sopiensaele Theater in Berlin, the side of an unused water tower in Soweto, South Africa, The American Music Awards, her living room, and international festivals in Poland, Portugal, Germany, Indonesia, Cyprus, and India. Rachael has a strong affinity for collaborations and believes all dance is relational. She has been working in meaningful, long-term ways with fellow dance artist Leslie Seiters, vertical dance company BANDALOOP, and a local improvisation collective called AVID.
Juliet McMains, PhD researches social dance practices of the Americas with particular emphasis on Latin American and Afro-diasporic traditions. She is author of Spinning Mambo into Salsa: Caribbean Dance in Global Commerce (Oxford UP, 2015) and Glamour Addiction: Inside the American Ballroom Dance Industry (Wesleyan UP, 2006), as well as numerous articles on salsa, rumba, ballroom, swing, and tango. Her work examines how commodification and globalization alter dance traditions. She is particularly fond of her black suede goddess Mr. Tango shoes, which during lockdown she has used to lead her partner in living room tango sessions. She has also worn sandals, sneakers, and no shoes at all as the subject of her own quarantine dance film experiments (www.julietmcmains.com). Juliet is a Professor in the Department of Dance at the University of Washington.
“Majinn” Mike O'Neal (He/They) is a queer mixed Black movement artist and educator from Tacoma who utilizes their training in multiple dance forms to find and express their whole self. Majinn works to help guide people in becoming more confident and connected in their bodies, express themselves and be able to speak their voices authentically through their dance language. Majiinn is always aiming to grow and give back to and support the communities they come from. @majinn_mike; youtube.com/MajinnMike
Jennifer Salk (MFA) is an associate professor and former chair of the Department of Dance, a Donald E. Petersen Endowed Professor, and a Mellon Foundation Creative Artist Fellow at the UW. She received her MFA from The Ohio State University and her BFA from the University of Utah. She has taught and choreographed for festivals, companies and schools around the country, Europe, Turkey, and South America, including American Dance Festival. She is on faculty at Staibdance Summer Intensive in Italy. She was honored to tour with Mark Haim nationally and internationally in This Land is Your Land. Her DVD Teaching Experiential Anatomy in Technique Class was published in 2010. Salk is a recipient of a Fulbright Specialist Grant and received the Distinguished Teaching Award at the UW in 2006.
Contributing Artists
Peter Bracilano graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts with a degree in lighting design. Peter has created the lighting designs for Teatro Zinzanni both locally and in San Francisco. He has designed for Seattle Opera’s Young Artist Program, Pacific Northwest Ballet, 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle Men’s Chorus and Village Theatre. He has spent summers as a designer at the Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds in Italy, and he also has designed lighting for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. Mr. Bracilano’s extensive design work on the East Coast includes 10 years with Civic Light Opera in Pittsburgh. Other companies he has worked with include Paramount Parks, Dallas Summer Musicals, and Theatre Under the Stars in Atlanta and Houston. He was the associate lighting designer for the European tour of Hair and Ken Hills’ Phantom of the Opera in Singapore as well as for several international productions of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Mr. Peter is a member of the United Scenic Artists, the national union for artists and designers in the entertainment industry.
Griffin Becker is a senior in music education at the University of Washington. Thank you to everyone who has helped with MIDI.wav, especially Professor Timothy Salzman, Aaron Butler, Grace Rosing, Ryan Baker, and the Spring 2020 members of the UW Wind Ensemble.
Jordan Fell (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based costume designer, hailing from Louisiana, with strong and valued connections to the Seattle performing arts scene. She received her M.F.A in costume design from the University of Washington School of Drama in 2019, culminating in a thesis show, Moliere’s The Learned Ladies directed by Jane Nichols. This is Jordan’s second consecutive season working with UW Dance to design and create costumes for the UW Dance Presents and MFA Dance concerts. Though working with UW Dance is always a rewarding and highly collaborative experience, this concert has been particularly meaningful as all involved have collectively pioneered new works, and navigated new ways of working, under extraordinary circumstances. Jordan is grateful for the opportunity to dive into realizing these dance films, and for the mutual trust, support, creativity, and willingness between every collaborator. Please enjoy our work, and tune in again for the MFA Dance Concert Spring 2021. Thanks especially to Ricky German, Val Mayse, and Isabelle Harris! Website: jordanemeryfell.format.com Instagram: @jordanemeryfell
Karen Fox creates original solo and ensemble dance and theater works, with a strong emphasis on stylistic and cultural fusion and an impulse to unearth mythological memes. Karen is also a performance artist, dancer and singer, influenced by her love of circus, cabaret and burlesque. In addition, Ms. Fox writes, teaches and movement directs for dance, theater and film. Her background and training includes Classical acting, clown, Butoh, Mexican contemporary dance, Pilates (Certified Trainer), yoga, Tai Chi, Chi Gong, experimental music, aerial rope and tissu, tumbling, pantomime, movement direction and stunt coordination for film, stage combat, and various forms of improvisation for the actor, singer and dancer.
Born in Seattle, bassist Michael Glynn began performing professionally at the age of 16. While living in the Pacific Northwest, New Mexico, and the Bay Area he has performed with such jazz luminaries as Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein, Seamus Blake, Conte Candoli, Eddie Daniels, Dave Grusin, Louis Hayes, Geoffrey Keezer, Don Lanphere, Mark Levine, Harold Mabern, Lewis Nash, William Parker, Aaron Parks, Bud Shank, Bobby Shew, Gary Smulyan, and Terell Stafford. In addition to his jazz work, Michael has performed in a variety of other genres, including classical concerts with the New Mexico Philharmonic, the New Mexico Symphony, Opera Southwest, and Canticum Novum Santa Fe, calypso with steel drum legend Ray Holman, and Arab/European music with Iraqi-American oud virtuoso Rahim Al Haj.
John Hansen is regarded as one of the most in-demand jazz pianists in the Northwest. A studied and musical ensemble player with a strong melodic vocabulary, John has always been recognizable for a unique personal voice. His performance history includes such venues as NYC's Birdland, The Jazz Standard, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, DC's John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, Seattle's Jazz Alley and Tula's, and international festivals and tours in France, Japan, Korea, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Russia and Central America. During his career, John Hansen has performed and recorded with many of the Northwest's premiere, award-winning bands including: the Jay Thomas Quartet, Jim Knapp Orchestra, Kelley Johnson, and The Bill Ramsay-Milt Kleeb Band with Pete Christlieb. He has been invited to perform with The Seattle Symphony, Rick Margitza, Randy Brecker, Ingrid Jensen, Ernestine Anderson, The Woody Herman Orchestra, Bud Shank, Bobby Shew, David 'Fathead' Newman, and more.
Max Holmberg is a Seattle-based drummer, bandleader and educator. He first started drumming at his grandpa's house at age two. Born into a family of actors and musicians, the first music he remembers listening to is Count Basie. Max got his first real taste of jazz playing in the jazz programs at Eckstein Middle School and Roosevelt High School in Seattle. Max then moved to Boston where he completed his B.M. at Berklee College of Music. He returned to Seattle where he currently resides and can be found performing in person and on the radio with many diverse projects and bands including the 200 Trio, The Arsonists, the Eric Patterson Band, The Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Alex Dugdale Band, Jacqueline Tabor Jazz Band and the Kareem Kandi Band, as well as teaching out of his studio and at the Seattle Drum School. Max hosts the Sunday night jam session at the Angry Beaver, co-runs the podcast Jazztalk Seattle, and runs the Secret Jazz Club on Airbnb. Max has had the opportunity to perform in seven different countries and gain personal experience and knowledge from many notable musicians. Some highlights include performing clinics at Berklee College of Music with Joanne Brackeen, Eddie Gomez, and Wayne Krantz, a performance/rehearsal at Lincoln Center with the Roosevelt High School Jazz Band and Wynton Marsalis, workshops with Gerald Clayton, Joe Lovano, the late Rashied Ali, and the late James Moody, a performances and recording with the Roosevelt Jazz Band and Cuong Vu, among others. A special thanks goes out to Benny Green, Neal Smith, Katia Roberts, Ernesto Diaz, Tyler Richart, Joanne Brackeen, Stuart MacDonald, Moc Escobedo, Lisa Holmberg, Ed Mays and Scott Brown for going above and beyond in helping mentor Max as a musician, drummer and human spirit. Max has been a featured guest artist at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville(UVM), Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington University, and Whitman College.
Cameo Lethem (she/her) is a choreographer, performer, and video editor. Her work has been shown at On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Erickson Theater, 12th Ave Arts, Kirkland Performance Center, Base: Experimental Arts, Yaw Theater, Electric Lodge, and more. In Seattle, she’s had the privilege of performing for choreographers Alice Gosti, Kate Wallich, Coleman Pester, Hayley Shannon, and others. As a selected artist for Ellenore Scott's The Breaking Glass Project, she received mentorships from Sidra Bell and Nia-Amina Minor. Cameo is also a recipient of SeattleDances’ 2017 DanceCrush award.
Paul Mataruse was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he started playing marimba with his twin brother Peter at a young age. By the time they were 8 years old, the twins were leading their school marimba band to multiple awards at school competitions. In 1996, Paul attended Lester B. Pearson United World College in Metchosin for high school, and it was there he first met the members of Marimba Muzuva and got exposed to the North American Zimbabwean music community. He now lives in the Seattle area, and continues to share his music through his band, Ruzivo.
Artist and educator, Paul Matthew Moore has scored 16 films including Police Beat and Robinson Devor's Zoo, which was in competition at the Sundance and Cannes festivals. After moving to Seattle in 1995, he has worked with Wayne Horvitz, Eyvind Kang, Timothy Young, Tim Hecker, Randall Dunn, Stuart Dempster, and Kronos Quartet, among many others. Paul worked with Dayna Hanson on the film, Improvement Club, and toured with her live theater piece, Gloria's Cause. Choreographers with whom he has collaborated include Mark Dendy, Mark Haim, Rob Kitsos, Jennifer Salk, and many more. He has transcribed and performed scores for ten seasons with the Chamber Dance Company. In 1993 Paul earned a B.A. in music composition from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara where he began playing for dance. A versatile and intuitive dance musician, Paul draws on keyboard, guitar, drum set and found objects to galvanize technique classes.
Devin Marie Muñoz, Mexican-American Seattle-based photographer and filmmaker, has been honing her skills ranging in dance photography and portraits to storytelling in film for the past few years. As a dancer herself, Devin blended her photography skills with her 17 years of dance experience, bringing about the perfect fusion of her two passions. With film as an added extension of dance and photography, Devin understands how vital it is to emulate the same energy put into performance onto the screen. With live performance only existing as long as show dates we lose the potential to reach masses. This practice introduces people to movement and is a guide for different forms of communication.
The son of an acclaimed deaf actor, Seattle native Kyle Seago was raised with a visual eye and a creative mind. In high school, Kyle’s film projects earned awards at international film festivals. After helping co-found the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (now the largest youth film festival in the world), Kyle began working as a TV producer on shows such as CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” and MTV’s “The Phone.” Kyle has produced over 30 hours of primetime television and traveled to at least 20 countries for international shoots. After moving his home base back to Seattle, Kyle worked as a commercial producer (Microsoft, Volvo, McDonalds, Harley Davidson) and opened up a documentary film production studio, Seago Media. He currently splits his time documenting international tours and shows for musicians and directing short and long-form documentary film projects. His projects include a documentary based in Zimbabwe, a six-part television documentary series based in Alaska, and several arts or artist-based human interest stories.
Warren Woo is a photographer, videographer, dance instructor, choreographer, and dancer in the Seattle area. He graduated as a dance major at the University of Washington in 2017 and actively participated as a Dance Student Association officer, performer, and choreographer, along with conducting honors research on dance partnering.
Lucas Zeiter, a Las Vegas native, is a bassoonist located in New York City. Known for his “beautiful, lush singing tone” by the Washington Daily, he has performed with the Seattle Symphony and members of the Las Vegas Philharmonic. Lucas has been fortunate to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and the Marrowstone Music Festival, on a generous scholarship. As a soloist, Lucas was the winner of the Jacqueline Avent Concerto Competition at Sewanee, and a finalist of the Fuchs Chamber Competition at the Manhattan School of Music. Lucas is currently pursuing his Masters of Music at the Manhattan School of Music, under the tutelage of Frank Morelli. Lucas has primarily studied with Seth Krimsky at the University of Washington and Dr. Janis McKay at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, but notes other important figures as Benjamin Kamins, Billy Short, Per Hannevold, Kim Laskowski, and Francine Peterson.
Dancers
Rose Amlin is a dance and psychology major and in her free time can be found absolutely shredding the gnar at Stevens Pass. This is her third UWDP and she is so grateful to everyone who made it happen even in these most unprecedented of times. To Jane, Rose misses whispering to you from the top bunk and will miss you even more next year. She is so proud and can't wait to see what you accomplish.
Victoria Aukland is a queer, non-binary femme, dance artist graduating in March with a BA in dance and sociology. Post-graduate, they hope to study dance activism and social work. Their relationship to performance has been positively impacted by Jen Salk, Dani Tirrell, Mike O’Neal, Hannah Wiley, and her wonderful community of friends and family. Thanks to her dad for his weird sense of humor and for teaching her what it is to be a good, imperfect, human.
Originally from California, Emma Conrad is a second year at the University of Washington, where she is pursuing a BA in dance and a BS in psychology. Starting dance at the age of five, she primarily trained in ballet and modern. At the UW, she has previously performed in Influx and the Dance Majors Concert. She is excited to be involved in her first UWDP!
Taylor Crow is thrilled to be a part of her first-ever dance film and is grateful to have been able to make art remotely. Taylor is currently living in Miami with her boyfriend and hairless kitten, and she can’t wait for the day she will be dancing on stage again. Taylor will be graduating with a bachelor of arts this March 2021, majoring in dance.
Faith Elder is a second-year student who is majoring in political science and minoring in dance. She began her dance training at the British Dancing Academy, where she learned ballet, tap, jazz, modern and lyrical. Since arriving at the UW, she has also expanded into salsa and other partner dances. This is Faith’s first production with UW Dance, previously performing in Greg Thompson’s Snowflake Lane and the American Tap Festival.
Raquel Gordon is a senior studying dance and creative writing and is excited to see the first virtual UWDP concert! She is looking forward to graduating in the spring and hopefully avoiding moving back in with her parents. Raquel sings as a soprano with the University Chorale, but due to a surplus, this quarter has been assigned alto and is having a blast singing harmony. She hopes you enjoy the show!
Anna Lee is currently a senior studying neuroscience and dance, hoping to go to medical school and become a practicing physician in the near future. Outside of dance, she loves spending her free time hiking and exploring other ways to use her creativity (journaling, spoken word, drawing).
Riley J Marshall is a student at the University of Washington pursuing economics. He is eager to begin his thirteenth year of dance with a bang while performing in UW Dance Presents for the first time. Hobbies include professional yo-yo and rubik's cube, hiking and camping, and socializing with friends. Riley would like to thank his mother, sister, and brother, Celicia, Hannah, and all of his dance teachers and friends for supporting him.
Alyssa McLeod is in her first year at UW. She began ballet at eight years old in Whidbey Island, WA. She is involved with her church at home and enjoys teaching ballet and guitar to stay engaged with her community. She plans to major in Spanish and social work and minor in dance at UW. She had a wonderful experience with her first UWDP and enjoyed getting to drive to campus a few times for rehearsals and filming.
Alicia Miyabi Moore is currently a junior majoring in dance and math. She started dancing hula when living in Hawai’i and has continued training in this technique for the last 14 years. Her family moved frequently and thus she has a close relationship with her parents which she explores in the solos dedicated to her mother and father. She would like to thank Mike O’Neal and Alice Gosti for their invaluable mentorship in creating these pieces.
Maisy Neill is a first year at the UW. Born in Los Angeles, this is her first year living in Seattle. Maisy has been dancing for the past 10 years, and intends on double majoring in dance and psychology. She loved being a part of the faculty dance concert and can’t wait to see what’s next in store for her at UW!
Ariel Oswalt is pursuing a B.A. with a major in dance and a B.S. with a major in biology at the University of Washington (UW). She works at the UW’s Burke Museum where she handles and photographs fossils. Ariel is currently conducting research that investigates the impact of dance training on nutritional beliefs. She serves as a secretary for the Dance Student Association and dances in student-led and department-led performances and projects.
Haley Rundorff is a sophomore at UW studying dance and neuroscience. She's from Edmonds, Washington, and grew up dancing at Barclay Shelton Dance Centre, studying ballet, pointe, jazz, modern, and hip hop.
Megan Renee Sellman is a dancer, choreographer, and instructor from the Seattle area. She is finishing her final year as an undergraduate at UW studying dance and education, with a minor in anthropology. During her time at the university, she has served as the president of the Dance Student Association, worked as the Archival Assistant for the Chamber Dance Company, and is currently finishing a dance honors research project connecting dance, education, and colorguard.
Madison Shorter is a University of Washington alumni; she double majored in dance and gender, women & sexuality studies, and graduated with her bachelor of arts degree in June, 2020. She currently works as the Program Coordinator at Washington nonprofit, Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking. During her academic career Madison had the privilege of working with Rachael Lincoln three times, and she feels honored to have had the opportunity to do so again this year.
Elana Skeers is a sophomore dance major at UW. This is her second UW performance and she found the process of creating dance films so fun and exciting. Prior to dancing at UW, she has had the opportunity to work with various artists in California and New York as well as participate in shows organized by the Joffrey Ballet School, Inland Pacific Ballet School, and her home studio, Dance Dynamics.
Gal Snir is a dance and biology major at the UW. She loves dancing in all capacities, even online. She is graduating this year and is extremely grateful to have taken part in UWDP this year!
After getting the chance to try a few dance classes at the age of three, Brielle Sydow immediately fell in love with dance and has continued to expand her dance vocabulary ever since. After 17 years of training, she is now a junior studying marketing and entrepreneurship with a minor in dance while also teaching and choreographing a variety of styles at a local dance studio.
Brooke Thimmig is a dance major and pre-med student in her senior year at the UW. She's originally from Dallas, Texas. She has danced all her life and trained in many different dance styles including ballet, modern, jazz, tap, street styles, and African. This is Brooke’s fourth year performing in UW Dance’s faculty show. In her free time, Brooke works as an Emergency Medical Technician for American Medical Response and enjoys watching true crime documentaries.
Alyssa Midori Vacheron is a senior majoring in environmental engineering and dance. This is her second time choreographing for the Dance Majors Concert. She has also performed in UW Dance Presents and the MFA Concert. She trained in ballet and modern from a young age and has expanded to other styles in college. She is interested in art-making in equal partnership with dancers and the navigation of that relationship. She is very excited for this work!
Aliona Vakulchik is a double major in dance and business with a concentration in finance. She is in her second year at UW and super excited to be in UW Dance Presents this year! She is immensely grateful for any kind of dancing during this time.
Jordan Winter is a junior pursuing a double degree with majors in dance (BA) and oceanography (BS). Born and raised in Seattle, WA, Jordan trained in ballet, contemporary, modern, and tap. Jordan has danced for Seattle Civic Dance Theater, Dance! West Seattle, the Johns Hopkins Modern Dance Company, and at the University of Washington. Her dance major classes have included feminist performance art and dance composition, as well as site-specific and screendance experience.
Natalie Yap Kai Yi is a senior in bioengineering and dance. She is so thankful to have been given the opportunity to perform one last time in UWDP before graduating this spring! She owes her dance style to the teachers in the UW dance department, and more importantly, was able to gain societal awareness through the art form. Through dance, Natalie is able to express and articulate her emotions and thoughts more clearly.