ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Katie Faulkner (Pent)

Katie Faulkner is a choreographer, performer, teaching artist and the Artistic Director of little seismic dance company. Since founding the project-based company in 2006, Faulkner has received support in the form of numerous grants, commissions, residencies, and awards. She was an Artist-in-Residence at San Francisco’s ODC Theater from 2009-2011 and has been in residence at the Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts, the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, the Rauschenberg Residency, and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. She has received two CHIME Grants from the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company enabling year-long choreographic mentorships with choreographers David Gordon and Erika Chong Shuch. Faulkner has also received multiple Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and nominations, the top prize for her work in the Joyce Theater A.W.A.R.D. Show!/San Francisco competition, and the 2010 SF Bay Guardian GOLDIE (Guardian Outstanding Local Discovery) Award for dance.

In addition to her direction of little seismic, she works as a freelance choreographer developing works for a variety of platforms. In so doing, she has collaborated with composers, animators, filmmakers, writers, fellow choreographers and theater and music video directors. Faulkner has been commissioned to create multiple works for universities, presenting agencies and professional companies throughout the country and enjoys the balance of these projects with those of her company. As a dancer she has performed the works of Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, Alex Ketley, Randee Paufve, Victoria Marks, Susan Rethorst and Ann Carlson. She worked with several of these choreographers as a dancer with AXIS Dance Company, with whom she performed both locally and nationally from 2003-2007. She has been an active educator since 2002 and is currently on faculty at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. In January 2015 she received her certification in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis from the Integrated Movement Studies program.

Diane Frank (Tracelines in the Provisional)

Choreographer/Performer/Teaching Artist/Arts Organizer. BFA in Theater; MA in Dance; Assistant Professor, Dance Department at the University of Maryland, founding member of the Maryland Dance Theater. Frank enjoyed an 11-year NYC dance career with Douglas Dunn and Dancers, touring nationally and internationally. She trained with Merce Cunningham throughout that time, and was a member of his teaching staff at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio for eight years; at Cunningham’s request, she taught technique and repertory at the American Center’s Atelier Cunningham in Paris. A frequent guest teacher at the Paris Opera, she assisted Douglas Dunn in both the creation of new work for the Opera and the setting of established repertory. Frank has been the recipient of seven NEA Choreography Fellowships, as well as commissions from the Jerome Foundation, DTW, Dance Bay Area, and Meet the Composer, and Arts Silicon Valley. Her work has been performed both in the United States and abroad.

At Stanford, Frank has taught contemporary dance technique, choreographed, and mentored graduate and undergraduate student dance projects since 1988. She has organized and advised Stanford’s participation in the American College Dance Festival as well as other dance education and performance projects on- and off-campus. She has also organized numerous choreographic commissions by guest artists, frequently acting as Rehearsal Director, setting and maintaining works by choreographers as diverse as Elizabeth Streb, Holly Johnston, Brenda Way, Parijat Desai, Hope Mohr, Janice Garrett, among others.

In 2005, she played a significant role in the development of Stanford Lively Arts’ campus-wide interdisciplinary arts event “Encounter: Merce,” organizing its “Music and Dance by Chance” commissions, as well as an IHUM lecture series on Cunningham’s video dances and concert repertory. She has twice taught Cunningham repertory in Stanford workshop classes. Frank has been instrumental in developing a number of residency projects and artistic collaborations for the TAPS. Highlights include: the repertory reconstruction project of Anna Halprin’s “Myths”; Elizabeth Streb’s “Crash” performed with Streb’s company on Stanford’s Memorial Auditorium stage; and “Cantor:Rewired,” site-specific outdoor iterations of Parijat Desai’s work fusing Southeast Asian classical Indian dance with post-Modern choreographic strategies. In 2011, she assisted in the reconstruction of Anna Sokolow’s signature masterpiece, “Rooms”. Frank also teaches “The Duets Project,” a performance class that builds partnering and ensemble skills through duet repertory. Strongly interested in site-specific performance, Frank has taught the theory course “Figure/Ground: Site-Specific Dance Performance in Outdoor Environments.” Complementing this course, she conceived and organized “Red Rover,” a series of commissioned site-specific dance performances traveling the grounds of Stanford campus. Recent site-specific projects include “Construction Site” and “Action SEQuence: Six Dances on the SEQ”. Frank also instituted the Firework Series, a quarterly informal showing of student work followed by discussion among artists and audience. She also founded and currently organizes the Bay Area Dance Exchange, a day-long intensive hosted by Stanford for Bay Area college and university dance programs; schools gather to share studio practices, creative processes, and performances of works.

Her work “Twilight Composite” was selected for performance at the American College Dance Festival Gala at the Kennedy Center in March 2012. More recent works include: “Branch, Tendril, Vine” and six “Tendril” solos created and performed by solo artists in the Bay Area and nationally. “In a Winter Garden,” a contemplative performance collaboration for dance, sculpture, and music was created with composer Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, sculptor Will Clift, and musician Ko Ishikawa. “Tools for Traveling Toward the Light,” involved collaborators Erik Flatmo (scenic design) and composer Hassan Eskhatrian (live electronic music score). A recent work, “Goat-trout-snake-lizard girl” investigated the intersection of the natural world and women’s core movement patterning in relation to it; composer Tim Russell created the sound score. In addition to her own work, Frank toured as a performer in “Doggie Hamlet” by the acclaimed choreographer/director Ann Carlson. Frank currently mentors Bay Area dancer/choreographers through San Francisco’s Emerging Choreographers Forum and she continues to teach choreography classes at San Jose State University’s Department of Music & Dance. Frank has twice served as Acting Director of the former Dance Division of Stanford Drama.

Aleta Hayes (Riot of Spring) 

Aleta Hayes is a dancer, choreographer, performer, educator and lecturer. Hayes holds an M.F.A. (1993) in Dance and Choreography from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a B.A. (1991), with Departmental Honors, in Drama, with a concentration in Dance and the Visual Arts from Stanford University.

Hayes worked in New York City for fifteen years, choreographing solo and group dance pieces. Performances interpolated acting and singing with dance. She had leading roles in major productions such as Jane Comfort’s dance/opera Asphalt (book by Carl Hancock Rux, music and lyrics by Toshi Reagon) and Robert Wilson’s The Temptation of St Anthony (with music and libretto by Bernice Johnson Reagon). Hayes taught for eight years at Princeton University in the Program in Theater and Dance and the Program in African American Studies. While at Princeton, she developed pedagogically innovative courses that combined cultural history, theory, and performance.

In 2004, Hayes returned to Stanford on a Ford Foundation Resident Dialogues Fellowship through the Committee on Black Performing Arts. A Lecturer since 2006, Hayes’s contemporary dance classes are a hybrid of dance, drama and performance. Introduction to Contemporary Modern Dance: ‘Liquid Flow’ is the gateway, foundational dance and movement course for Contemporary Dance in TAPS. Other notable classes include, Dance Improvisation StratLab, Afro-Styles and Dance-Making and Musical Theater Dance. For the course Stanford Dance Community: Inter-Style Choreography Workshop, taught since 2018, guest instructors include leaders and choreographers from dance clubs on campus.

The Chocolate Heads Band started as a performance-making workshop created by Hayes to teach choreography, interdisciplinary research, and collaboration. An admixture of dance styles, genres, and contemporary performance, this class welcomes student artists from dance, music, visual and spoken word art, and design, as well as from non-art fields. Taught each Fall as a choreography workshop and performer training lab, Chocolate Heads becomes a ‘prototypical’ dance troupe that performs frequently around the campus.

Hayes also teaches at the d.school, (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) and other arts entities and programs on campus. At Stanford, Hayes has had many leading roles as a dancer, singer and actor including, most notably: Suzan-Lori Parks’s In the Blood, directed by Professor Harry J. Elam, Jr. (2005). In the spring of 2006, she choreographed, performed a multimedia solo piece, Deianeira (an adoption of Sophocles’ Women of Trachis created for her and directed by Drama and Classics Professor Rush Rehm. She performed the role of ‘Mama’ in Raisin in the Sun (2019), directed by Elam. Hayes has choreographed musicals and plays in TAPS, including Everybody (2020), directed by Michael Rau, REVIVAL: Remembering the Afro Now-One Nation Portal to the Future (2019) directed by Amara Tabor-Smith, Spring Awakening (2016) directed by Elam, and Helen/Hecuba (2018), directed by Rehm.

Alex Ketley (Distal Imprint)

Alex Ketley is a choreographer, filmmaker, and the director of The Foundry. Formerly a classical dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, he left the company to create The Foundry as a platform to explore his interests in alternative methods of devising performance. The company has allowed Ketley the freedom to pursue projects that would be difficult to realize within his commissioning career. A few examples of these are: Syntax, an hour long duet systemically using the mechanics of language as an organizing mechanism; Lost Line researched how the application of environment affects the generation of movement and studied in direct response to California’s diverse physical landscapes; Please Love Me jettisoned the structure of performing in a theater context and was developed with a curiosity about how people genuinely connect and experience artwork; and the No Hero Trilogy which was a multi-year project that explored what dance and performance means to the lives of people living throughout rural America. The Foundry’s diverse work has been enthusiastically received by audiences, the press, and funders.

For his independent work as a choreographer he has been commissioned extensively throughout the United States, as well as projects in Germany and Italy, and has received acknowledgement from the Hubbard Street National Choreographic Competition, the International Choreographic Competition of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, the Choo-San Goh Award, the Princess Grace Award for Choreography, four Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography Residencies, the Gerbode-Hewlett Choreographer Award, the Eben Demarest Award, the National Choreographic Initiative Residency, a Kenneth Rainin Foundation New and Experimental Works Grant, three CHIME Fellowships, a Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation Grant, the Artistry Award from the Superfest International Disability Film Festival, and his work was featured on national television through an invitation from the show So You Think You Can Dance. His pieces and collaborations have also been awarded Isadora Duncan Awards in the categories of; Outstanding Achievement by an Ensemble, Outstanding Achievement in Choreography, Outstanding Achievement by a Company, and nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design.

As an educator he has taught throughout the world and is currently a Lecturer at Stanford University’s Theater and Performance Studies Department. He was the founding Resident Choreographer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance for fourteen years until its closure in 2018.

In 2020 he became a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, one of the most prestigious honors in the United States recognizing individuals “who have demonstrated exceptional creative ability in the arts.”

Ronnie Reddick (Carry on we Must)

Ronnie Reddick is one of the Bay Area’s most dynamic and multi-talented choreographers with an edge of what’s happening in the world of dance and fashion today. This multifaceted San Francisco based Choreographer/Dancer made his mark by combining Hip Hop, Jazz, Fashion and Theatrics to create one of the most explosive and dynamic styles to hit the dance scene recently, making him one of the most sought after Hip Hop/Contemporary choreographers in the Bay Area and beyond. Along with his busy career, Reddick is also the Choreographer/Show Director at Asia SF. This unique restaurant/dining experience is taking the world by storm and features one of the most beautiful gender illusionists in the world.

In the entertainment world, Reddick has worked with such artists as Michael & Janet Jackson, Deborah Cox, Paula Abdul, Kristine W., Tony, Toni, Tone, Jody Watley, Santana, Kelly Price, RuPaul, Robin Thicke, Snoop Dogg, Overtone Band and M.C. Hammer along with many corporations like Sony, Sony PlayStation, Intuit, Prudential, Gap, Macy’s, MAC Cosmetics, Nordstrom, Starbucks, API, Apple Computer, Google, Yahoo, Xilinx, Sun Micro Systems, BEBE, Univision Television, E*Trade, Coca Cola, and Microsoft.

In addition to teaching at Stanford, Reddick teaches at Santa Clara University and has taught master classes around the world, including Princeton University, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Canada. He continues to work with, train, and inspire dancers that are now dancing around the world. Reddick also teaches dancers about the business of dance and how to work in today’s world as a professional commercial dancer.

“Technique is only the beginning of what makes a memorable dancer, and we don’t start dancing to end up doing chorus,” says Reddick. “You have got to have that extra something.” It is through his experience and selfless devotion that Ronnie Reddick is inspiring a new generation of talent.

Fatoumata Binta Barrie (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a freshman interested in majoring in Civil Engineering. Chocolate Heads is her first experience in a collective dance experience.

Becky Bodurtha (Costume Designer, Pent, Trace Lines in the Provisional, Riot of Spring) is a Senior Lecturer in Costume Design at TAPS. Recent credits include Felix Starro (Theatre Ma-Yi), Open (The Tank), 1000 Nights and One Day (Prospect Theatre Company), and Mr. Burns (NYU Gallatin). Other credits: Constellations (Wilma), The Strangest (East 4th Street), ACE (Margorie Deane), Among the Dead (Theatre Ma-Yi) Passover (Cherry Lane) The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra, Go! (Theatre Ma-Yi), Livin’ La Vida Imelda (Theatre Ma-Yi), and This Lingering Life (HERE Arts). International credits include Anna in the Tropics at Repertory Philippines, Movement for Humanity and Africa’s Hope for the Ubumuntu Festival in Kigali, Rwanda. MFA University of Iowa. beckybodurtha.com

Raphaël Boumaïla (Drone Operator, Trace Lines in the Provisional) graduated CNSMD Lyon France. Performed with Red Note/Andy Degroat, Limón Dance Company for 20 years, MFDP/SF and Ledges and Bones. Raphaël is a Limón master teacher and reconstructor. He is on faculty at SJSU and at Alonzo King Lines Ballet BFA. Mr Boumaïla and Heather Cooper have created REACH BC Dance Company based in San Francisco.

Tiffany Cartagena (Assistant Costume Designer, Assistant to the Choreographer, Riot of Spring)is a fourth year undergraduate majoring in TAPS. Previously, she was the assistant costume designer for Beyond the Wound is a Portal. She is eager to return to acting onstage, her last role being Isabella in Too Good. However, in the past year she has had the opportunity to explore her interest in costume design, which she is very grateful for.

Marc Chappelle (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is a senior majoring in Psychology, minoring in African & African American Studies and coterming in Symbolic Systems. Previously at Stanford they performed in TAPS’s GroundPlan. They also dance with the Stanford hip hop group Dv8.

Tanner Christensen (Dancer, Trace Lines in the Provisional, Carry on we Must) is a freshman majoring in Psychology, with interests in Spanish, human rights, and dance. At Stanford, he is on the Cheer Team as well as the Legacy Dance Team. He hopes to continue working with the dance community at Stanford, breaking gender stereotypes and involving himself with the TAPS community.

Bill Clark(Text, Distal Imprint) was born and raised in Los Angeles. He attended university at UCLA and Fresno State where he majored in business. In 1998 he was sent to death row at San Quentin Prison, and maintains his innocence to this day. During his time in jail he has become a prolific writer, spending his time developing film screenplays, children’s books, and poems. He has four adult children from two separate marriages. He became friends with Alex Ketley in early 2019, and is excited they have had this opportunity to work on Distal Imprint together.

Ana Maria Cornejo Silva (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is a flamenco dancer from Denver, CO. Previously, she has performed with Aleta Hayes’s Chocolate Heads Movement Band (Dancer, Everybody) and Flamenco Denver Company (Corps, Raices), as well as at various tablaos in her hometown. She is currently majoring in Comparative Literature.

Obed De La Cruz (Assistant Stage Manager) is a senior majoring in TAPS with a theater-making concentration. Previously at Stanford he was involved in Latinx in Theater’s
In the Heights (Usnavi) as well as TAPS’s Everybody (Somebody) and Beyond the Wound is a Portal (Guide/Voice). Obed has also written and composed two original musicals, La Llorona and Monster on the Lawn, the latter for which he received an award through NAMT (National Alliance for Musical Theater).

Jess Fry (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is a senior majoring in Physics and minoring in TAPS. Professional credits include Broadway: M. Butterfly (Kurogo), 1st National Tour: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Ensemble u/s Veruca), Regional: Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (The Muny), Mamma Mia (Pioneer Theatre), Television: The Americans (FX). Previously TAPS credits include Spatial Shift (chor. Alex Ketley) and In a Winter Garden (chor. Diane Frank).

Tasia Gill (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is a former NBA Dancer/Choreographer and United Spirit Association SongLead Alumni returning to the stage after getting behind the camera and into the Director’s chair. Since 2019 she has written and directed two short films and licensed her first short, Jender to Reveel Network.

Rebecca Gellman (Dancer, Trace Lines in the Provisional) is a PhD student studying Microbiology and Immunology. At Stanford, she has danced in several TAPS projects including GroundPlan and Phrase Bank, and is a dancer and choreographer for the Art as Science Communication Initiative (Art-SCI). Before coming to Stanford, Rebecca was the Artistic Director of Columbia University Ballet Ensemble, performed in CUBE productions including Cinderella (Stepsister), The Sleeping Beauty (Music Fairy), and Alice in Wonderland (Cheshire Cat).

Nicholas Gessner (Dancer, Pent) is a senior pursuing a BSH in Biology with a minor in Spanish. At Stanford, Nicholas has been involved with Innovative Styles, a student-led contemporary dance group, and he currently serves as the Executive Director of Dv8, a student-led hip-hop dance group. He has also trained with Diane Frank and Alex Ketley.

Sariel Golomb (Dancer, Trace Lines in the Provisional) is a third-year PhD candidate in TAPS. She holds a BA in Dance and English from Columbia University. Sariel has danced in works by Heidi Henderson, Sam Kim, Pam Tanowitz, Alexandra Beller, Gwen Welliver, Trisha Brown, Jacqulyn Buglisi, and Gesel Mason. Previously at Stanford she served as dramaturg and dancer for Amara Tabor-Smith’s REVIVAL: Millennial ReMembering in the Afro-NOW, and choreographed an original evening-length dance work, BONE BRAIN.

Morgan Gwilym Tso (Stage Manager) is a Stanford junior studying TAPS with minors in Asian American Studies and Computer Science. Though he’s a stage manager on SPLICE, you’re more likely to have seen him on stage in previous TAPS shows like Cabaret (Bobby/Kit Kat Girl) and Beyond the Wound is a Portal (Guide/Performer), or listened to his cues this past winter in StageCast (Sound Operator).

Sarah Harvey (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is a graduate student in the Applied Physics department studying theoretical neuroscience and biophysics. Distal Imprint is her first performance with the Stanford dance community.

Melinda Hernandez (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is a multifaceted artist. From a young age, she took interest in instruments and poetry through her participation in Kuumba Lynx, an after school matters program using the arts to build community and love. Her work with the pen has led her to the Indy and Team final stage in Louder than a Bomb 2017, as well as the final stage in CUPSI 2018 + 2019. A handful of singles and an EP later, Melinda (known on musical stages as @LindaSol) has had the pleasure of opening for artists such as 2 Chainz, Ella Mai, Shangela, Dreezy, A.Chal, Samaria, and Mereba as well as performing for Lollapalooza 2020.

Olivia Higa (Dancer, Pent, Distal Imprint) is a senior majoring in Symbolic Systems and pursuing a masters in Sociology. She has been involved in various TAPS productions including In a Winter Garden, SOLI, and INERTIA. This is her third and final year as a performer in the TAPS Faculty choreography productions, and she is so grateful for the opportunity to move and dance during such a tumultuous year.

Julia Hok (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is a free-will artist and mechanical engineer major at Stanford. Her art practice is self-taught and ranges from freestyle hip-hop/contemporary dance, fashion, and poetry. She values self-expression over disciplined technique, so when Julia creates, she focuses on catharsis and finding beauty in her emotions and everyday life — themes such as nature, love, peace, heartbreak, and hopelessness find their way in her work. SPLICE is her first involvement with the TAPS.

Dan Holland (Chocolate Heads Technical Director, Riot of Spring) is a sound designer and theatre producer/technician based in Sunnyvale. He is the Production Manager at EnActe Arts, where his affinity for Excel spreadsheets and overly detailed calendars is put to good use. Recent credits include: As Soon As Impossible (TheatreWorks, sound designer); Voices of the Earth (Stanford Repertory Theater, editor & sound designer); Letters to a Daughter from Prison (EnActe Arts, audio editor); Traveling in Place (Chocolate Heads, technical director).

Emily Hom (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a junior at UC Berkeley majoring in Rhetoric. Previously at Stanford she was involved in the Chocolate Heads Movement Band’s Traveling in Place (Dancer).

Nona Hungate (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a freshman at Stanford majoring in Earth Systems. Previously at Stanford she was involved in Ram’s Head’s Gaieties (Ivy) and La Llorona (Assistant Stage Manager).

Celeste Jupiter (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is a junior majoring in Human Biology and minoring in Spanish. Previously at Stanford she was involved in SOLI (TAPS, by Anna Kimmel), Alex Ketley’s Advanced Ballet class, and Alex Ketley’s choreographic workshops. She is also a member of Stanford’s DV8 hip-hop dance group.

Justine Kaneda (Dancer, Pent) is a senior majoring in Human Biology, minoring in TAPS, and pursuing an Honors in the Arts. In TAPS, she performed in the Winter Mainstage 2021 production, StageCast (Actor) and the Graduate Repertory 2020 piece SOLI (Dancer). Justine has also danced as a Stanford Dollie and with various student groups, as well as acted in AATP’s Question 27, Question 28 and various student films for festivals on and off campus.

Mia Kanter (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is studying dance as a first year at Santa Clara University. This is her debut as a performer with Stanford University. She hopes you enjoy.

Jarosław Kapuściński (Composer, Trace Lines in the Provisional) is a composer and pianist whose creative focus is in intermedia. His work was commissioned and awarded prizes internationally. Presentations include New York MOMA; Spoleto USA, EMPAC NY, Logan Center, Chicago; Reina Sophia Museum Madrid; Media Biennale Wrocław, Warsaw Autumn Festival; National Art Centre, Ottawa; Tokyo Wonder Site; Creative Media Center, Hong Kong; and Benz Arena Shanghai. He is an Associate Professor of composition at the Department of Music at Stanford University.

Colette Kelly (Dancer, Trace Lines in the Provisional) is a PhD student in Earth System Science. Colette majored in dance at Barnard College, where she performed in repertory by Mark Morris (Gloria, Grand Duo), Martha Graham (Lamentation, Night Journey), and Sasha Waltz (Fantasie), and new works by Loni Landon, David Thomson, and Patricia Hoffbauer. At Stanford, Colette performed in new work by Diane Frank and Sariel Golomb. Her solo dance film covid_dances was recently featured in the SF Emerging Choreographers Forum.

Minha Kim (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is a senior studying Mathematical and Computational Science with a minor in Dance and a coterm in CS. She previously performed in GroundPlan (FAIL/FAIL) and FOUR at TAPS, as well as Sariel Golomb’s BONE BRAIN. She also staffed in Ram’s Head’s Chicago (Assistant Choreographer) and AATP’s peerless (Assistant Producer).

Anna Kimmel (Dancer, Trace Lines in the Provisional, Distal Imprint) is a PhD candidate in TAPS pursuing minors in Anthropology and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity alongside a graduate certificate in African Studies, with an emphasis in dance, memory, and public performance as politics. She serves on the Future Advisory Board to Performance Studies international, as the graduate coordinator of the Arts and Justice workshop at the Stanford Humanities Center, and as the reviews editor of Performance Research.

Josephine Krieger (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is a senior majoring in Biology. She has really enjoyed being a part of Alex Ketley’s modern dance and ballet classes while at Stanford. Previously, she has been involved in Stanford’s social dance group Ritmo and the Memorial Church Choir.

Alissa LaFerriere (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is a senior at Santa Clara University (SCU), studying Mathematics with minors in Urban Education and Computer Science. She founded and choreographs for Dynamic Rhythm, SCU’s tap dance organization. Alissa most recently appeared in SCU’s annual mainstage dance concert, Images 2020. Next year Alissa will be attending Stanford’s Teacher Education Program to earn her Master of Arts in Education and Mathematics Teaching Credential.

Julia Leal (Dancer, Trace Lines in the Provisional, Distal Imprint, Carry on we Must) is an undergraduate studying Earth Systems, History, and Dance. Previously at Stanford she was involved in TAPS’s Beyond the Wound is a Portal (Assistant Choreographer), GroundPlan (Performer), and FOUR (Performer). She also performs with and has choreographed for Stanford tapTH@T, an advanced tap dance team on campus.

Ruth Ling (Dancer, Pent) is a Junior majoring in Psychology and minoring in TAPS with a dance concentration. She is involved in many student dance teams such as Innovative Styles and Legacy Dance.

Amber Levine (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a contemporary dancer who loves to explore the lived experience of emotions through movement. She has been a member of Aleta Hayes’s inclusive and interdisciplinary Chocolate Heads Movement Band for over five years. She loves taking dance classes in a wide variety of disciplines, learning from other dancers’ styles, social dancing (as both a follow and a lead) and exploring the backstage side of productions. She has been in countless dance performances at Stanford and was also involved in SRT’s Hecuba/Helen (Assistant Choreographer/Dance Captain) and The Laramie Project (Stage Designer).

Tanja London (Supervising Director of Photography) is a kinesthetic, visual, haptic, and sound artist as well as a somatic educator and Medical QiGong Practitioner, based in West Oakland, CA. She grew up in Germany rummaging around in the beautiful widespread forests of the South and in her WWll family history. Querying social and hierarchical constructs is an integral part of who she is. Her work has an inclusive feminist viewpoint and explores sociopolitical and ecological phenomenons such as the erosion of democracy, inherited stress and trauma, the cultural impact of military technology, climate resilience and interconnection.

Patrick Lotilla (Music Supervisor, Riot of Spring) is an Oakland-based Disc Jockey. He was a programmer for Shortwave, KALX 90.7FM’s dance music segment. He co-founded Brouhaha, a party series that ran from 2013 – 2018. He’s served as the Creative Director of Fault Radio and is currently a resident DJ for As You Like It. When he’s not involved with radio/dance music/nightlife, he works with Aleta Hayes and The Chocolate Heads as their Music Supervisor.

Jamie Lyons(Director of Photography, Riot of Spring) received an AB and PhD from Stanford University. He is director of IOTA, constructing site responsive performances of the fragmentary plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. This fall he continues his collaboration with Alonzo King LINES Ballet (integrating video design elements with their choreography, and most recently developing online content during the pandemic) with a performance addressing global warming and sea level rise. He currently holds a lecturer position in Film and Digital Media at University of California, Santa Cruz teaching Media Theory, Performance Documentation, and Video Design in Live Art.

Bryce McLaughlin (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is in the second year of his PhD with the Operations, Information, and Technology group at the Graduate School of Business. He began exploring dance during his undergraduate career at Harvey Mudd College and has continued to study different forms of movement in his time at Stanford. His research centers around understanding how human decision-makers respond to assistance from artificial intelligence.

Olivia Mitchel (Dancer, Pent) is a senior majoring in Biology with a minor in Creative Writing. Born and raised in San Francisco, she fell in love with classical piano and various styles of dance at an early age. Ultimately, Olivia hopes to pursue a career in medicine, using her creativity, empathy, and communication skills to connect with patients and provide the best possible care.

Eli Nelson (Music, Distal Imprint) is a composer, choreographer, multi-instrumentalist & educator. He studied composition and choreography at UCR. There, Eli studied with Susan Foster, Richard Bull, Cynthia Novak, Bill T. Jones, & Fred Strickler. Since, he’s danced with Heidi Duckler’s Collage Dance Theater and Lizz Roman & Dancers. As a composer, he’s worked with Detour Dance, Trapeze World, Rapt Productions, Summer Rhatigan, KT Nelson among others. As a musician, he’s performed with: The Bangles, Thomas Dolby, Sugar Hill Gang, Tone Loc, Howard Jones, George Clinton; & lead singers from: Steppenwolf, Tears for Fears, Motley Crue, English Beat, Living Colour, Dee-Lite, Digital Underground, & Twisted Sister. He was on faculty at SFCD for 15 years until its closure. He is currently on faculty at USF.

Mai Lan Nguyen (Camera Operator, Trace Lines in the Provisional) is a junior double-majoring in CS and TAPS. She is a member of The Stanford Shakespeare Company, AATP and Theater Lab. Previously at Stanford she was involved in TAPS’s Beyond the Wound is a Portal (Assistant Director), Cerulean (Vivian), Everybody (Somebody), and The Seagull (Understudy Arkadina/Masha), as well as AATP’s peerless (M), and Stan Shakes’s Measure for Measure (Duke Vincentio).

Vince Pane (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a PhD student in Chemistry. He’s been dancing with Chocolate Heads for two years and has no prior dance background. He loves connecting dance to objects and architecture and during the pandemic has been working on personal dance projects with these themes under the name Fountain Hoppers. He is currently a finalist on American Ninja.

Rebecca Pattichis (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a junior receiving a BS in Computer Science with a track in Artificial Intelligence. Previously at Stanford she was involved in TAPS’s Everybody (Dancer) as well as TAPS’s Traveling in Place (Dancer).

Bri Peet (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is a senior majoring in Human Biology. During her time at Stanford, Bri performed in Alex Ketley’s GroundPlan (FAIL/FAIL) and was a feature dancer in Anna Kimmel’s project SOLI. She will be showcasing a self-choreographed word entitled Black Bones as part of the NExT’s season this Spring.

Victor Ragsdale (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is an undergraduate TAPS major. Previously at Stanford he was involved in TAPS’s FOUR (Dancer/Soloist), BLACKStage’s The Wiz: A Super Soul Musical (Scarecrow), and has performed off-campus as well in productions such as Crowded Fire Theater’s TRANSFERS (Clarence) and Sunnyvale Players’s Once On This Island (Agwe). www.victorragsdale.com

Danny Ritz (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a sophomore studying Creative Writing and minoring in Music and TAPS. Previously at Stanford, he was involved in TAPS’s Everybody (Somebody), SRT’s Cerulean (Paul), TAPS’s Beyond The Wound Is A Portal (Co-writer/Collaborator).

Saint Lawrence String Quartet (Musicians, Trace Lines in the Provisional) is renowned for the intensity of its performances, its breadth of repertoire, and its commitment to concert experiences that are at once intellectually exciting and emotionally alive. Established in Toronto in 1989, the SLSQ earned acclaim at top international chamber music competitions and was soon playing hundreds of concerts per year worldwide. It established a residency at Spoleto Festival USA, made prize-winning recordings for EMI, earning two Grammy nominations before being appointed ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University in 1998. At Stanford, the SLSQ directs the chamber music program, performs at Stanford Live, hosts an annual chamber music festival, and runs the Emerging String Quartet Program through which it mentors the next generation of young quartets.

Jaimi Salone (Assistant Stage Manager) is a fifth-year majoring in TAPS and Architecture Design. An actor, director, writer and filmmaker, they spend their extracurricular hours working in the TAPS Scene Shop and competing on the Stanford Track and Field team. Past productions include TAPS’s REVIVAL (run crew), Grad Rep’s Constellations (AD), acting in TAPS’s Life is a Dream, SWC’s Vagina Monologues, and TAPS’s production of Midsummer (cancelled last Spring). Jaimi also directed a documentary about their hometown of Minneapolis after the Uprising of 2020.

Vivian Leilani Shay (Dancer, Pent, Trace Lines in the Provisional) is a first-year student passionate about finding connections between science and the performing arts. She is a musical theatre artist and budding choreographer who believes in the power of storytelling through dance. In her time at Stanford thus far, Vivian taught a Theatre Jazz workshop for the 2021 Winter Performing Arts Festival and performed 42nd Street in the Ram’s Head Dream Role Cabaret.

Ruby Shi (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is a Phd candidate in Physics, with a focus on experimental condensed matter. She enjoys dancing ballet and contemporary outside of science.

Carol Snow (Dramaturge, Distal Imprint)is author of five collections of poetry including Position Paper: New and Selected Poems (Counterpath, 2016). Her first book, Artist and Model (National Poetry Series, 1990 Poetry Center Book Award, Hol Art ebook 2012) was published in French translation by Editions Unes (2019). The Creative Work Fund supported “Syntax: A Reading, Danced,” her 2005 text-dance collaboration with choreographer Alex Ketley and The Foundry; the two reunited for Ketley’s Vessel (AXIS Dance, 2008), Swan Lake: Recalibrated (Stanford TAPS, 2014) and Deep South (2017). Snow lives and arranges words and small indoor objects in her native San Francisco.

Alexander Soewers(Camera Operator, Carry on we Must) volunteered his time to help film the dancers for this performance and is a senior at Santa Clara University graduating in June with a Sociology major and a minor in Digital Filmmaking. He has been involved in film work since his freshman year and wants to enter the Entertainment Industry. Currently, he is working in Santa Clara’s Athletic Department filming and running graphics for the home games. When he’s not involved in filming an event he enjoys listening to music, hanging out with his friends, and watching whatever TV show or movie that piques his interest.

Shikha Srinivas (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is a senior studying Environmental Systems Engineering and Human Rights. She is a trained Bharata Natyam (Indian classical) dancer and member of Stanford Bhangra. More recently, she participated as a cast member in (virtual) Gaieties 2020 and has taken TAPS classes in contemporary and hip-hop dance.

Lian Stemler (Dancer, Distal Imprint) is a junior majoring in Human Biology. Previously at Stanford, she danced in Alex Ketley’s GroundPlan (FAIL/FAIL) and Anna Kimmel’s SOLI. She has also performed in numerous student-run productions as a member of Cardinal Ballet Company and Innovative Styles (previously Urban Styles).

Christopher Strong (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a second-year Electrical Engineering master’s student. Previously at Stanford he was involved in the Chocolate Head Movement Band’s Danse Macabre in TAPS’s Everybody (Dancer).

Judy Syrkin-Nikolau (Dancer, Riot of Spring) lives in San Mateo and is a medical device engineer at a company in San Carlos. Her movement background is in gymnastics and contemporary dance, and she has been dancing with Aleta Hayes and the Chocolate Heads for five years.

Sharon Wambu (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a freshman interested in studying TAPS and Computer Science. Previously at Stanford, she was involved in Rams Heads’s Gaieties (Amani) and TAPS/ Chocolate Heads’ Traveling in Place (Dancer).

Journey Washingtonhigh (Dancer, Riot of Spring) is a Freshman at Stanford majoring in Engineering. Previously, she was involved in TAPS/Chocolate Heads’ Traveling in Place (Dancer) and Ram’s Head’s La Llorona (Lydia)

Shania Yamada-Lee (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is an Oakland, CA native with a passion for dance. As a professional dancer she has been a part of Bay Area dance groups including Unique Diversity and Ronnie Reddick’s La Femme Panache, as well as performing with various artist over the years. She was also a dance team member for NBA Golden State Warriors for five years.

Brandon Yu (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Merced double-majoring in Psychology and Political Science. He is also pursuing an associate degree in Dance at Modesto Junior College, where he has been selected as the student choreographer to represent the college at the 2021 American College Dance Association Virtual Conference. Versed in various street-styles such as breaking, animation, and tutting, Brandon enjoys entering battles and cyphers to share his passion for dance.

Annie Zheng (Dancer, Pent, Dancer and Poet, Riot of Spring) is a coterm in Sociology with a BA in Comparative Literature and a minor in TAPS. Previously at Stanford, she performed in TAPS/Chocolate Head’s Travelling in Place and AATP’s The Worst Kept Secret in Washington.

Maya Ziv (Dancer, Carry on we Must) is a coterm studying Computer Science. She’s been dancing for forever and has been a member of Stanford’s Swingtime Dance Troupe for five years as both a dancer and choreographer.