Michael K. Arata (set designer) is a visual and performing artist based in San Diego, California. His art work has been featured in the Simayspace Gallery (San Diego) and he has performed at Sushi Performance and Visual Art and the Eveoke Dance Theater. A member of the internationally touring 1982 cast for the Harry Partch Ensemble’s “The Bewitched ,” Michael has also collaborated with directors Darla Cash, George Willis and with the San Diego Repertory Theater. Michael is Director of Arts Education for City Moves Dance and has collaborated on numerous stage designs, murals and art pieces for youth programs through the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. Michael also teaches visual arts for the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
Sergio Cervetti (composer) was born in Uruguay in 1940 and moved to the USA in 1962 where he studied under Ernst Krenek and Stefans Grove at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. In 1969 he was a DAAD composer-in-residence in West Berlin. Following his return to the USA he joined the music faculty of New York University where he taught from 1972 to 1997. He has written over 160 works for dance, theater, film and the concert stage, receiving commissions and performances from Sudwestfunk Baden-Baden, Contemporary Music Players of San Francisco, Hartford Ballet, Ballet Hispanico and Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festivals of 1983, ’85 and ’87, among others. Two compact discs of his music contain The Hay Wain and the Triumph of Death. Portions of the Hay Wain were used in the soundtrack of Oliver Stone’s film Natural Born Killers. He has retired from teaching but continues composing and living in Bucks County Pennsylvania.
Louie Cornejo (dancer) started taking dance classes in his last year of nursing school. He finished with a BFA in Dance from Cal State University Long Beach in 2006. While there, he danced in excerpts from Martha Graham’s Acts of Light and Paul Taylor’s Aureole, among others. He received the Outstanding Choreography Award for his work Lost/Halves at the ACDFA in 2006 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Since graduating, he has danced with Vox Dance Theatre, Ptero Dance Theatre, Helios Dance Theatre, NUGENT Dance, Dorcas Roman-Colins and with Keith since 2007. He currently also dances with Invertigo Dance Theater.
Daniel Corral is a composer and multi-instrumentalist born and raised in Eagle River, Alaska. His music is a rich collusion of styles, constantly blurring the boundaries between the familiar and foreign, mirroring the diasporic evolution of cultural identity in the 21st century. His unique voice finds outlet in puppet operas, accordion orchestras, handmade music boxes, electronic collages, site-specific installations, chamber music and interdisciplinary collaborations. It has been heard at venues such as REDCAT, The Hammer Museum, USC’s Thornton School of Music, CSUN’s Mike Curb College of Arts, the Pianospheres Series and the Santa Monica GLOW Festival. He earned an MFA from CalArts.
Eric Davis (music arranger) has a wide range of pursuits and interests. He is co-editor of the book, The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2009. He is a pianist specializing in American popular piano styles, from ragtime and stride to music for the Broadway stage. His transcriptions include the piano solos of James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Eubie Blake, and George Gershwin. In 2004, he received a grant from the California State Library to preserve and catalogue 2,000 historical recordings of theatre music from shows that opened on Broadway between 1844 and 1939. He is currently Associate Director of The Institute of the American Musical, Inc. and co-founder of Theatre Comique, a performance ensemble dedicated to early American musical theatre. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University where he studied with Peter Burkholder and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in musicology at the University of Southern California. As a composer, he was a finalist in ASCAP’s Grants for Young Composers Competition and winner of the Diana Barnhardt American Song Competition. With an emphasis on vocal music, his compositions have been performed throughout the United States.
Ebony Faith (dancer) has been dancing her entire life, and teaching dance for almost half of it. She has appeared in numerous film, TV and stage performances and worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. Currently you can catch her dancing in the Wayans Bros. comedy, “Dance Flick.”
Alan Grant (performer) grew up in Canada (lived in Toronto and Vancouver), went to school in Hawaii, and called the San Francisco Bay area home from 1989 to 2001. There, he was a company member of Fellow Traveler’s Performance Group and Mary Armentrout Dance Theater. He recently married fellow dancer Christina Gray and they live in a house they just bought in Hancock Park with their cat, Odie.
Ralph Kamon says “I am grateful to my aunt & uncle for bringing me to America. How else could I have been a Senior Vice-President at Paramount Pictures for 25 years? I now live in Los Angeles with my wonderful wife, Selma.”
Sheldon Londner (performer) was born to European parents, both of whom were Holocaust survivors who lost their entire families in the war. He was schooled in orthodox religious institutions including several years in an ultra orthodox yeshivah up until the time he entered University. For as long as his parents were alive, he continued to use Yiddish as the language of everyday conversation.
Rachel Lopez, dance artist and former member of Loretta Livingston and Dancers, a contemporary dance performance ensemble based in downtown Los Angeles. Ms. Lopez has also worked with choreographers Ellen Davis, Carol McDowell, Jeremy Hahn, Arianne Hoffman, Diana Sherwood, Kristen Smiarowski and Meg Wolfe. Rachel has performed in Mexico at El Centro Cultural Tijuana with Grupo de Danza Minerva Tapia and in New York as a part of Movement Research at the Judson Church. As a choreographer she has created work for Highways Performance Space, American College Dance Festival, Rio Hondo College, Santa Monica College’s Synapse Dance Theater, El Camino College and Kol Neshama Performing Arts Conservatory. In 2010 she was awarded a Durfee Grant and created Thanksgiving for Heroes, in collaboration with the San Francisco Bach Choir, a site-specific dance honoring fallen heroes. Rachel currently teaches yoga, Pilates and modern dance at Rio Hondo College and has taught at Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach City College, American College Dance Festival and Saint Joseph’s Ballet. She runs Creative Movement Dance Studio, improvisation and choreography classes for young girls, carrying on the tradition of her mentor Karen Fox. Rachel received a BA in Psychology from U.C. Santa Cruz and an MFA in Dance from U.C.Irvine.
Klyda Mahoney (performer) is a retired professor of Dance at LA Valley College and a soloist of the Watts Senior Citizen Choir. Originally from Trenton, New Jersey, she is the 2002 Ms. Senior California and the 4th Runner Up Ms. Senior America that same year.
Born in Mexico and raised in Los Angeles, Edgar Miramontes (performer) began his dance and theatre training at the Hollywood Performing Arts High School. He has performed with award-winning Los Angeles based Avaz International Dance Theater, Hae Kyung Lee & Dancers and with Rosanna Gamson/World Wide, which he also managed for three years. He has been recognized and praised by the Los Angeles Times and was the recipient of the California Arts Council Next Generation Artist.
Miyo (performer) recently graduated from UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures Department. She is a multi-tasking artist and choreographer, having worked with Trip Dance Theater, Oni Dance Company and artist Mike Kelley in his recent film project, Day is Done. She is currently teaching Pilates in Los Angeles.
Marcus Kuiland-Nazario (costume designer) has made costumes for many dance, theater and performance artists in Los Angeles and beyond.
Rollence Patugan (performer) is now a professional photographer, amongst other skills. He is an award-winning graduate of Santa Monica College’s Photography department where he now teaches. He also earned a degree in IT from Cal Poly and, in his spare time, he enjoys surfing, traveling and dancing salsa.
Pat Payne (performer) is a Caribbean-American multimedia solo performer, reluctant shaman and self-avowed troublemaker transplanted from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. She holds the 2002 and 2003 Taos Poetry Circus Heavyweight Title, and has collaborated/performed with Rachel Rosenthal, Quincy Troupe, California Ear Group and Vernon Reid.
Rebecca Romero (performer) earned a BA in Dance from UC Santa Cruz and an MA in Dance Education from Columbia Teachers College in NY. Returning to her hometown only recently (LA), Buck dances sometimes and choreographs in her head a lot. She has a son, a daughter and a granddaughter.
Eryn Schon (performer) graduated with a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. She has toured her choreography in the US and abroad, dancing for numerous choreographers along the way. Most recently, she premiered Hush at Highways in 2003 and created Being There for S. Pasadena High School. Eryn has enjoyed dancing in LA for Ilaan Egeland, Becca Levy, Joe Goode, Lineage, Erica Rebollar and others. When she isn’t dancing, Eryn enjoys blending her love of plants, art and business working at Orchid Fever in Culver City.
Charles Sharp is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist and composer. He has played the clarinet since he was in grade school. He now has a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UCLA and teaches at California State University, Fullerton. His research focuses on American music history and experimental music, though he also performs Chinese, Japanese and Korean music. He has performed with such notable jazz musicians as Tito Puente, Airto Moriera, Kenny Burrell, Francisco Aguabella, Vinny Golia and Lynn Johnston. He released an album of his compositions, titled Exits,with his own sextet on the Empty Cellar label in 2012 and co-leads an improvising large ensemble called the Decisive Instant.
Jon Szanto (composer) is primarily a performing musician and is currently Principal Percussionist with the San Diego Symphany Orchestra. As a composer, Mr. Szanto has produced work for, and collaborated with the dance companies of Patricia Sandback, San Diego Dance Theater, Malashock Dance and Three’s Company. A long time associate of Harry Partch and the Harry Partch Foundation, Jon recently coordinated the re-issue of the recordings of the music of Harry Partch.
Hawaiian born Ken Takemoto (performer and costume designer) has performed on stage and in film (The Island) and TV (House, Curb Your Enthusiasm) for many years. He is a retired LAUSD high school art teacher and often helps the East West Players in the prop and costume departments.
Alan Terricciano (composer) has been on the faculty of the University of California, Irvine’s Dance Department for twenty years, where he directs all musical activities. A graduate from Yale and Eastman School of Music, Mr. Terricciano recently won First Prize in Quebec’s Festival Des Artsde Saint-Sauveur international competition for choreography. He is a regular faculty member of the American Dance Festival and has composed music for an extensive list of nationally and internationally reknowned choreographers, including Donald McKayle, Liz Lerman, and Colin Conner, among others.
Jerome Thomas (media artist) is a digital video artist and a documentary film/video maker. He started in video in 1979 at a news agency but later discovered that much of the creative energy in video was behind the scenes. Since the early 1990s Jerome has produced work that has dealt with social issues ranging from the civil rights movement, jazz music, to works of personal visions. In 1989 he produced the award winning documentary “Stop The Madness’’ which was one of the first documentaries to look at gang violence and the effects it has on family and community. Jerome is also an instructor of video and film production, and a personal consultant on using various video and graphic software for video. His most recent work looks at the subject of suicide among black men and how the effects of such a dilemma is viewed socially, politically, and by the society overall. Presently he resides in Los Angeles.
Margarita Tinajero (performer) nacio mexicana, self employee por 30 anos, viuda con tres hijos, graduados de F.I.D.M. and Cal State Long Beach. Con dos nietos que son la luz de su vida. Actualmente deshabilitada lo cual me ha dado la oportunidad de servir mas completamente a mi communidad y dedicar un poco de tiempo a lo que secretamente siempre quiso hacer ”el teatro.”
Gloria Tinajero (dancer) began dancing at Rio Hondo College and recently graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a BA in Dance. She has danced with choreographers Rebekah Davidson, Lauren Winslow Kearns, Michelle Pritchard, Jeanine Durning, and Dian Sichel.
Claire Townsend (costume designer) is an independent/freelance costume designer based in Los Angeles. She has worked as a Costume Assistant at Opera Pacific and has designed and worked for PCPA TheatreFest, Portero Neighborhood Theatre, the Arcola in London and ACT in San Francisco as well as for numerous short films. She moved back to Los Angeles 3 years ago after graduating from Wimbledon School of Art, London.
Scot Tupper has danced for Rudy Perez, Heidi Duckler, Michael Mizerany, B.E. Productions and for the dance studio in Westwood where he teaches modern and ballet classes.
Jones Welsh (dancer) has a BA in theatre and dance from the University of Washington, and has toured with Diavolo Dance Theatre for many years. He has also collaborated with Invertigo Dance Theatre, Rosanna Gamson/World Wide, Collage Dance Theatre, The Company of Strangers, and has developed numerous shows and workshops in residency at CalState Los Angeles, University of Alabama Birmingham, University of Arizona Tucson, and many more. Founder of Making Faces Productions, Jones co-produces new work in Los Angeles, including the Improv Dance Festival, the Somatic Movement Arts Festival, and LEONIX. www.leonixtheatre.org www.makingfacesproductions.org
Ian Zinn (videographer) is a Long Beach, California native. He has worked in the film and video industry for the past 8 years and is the co-founder of the Long Beach Filmmakers Society, an organization created for the sole purpose of networking with Long Beach based professionals that work in the film, video and production industry.
Marty Zisner (performer) is a second generation son of Holocaust survivors and native to Los Angeles. He received a traditional Conservative/Orthodox education celebrating pre-World War II Eastern European Jewish values and customs. His career path took him into the technically challenging discipline of Environmental Safety and Occupational Health, Industrial Hygiene, Human Systems Integration, and System Safety in the aerospace industry.
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