Guest Artists

A dance artist, producer, and educator, Carrie Hanson creates performance charged by bold, exacting physicality and fueled by research in history, science, and the environment. Since founding The Seldoms in 2002, Hanson has built a reputation for ambitious projects that press dance to speak to larger social issues. She assembles practitioners of visual arts, theater, music, fashion, and architecture to create visually expansive, intellectually muscular productions. Hanson was Chicago Tribune’s 2015 “Chicagoan of the Year in Dance”, honored for her “political, issue-oriented dance theater” and “brawny, brainy movement”. Her favorite project, Power Goes, about Lyndon Baines Johnson, received a National Dance Project grant and toured to ten US venues, where she led a workshop about civil rights with a diverse community cast in each city. Under Hanson’s direction, The Seldoms has toured nationally, to Russia, Taiwan, and Scotland. Working with Glasgow visual artists, they created Toolbox, a procedure for cross-disciplinary exchange; in 2022, Hanson curated a Toolbox exhibition at Hyde Park Arts Center, which was named a top ten art exhibit of 2022 by the Chicago Tribune. Hanson has been commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Texas Performing Arts, and the National Theater of Mannheim, Germany, and ART on THE MART, one of the world’s largest digital public art platforms. She has designed works for sites including an Olympic-sized pool, a truck garage, and a Chicago Landmark park field house. Hanson has received two Illinois Arts Council Fellowships, a Ruth Page Award, and a Chicago Dancemaker’s Forum Lab Artist Grant. She was a resident at the National Center for Choreography Akron (2015), an Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence at UW-Madison (2019), and an ACE Fellow at Trillium Arts (2021).  Hanson has taught at the Dance Center of Columbia College since 2001. She holds a BFA in Modern Dance from Texas Christian University and an MA from Trinity Laban in London.

 

Damon D. Green is a Chicago-based dance artist and the Associate Director of Chicago dance company, The Seldoms. He is the founder/owner of TEXTUREDance Studio, an Urban Styles and Forms dance and wellness facility. It is here that Green shares his passion for movement education and is an avid Vogue aesthetic practitioner. Green has and continues to collaborate and perform with choreographers and other artists across the nation as well as locally, such as Paige Cunningham-Calderella, Darrell Jones, J’sun Howard, Philip Elson, Kristina Isabelle, Cecil Johnson Jr., Lional Freeman, Jane Beachy, Mauren Sledge (House of Avant-Garde), Bob Eisen, Molly Shanahan, Shea Coulee, Sadie Woods, Faheem Majeed, Nikki Lynette, Jacinda Rackliff, Solomon Bowser, Bernard Brown, Tuli Bera, and Tim Buckley. Green also teaches at Visceral Dance Center and has hosted workshops and master classes across Chicago as well as abroad. Damon joined The Seldoms in 2007, and has contributed to twenty major projects.

 

 

Haley Marcin is a Chicago-based artist, performer, and educator. In 2019, she graduated summa cum laude from The University of North Carolina Greensboro with a BFA in Dance. Haley then had the opportunity to train intensively and perform in Calabria, Italy on a full tuition scholarship. Upon graduating, Haley apprenticed with the Michael Mao Dance Company in New York. She returned to Chicago and since has performed with Aerial Dance Chicago, Project Bound Dance, Still Inspired, and collaborated with many Chicago choreographers. This is her fourth season dancing for The Seldoms where she also leads company training. She is a 200-hour certified yoga/aerial yoga instructor and teaches yoga and dance throughout the Chicagoland area.

Lauren Anderson

Native Houstonian, Lauren Anderson trained exclusively at Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy from the age of seven. She joined Houston Ballet in 1983 as a Corps de Ballet and in 1990 became the first Black principal dancer at Houston Ballet. She is also one of the few Black ballerinas at the head of a major ballet company anywhere in the world.  In January 2007, Ms. Anderson transitioned into Houston Ballet’s Education and Community Engagement department, where she conducts free dance programming for Houston area schools, and lectures to students on her historic career as one of America’s most distinguished African-American ballerinas.In the spring of 2016, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture awarded her with a permanent exhibit. In fall of 2021 was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. Most recently, a production chronicling her life, Plumshuga, premiered at Stages Theater.

 

Suzanne Haag

Suzanne Haag is the resident choreographer of the Eugene Ballet, co-founder of interactive performing group, #instaballet, and a frequent film collaborator with Gravy Media. Suzanne has created over 13 new works for Eugene Ballet including interpretations of Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Petrushka, as well as collaborations with percussionist Pius Cheung (Heaven and Earth), author Gregory Ahlijian (The Large Rock and The Little Yew), internationally renowned band Pink Martini, and 2-time Grammy nominee, Tracy Bonham. She has also created work for: National Choreographers Initiative, Dance in the Parks Chicago, UNCSA’s Choreographic Institute, University of Utah, Texas Christian University, the National Dance Institute, the University of Oregon, the Eugene Opera, and Dance Lab New York. She holds a degree in arts administration and dance from Butler University and has received a New York Choreographic Institute Commission Initiative Grant, a Lane Arts Council Artist Award, and an Oregon Arts Commission Joan Shipley Fellowship.

 

 

Darrell Grand Moultrie

Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award recipient and graduate of The Juilliard School, Darrell Grand Moultrie has created and staged works for dance companies including American Ballet Theatre, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, BalletX, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Atlanta Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet among others.

Moultrie served as the choreographer for the Pulitzer Prize winning & Tony nominated play FAT HAM on Broadway, Disney’s new revival AIDA in The Netherlands, the world premiere of the new musical GODDESS at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, MCC’s SPACE DOGS, The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of MERRY WIVE,WITNESS UGANDA at American Repertory Theater, and SUGAR IN OUR WOUNDS at Manhattan Theatre Club. Moultrie served as a choreographer on Beyoncé’s record breaking Mrs. Carter World Tour.

 

 

Gina Patterson

2021 Bogliasco Fellow Gina Patterson has won such honors as the Choo San Goh Award, a nomination for an Isadora Duncan Award, the Hubbard Street 2 National Choreographic Competition, New Choreographers on Pointe, and the National Choreographic Initiative. Her work appears in the repertoire of companies across the US and have been presented internationally in Italy, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Spain. She danced with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Ballet Austin, Ballet Florida, and as a guest artist across North America and Europe. Ms. Patterson educates through creativity workshops and multi-disciplinary collaboration with young artists. Advocating for empathy and compassion, she searches to uncover the authentic and vulnerable – the voice within. She uses her art to examine our humanity and interconnection, believing in the art form’s power — to heal; and through the creative process, build unity and community.

 

 

Morgan Williams

Morgan is an international performer, choreographer, and creative director. At the age of 18, he landed his first professional contract with Dance Kaleidoscope in Indianapolis, IN. After his time with the company, Morgan performed with several other concert dance companies like Momenta Dance Company, Cerqua Rivera, Joel Hall & Dancers, Chicago Dance Crash, Deeply Rooted, Eisenhower Dance Detroit, and Visceral Dance Chicago. He has also lent his dancing expertise to commercial projects like SYTYCD, Black-eyed Peas, Fox TV show Empire, and Pretty Lights.

In 2021, Morgan opened his studio in the greater Milwaukee area – The Studio – home to his professional repertory dance company, Water Street Dance Milwaukee. He has choreographed many professional concert dance works and toured across the United States. Morgan has been commissioned to set works on Madison Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet II, Noumenon Dance Ensemble, Visceral Dance Chicago, and Illinois State University, among others. “Morgan Williams choreography is so unique and expressive that I would be happy if he choreographed every show in Milwaukee.” – (Milwaukee Magazine)

Michelle Manzanales

2024 Cecil H. and Ida green Honors Chair

Michelle Manzanales is a choreographer, dedicated dance educator of 30 years, and co-founder of the Latinx Dance Educators Alliance. The Director of Ballet Hispánico’s School of Dance since December of 2016, Michelle previously led the organization’s professional company as Rehearsal Director & Artistic Associate for seven seasons. Ms. Manzanales is committed to creating an environment where all students are inspired to explore movement, feel supported in their individual dance journeys, and draw meaningful connections between dance and their lives.

Manzanales has co-presented at the New York State Dance Educators Association, ARTs + Change, and the National Dance Education Organization conferences, “Questioning TODO: A Latinx Inquiry of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy”, a direct response to the historical and continued exclusion of Latinx contributions and experiences in the dance field. A current faculty member of the Ballet Hispánico School of Dance, she has also served on the faculties of the University of Houston, Rice University, Lou Conte Dance Studio (former Home of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago), and the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center. She has been a guest artist for the Professional Work Sessions at STEPS on Broadway, the Joyce Master Class Series at Gibney, the Taylor School, New Orleans Ballet Association, the Puerto Rico Classical Dance Competition, Generation Dance Festival Houston, Artisan Ballet Company, Regional Dance America, Festival de Danza Cordoba-Youth America Grand Prix, Houston’s Kinder High School for the Performing & Visual Arts, along with numerous other dance studios, schools, and college dance programs nationwide and internationally.

A member of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, Michelle has served on the National Association of Schools of Dance’s (NASD) Committee on Ethics, juror for the Nebraska Arts Council – Individual Artist Fellowships, a panelist for Dance/NYC’s #ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers Facebook Live Series: Arts Educators Leading the Charge, adjudicator for the Independent Study in Choreography Showing for Ailey’s BFA program, and was honored to be part of a round table planning dialogue supporting Carnegie Hall’s education project ‘All Together: A Global Ode to Joy.’ Ms. Manzanales is currently on the selection panel for 92Y’s Future Dance Festival for emerging choreographers and was a past panelist for Ballet Hispánico’s Instituto Coreográfico and the Houston Arts Alliance grants program.

Her current choreography commissions set to premiere in Spring 2022 include new works for the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Oregon Ballet Theater, and Montclair State University. Her choreography for Ballet Hispánico, Con Brazos Abiertos, described as a “savvy but deeply sincere meditation on her Mexican American background” (-Marina Harss, New York Times) and “an exceptional, heart-tugging beauty” (LA Times), premiered in 2017, and has since toured worldwide to critical acclaim including its feature at New York City Center’s 2018 Fall for Dance Festival. CautivadX, a dance film she choreographed, edited, and directed for Noche Unidos, A Ballet Hispánico Night of Dance and Unity was presented in June 2020. If by Chance… which she created for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 75th Anniversary Gala in December 2019, “unspooled dreamily atop and between the tables” (-Courtney Escoyne, Dance Magazine).

Other acclaimed works by Manzanales include her 2010 homage to Frida Kahlo, Paloma Querida, which was hailed a “visual masterpiece” by Lucia Mauro of the Chicago Tribune and was described by the Chicago Sun-Times as a “gorgeously designed, richly hallucinatory, multi-faceted vision of the artist.” Her 2007 choreography for Luna Negra Dance Theater, entitled Sugar in the Raw (Azucar Cruda), was applauded by the Chicago Sun-Times as “a staggering, beautiful, accomplished new work.” Five of her works have been recognized by the American College Dance Festival, of which two were presented at the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), for their National Gala; Pour Me Out in 2006 and The Letting Go in 2008. Manzanales’ choreography has also been presented by Texas Contemporary Weekend (Houston, TX), Spring to Dance (St. Louis, MO), Festival de Danza Córdoba (Veracruz, Mexico), Capital Fringe Festival (Washington D.C), and Fort Worth Dance Festival (Fort Worth, TX).

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Adesola Akinleye

ADESOLA AKINLEYE (She/They) is a choreographer and artist-scholar and co-artistic director of DancingStrong Movement Lab. Adesola is an Assistant Professor in the Dance Division at Texas Woman’s University. Adesola have been an Affiliate Researcher, MIT, Arts Culture and Technology, and is a Visiting Artist at the Center for Art, Science and Technology at MIT, and a Theatrum Mundi Fellow. Their career began as a dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem Workshop Ensemble (USA) later working in UK Companies such as Green Candle and Carol Straker Dance Company. Over the past twenty years, Adesola has created dance works ranging from live performance that is often site-specific and involves a cross-section of the community to dance films, installations, and texts. Adesola’s work is characterized by an interest in voicing people’s lived experiences in Places through creative moving portraiture. A key aspect of Adesola’s process is the artistry of opening creative practices to everyone from ballerinas to architects to people in low-wage employment to performances for young audiences. Adesola’s recent works include a site-specific commission from The Hayward Gallery, South bank Centre London to create dance for The Hop by Jyll Bradley, and The Frieze Festival a commission for Regent’s Park, London in summer 2023. In 2023 Siobhan Davis Dance commissioned the digital archiving of Adesola’s 2007 work, Truth and Transparency launched March 2024. Adesola received a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for her current work with dance performance and augmented reality (AR) called Space+Digital+Dance. Adesola’s writing creations include the editing and curation of the anthology (re:)claiming ballet (2021), Intellect books. Also, the monograph, Dance, Architecture and Engineering: Dance in Dialogue, Bloomsbury (2021) which is part of the Society for Dance Research, In conversation series and was included on the MIT Summer Reading List 2021. Adesola’s most recent book Navigations: scoring the moment was published by Theatrum Mundi in 2022. For more about Adesola please visit  www.adesolaakinleye.com

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Kevin Thomas

KEVIN THOMAS began his dance training with Ecole Superieure de Danse du Quebec in Montreal, Canada, and has danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Cleveland/San Jose Ballet and the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) in New York City.  He joined DTH in 1995 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1999. With DTH, Mr. Thomas’ credits include leading roles in The Prodigal Son, Dialogues, The Four Temperaments, Othello, Adrian (Angel on Earth), A Song for Dead Warriors, Troy Games, Equuis and Dougla.  He has performed leading roles in numerous ballets including, The Nutcracker, Tarantella, Agon, Who Cares, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Don Quixote, Consort Lessons, and Aureole. Mr. Thomas has made guest appearances with the Royal Ballet in London, Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York and Fleming Flindt and Peter Schaufuss in Denmark. He has also appeared on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera. In 2006, Mr. Thomas co-founded Collage Dance Collective, a Memphis-based contemporary ballet company recently named a “Southern Cultural Treasure” by South Arts and Ford Foundation. In addition to serving as its artistic director and an integral choreographic voice, Mr. Thomas is also a highly sought-after guest choreographer creating works for Nashville Ballet, Opera Memphis, Hattiloo Repertory Theatre, Flint Institute of Music, University of Utah, and The University of Memphis to name a few. From 2017 – 2018, Mr. Thomas also served as a National Visiting Fellow at the School of American Ballet.

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Nycole Ray

A Detroit native, Nycole Ray graduated from The California Institute of the Arts with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in dance.  She received additional training at the California State Summer School of the Arts, Wayne State University, and as an exchange student at the London Contemporary Dance School in England.  Mrs. Ray has performed with Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Bruce Wood Dance, Walt Disney World Entertainment, Christopher and Friends directed by Christopher L. Huggins, the Lula Washington Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company II and the Zadonu African Dance Company. She has worked with noted choreographers such as Donald McKayle, Dianne McIntyre, Christopher L. Huggins, Alonzo King, Donald Byrd, Bruce Wood®, Rennie Harris and Camille A. Brown.  Nycole is the 2013 recipient of the Natalie Skelton Award for Artistic Excellence and the 2011 Artful Dancewear Teachers Scholarship from the Dance Council of North Texas. She is also a certified Dunham Technique Instructor.  Nycole is a guest artist with Dallas Black Dance Theatre and is the  Director of DBDT’s Summer Intensive program and has served as a past rehearsal director for the Bruce Wood ® Dance Project, Assistant Rehearsal Director for Dallas Black Dance Theatre and the Director of Bloom, Dallas Black Dance Academy’s Performing Ensemble.  This is her 12th year as the Artistic Director of DBDT: Encore! and in 2021, Nycole has been named one of the “Women Who Make Dallas Great” by D Magazine. This marks her 27th season with Dallas Black Dance Theatre.

 

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Kelly Ashton Todd

Kelly Ashton Todd is a director, choreographer, performing artist, and environmental activist who makes work for both live theater and film. With a BFA in Modern Dance from Texas Christian University and a Master’s in Sustainability Leadership from Arizona State University, Kelly combines artistic prowess with a profound understanding of environmental issues. She performed with Sleep No More (2015-2022), graduated from the William Esper Acting Studio (2022), and has showcased her creations globally, earning accolades such as the Brooklyn Arts Council Grant, NYFA Fellowship in Choreography, Emerging Choreographer Springboard Danse Montreal 2022, and the Baryshnikov BAC Open Residency 2023. Kelly’s celebrated ‘Under Review’ film series has screened at over 20 national and international film festivals. In 2023, she shared her creations and was a panelist on climate change, female empowerment, and technology at the United Nations.

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Sidra Bell

Sidra Bell is the founder of Sidra Bell Dance New York and a dancer, choreographer, and educator. She has been an artist in residence at University of Oklahoma (Brackett Distinguished Visiting Artist Chair), Visiting Lecturer and Artist in Residence at Harvard University, and an Adjunct Professor Barnard College. Bell received a BA in History from Yale and an MFA in Choreography from Purchase College. She is the founder of the award winning MODULE Laboratory. Bell has won several awards, notably a First Prize for Choreography at the Solo Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, a National Dance Project Production Award from NEFA and Creative Capital Wild Futures Award. In 2017 Mayor Thomas Roach named February 3 “Sidra Bell Day” in White Plains, NY. Her work has been seen throughout the United States and in Denmark, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovenia, Sweden, Germany, China, Canada, Aruba, Korea, Brazil, and Greece. Bell has created over 100 works notably for Nevada Ballet Theater, Nashville Ballet, BODYTRAFFIC, Ailey II, The Juilliard School, Whim W’Him, Boston Conservatory at Berklee College, River North Dance Chicago, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sacramento Ballet, Boulder Ballet, among many others. She was the first Black female commissioned to create work for New York City Ballet where she created works for film and the Lincoln Center stage (Fall Fashion Gala 2021). She was nominated for a Bessie NY Dance & Performance Dance (Outstanding Choreographer) for SUSPENDED ANIMATION for New York City Ballet.

Website link https://www.sidrabelldanceny.org/company

 

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Jamila Glass

Jamila Glass is a creative working in dance, film, and television. A graduate of University of Southern California’s film school and a member of the Television Academy, she is the Artistic Director of Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company (where she joined in 2005 as a founding member).  Her choreography work includes projects on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, BET, and PRADA and garnered mentions in NY Times, L.A. Times, Essence Magazine, Ebony Magazine, and Mashable. Performing credits include Netflix Original Mascots (Christopher Guest), American Horror Story, Paul McCartney, Colbie Caillat, Foster the People tour, Mastercard, American Apparel, Samsung, & Dancers Among Us (NY Times Best Seller). She has spent the last 10 years bridging the world of film and movement, directing and producing 20 dance films. @jamilaglass | www.jamilaglass.com/links

 

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Francesca Dominguez

Francesca Dominguez is a performing artist, educator, and choreographer in New York City, one of 15 certified Countertechnique teachers in the US and holds an MFA/Dance from Hunter College, where she was the recipient of the school-wide Shuster Award for Outstanding Master’s Thesis 2022. Francesca currently teaches Countertechnique as an adjunct professor at Barnard College, Columbia University. She also teaches at the Juilliard School, Gibney Dance, and Peridance Center. Francesca has learned from faculty at Hunter College, CSU Long Beach, and the Alonzo King Lines Ballet Training Program in addition to her intensive study of Countertechnique. She has danced professionally with Soluq Dance Theater, Manuel Vignoulle, Thomas Noone Dance, and Keith Johnson/Dancers, and began choreographing and producing her own work in 2020. Her sold-out, evening-length show, Galvanizing Steel was presented at Gibney/NYC, she has since presented work as part of the Doug Varone Devices Performance in 2022, and was recently awarded a grant and performance residency from The Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) to be performed in late September 2023.  https://www.francescadominguez.com/