OUT DANCE PROJECT
ARTIST BIOS
(in alphabetical order by last name)
(in alphabetical order by last name)
|
SNOWFLAKE CALVERT - ChoreographerSnowflake Calvert (Daniel Arizmendi) is a Two-Spirit artist of Yaqui and Tzotzil Mayan heritage, who serves as the President of QUIL - Queers United for Intersectional Liberation. She produces queer events throughout California and Oregon that allow her to curate a vehicle for political, social, and cultural activism through the artistry of her radical queerness.
In addition, she is a professional dancer, teacher and entrepreneur. She was a member of The Haus of Towers, has worked with the BAAITS Powwow committee, teaches decolonization through movement workshops, is the former owner/director of The Dance Zone Studio, and hosts and participates in Two-Spirit talking circles. |
MIZU DESIERTO - ChoreographerMizu Desierto (They/Them) is an interdisciplinary artist and nonbinary feminist farmer whose life = art research explores themes of gender fluidity, ancestry, social deviance, and radical creative living. They are the founder and a current collaborator of Water in the Desert, a hub of numerous projects, including: The Headwaters Theatre, Gay Gardens & the annual festival that is Butoh College.
Photo by Miana Jun
|
|
|
Eliot Feenstra - Artistic Co-DirectorEliot Feenstra is a theatre-maker, activist, scholar, and sometimes farmer. Eliot has been engaged with rural queer organizing since 2012, including hosting workshops, gatherings, and most recently leading the LGBTQ+ Listening Project at the Rogue Action Center. He draws on training in Theatre of the Oppressed and community-based theatre, including training at Portland State University and with Cornerstone Theatre, to engage communities in dramatic storytelling. His work explores how we relate to the places we live and the arts as a medium for creative, holistic engagement with civic and political issues. He worked with RiverStars Performing Arts from 2014-2016 as a teacher/performer and has taught and performed in Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Berlin, Toronto and Vancouver. He recently completed his Masters in Theatre & Performance Studies at York University in Toronto.
www.eliotfeenstra.com |
Crystal Sasaki - choreographerCrystal Sasaki is a dancer, choreographer, artist and facilitator based in Portland, OR. They are passionate about improvisation, collaboration, practice as research, the performance experience, therapeutic expressive arts facilitation, mental health and social justice. Crystal has a BA in Dance and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley, with a background in ballet, contemporary, butoh, and various improvisation methods. They are influenced by their bi-racial Bay Area family history, their childhood years living amongst ritual practices in Bali and Chiang Rai, an adolescence on the road, and multidisciplinary queer D.I.Y culture. Crystal believes in a wide definition of dance, and that dance is a basic part of life and healing that can be there for everyone.
Crystal was a 2017 Choreographer in Residence at New Expressive Works in Portland, and a dancer on tour with Takahiro Yamamoto’s Direct Path to Detour. They have shown original and joint works at Ten Tiny Dances in Beaverton, Epalf and Intersect Festivals and at a variety of events in Portland and throughout California. www.cjsasaki.com |
Photo credit: Intisar Abioto, Coppe 2017, N.E.W
|
|
Sophie Traub - Artistic Co-DirectorSophie Traub is a gender-fluid, queer performing artist and theatre/film creator with extensive strategic, artistic leadership experience through their work as Co-Director for The School of Making Thinking. Sophie is invested in impact-focused arts programming, facilitating individual and group transformation through creative engagement towards social change. Sophie completed their Masters in Theatre and Performance Studies from York University in Toronto in 2019, focusing on the politics of cultural production and group dynamics in collaboration. Sophie has trained extensively in movement theatre techniques such as Viewpoints, Suzuki, and Grotowski, and holds a long background of working in experimental devised theatre productions and in film in the US and Canada. In recent years, Sophie was an Associate Curator for the Canadian National Arts Centre’s Cycle on Climate Change, and worked with ToasterLab on GROUNDWORKS Performance Project at Alcatraz led by Dancing Earth.
|