OUT DANCE PROJECT
LEAD ARTIST BIOS
(in alphabetical order by last name)
(in alphabetical order by last name)
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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
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Eliot Feenstra - Lead ArtistEliot 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
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Sophie Traub - Lead ArtistSophie 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.
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DANCER BIOS
bianca (fox) ballara
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Bianca "Fox" Ballara is Taino, daughter of Cuban refugees who lives on Takelma lands in Southern Oregon and currently lends her energy full-time to NativeWomanshare, a land project & resource center for BIPOC & Queers to gather, grow food, and decolonize in the Rogue Valley. Bianca grew up dancing salsa, flamenco, jazz, tap, ballet, hip hop, and improv, and has always felt that more than from a class, dance comes from the soul. In her spare time, she builds gardens, stewards lands, studies her ancestral ways and future organizes for resilient communities.
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EManuel ColomboOriginally from San Cipriano, Argentina, Emanuel Colombo, comes to us via Peru where he has performed on stage and television. He trained at renowned and prestigious institutes such as the IUNA Institute in Buenos Aires and Dactilares in Lima, Peru. Emanuel danced and acted regularly as a cast member on several National Peruvian television shows. In 2017, he starred as the lead in Los Tres Cerditos y un Lobo No Tan Feroz, in Miami, Florida.
In 2018, he landed in Oakland, California where he performed in Concept Series: 24, and Hero, Soulskin dance in San Francisco, CA 2018, Parallel Dialogues in Boulder, Colorado. 2020, He currently lives in Bend, Oregon. where he hopes to teach dance and perform again. |
LINKWith a background in Design and Visual Communications, Link is an emerging artist in PDX that developed a passion for Performing Arts while obtaining their BFA at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. As a young adult, they became enamored by flow arts in the dark corners of the rave scene, and in pursuit of self-discovery with little understanding or access to queer mentorship, they discovered the lighter-hearted nature of the festival realm which served as inspiration for them to develop a self-teaching for both theatrical makeup and fire performance. With a deep inspiration in clownery, it became Link's pursuit to help the light in this world grow stronger by encouraging laughter and highlighting a reversal of normality in order to foster a space for those in need as they navigate their authenticity. He does this by being open-hearted in learning and practicing what he loves; the radically honest self-expression of the multitude of human emotions utilizing multimedia and physical movement.
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MIA O'CONNOR - SMITHMia O’Connor-Smith is a multidisciplinary artist, mother, dance educator, healer and gardener. She has been a student of many styles for over 20 years and feels passionate about movement being apart of daily life and a healthy healing. Whether it is body movement, spiritual or with community, Mia has found joy studying dance, touring, organizing special events, curating music shows, exhibitions, arting with the youth, learning about plants, and teaching dance workshops. Beginning her own dance journey at age 3, she started with a classical foundation: Tap, Jazz, and Ballet. Throughout her time in schools, studios and stages from Portland and around the world she’s learned great lessons, and bad truths. Some of the bad truths of dance culture in this country is inaccessibility, and lack of diversity. This is something Mia is dedicated to changing. Through workshops, performance art, and genuine connection, she aims to spread the love dance has to offer and provide safe spaces to strengthen the foundations of movement in future generations. Contact [email protected] to find out about workshops, classes and services she is offering to the community.
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LARA PACHECOLara Pacheco (they/them/she/her) is a Taíno, Latinx mamitx that believes part of our collective liberation is accessed through decolonizing ourselves and weaving into the web of ancestral medicine. They run Atabey Medicine of Seed and Thistle Apothecary, an educational resource that centers Queer, Trans and Gender fluid Black and Indigenous voices within herbalism. In connection with their Taino roots, lara is a behike training with the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle and is a co collaborator of CEPA/decoloniza PR. Lara also practices qigong and is a first year student with POCA Tech Liberation Acupuncture program to further help bring access to care for marginalized communities.
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nicholas wakemanNicholas Wakeman is a multi disciplinary artist primarily focused on the art of drag . Through the embodied practice of their character Aphasia they turn magic into tragic and drama into trauma. Entertaining and infuriating audiences up and down the west coast.They have been integral in cultivating queer nightlife in Southern Oregon for the last 3 years. |
Z Z is a person who lived near the Rogue / Tak-elam for 8 years, working on rural trans and queer resiliency projects. They recently moved to the Mojave desert and they miss the river. |
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writer BIOS
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H. NI AODAGAINI am a LGBTQ+ writer of fiction, poetry and essay. My work explores such themes as the power of women, the challenge of living consciously on this beautiful and beleaguered planet we call home, and the obligation we each have to confront the systems of institutionalized oppression, be it racism, misogyny in all its forms, or homophobia. My writings have appeared in Autostraddle, Eureka Literary Magazine, Leaping Clear, Oregon Quarterly, Sinister Wisdom, and in numerous anthologies such as Politics of the Heart, A Lesbian Parenting Anthology and An Intricate Weave: Women Write about Girls and Girlhood. My novel, If Not for the Silence, which subverts the classic male hero's quest by depicting a woman's unique journey of awakening, was named a finalist for the 2020 Hidden River Arts Eulidia Writing Award.
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lycan coss Lycan Coss is a two-spirit of a Mexican immigrant parent with Aztec blood native to Turtle Island. Lycan works along with their partner as cofounder of Nativewomanshare. Lycan's life dream and goal is to reunite bipoc people, especially bipoc lgbtq, to embracing traditional ways of being connected to the earth once again. |
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CASEY DAVENPORTCasey C. Davenport is a dance educator in the Portland Metro area currently directing and teaching ballet programs for Innovative Dance, DOTY Performance, Chehalem Valley Dance Academy and Northwest Dance Project, Casey has taught ballet in the Portland Metro area for over 17 years following his freelance work as a classical and contemporary dance artist. He guest teaches often and is a published freelance writer having written numerous pieces on dance education, teacher training, program management and features.
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BRIDGETTE extraordinaire
Bridgette is a textile artist living on Takelma land in the Grants Pass area. When she is not weaving wearable works of art you might find her on the river, on the dance floor, or with her hands in the dirt. |
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Anonymous
I am a 27 year old Out and Proud pansexual transgender man. I’m going to school to get my masters in social work, specializing in LGBTQIA+ therapy needs. I’m very passionate about human rights, equality, and doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. I am a writer, a painter, a musician, and an enjoyer of all things that help people express themselves.
kelly riggleKelly is an apprentice falconer, an apprentice carpenter, an apprentice beekeeper and a poet who finds his inspiration in town dumps, billowing cloud formations, and the Scottish group of late 19th century architects and artists who affectionately referred to each other as members of The Spook School. He is eager for the return of the Swainson's Hawks to his hometown in northeast Oregon from their annual immense journey to Argentina for their wintertime grasshopper feasts in the pampas. |
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ALEX SYLVESTERAlex (Lexi) Sylvester is a white, Nonbinary Trans woman working in higher education and supporting Queer and Trans students. Alex likes sewing, supporting social justice efforts, and overalls. |
KAYLA WADEKayla Wade identifies as a queer, nonbinary, mixed, Black Capricorn and uses they/them pronouns. They were born and raised in Grants Pass, Oregon. After studying Cognitive Science and Public Policy at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, Kayla moved to Portland in 2016. There they grew their love for community building and event organizing, specifically for BIPOC and LGBTQ communities. In 2019, Kayla moved back to Southern Oregon because Portland is really expensive. In June 2020, after protests began to erupt in response to the murder of George Floyd, Kayla founded the Southern Oregon Coalition for Racial Equity (SOEquity). What started as a volunteer group quickly grew into a fiscally-sponsored organization. Just three months after starting the organization, Kayla left their marketing job to run SOEquity full-time as the Logistics Director. It was the best decision they ever made. In their little free time, Kayla enjoys rewatching episodes of Community and hosting Zoom trivia with friends.
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JONI WHITWORTHJoni Renee Whitworth is a poet, producer, and curator from rural Oregon. They have performed at The Moth, the Segerstrom Center for thePerforming Arts, and the Museum of Contemporary Art alongside MarinaAbramovic. Their writing explores themes of nature, future, family,and the neurodivergent body, and has appeared in Lambda Literary, TinHouse, Oregon Humanities, Proximity Magazine, Seventeen Magazine,Eclectica, Pivot, SWWIM, Smeuse, Superstition Review, xoJane, InvertedSyntax, Unearthed Literary Journal, Sinister Wisdom, Dime Show Review,and The Write Launch.
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Bird wicksBird was born and raised in rural southern Oregon on Takelma and Latgawa land. From the time Bird could talk, birds have been at the center of everything. Growing up poor and rural, Bird spent countless hours running around in the forests of southern and eastern Oregon, working with Bird’s dad. Bird is a Queer, Two-Spirit Spokane (non-citizen) conservation ornithologist living and working on Wadatika Paiute land in Harney County with wife Janelle, three dogs, two rabbits, and one cat.
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Additional Dancers: Chay, Fern, Amanaka, Mary Rose, Juniper, Eliot Feenstra and Sophie Traub
Production Team: Megan Cornelius, Sarah Anderson, Alex Gaylon and Olivia Louise
Graphic Design: Claire Harkola, Eliot Feenstra and Mia O'Connor-Smith
Production Team: Megan Cornelius, Sarah Anderson, Alex Gaylon and Olivia Louise
Graphic Design: Claire Harkola, Eliot Feenstra and Mia O'Connor-Smith