Choreographers ShowcASE
September 19-20, 2026 | Paul Dresher | West Oakland
Saturday Program:
September 19th
Elizabeth Wiehe, Emma Andre, Ria Fifield, Bethany Mitchell Alice Hur
5:00pm & 7:00PM
Rock Baby
Choreography: Elizabeth Wiehe, in collaboration with Teo Lin Bianco
Dancers: Elizabeth Wiehe & Teo Lin Bianco
Music: Maggot Brain by Funkadelic
Musican: Fabien Walenne
fun for who?
Choreography: Emma Andre
Dancer: Emma Andre
Music: Cyndi Lauper, Jack Cassidy & Shirley Jones, Marius Andre
You and I
Choreography: Ria Fifield
Dancers: Ale Preciado & Tai Lum
Music: Modest Mussorgsky, Vanessa Moreno, Ibrahim Maalouf
Program Notes: The piece explores relationships and the ways they shape the paths our lives take. This is a work-in-progress.
Pattern in B
Choreography: Bethany Mitchell in collaboration with the dancers
Dancers: Emma Andre, Bethany Mitchell, Isabel Rosenstock
Music: Taylor Meers
Held in Arms
Choreography: Alice Hur
Dancers: Alice Hur, Daniel Gutierrez, Theodore Tran, Karina Cervantes
Music: Ikotu, Dpat, Ta-ku
The Choreographers
Elizabeth Wiehe is a dance artist, choreographer, director, and producer based in San Francisco. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with a minor in Journalism from George Mason University. She is the founder and director of Pearl Street Dance Collective, a female-run collective dedicated to producing original work, fostering collaboration, and creating performance opportunities for early-career female artists.
As an artist, Elizabeth is drawn to sharing an authentic and unfiltered female experience with audiences. Her work highlights women’s power and strength while honoring the tenderness, care, and vulnerability that shape the way they move through the world.
In addition to her work with Pearl Street Dance Collective, Elizabeth has performed in works by Rafael Bonachela, Martha Graham, Lawrence Jackson, and Susan Shields. She has worked with DC-based companies, including ChamberDance Project and Company Medusa, and in San Francisco, she currently collaborates with DragonsDance, directed by Erin Yen, and Tether Dance Project. Her choreography has been presented at the George Mason School of Dance, Carmel Dance Festival, RAW Artist Showcase, Flux & Form Festival, Art Pärdê Salon, The Green Room Artists Series by RAW Dance, ArtIs immersive multidisciplinary performance, and Pearl Street Dance Collective performances.
Emma Andre is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher based in Oakland. They studied contemporary dance at Boston Conservatory, graduating in 2021. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2023 they have presented work at the Joe Goode Annex, as part of Kristin Damrow's Merdé Project and Joe Goode Performance Group's Gathering Room series. They have also presented work at Studio 210, in a solo residency, and at SAFEhouse Arts, as part of the RAW residency program. They perform as a member of Deborah Slater Dance Theater and David Herrera Performance Company. They are also on faculty at Berkeley Ballet Theater, and are grateful to be sharing dance with young people.
Ria Fifield is a San Francisco–based dance artist and choreographer, born in Russia. Her work explores shape, texture, composition, and the expressive possibilities of the body.
Her performance background includes New Ballet Theatre, the Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, and the Open Look Festival, The Circle of Light as well as work with choreographers and artists including Yaniv Abraham and Guy Shomroni, Daniel Ezralow, Kim Epifano, Tara Pilbrow, Alexandra Pirici, Amy Lewis, Straw Dogs, and Alyssandra Katherine Dance.
Bethany Mitchell was raised in Mission Viejo, California, and has been a professional dancer for over 20 years on both coasts. She has performed with companies such as Liss Fain Dance and Robert Moses’ Kin in San Francisco, and Battery Dance and Indelible Dance in New York City. While living in New York, she toured as a dancer and teaching artist in more than 40 countries and performed original music at Rockwood Music Hall. In 2021 she founded her non-profit, ArtPärdē, and has proudly produced ten art salons at local San Francisco venues showcasing over 90 performing artists. She has also produced her one-woman musical, Boxsteps and Beers, at The Marsh and Potrero Stages and currently teaches ballet at ODC/Dance and Smuin Center for Dance.
Alice Hur is a Bay Area-based artist who has been competing, performing, teaching, and organizing within the art form of waacking for over a decade. She is the founder of community initiatives Waack, Crackle, Lock! and San Jose Waacking, and directed the first ever full-length waacking theater show in the Bay Area, "Strike & Release," in 2025. Alice was awarded a California Arts Council Fellowship in 2023; served as a 2024 Creative Ambassador for the City of San Jose; was a selected lead artist for Bridge Live Arts’ 2024-25 Community Engagement Residency; and was presented with a 2025 Content Magazine Emerging Artist Award.
The Artists
Teo Lin-Bianco -Born and raised in Los Angeles, Teo trained in jazz, contemporary, and tap, with a background in circus arts that informs their dynamic and expressive movement style. Today Teo is Co-Director of Tether Dance Project and is committed to movement as a form of connection and community-building.
Fabien Walenne is a San Francisco-based musician who plays in several live bands around the Bay Area, building immersive sonic textures out of loopers, pedals, and stereo effects. Tonight marks his first time interpreting music for contemporary dance, and he's approached it as a chance to listen with his eyes and let the sound follow the movement.
Alejandra Preciado, from Panama City, Panama, began dancing at the age of three and later continued her training in Salt Lake City, Utah. She earned her B.F.A. from Alonzo King LINES Ballet at Dominican University, where she performed a diverse range of contemporary works. She remained in the Bay Area as a freelance artist before joining NW Dance Project, where she performed works by Sarah Slipper, Ihsan Rustem, Yin Yue, Nicole Von Arx, and Bryan Arias, among others. During her time with NW Dance Project, Ale played a significant role in the organization’s educational intensives while also creating original works on the company dancers. Now back in the Bay Area, she continues working as a performer, educator, and dance maker.
Tai Lum was born and raised in SF, receiving training at SFB, Lines, and ODC. Tai received their BFA in Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.Tai was a part of the Second Avenue Dance Company, performing works by Andrea Miller and Jose Limon. Since moving back to the Bay Area in 2025, Tai has performed with Robert Moses’ Kin, Iris Collective, and Tether Dance Project.
Isabel Rosenstock, a native San Franciscan, is a dancer and Pilates instructor. She holds a BFA in Dance from California State University, Long Beach and received further training under Summer Lee Rhatigan at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. She has freelanced with various companies in the Bay Area since 2014 and has been a part of Liss Fain Dance since 2022. In addition to her work as a dancer, she owns a small Pilates studio.
Daniel Gutierrez - a Bay Area-based dancer/choreographer with over a decade of experience in freestyle and choreography. Specializing in waving, he shares his passion through teaching across the region, inspiring students with his unique style and movement mastery.
Theo Tran - a California based dancer with over 12 years of experience in freestyle. He specializes in tutting, animation, and recently started breakdancing. Theo blends creativity and technical skill to push boundaries in his own style and shape his individual voice within the dance community.
Karina Cervantes - a Bay Area based mover specializing in Krump. She began dancing with Arte Flamenco de San José to then achieve a B.A. in Dance from SJSU. Upon graduating, Karina founded Cypher Dance Company, a multidisciplinary company with the goal to make dance accessible for all.
SUNDAY Program:
September 20th
Marie Meade-Tatum, Alyssa Mitchel, Alyson Abriel, Eli Shi, Barb Lankamp, Tanya Bello
1:30pm & 3:30PM
My Baby Just Cares for Me
Choreography: Marie Meade-Tatum
Dancers: Sharon Demant, Nina Hausman, Rebecca Huang, Laura Marmolejo, Marie Meade-Tatum
Music: Nina Simone performing Walter Donalson, Gus Kahn
Threshold
Choreography: Alyssa Mitchel
Dancers: Jessica DeFranco and Jesse Escalante
Music: Woodkid
Program Notes:My new creation investigates how unexpected detours influence our thinking and alter our ways of moving through the world. The piece considers the wide variety of responses to the easy-to-give advice, “Embrace the unknown.” Through repetition, hesitation, momentum, static movement, directional shifts, retrogrades and movement patterns, my choreography explores the many ways that the unknown reveals our character. This particular duet is an excerpt from the piece that’s focused on how an aversion to that which is new and staying attached to the familiar may close a door on self-discovery. Special thanks to the Smuin Creative Residency for the opportunity to begin developing this duet and original cast member Abigail Hinson.
A Fire invocation (excerpt)
Choreography: Alyson Abriel
Dancers: Rebecca Huang, Laura Marmolejo, Alyson Abriel
Music: Michael Gira
Soundscape: Alyson Abriel
Program Notes: This dance depicts a traveler/witness who envisions two figures bearing oxygen and fuel. Meeting her own internal spark, this primal alchemy suggests a surge of hope, a greener, brighter future born from the ashes of a dying world.
Run all the way home (excerpt)
Choreography: Eli Shi
Dancers:
Daughter: Ellie Daley
Mother: Norma Fong
Grandmother: Tristan Ching Hartmann
Music: Josie Friedman
Sound Engineering: Nathan Sariowan
Text: Anna Zheng
Voices: Natalie Haruka Ewe (Daugher), Kristen Cosby (Mother), amara tabor-smith (Grandmother)
Program Notes: Run all the way home is about a mother, her daughter, and her daughter’s daughter who use the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale to process their stories and relationships with one another.
Slip
Choreography: Barb Lankamp
Dancer: Barb Lankamp
Music: Ben Juodvalkis
Program Note:Slip is an excerpt of a four-part exploration of physical and psychological responses to obstacles and challenges. Slip examines an avoidant response of collapsing under pressure and allowing what is dear to us to slip through our fingers.
Sieve
Choreography: Tanya Bello
Dancers: Allegra Bautista, Kelly Del Rosario, Tristan Ching Hartmann, Tai Lum
Musician: Mario Aparicio
Music: Oliver Davis, Simon Diaz, Mario Aparicio
Program Note: Through physical tension, rupture, and catharsis, Bello’s work, Sieve, asks what happens when we refuse to carry the full weight of the past forward. Sifting through inherited obligations, the ensemble examines what to hold onto and what to let fall through the mesh—excavating a newly defined cultural identity crafted intentionally for the next generation to inherit.
The Choreographers
Marie Meade-Tatum started her dance training when she joined a friend’s jazz class at the age of 12 in Palos Verdes. She competed and performed with various groups throughout California including San Pedro City Ballet. Marie has lived in Alameda with her daughter since 2013. She is grateful for the opportunity to create new dance works again.
Alyssa Eve Mitchel is an award-winning San Francisco based choreographer. She premiered Endure at Dance Mission Theater in October 2025, a multimedia dance production featuring six dancers, six marathon runners, a graphic designer, a lighting designer and two cinematographers. She partnered with the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) and Carolina Ballet for the Southeastern USA premiere of Regard (2023) at the NCMA in November 2024. Mitchel's work Regard (2023), in partnership with The Contemporary Jewish Museum, won the 2024 Inspired Dance Film Festival's "Best Live Performance Capture" award in Sydney, Australia. Mitchel was also a featured choreographer at the Women in Dance Leadership Conference 2024. In partnership with San Francisco’s Exploratorium, she received an arts grant for the premiere of her outdoor production, Here. Now. (2021). She was the winner of the 2019 Choreography Competition of the International Dance Festival of Silicon Valley. She’s been an artist in residence at Smuin Ballet, Zaccho Dance Theatre, Berkeley Ballet Theatre, Studio 210/Deborah Slater Dance Theater and other venues. Mitchel has been granted residencies and commissions at ODC Pilot 70 & 71, Bay Pointe Ballet, T2 Dance, Moving Arts, LEVYdance, SAFEhouse Arts and Marin Dance Theatre. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education and a minor in mathematics from the Dominican University of California and is a passionate Bay Area math tutor. For more information on Alyssa and her work, please visit: alyssaevemitchel.com
Alyson Abriel has over 40 years of experience in ballet and modern dance. She trained throughout New England as a child, and later on in NYC, Boston, and San Francisco. She earned an MFA in Photography and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts in NYC in 2001. She was a Designer/Multimedia Specialist at the American Museum of Natural History (NYC) and the Exploratorium (SF). In parallel, Alyson danced professionally with José Mateo Ballet Theater in Cambridge, MA, The DanceWright Project (SF), Labayen Dance/SF, and the Santa Clara Ballet. Alyson was the lead teacher for the younger summer dance campers at Shan-Yee Poon Ballet School for two summers and also held her own adult ballet classes in the city, and private lessons over Zoom since 2020.
Eli Shi is a second-generation Chinese-American choreographer and dancer whose practice blends contemporary dance and narrative theater to create performances for and with Asian American immigrant communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate of Stanford University, Eli is dancer with The Foundry and has worked with Bay Area choreographers Alex Ketley, amara tabor-smith, and Joanna Haigood. As a choreographer, Eli has received support from Stanford's Institute for Diversity in the Arts, ODC, and FACT/SF.
Barb Lankamp is an Oakland-based dancer/choreographer. Her hyper-physical movement style is informed by release technique, time spent with a Graham-based company, her studies in psychology, and childhood gymnastics. In 2024, Barb had the opportunity to present her choreography as Lead Artist in Residence at SafeHouse for the Arts, which served as a springboard for her to launch her own performance series in 2025 called SOLO. Through SOLO, Barb presented her first evening-length work: Going Solo at NOHSpace in SF, and in 2026, she presented Traction for SOLO 2 at the Joe Goode Annex, SF.
Tanya Bello is a contemporary and ballet dance educator, choreographer, and artistic leader with over 25 years of experience across performance, higher education, and arts administration. In the Bay Area, she has performed as a soloist with Garrett Moulton Productions and danced with companies including Robert Moses' Kin, ODC/Dance, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Shared Space, Bellwether Dance SF, and Straw Dogs, alongside other performance work across New York, Washington D.C., and Italy. Her teaching tenure includes serving as an Adjunct Professor at Dominican University of California and Sonoma State University, faculty at The Healdsburg School, Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, and for ODC/Dance, where she directs the pre-professional company ODC/ Dance Jam. Bello is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Project B., a former Martha Graham Dance Company liaison to the Library of Congress, and spent a decade as a Cultural Development Director leading national arts advocacy initiatives for Wood Partners. She extends her heartfelt gratitude to Halcyon Dance Project for reigniting her creative spark after a nearly decade-long hiatus.
The Artists
Laura Marmolejo has been dancing ballet for 10 years. She began her training with Marin Ballet and has since had the opportunity to dance throughout the Bay Area, from Sacramento to San Francisco. Ballet has been a meaningful part of her life, inspiring her to continue growing as a dancer and sharing her passion for the art.
Rebecca Huang is from Oakland, California. She received her training at Redwood Heights Recreational Center, Oakland Ballet School, Alameda Ballet Academy and City Ballet School San Francisco. She has attended summer intensives including: Oakland Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet, City Ballet San Francisco and Boston Summer Dance Program. Upon high school graduation in 2022 she was an Apprentice at Oakland Ballet Company under the direction of Graham Lustig where she was featured in programs such as Graham Lustig’s: Luna Mexicana”, Graham Lustig’s: “The Nutcracker”, “Dancing Moons Festival”: “Premier of Exquisite Corpse”; Asian/ Pacific Islander Choreographers, and “Rainbow Dances”: LGBT+ choreographers. At Oakland Ballet Company she worked with choreographers such as Graham Lustig, Benjamin Briones, (“Mixtecas”), Elaine Kudo (“Pile of Time”), Alyah Baker (“5 parts jazz”), Shiori Kamijo and Grayson McGuire (“Boots”) and Sean Dorsey (“SEEK/AFTER JOY). From 2023- 2025 she was a Trainee at Olympic Ballet Theatre under the direction of Oleg Gorboulev and Mara Vinson on full scholarship where she worked with choreographers such as Eva Stone (“Keep Me in Mind”), Norbert De La Cruz lll (“Luna”), Christopher Stowell (“Mendelssohn Dances; an excerpt from Midsummer Nights Dream), Nadja Saidakova (“Elegia”), Alberto Gaspar (1 in 10 ^ 285,000), and Sophie Powell (“Cape Cod”). Her classical repertoire at Olympic includes “The Nutcracker”, “Don Quixote”, “Coppélia”, and excerpts from ballets such as “Raymonda”, “La Bayadré”, “La Fillé Mal Gardée” and “Giselle”.
Jesse Escalante is a San Francisco Bay Area dancer, choreographer, and licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with a private practice as a psychotherapist. He blends his education as well as passion for social justice and mental health to create work centered on storytelling, representation, parallel processing, and visibility around difficult subject matter.
Jess DeFranco grew up in the Bay Area and is a San Francisco based artist. Jess received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from San Francisco State University, performing with their University Dance Theater company. Her choreography was also selected to represent the School of Theater and Dance at the 2018 American College Dance Association conference. While attending SFSU, she also received her minor in Asian American Studies from the College of Ethnic Studies. Upon graduating, she began working as a freelance performing artist and dance educator to students ranging from young beginners to pre-professionals. Along with collaborating with Alyssa Mitchel since 2019, she’s also had the pleasure of dancing for artists and companies such as Garrett+Moulton Productions, KULARTS Alleluia Panis Dance Theater, Epiphany Dance Theater, and many more.
Tai Lum (Project. B. Dancer) was born and raised in SF, receiving training at SFB, Lines, and ODC. Tai received their BFA in Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Tai was a part of the Second Avenue Dance Company, performing works by Andrea Miller and Jose Limon. Since moving back to the Bay Area in 2025, Tai has performed with Robert Moses’ Kin, Iris Collective, and Tether Dance Project.
Kelly Del Rosario (Project. B. Dancer) was born and raised in Mililani, Hawaii. His movement practice began with sports and the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira, then later focused his training in dance and received his BFA in Dance Performance at the University of Hawaii. He has worked with various Bay Area artists including Project.b, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Sarah Bush Dance Project, Robert Moses’ KIN, and RAWdance.
Allegra Bautista (Project. B. Dancer) is a San Francisco native. She trained at San Francisco Ballet, City Ballet School, and the SF Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division for classical guitar. She graduated from Saint Mary’s College of California earning a BA in Liberal & Civic Studies and Performing Arts: Dance. She is honored to have performed in the works of Garrett + Moulton Productions, Amy Seiwert, Kristin Damrow & Company, Alleluia Panis, RAWdance, Liss Fain Dance, Natasha Adorlee's Concept o4, and ka·nei·see | collective. She also currently dances with Margaret Jenkins Dance Company and is a certified yoga instructor.
Tristan Ching Hartmann (Project. B. Dancer) began her professional dance career in 1995 while pursuing her B.A. in English and M.A. in Education at Stanford University. Tristan danced with Robert Moses’ Kin for eleven years before retiring from the company to pursue a range of performance experiences including work with ZacchoDance Theatre, Sharp and Fine, Project B, RAWdance, Tango Fatale, the San Francisco Symphony, and the 2009 BRIT Awards in London. Tristan taught classical and contemporary technique, phrase work, and creative writing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and has been a guest teacher at the Lines Ballet Training Program, the training ground sf, and ODC. Tristan most recently had the immense pleasure of dancing with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company and currently works with Eli Shi and Project B.
Anna Zheng is a Chinese-American director, deviser, and writer based in Brooklyn. They are interested in acts of adaptation—of stories, of bodies, to other people, to inhospitable environments—and the ways we change ourselves and our narratives to survive in new spaces and use playful interdisciplinary collaboration, adapted texts, and physical theatre to visceralize political realities and create unexpected, intimate, joyful messes. Recent projects: Dodoland (Tank Theater, CAN TUNA), Bane by London Carlisle (The PIT, reading); Mauzy by Derek Davidson (Assoc. Director, Off The Lane); a dance theatre interpretation of Constellations by Nick Payne; Three States of Matter, a devised, adaptation of Three Sisters about climate migration; and Man of God by Anna Moench. Anna is a current member of the New York Neo Futurists.
Ellie Daley is an Oakland-based freelance dancer from Chicago, IL. She holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Iowa.
Norma Fong began her training at Pacific Ballet Academy in Mountain View, CA. She is also trained in classical Chinese folk dance and performed with the Chinese Performing Arts of America. Norma graduated from California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in dance, performance, and choreography and went on to dance with Pasadena Dance Theatre. In San Francisco, she has had the opportunity to work with Shift>>> Physical Theater, Project B, Todd Eckert, Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, as a guest for ODC/Dance, and Robert Moses’ Kin, where she also served as the company’s rehearsal director. In 2017, Norma was awarded an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for her ensemble performance with Crystaldawn Bell in First Stab at Closure, choreographed by Todd Eckert. Norma is on faculty at ODC School, Buri Buri Elementary School, and Artist in Residence at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. She has previously taught at Mills College and Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA at Dominican University.
Natalie Haruka Ewe is an Asian American actor and voice actor based in Dallas, Texas, specializing in youthful, bright, and authentic voices. She is passionate about bringing warmth and energy to every character she plays. Outside of voice acting, she enjoys writing, performing on stage, and exploring new creative projects.
Kristen Cosby is a freelance writer, editor, educator and performer. Her work has received support from numerous artistic foundations including the Jan Michalski Foundation (Switzerland), the Corporation of Yaddo (USA), the MacDowell Artist Colony (USA), and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (USA). Her musings have appeared in several literary journals, magazines, and anthologies, and garnered the Normal Prize in Nonfiction and a Pushcart Prize special mention. Most recently she’s been telling stories on stage at the Marsh Theater, SF Playground, and as part of the Naked Truth, the Moth, Redwood Nights, Bawdy Stories, StageWerx’s Solo Sundays, and La Cocina’s Voices from the Kitchen.
amara tabor-smith was born in unceded Ramaytush Ohlone territory/San Francisco, and currently lives in unceded Huichin Muwekma Ohlone territory/Oakland, CA. She is a choreographer, performance maker, cultural worker, community caregiver, and the artistic director of Deep Waters Dance Theater. Her interdisciplinary site-responsive and community specific performance making practice utilizes Yoruba Lukumi spiritual technologies to address issues of social and environmental justice, race, gender identity, and belonging in the Afro NOW. amara’s work is rooted in Black, queer, feminist principles that insist on liberation, joy, home fullness, and well-being. She is currently a teaching artist in residence at Stanford University.
The Halcyon Dance Project Team
Theresa Knudson | Halcyon Dance Project Founder & Producer
Theresa Knudson received her training from Lois Ellyn in southern California, and attended intensive programs including ABT NYC, Boston Ballet, Ballet Austin. Theresa began her professional career with Nouveau Chamber Ballet under the direction of the late Lois Ellyn, and freelanced with Diablo Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Menlowe Ballet, Wonderbound, ARC Dance Seattle, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Raiford Rogers Modern Ballet. Theresa holds a BA in Business from California State University, Fullerton, and is the owner and director of BlackBox Studios-a ballet studio in Oakland. Theresa is the Co-Founder & Executive Director of Ballet22, a professional ballet company focused on presenting men, trans, and non-binary artists “en pointe” and commissioning works that bring LGBTQIA+ representation to ballet through live performances and film. Ballet22 was named by Dance Magazine “25 to Watch” in 2022 and received an Isadora Duncan Dance Award Nomination for the 2021-22 season for Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Company.
Ryan Rouland Smith | Halcyon Dance Project Producer & Lighting
Ryan Rouland Smith hails from Colorado where he graduated from the Denver School of the Arts. In 2013, Smith graduated cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Dance and Choreography. Smith received additional training at the American Dance Festival, where he had the pleasure of working with John Jasperse, Reggie Wilson and performed in the first reconstruction of Bill T. Jones’ Love Redefined. In 2014, Smith became a member of Kate Weare Company, performing in and originating roles in such works as Dark Lark, Unstruck, Marksman and Praise. In 2019 while dancing in New York, Smith had the pleasure of working with Stefanie Batten Bland, Look Who is Coming to Dinner and Nicole Vaughn Diaz, A Portrait of Them. Following the collaborative process between Kate Weare Company and ODC, Decameron/Up For Air; Smith joined ODC/Dance from 2021-2025. While there he had the pleasure of dancing and originating works by Sidra Bell, Mia J. Chong, Sonya Delwaide, Catherine Galasso, KT Nelson, Dexandro Montalvo, Kimi Okada, Amy Seiwert and Brenda Way. Ryan Rouland Smith is currently a freelance artist collaborating with Sharp & Fine, Mark Foehringer Dance Project | SF, as well as self producing.
LizAnne Roman Roberts
Halcyon Dance Project Panelist
LizAnne fell in love with dance at age four after seeing Giselle on TV in her hometown Tulsa, Oklahoma. Honored to have been working in the profession of her dreams for over twenty years, LizAnne began her career with Tulsa Ballet while finishing high school and earning a BFA at the University of Oklahoma. She has worked with various artists throughout the Bay Area, including collaborating with FACT/SF since 2012, and originating roles and performing yearly in Mark Foehringer’s Nutcracker Sweets since 2008, among others. LizAnne has appeared internationally in Avignon and Claremont-Ferrand, France; Belgrade, Serbia; and Sofia, Bulgaria as well as across the United States. LizAnne is the mother of two, and lives in Oakland, CA. She is also a certified Pilates instructor.
Coral Martin
Halcyon Dance Project Panelist
Coral Martin is a dancer and educator based in the SF Bay Area. In addition to producing her own work, Coral has performed with Oakland Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Robert Moses KIN, Capacitor, City Ballet of Boston, San Francisco Opera Ballet, and Washington National Opera among others. Martin holds a degree in Social Anthropology and Visual Art from Harvard University.
Halcyon Dance Project is dedicated to presenting curated CONCERTS, PRODUCING artists, & providing RESIDENCIES in collaboration with BlackBox Studios.
The purpose of the Choreographers Showcase is to provide an opportunity for both emerging and established Bay Area contemporary choreographers to present their work in a showcase style performance at Paul Dresher Ensemble in West Oakland. The choreographers presented all applied for this opportunity and were selected to participate by the panelists and the producers.
Thank you to all the choreographers and collaborating dance and musical artists for their contributions!
Big thank you to Paul Dresher, Robert Reetz, and David Robertson
Special thank you to Halcyon Dance Project donors: Nancy Koziara-Clark, Elizabeth O’Dell, and Larry Baker
Panelists: Theresa Knudson, Coral Martin, LizAnne Roman Roberts, , Ryan Rouland Smith
Lighting & Sound: Ryan Rouland Smith
Front of House Team: Bug Lupoii
Tax deductible donations can be made to Halcyon Dance Project through Dancers’ Group fiscal sponsor program. Thank you for supporting!