Artist Biographies of LCPD Summer Dance 2013
Cynthia Adams (Choreographer/Performer/Instructor) is Co-­‐Artistic Director and cofounder of Fellow Travelers Performance Group since 1993, creating a hybrid of traditional and experimental dance theater involving the voices of choreographers, dancers, musicians, visual artists, directors and actors. FTPG has a tradition of pushing all parameters of performance from the physical space, to vocabularies, structure and content to explore the surreal scope of human experience. Her work with Ken James carefully charts human interactions, the place of the individual in society, power and image. FTPG has performed nationally and internationally in festivals such as the West Wave Festival, Dancing on the Edge Festival, Vancouver, Canada; Yerba Buena Gardens Choreographers Festival; House Special (2002); Oakland Arts Festival, and others. Ms. Adams received the CHIME grant (Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange) from the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company in 2008. She and James have taught extensively including at Mills College, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Cabrillo College and currently at Iowa State University. Janelle Bentley (choreographer/performer/instructor), a native of St. Paul, MN, earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance from UW-­‐Madison. She has performed in works by Kate Corby, Carrie Hanson/The Seldoms, Kun-­‐Yang Lin, Susan Marshall & Company, Marlene Skog, Scott Wells, Chris Walker, Jin-­‐Wen Yu, and of course, Li Chiao-­‐Ping. Since last September she has been studying with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (KCDC) in northern Israel, and is excited to be joining KCDC 2 in the fall. Janelle is incredibly thrilled to be back in Madison, sharing the stage again with her mentor, Li Chiao-­‐Ping. Jono de Leon is the Lighting and Sound Studio Supervisor for the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s Theater Department. A native Texan, he began his theatrical studies while in high school, as both an actor and technician. He attended college in Sherman, Texas and continued his appreciation of theatre and theatrical design while working on a Psychology degree. Before moving to finish his undergraduate degree in Oklahoma, Jono spent two summers working with the Santa Fe Opera as run crew where he was exposed to Opera and operatic design on a grand scale. After finishing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Central Oklahoma he moved to Madison to start his graduate studies. Jono has been privileged enough to design many types of theatrical shows including straight plays, musicals, dance, and even worked on a few museum installations which were featured locally. Jono graduated with his Master’s Degree in Theater and Drama with an emphasis in Lighting Design in 2012. Jono would like to thank his family, close friends, and significant other April Chaney for their understanding and support throughout his career. Kate Hewson is a choreographer, dancer, teacher, and administrator based in Madison. She has created over fifteen works for modern and aerial dance and received her MFA in Dance from UW-­‐Milwaukee in 2009. Kate co-­‐founded Dear Heart Dance, whose work was recognized with awards by the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, and the UW-­‐
Madison New Arts Venture Challenge. Kate also manages the Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program at the UW-­‐Madison Arts Institute. Dale Lazar Upon completing his B.A. in Percussion Performance from Old Dominion University, Dale Lazar has continued his active career as a professional performer and educator in the Hampton Roads, VA area. His current projects include composing and performing with the Jen Stone and Megan Thompson Dance Project, the Steve Thorne 3 jazz group, and teaching for the Community Music Division of ODU. Specifically, his collaborations with the Jen Stone and Megan Thompson Dance Project have involved composing music for and performing Where light begins at PERFORMATICA in Cholula, Mexico and creating the piece Rice Circle, for which he composed, performed, and built most of the instruments used. In the past, Mr. Lazar has performed with Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Symphonicity, Virginia Winds, and Norfolk Chamber Consort. Currently, Mr. Lazar is an accompanist for the ODU Dance Program. He has also accompanied for the American College Dance Festival (2011, 2012) and the annual high school dance festival hosted by Todd Rosenlieb Dance Academy (2011). An avid student of music, Mr. Lazar is currently studying tabla, North Indian drums, under Kumar Das and Pandit Samir Chatterjee from Manhattan School of Music. Mariah Meyer LeFeber grew up dancing with her siblings in their Lincoln, Nebraska living room. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in dance and psychology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Immediately following her graduation, she represented the U of M performing in the national ACDFA gala concert at the Kennedy Center. Mariah went on to attend Columbia College Chicago, where she earned her master’s degree in dance/movement therapy and counseling. Since completing her studies, Mariah has been living, working and dancing in Madison, Wisconsin. She is a dance/movement therapist for several agencies in Dane County, and an Associate Lecturer in the University of Wisconsin, Madison dance department. Mariah enjoys writing and researching about the use of dance/movement therapy, and her work on using the modality with children has been published several times. Additionally, Mariah performed with Li Chiao-­‐Ping Dance from 2007-­‐2010, but now spends any of her free time dancing with her husband Paul and young daughters, Adah and Junia. In 2011, Mariah was named the Wisconsin Dance Council New Leader in Dance. Li Chiao-­Ping (choreographer/performer/instructor) was named by Dance Magazine as one of the “25 to watch”. She formed Li Chiao-­‐Ping Dance in 1990 and co-­‐directed Dziga Vertov Performance Group from 1992-­‐94. Renowned for her solo work, she is also well known for her multimedia and intergenerational productions. Her collaborations with Douglas Rosenberg include dance films such as “De L’eau,” “Residues,” “Periphery,” “Grace,” and a suite of dances made for the camera which were co-­‐funded by Wisconsin Public Television and Bravo! FACT of Canada. A prolific choreographer of more than 130 works for stage and screen, Ms. Li’s dances have been shown throughout the world. Ms. Li has received numerous awards, grants and honors, including several grants from the NEA and awards from the Asian Pacific Women’s Network, National Arts Association, and the Los Angeles Arts Council first prize awards for performance and choreography. She has also received choreographic fellowships from the Wisconsin Arts Board and Scripps/ADF Humphrey-­‐Weidman-­‐Limon. Professor Li is the recipient of the Romnes Award, the Creative Arts Award from the Arts Institute, the Emily Mead Baldwin-­‐Bascom Professorship in the Creative Arts, the Wisconsin Dance Council Award in Choreography and Performance, and the Vilas Associate Award. She was the American representative in ADF’s International Choreographer’s Program and has been commissioned by dance companies, university dance programs, and individuals around the country. Ms. Li earned her Master of Arts degree from UCLA and has been on faculty at Hollins University, Mills College, and UW-­‐
Madison where she is Chair. The “Seven Solos: A Documentary”, directed by Douglas Rosenberg and made about her “Women Dancing” solo project, premiered in the 2012 Dance On Camera Festival held at Lincoln Center in New York. She was recently been accepted as a Fulbright Specialist and honored with a UW System Woman of Color Award. Liz Sexe (choreographer/performer/instructor) received her M.F.A. in Dance from Mills in Oakland, CA. She has performed works by Robert Battle, Rachel Berman, Alyce Finwall, Lionel Popkin and of course, Li Chiao-­‐Ping. Sexe co-­‐founded Dear Heart Dance in 2009 with a mission to create “fresh, local and seasonal dance.” Her own choreography has appeared with LCPD, at Danceworks and with Madison’s own Barebones Collective. Sexe teaches dance at UW-­‐Madison and Studio 3-­‐D. She also teaches Pilates at Capital Fitness. Sexe believes movement expression generates a fulfilling, healthy life. Natalie Teichmann, LMT, CYT, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-­‐Madison, where she received her BFA in dance in 2006. While attending the university, she had the pleasure of dancing in the Li Chiao-­‐Ping Dance Company, where she performed in New York, LA, and Madison, WI. Natalie developed ANAHATA Dance in 2009 for dancers dedicated to communicating through dance and to promote efficient, non-­‐toxic movement. The New York based company has performed in venues such as the DUMBO Dance Festival, The World Dance Alliance, as a part of APAP at Joyce SoHo, the Women in Dance Festival, the Cool New York Festival. Other notable performances include a self-­‐produced show at the Salvatore Capezio Theater at Peridance and a full-­‐length site-­‐
specific work, “How It Is Infinite” on Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, New York. Natalie presented a workshop at the International Conference for Kinetography/Laban in Budapest in 2011 that explored the use of Language of Dance as a creative process. She recently completed her CMA certification at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies, and is currently finishing her LOD certification through the Language of Dance Center USA, and her Extreme Moves Certification developed and taught by Professor Li Chiao-­‐Ping of the University of Wisconsin-­‐Madison. She is currently attending the University of Wisconsin-­‐Milwaukee to begin her MFA studies this summer. Megan Thompson received her M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Maryland and her B.S. in Dance from University of Wisconsin-­‐Madison. She received additional training at the Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago and the Laban Centre in London. She has danced in the nora.new.dance.company, the Li Chiao-­‐Ping Dance Company, the Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, and RTG Dance and has presented her own work in Chicago, IL, Richmond, VA, Washington, D.C., and internationally in Guatemala, Mexico and Russia. Additionally, Megan completed a 700-­‐hour Pilates certification program in 2006. She has taught dance and Pilates at numerous festivals and universities, such as the University of Maryland, Winona State University, the Isadora Dance Festival in Russia, La Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala and the Performatica festival in Puebla, Mexico. Recently, she co-­‐
founded the Jen Stone and Megan Thompson Dance Project with dance artist Jen Stone. Together they have had the opportunity to teach, perform and create work for students and audiences around the world. Currently, Megan is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Old Dominion University.