Mason Jeffery-Off was generously supported by the Lewitt Family Foundation Artist Award.

Mason Jeffery-Off is a Canadian bassist, composer and bandleader based in Montréal. Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Jeffery-Off is a graduate of McGill's Jazz Performance program. There, he studied with Ira Coleman and Rémi-Jean LeBlanc. An on-call Montréal bassist, he performs frequently with the likes of Jean-Michel Pilc, Darrell Green, and Kevin Dean. At age 18, Jeffery-Off was one of 16 international jazz musicians under the age of 25 to be selected for Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead, a performer-composer residency located at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2024, he received the Hnatyshyn Developing Artist Grant (Oscar Peterson Grant for Jazz Performance).  Jeffery-Off leads a seven-piece ensemble called Marvelous Creatures, which features compositions of his that are derived from written and spoken language, such as poetry, speeches and interviews. A full-length album is currently in the works with this ensemble. To Jeffery-Off, “Musicians share a special bond and to nurture it we must be open to each other's ideas, making them work in tandem. My goal is to abandon my preconceptions and serve the spirit of the moment. It is this humanity and spontaneity that bridge the gap between music and listener and, in turn, connects us all.”

RISA STEINBERG (Artistic Advisor) is active in many facets of the dance community as a performer, teacher, re-constructor of the works of José Limón, rehearsal coach, and choreographer mentor. A native New Yorker, Ms. Steinberg attended the High School of Performing Arts. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Juilliard School, where she has served as full-time faculty since 2004 and held the position of Associate Director of Juilliard Dance from 2008-2016. Ms. Steinberg has been a guest teacher worldwide and in many summer intensives.

In 2022, she received the DanceTeacher Magazine Award of Distinction. As a performer, Ms. Steinberg was a principal dancer with the José Limón Dance Company and guested with companies worldwide.

She was a cast member of Punchdrunk’s, Sleep No More from 2015-2020.

As a choreographic advisor, she has mentored many emerging and established choreographers. Ms. Steinberg is the co-director of the Ann and Weston Hicks Choreography Project at Jacob’s Pillow.

DAN SCULLY (Lighting Design) is a New York-based lighting and projection designer. He has been the resident lighting designer for A.I.M by Kyle Abraham since its founding, including designs for the full-length evening works Pavement, Live! The Realest M.C., and the Bessie Award winning The Radio Show. Recent dance work includes designs for New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, BODYTRAFFIC, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Misty Copeland, among others. Theater and concert credits include Rocky (Broadway), Jedermann (Salzburger Festspeile), The Orchestra Rocks! (Carnegie Hall), and Peter and The Wolf (John Lithgow / Carnegie Hall). Regional: Trinity Repertory Company, Geva Theatre Center, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and the Two River Theater Company. MFA NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

GLENN LIGON (Set Design) is an artist living and working in New York. Throughout his career, Ligon has pursued an incisive exploration of American history, literature, and society across bodies of work that build critically on the legacies of modern painting and conceptual art. He earned his BA from Wesleyan University (1982) and attended the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program (1985). In 2011, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a mid-career retrospective, AMERICA, organized by Scott Rothkopf, that traveled nationally. Important solo exhibitions include Glenn Ligon: All Over the Place, The Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge, England (2024); Post-Noir, Carre d’Art, Nîmes (2022); Call and Response, Camden Arts Centre, London (2014); and Some Changes, The Power Plant Center for Contemporary Art, Toronto (traveled internationally) (2005). Select curatorial projects include Grief and Grievance, New Museum, New York (2021); Blue Black, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis (2017); and Encounters and Collisions, Nottingham Contemporary and Tate Liverpool, England (2015). Ligon’s work has been shown in major international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2015, 1997), Berlin Biennial (2014), Istanbul Biennial (2019, 2011), and Documenta XI (2002).
 

SAM CRAWFORD (Additional Sound Editor) Sam Crawford’s compositions and sound designs have included works for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (Venice Biennale, 2010), A.I.M by Kyle Abraham (Untitled Love, 2022), Camille A. Brown and Dancers (BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, 2016), and David Dorfman Dance (A(Way) Out of My Body, 2022).

Recent film works include 32 Sounds, directed by Sam Green, for which Crawford acted as the headphone experience designer; the film was Oscar shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature in 2024. La Medea, a live film collaboration with director Yara Travieso for which Crawford composed the music and wrote the libretto, premiered at P.S.122’s Coil Festival in 2017.

Since 2020, Crawford has taught sound design at the University of Maryland's School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. He became Co-Director of UMD’s Maya Brin Institute for New Performance in 2023.

As a creator and director, CHARLOTTE BRATHWAITE (Artistic Advisor)’s genre-defying works illuminate the realities and the dreams of the marginalized and center unheard, unseen, and overlooked stories. Dealing with subject matter from the historical past to the distant future, her work brings to light issues of social justice, race, sex, power, and the complexities of the human condition. Awards include Art Matters, Princess Grace, Creative Capital, United States Artist and Map Fund. She is an Associate Professor Theater Arts Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). www.charlottebrathwaite.com

REID BARTELME and HARRIET JUNG (Costume Design) Harriet Jung and Reid Bartelme met in 2009 while pursuing fashion design degrees at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. They started designing collaboratively in 2011 and have focused their practice primarily on costuming dance. They frequently design costumes for works by Pam Tanowitz, Kyle Abraham, and Justin Peck. They have devised costume centric performances for commissions from the Museum of Art and Design and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. In 2023 they made their Broadway design debut with Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. Reid and Harriet have completed research fellowships at NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. They continue designing costumes and sets for dance productions around the world while expanding the scope of their practice outside the theater.

OLIVIA WANG (she/her), originally from Queens, New York, is a first generation Chinese American artist. She has recently graduated with a BFA in Dance from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College. She has trained at The Ailey School, French Academie of Ballet, and was a part of the inaugural class of MOVE|NYC. Olivia has had the opportunity to perform works by Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Norbert De La Cruz III, Martha Graham, Michiyaya, Nigel Campbell, Kyle Abraham, and Roderick George. Wang has attended summer programs at A.I.M, Martha Graham, MOVE|NYC, and Hubbard Street. She is an Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA member. Wang joined A.I.M in 2024.

GIANNA THEODORE (she/her) Raised in West Palm Beach, Florida, Gianna began her dance training at Ballet East Studio under the direction of Susan Lyle and Chelsea Nasby. Gianna is a graduate of A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, and a three-time YoungArts Merit Scholar/Honorable Mention. She graduated with a BFA in dance from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program Class of 2020. Throughout the course of her training, she has performed works by Robert Battle, Chuck Wilt, and Bradley Shelver. She attended Springboard Danse Montreal, where she performed work created by RUBBERBANDANCE, and Parts & Labour Danse. Gianna has ventured through many cultures and styles of dance, such as house and African, which has helped land her lead roles in music videos. She has also performed professionally with artists such as Ebony Williams, Mark Caserta, Maleek Washington, and Jennifer Archibald. She recently performed during a residency with Helen Simoneau Danse. Gianna joined A.I.M in 2019.