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Valerie Chen is a Taiwanese American artist whose love for dance and movement creation began in Irvine, California. In high school she attended the Orange County School for the Arts in the Commercial Dance Conservatory, developing herself as a multifaceted dancer in both the commercial and classical spheres. Valerie simultaneously trained at Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy and Jessie Riley’s Westside Dance Project. Continuing her dance education, Valerie received a BFA in Dance at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. While at Kaufman she witnessed new movement styles, a culture of care, and ingenious innovation which nourished her passion for performance and experimentation. She has performed works by Kyle Abraham, Hope Boykin, Jiří Kylián, Micaela Taylor, Justin Peck, Christopher Wheeldon, and Paul Taylor, among others. Upon graduating Valerie joined South Chicago Dance Theatre as a main company member where she performed works by Frank Chavez, Kate Weare, and others. She is currently a guest artist with SCDT and freelance artist based in Los Angeles. Valerie aspires to bring dance to new spaces, break boundaries of expectation, and share movement histories with each community she meets.

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Submitted by He Sissie on
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Stephanie Dai is a dancer, choreographer, and educator based in Los Angeles. She received her B.F.A. in dance as a 2019 inaugural graduate of the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance under the direction of Jodie Gates and William Forsythe. She has performed in the original choreographic works of the TL Collective, JA Collective, and BEMOVING in addition to dancing for COACH, GAP, Solange, CL, Porter Robinson, UNIQLO, and 88Rising. She is currently on faculty at the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts and has assisted with teaching and setting repertoire at the California Institute of the Arts and the University of Southern California dance programs. With her own work, Stephanie has been selected for residencies such as WIP LA at G-Son Studios, the Ghost Light Residency at the Barnsdall Theater, the USC Alumni Residency performance at the Glorya Kaufman Performance Center, and the Space Lab at LA Dance Project. Her most recent work “URETCHKO” premiered at Highways Performance Space in Los Angeles and was selected for the 2025 International Modern Dance Festival (MODAFE) in Seoul, Korea. She enjoys employing dance by means of feeling and images to convey the impalpable connections and hidden phenomena of life.  

Participant

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Marirosa Crawford is a Miami native and a New York based movement artist. She began her training at a local studio in Miami and went on to focus more extensively at New World School of the Arts. Crawford went on to study at SUNY Purchase where she received both her BFA in Dance and a BA in Literature. While at Purchase she worked with Doug Varone and Marcus Jarell Willis, and performed works by Martha Graham and José Limon. Shortly after graduating, she traveled to Montreal to attend Springboard Danse Montreal and had the opportunity perform works by Johannes Weiland and UNA Productions. Marirosa moved to Los Angeles after graduating, choreographing and performing her own solo work titled “measuring undercurrents”. During her time there she toured internationally with L.A. Dance Project, Volta Collective and worked extensively with Marcella Lewis, Bret Easterling, Chris Emile, and Genna Moroni. She has recently moved back to New York to continue researching her artistry as a performer and movement artist and hopes to begin her career as a writer.

Participant

Submitted by He Sissie on
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Kyle Carr Scheurich was born in 1992 in New York. In 2010 he graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts. During his time at LaGuardia High School he also studied at Manhattan Youth Ballet under the direction of Francois Perron. He graduated from The Juilliard School under the direction of Larry Rhodes, and joined Batsheva – the young Ensemble in 2014. Kyle joined Batsheva Dance Company in 2016-2021, with Ohad Nahirin acting as both artistic director and house choreographer. Kyle has performed with AMOC (American Modern Opera Company) for the stage premiere of Bobbi Jene Smith’s & Or Schreiber’s ‘Broken
Theatre’. In 2025 Kyle served as assistant director for AMOC’s ‘Rome is Falling’, premiered at Alice Tully Hall.

Currently Kyle performs in various works, under the direction of choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas, co-founder of P.OR.K (Portugal). Kyle is a teacher of Gaga movement language and works as a stager/rehearsal director for Ohad Nahirin at universities and dance companies around the world. Kyle is also a creator, choreographing and directing his own dance-theatre works. He is an Ilan Lev Method practitioner & musician.

Participant

Submitted by He Sissie on
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Asian Male dancer with black short hair

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Jonah Tran is a queer, Vietnamese American artist, originally from Mustang, Oklahoma. He is a New York City based freelance artist and earned his BFA in Dance at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. There, he had the privilege of performing works by acclaimed choreographers such as Kyle Abraham, Peter Chu, Bret Easterling, Roderick George, Jiří Kylián, and Micaela Taylor. Jonah furthered his training by participating in programs like the BEMOVING Dance Program under the direction of Bret Easterling, and Springboard Danse SpringboardX under the direction of Alexandra Wells. He has done workshops and worked creatively with artists such as Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schraiber, Dolly Sfier, Megan Paradowski, Lauren Edson, and JA Collective.

Participant

Submitted by He Sissie on
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Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bella Allen is a queer movement artist invested in work that engages individuals in connection-based movement practices. During her formative years she trained with Westside Dance Project and attended the Orange County School of the Arts. Bella graduated from the USC Kaufman School of Dance in 2022 where she organized community events in collaboration with peers, Change the Stigma, and USC Visions & Voices. Since graduating, Bella has worked with esteemed artists such as Bret Easterling, Charissa Kroeger, Genna Moroni, Sara Silkin, and Mike Tyus & Luca Renzi. Additionally, Bella has collaborated with LA based companies Volta Collective, GUM Collective, BEMOVING, and directors Claire Loudis, Curry Tian, and Joey Frank. Outside of her performance experience, Bella has continued her work in community engagement by teaching somatic classes at R&R Health to share the healing properties of communal movement. Bella is currently based in Los Angeles as a freelance artist.

Participant

Submitted by He Sissie on
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Originally from Portland, Oregon where he studied with the Jefferson Dancers, Austin went on to graduate from NYU - Tisch School of the Arts. Following university Austin became a member of Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance, then a performer and rehearsal director for Punchdrunk’s ‘Sleep No More’ in NYC. Austin currently freelances with a home base in LA performing for choreographers such as: Micaela Taylor, Rebecca Margolick, and Bret Easterling. Austin is a frequent contributor as a performer, teacher, and creative developer for BEMOVING, a LA based non-profit uplifting queer voices in dance. Austin is also a certified Pilates instructor and studying to become an Ilan Lev Method practitioner.

Participant

Submitted by He Sissie on
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Bret Easterling is a multidisciplinary artist, director, and educator creating performance, film, and community-based projects that use movement as a tool for connection, inquiry, and collective experience. He received his BFA and the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreography from The Juilliard School, and became a formative member of Gallim Dance and a prominent performer and creative contributor with Ohad Naharin’s internationally renowned Batsheva Dance Company.

Easterling has created and presented work across live performance and interdisciplinary platforms at institutions including Jacob’s Pillow, Lincoln Center, REDCAT, 92NY, Opera Philadelphia, LA Dance Project, AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), Whim W’Him, Backhausdance, b12, Dance Camera West, Dance on Camera Festival, and Hauser & Wirth. His collaborative practice includes projects with Anthony Roth Costanzo, Kesha, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and Jurassic Spine. He also maintains an artistic partnership with Julia Eichten as EICHTERLING, spanning choreography, curation, film, and fashion.

As Founder and Artistic Director of the LGBTQ+ nonprofit BEMOVING, Easterling builds infrastructure supporting the creation, presentation, and sustainability of dance. He is on faculty at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, co-director of Ghost Light Residency, co-founder of PAY DANCERS, and an Ilan Lev Method practitioner, grounding his work in care for artists.

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Dancers performing on stage
Subtitle
By BEMOVING
Page Summary
Choreographer Bret Easterling and Los Angeles-based company BEMOVING unite for a mesmerizing evening of dance.

Submitted by Sonia Zyvatkau… on
English
Alisha Wormsley

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Alisha Wormsley (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural producer and matriarichal revivalist. Their main concern is to transform the world to a place where people can live. Founder of Sibyls Shrine (a collective for Black artists who M/other) and visionary of There Are Black People In The Future, Cosmologyscape with collaborator Kite and the Children of NAN archive, all have been exhibited globally. Wormsley is a 2022 Guggenheim fellow, Sundance Interdisciplinary Awardee among others. Wormsley is an Assistant Professor of Art in the area of Social Practice and current Director of the MFA program at Carnegie Mellon University.

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