Artist Profiles
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR |
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LEYYA TAWIL Artistic Director of Dance Elixir Choreographer/Performer/Educator Leyya is an active participant in the contemporary dance community. Born in Detroit, Michigan to Syrian and Palestinian parents, Leyya enjoys exploring aspects of contemporary urban culture through her collaborative projects. She works in a movement style that integrates momentum, precision, and personality. Leyya has performed, choreographed and taught internationally, and has been presented by the Arab American National Museum, Oakland Art Gallery (CA), MT Space (Beirut), Alwan for the Arts (NYC), Studio 303 (Montreal), and in numerous venues throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Leyya has held faculty positions at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Visiting Artist), the University of San Francisco, Sonoma State University, Dance Mission Theater/School (SF), and ODC Dance Commons (SF). In the fall of 2007, she will join Middlebury College (Vermont) as the Artist-In-Residence in Dance. She has also guest taught at Mills College, Lebanese University, and other professional institutions. In the bay area, Leyya co-directs the Temescal Arts Center, a low-cost performance and rehearsal space for Oakland artists. She served on the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee (“the Izzies”) from 2003-2006. Leyya received degrees in dance from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (BDA) and Mills College-Oakland (MFA). Her work has received support from Theatre Bay Area/ Dancers Group CA$H Grant, the Zellerbach Family Fdn, W&F Hewlett Fdn, W A Gerbode Fdn, the Clorox Company Fdn, the East Bay Community Fdn, City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program, and Numi Tea.
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TOPHER KEYES DE's Resident Composer Topher Keyes is the Resident Composer of Dance Elixir. He has also created original scores and sound design for Erica Essner Performance Co-op, EmSpace Dance, Shotgun Players, African American Shakespeare, Los Medanos College Theater, Black Box Theatre, and the Speakeasy Theatre. As an observer, performer, and collaborator, Christopher’s time in the bay area has helped him develop a greater interest and understanding of the dance world. Through participation in regular rehearsals and interaction with other artists his music is able to naturally emerge from the choreography as it develops. Though he works entirely with his electronic studio, Christopher uses organic sources for all of his work. This allows acoustic instruments, environmental recordings, and his own voice and body to become the soundscape from which his music comes. Topher has a degree in Music Education from Miami University and he also studied electronic music composition at the University of Michigan with Steven Rush and Evan Chambers. |
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Mark Gergis Music Artist and Performer |
Mark Gergis is an Oakland, California-based artist and performer. Since the late-1980s, he has produced and recorded volumes of original compositions and audio works. Mark is a co-founder of the experimental Bay Area music and performance collective Mono Pause and it’s offshoot Neung Phak, which performs inspired renditions of music from Southeast Asia. Both groups have enjoyed successful domestic and international tours. Additionally, Mark collaborates with numerous artists, both locally and abroad. Under the name Porest, Mark has released several critically acclaimed solo efforts incorporating multi-layered music, audio collage, field recordings and surrealistic radio dramas. Mark is an audio and film editor by trade and has composed for dance, film and theater in North America and Europe. Since 2003, he has actively partnered with Sublime Frequencies, an ethnographic music and film collective out of Seattle, Washington. In Sublime Frequencies, he has found a platform to aptly share decades of research and countless hours of archived international music, film footage and field recordings acquired during extensive travels in the Middle East and South East Asia. As these travels continue, several independently produced films and CD releases are concurrently in production. |
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DAVID SZLASA Media Installation Artist |
David Szlasa is committed to producing art and artists with a conscious desire to affect social change. David has created, directed and produced three original interdisciplinary performance pieces: Dissection (1997), Light (2000), and GADGET (2004) that have been seen in and around NY. David is the former Production Manager and Designer in Residence at the Culture Project @ 45 Bleecker from 2002-2004. Prior to this engagement, David was the Production Manager and Designer for Theater Artaud in San Francisco. David has collaborated with Bill “Crutchmaster” Shannon for the past 5 years and played venues including the Edinburgh Fringe, Walker Arts Center, The Kitchen, and Sydney Opera House. In 2001, David toured to the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe with Universal Arts’ the Beat. Other NY design credits: Rennie Harris Puremovement Facing MeKKa (lights), Holderness Theater Company Life of Spiders (set), Synaesthetic Theatre The Trial of K (set), Deb Margolin’s Index to Idioms (lights and video), Miss Julie (video) and Five Flights (lights) at The Rattlestick Theater. David holds a BFA from Tisch and a MA in New Media and Performance from the Gallatin School, NYU and taught design for Playwrights Horizon’s Theater School, a division of NYU. Currently, David is the production manager and designer in residence at Z Space in San Francisco. |
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MALINDA TRIMBLE Stage/Set Designer |
Set Designer/Installer Malinda Trimble received her dramatic education at
the University of California, Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and
Television (BA Theater) and New York University (MA - Arts Theory and Educationa). Since then she has designed, built, painted, and installed sets for the Palo Alto
Childrens Theater (CA), UCLA, New York University, The Kitchen (NYC), The Geffen |
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PHILL WEBER Writer |
Phill Weber writes late at night, mainly during fits of insomnia. He has produced over a hundred short stories, a novel (“Faces”), and a spoken-word album (“Ticket to Chaos”). He is currently at work on a screenplay. Check out www.phillweber.com |
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Isabelle Sjahsam loves dancing for Leyya. She began dancing at age four, receiving her training at Marin Ballet, the Royal Academy of Dance in London, and the Taylor School in New York. She completed her BA in dance at Mills College in 2002, and since then has danced in several small companies and choreographed in San Francisco. |
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Marlena Penney Oden received her early training on full scholarship at The Chattanooga Ballet and attended the School for Performing Arts in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She eventually landed in the Pacific Northwest and received her B.S. in Dance from the University of Oregon. Since arriving in the Bay Area in 2003, she has worked with numerous local choreographers and currently dances with Nina Haft & Co., Paufve Dance, and Leyya Tawil’s Dance Elixir. Marlena devotes most of her time to Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, California where she teaches modern dance to teens and adults and is the program director of the Shawl-Anderson Youth Ensemble. Marlena has also taught dance in public schools as a teaching artist in the Lincoln Center Institute Program. |
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Jeremiah Crank |
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Erin Mei-Ling Stuart has been dancing and choreographing in the Bay Area since 1994. Her company, EmSpace Dance, has performed at venues throughout the Bay Area and California. Erin has had the immense pleasure of performing with Huckabay McAllister Dance, Chris Black/Potrzebie Dance Project, SHIFT Physical Theater, ESP Project, June Watanabe, Stephen Pelton Dance Theater, Flyaway Productions, and many other wonderful companies. |
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Janet Collard grew up dancing and singing her way throughout the bay area to finally discover modern dance in her young adult life. She ended up receiving her BFA in dance from CalArts and her MFA in dance from Mills College. She has danced throughout southern and northern California for noted companies such as Trip Dance Theater and Collage Dance Theater as well as a project with Joe Goode. She has also danced for Molissa Fenley, Katie Faulkner's little seismic dance company, Sonsheree Giles and is thrilled to be dancing for Dance Elixir. Janet currently lives in Oakland with her husband Raja. |
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Ken Scott, o riginally a native of Los Angeles, began his training at The Performing Arts Center of Van Nuys where he was a featured dancer in a variety of soloist roles. Since moving to San Francisco, Ken has received formal training from the San Francisco Ballet and Academy of Ballet in San Francisco. Since then he has expanded his training to include various forms of modern, release technique and hip hop. He has had the opportunity to perform with, and for Chamberdance, Printz Dance Project, the Harvest Festival, Spectacles Productions, Shotgun Players, and Deborah Slater Dance Theater. He is currently a teacher at the ODC dance commons and the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. |
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Jacqueline Lounsbury |
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Zari Le’on creative director of The Contemporary Vernacular Movement in Oakland, California, creates dance stories through her muse,Zari Le'on Dance Theater . Originally from Santa Cruz, she started dancing with her mother in a community dance program, and has considered dance her religion ever since. As a disciple of movement, she considers Reginald Ray-Savage, Rhodessa Jones, Robert Henry Johnson, Dr. Albirda Rose, and the late, great Katherine Dunham to be among her dance mentors. |
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Alexis Mian got her papers from Stanford (BA/theater) and Mills College (MFA/dance). While living in San Francisco, she has studied and taught numerous forms of embodiment such as hatha yoga, tai chi, pilates, Thai kickboxing, orthopedic massage, craniosacral therapy, & Vipassana meditation. Alexis has danced with various Bay Area artists including Kim Epifano and Anne Westwick, and performed with Molissa Fenley in San Francisco and New York. She has been happily performing with DE since 2003. |
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Angelina Vasile first discovered modern dance at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon at the age of nineteen. While there, she studied and performed with Margo Van Ummersen's Rose Hips and was also exposed to various well-known touring companies, such as the Joe Goode Performance Group. This exposure prompted her to move to San Francisco to pursue a degree in Dance peformance and choreography. After graduating from SFSU in 2000 she has had the great pleasure of working with Lea Wolf, Potrezebie Dance, and other independent artists. She is currently a fourth year member of Mary Carbonara Dances and is joyously ecstatic to be a part of the Dance Elixir family. |
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| Bekah Barnett Jennifer Martinez Emmy Naranjo Cabatic |
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DE Staff Leyya Tawil, Executive Director Isabelle Sjahsam, Assistant to Director Jenny Gerhart, Intern Aine Coughlan, Graphic Designer Liz Payne, Photographer Maxine Moerman, Videographer |
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Photos by Lydia Daniller, Rob Kunkle, Liz Payne |
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