Late Bloomer: Final Tuning Performance

Alejandro Ronceria is an internationally acclaimed director/choreographer/dance dramaturge based in Toronto. He directs and produces dance/theatrical productions internationally and mentors Indigenous choreographers and productions.

Ronceria was the co-founder/Program Director of the first Aboriginal Dance Program in North America at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. During his five-year tenure, the groundbreaking program brought together Indigenous and Inuit performers from across Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Greenland, and New Zealand. His dance films have screened at TIFF and Sundance. Classically trained in ballet in Colombia, he holds an MFA in Dance Dramaturgy from York University. Ronceria was inducted into the Dance Collection Danse Hall of Fame.

Ana Sánchez-Colberg is a Puerto Rican multidisciplinary artist working internationally. Her trajectory begins in choreography and dance. She established Theatre enCorps in 1989-2021and has a track record of award-winning works created and performed in over forty cities world-wide.  She has been awarded Fellowships by the Swedish Research Council, Arts Council of England, British Council amongst others. She has also been a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Award in 2016 and the recipient of the highly coveted MAP Funding (USA) award in 2019, among other awards and recognitions.

Since 2016 Sánchez-Colberg moves fully into non-stage multidisciplinary/cross-arts works based on experimentation with generative compositional rules to create new forms of collaborative and participatory contemporary art. The works defy categorization as they bring together elements of fine and visual art, audio composition, movement, photography and film, live documentation in works that question the relationship between art institutions, the 'art-object' and the subjects involved in the creation and reception. 

She is the Artistic and Executive Director of Vision.AI.R-e, a company developing multidisciplinary projects integrating performing arts and new technologies. 
 

Arun has worked extensively in the performing arts for 30 years. He trained at York University earning a Specialized Honours B.F.A in Design & Production. Select dance collaborators have included Robert Desrosiers, Peter Chin, Danny Grossman, COBA, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, Tiger Princess Dance Projects, The National Ballet School and ProArteDanza.  He has been the resident designer for Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre since 2002.  Theatre credits include Soulpepper Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Pleaides Theatre, Crow’s Theatre, The Stratford Festival, Factory Theatre, The Canadian Stage Co., The Globe Theatre, Cahoots Theatre Projects, Musical Stage Co., Luminato & Buddies In Bad Times Theatre.  His career has garnered him nine Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations for Outstanding Lighting Design in both the theatre and dance categories. 

In the musical theatre world, he was the Toronto Associate designer for The Lion King for Mirvish Productions. In addition to theatre and dance, he has designed concerts for The Art of Time Ensemble, New Music Concerts and Nagata Shachu Ensemble.  He has worked on galleries at The Royal Ontario Museum and for The Thompson - Landry Gallery. Arun has had the privilege of teaching lighting design at York University, TMU (formerly Ryerson University), the University of Waterloo and mentorship at The National Theatre School.  Productions have taken him to Ukraine, Malaysia, Singapore, India, China and across North America. He is thrilled to be joining the faculty here for this new exciting program. Following his time here, Arun will be returning to The Stratford Festival to design Much Ado About Nothing.

Edgardo Moreno is  a Canadian-Chilean composer based in Hamilton, Ontario.He has been commissioned  for projects in Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, Sweden, Norway, Argentina, Colombia, England and USA.  He has worked extensively with contemporary dance choreographers and artists including Penny Couchie,  Justin Manyfingers, Alejandro Ronceria, Allen Kaeja, Karen Kaeja, Olga Barrios, Tara Butler, Lilia Leon, Norma Araiza, Rulan Tangen, Starr Muranko,Tasha Faye Evans, Jeanette Kotowich, Carlos Rivera, Sara Roque, Diana Lopez.  He is presently working in creating video and live sound pieces that are part of his Fireflyproject. www.musicamoreno.com  www.fireflyproject.ca

Hélène Simoneau (she/her) is a choreographer exploring themes of intimacy, agency, identity, sexuality, and power. In the last few years, she has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Choreography Fellowship at New York City Center, and most recently, she was awarded a Pillow Lab residency at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA. She was also a resident artist at Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYU/Tisch, NCCAkron, and a fellow of The NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts, Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab, the Bogliasco Foundation, and the Swiss International Coaching Project for Choreographers (SiWiC) in Zurich. Simoneau was awarded first place for Choreography at the 13th Internationales Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, for her solo “the gentleness was in her hands.” Her choreography has been commissioned by Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Juilliard School, Charlotte Ballet, PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, Vitacca Ballet, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, BalletX, the Ailey School, Dimensions Dance Theatre, and the American Dance Festival. Originally from Eastern Québec, Simoneau now divides her time between Montréal and NYC.

Photo Credit: Whitney Browne

David Ferri (he/him) has worked with prominent choreographers such as Pina Bausch, Shen Wei, Doug Varone, Yin Mei, Eiko and Koma, Jane  Comfort, David Rousseve, Jody Sperling and Ballet Preljocaj. He has been the Production Manager for the prestigious American Dance Festival since 1996 training upcoming designers in America. Recipient of 1987-1988 BESSIE AWARD for his design of Doug Varone's "Straits", and 2000-2001 BESSIE AWARD for Sustained Achievement in Lighting Design. David is the resident Lighting Designer - Technical Director for The Vassar College Dance Department and was also resident lighting designer and technical director at PS 122 from 1985-1991. 

Melanie George (she/her) is an educator, choreographer, scholar, and certified movement analyst. As a curator and dramaturg specializing in rooted jazz dance and adjacent dance forms, and contemporary dance-theatre, she has worked on projects for Urban Bush Women, Raja Feather Kelly, Hélène Simoneau, Dormeshia, Susan Marshall, Alice Sheppard, Kimberly Bartosik, and SW!NG OUT, among others. She is the Associate Curator and Scholar in Residence at Jacob’s Pillow, Assistant Professor in dance at Rutgers University, and has guest lectured at Harvard University, Yale School of Drama, and The Juilliard School. Named one of Dance Magazine’s 30 over 30, she is the recipient of the Outstanding Leadership Award from the National Dance Education Organization. Melanie is currently touring as emcee/dramaturg/movement explorer with the Bessie-Award winning LaTasha Barnes Presents The Jazz Continuum.

Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón (she/her) writes music for accordions, robotic instruments, toys, and electronics as well as for chamber ensembles, orchestras, choir, and film. Her music has been described as “wistfully idiosyncratic and contemplative” (WQXR/Q2) while The New York Times noted her “capacity to surprise.” Negrón has been commissioned by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Kronos Quartet, loadbang, Prototype Festival, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Sō Percussion, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, the Louisville Orchestra and the New York Botanical Garden, among others. Angélica received an early education in piano and violin at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico where she later studied composition under the guidance of composer Alfonso Fuentes. She holds a master’s degree in music composition from New York University where she studied with Pedro da Silva and pursued doctoral studies at The Graduate Center (CUNY), where she studied composition with Tania León. Also active as an educator, Angélica is currently a teaching artist for New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program. She has collaborated with artists like Sō Percussion, Lido Pimienta, Mathew Placek, Sasha Velour, Cecilia Aldarondo, Mariela Pabón & Adrienne Westwood, among others and is a founding member of the tropical electronic band Balún. She was recently an Artist-in-Residence at WNYC’s The Greene Space working on El Living Room, a 4-part offbeat variety show and playful multimedia exploration of sound and story, of personal history and belonging. She was the recipient of the 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize. Upcoming premieres include works for the Seattle Symphony, LA Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra and NY Philharmonic Project 19 initiative and multiple performances at Big Ears Festival 2022. Negrón continues to perform and compose for film.

Quinn Czejkowski (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist exploring movement, costumes, floral design, and tattooing. Based in Brooklyn, they are intensely curious about how we move, dress, treat, adorn, and otherwise ascribe meaning and identity to and from our bodies. Most recently, they were constructing costumes for the new immersive show, Life & Trust. Past and future collaborators include: Helen Simoneau, Adrienne Westwood, Kimberly Bartosik, Jen Rosenblit, among others.

Paige Amicon (she/her) is a Los Angeles based dance artist and teacher. Her performance experience includes works by Ate9 Dance Company/Danielle Agami, Santa Barbara Dance Theater/Brandon Whited, Hélène Simoneau, Yuval Sharon/Cleveland Orchestra, Long Beach Opera, Mallory Fabian and the Merce Cunningham Trust. She graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under Susan Jaffe with a BFA in Contemporary Dance.

From Southern California, Liane (she/her) is a freelance artist residing in the NYC/NJ region. She has had the pleasure to collaborate, create and travel on tour with Flockworks Dance, Yin Yue Dance Company (YYDC), Alejandro Cerrudo, Seattle Dance Collective (SDC), Schoen Movement Company, Erica Essner Performance Co-Op, KT Neihoff, Entity Contemporary Dance Company, PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, Bryan Arias, NVA & Guests and Helene Simoneau Danse (HSD).

Before her freelancing career, Liane spent six seasons in Seattle, WA with Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Company under the direction of Olivier Wevers. With Whim, Liane had the opportunity to perform and collaborate in original creations with Joseph Hernandez, Ihsan Rustem, Maurya Kerr, Yin Yue, Flockworks Dance, Miceala Taylor, Ethan Colangelo, Mark Caserta, Penny Saunders, Banning Bouldin, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Danielle Agami, Larry Kegwin, Brendan Duggan, Zoe Scofield and Sidra Bell amongst others.

Liane received her education in Dance at the University of California, Irvine where she graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Arts Degree in Dance Performance and a Minor in Digital Arts. At UCI, she worked alongside the late Donald McKayle in his Etude Ensemble performing his legendary works. Liane has also participated in The San Francisco Conservatory Intensive and the Alvin Ailey Intensive to continue growth in her training. After UCI, Liane was honored to jump into her dance career with Backhausdance in Southern California where she spent five seasons with Backhausdance. There Liane performed original works & repertoire under the direction of Jenny Backhaus. 

Joe (he/him) was raised in upstate New York, receiving his training under the direction of Jamey Leverett. He obtained his BFA from The Juilliard School with scholarships from The NYCDA Foundation and Cornell University. From 2016-2022 he joined BODYTRAFFIC, where he travelled to Algeria, Jakarta, and Hong Kong as a cultural ambassador. He has performed works by Jiř í Kyliá n, Crystal Pite, Nacho Duato, Micaela Taylor, Kyle Abraham, Hofesh Shechter, Alejandro Cerudo, Barak Marshall, Camille A. Brown, Twyla Tharp, amongst others. In 2019 he co-founded HD Theatre with Haley Heckethorn, which has been presented at LA Dance Festival, Palm Springs Choreography Festival, Laguna Dance Festival, Carmel Dance Festival, and has been in residency at Korzo Theatre (Netherlands), Windward School (Los Angeles) and DPAC (San Diego). As an educator, he has taught classes at Steps on Broadway, Loyola Marymount University, University of Arizona, Chapman University, Santa Monica College, UCLA and New York City Dance Alliance. He is currently on faculty at CalArts, and is a registered Dance Church® teacher, an all-inclusive and community driven outlet to dancing. Joe aims to create safe spaces for people of all identities and backgrounds through open dialogue, playful research and cacophonous laughter.

Juan Duarte (they/them) is a Brazilian Contemporary Ballet dancer based in Vancouver, Canada. After graduating from Bolshoi Ballet School and moving to Vancouver, they/he have trained with Lamondance Company and Arts Umbrella Dance Company, leading into working at Ballet BC, under the direction of Emily Molnar.

Since 2021 Juan started their journey as a freelancer where they/he have had the opportunity to work with Move The Company, Traverse City Dance Project, Corporeal Imago, Dance//Novella, Belle Spirale Dance Projects, Hélène Simoneau Danse and Aeriosa.

Juan continues to share their/his beauty and artistry with the world, and has been a powerful member of the queer scene in Vancouver. As an ambitious and dedicated performer Juan is looking forward to what the future has to offer, and is very excited to continue to explore the meaning of diversity in the dance industry.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Benoit

Alisia Pobega (she/her) completed her dance training in Montréal at L'École Supérieure de ballet du Québec. 

In 2000, Alisia joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens where she danced for over 12 years, performing in works by numerous international choreographers and rising to the rank of soloist. 

She is currently an independent artist in Montréal dancing for choreographers Jane Mappin, Andrew Skeels, Hélène Simoneau and Kvarcakova-Galdeano and is a member of The Legacy Project, directed by Margie Gillis. 

Along with Louis-Martin Charest, they have developed and teach a series of workshops: Presence and Interpretation Method For Dancers. They have also collaborated on several short dance films. 

Alisia teaches classical ballet and contemporary dance for established institutions such as Danse à la Carte, Studios GB, l’École Supérieure de ballet du Québec, L’École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, Springboard Danse Montréal and Compagnie Marie Chouinard. She also spends time in the studio as rehearsal-director, rehearsing pieces for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Cas Public, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (BJM), Véronique Giasson and Anne Plamondon Productions. 

Since June 2023, she has been the Artistic and General Director of Danse à la Carte.

Photo Credit: Michael Slobodian

Amanda Sachs (she/her) is a freelance artist based in Denver, CO. Originally from New Jersey, she moved to San Francisco for the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program. In 2014, Sachs joined The Francesca Harper Project in NYC where she performed in notable theaters such as The Joyce, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Amanda toured internationally with Metamorphosis Dance from 2013-2017. She was a company member of TU Dance from 2017-2020. During her time with the company she performed works including Alvin Ailey’s solo Witness and Night Creature, and Walking with Pearl: Africa Diaries by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. She is an original member of Come Through, an evening-length collaboration with
GRAMMY-winning musician Bon Iver and TU Dance, which toured extensively. In 2021, she joined NW Dance Project in Portland. With NWDP, Amanda performed works by Ihsan Rustem, Yin Yue, Joseph Hernandez, Sarah Slipper, and Luca Veggetti. Amanda premiered in Ashwini Ramaswamy's Invisible Cities and Ben Frost’s Cold Air Rises as part of The Great Northern Festival in January 2023. Currently she is a guest artist with the Lyric Opera, Hélène Simoneau Danse, and PARA.MAR Dance Theatre. Amanda received an MSAB Creative Individuals grant in July 2024.

Hailed by the Boston Globe as "absorbing, steadfast and compelling", Frances Lorraine Samson (she/her) is a New York based artist originally from Toronto, Canada. She has been featured by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), TEDx and Harper's Bazaar, and has had the honor of working for institutions such as The Juilliard School, SUNY Purchase College and the Danish National Academy of Music. Frances was a principal dancer with the Limón Dance Company from 2017-2023 and is currently on faculty for the Limón Institute. She has had the pleasure of collaborating with artists such as Twyla Tharp, Baye & Asa, Raúl Tamez, Madeline Hollander, Jamar Roberts, Aszure Barton, Francesca Harper and Kate Weare. Frances is the 2023 recipient of the Clive Barnes Award for Dance and is an unarmed actor combatant certified by The Society of American Fight Directors.

Kevin J. Shannon (he/him) was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and is a graduate of The Juilliard School. He was a dancer with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, where he performed leading roles in works by Kyle Abraham, Aszure Barton, Alejandro Cerrudo, Peter Chu, Sharon Eyal, William Forsythe, Jirí Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Twyla Tharp, and Robyn Mineko Williams among many others. As an educator, he has led and programmed the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Summer Intensive, was on faculty for the Gibney Pro certificate program under the direction of Alexandra Wells and is currently a guest teacher for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, José Limón Dance Company, and Gibney Company. Kevin has been a visiting artist for the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and a guest educator for the University of Chicago. Kevin is a certified IMAGE TECH for dancers™ teacher. He continues to perform as a freelance artist dancing with Brian Brooks/Moving Company, Flockworks Dance, Danielle Russo, Hélène Simoneau Danse, and kNonAme/Roderick George Artists. He has also had the privilege to stage the works of Robyn Mineko Williams.