Shura Baryshnikov (she/her/hers) (Improvised Solo in Silence) is a multimodal artist who works broadly as a dancer/actor/improviser, somatic movement educator, and a choreographer for projects across dance, theatre, and opera. Shura has co-founded a number of dance projects, including the Contact Improvisation research and performance ensemble Set Go with dancers Paul Singh, Sarah Konner, Aaron Brandes, and Bradley Teal Ellis, and has recently collaborated with dancemakers Gabriel Forestieri, Heidi Henderson, and Betsy Miller as well as dancer/choreographer Danielle Davidson in the creation of the contemporary dance project, Doppelgänger Dance Collective. Shura is Head of Physical Theatre for the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Program in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University and has also instructed at MIT, Dean College, and Connecticut College, among others. Shura has recently created choreographies for Urbanity Dance, Khambatta Dance Company, and Boston Lyric Opera, and performed with Odyssey Opera, The Gamm, and Trinity Repertory Company. In non-pandemic times, Shura maintains an active national and international teaching practice at dance festivals and training institutions. Ultimately interested in applications of practice in pedagogy, process, and performance, she employs work in the Viewpoints Technique, Safety Release Technique, Action Theater, and Contact Improvisation to create deeply-sensitized, collaborative spaces. She is a member of both Actor’s Equity Association and the American Guild of Musical Artists. More at www.shurabaryshnikov.com
Lauren Hale Biniaris (The Lovecats) graduated from Brown in 2002. She is a dancer, writer, and yoga teacher based in New York’s Hudson Valley. Lauren has taught, performed, and choreographed throughout the country in settings ranging from universities to museums, high schools to public parks, dance studios to arts festivals. Lauren is also Community Relations Manager and an Ensemble member of Dancing Legacy, L3C. She also regularly performs with Tina Croll’s award-winning production, From the Horse’s Mouth. Lauren holds an MFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She has received grants from the Queens Council on the Arts, the Puffin Foundation, and Fractured Atlas. She also received a Best of Fringe Editor’s Pick in the inaugural Rochester Fringe Festival and is a blogger and published poet.
Marley Carroll ’21 Marley began dancing when she was two years old. She has trained in many styles—including modern, contemporary, tap, and ballet—and has taught and choreographed contemporary and tap dances since high school. At Brown, she is a member of Dance Extension and a co-director of What’s on Tap?. Marley is a senior concentrating in Middle East Studies.
Rachel Hemmer ’23 began dancing at Berkshire Dance Theatre, joined Burr and Burton Academy’s theatre and dance classes and various productions, and has been a member of Extension since her first year at Brown. Outside of dance, she is pursuing a degree in Astrophysics and works as an undergraduate teaching assistant for the introductory astronomy courses.
lisa nevada (Trees) is a naturalist, a dancemaker, collaborator & accomplice, and enthusiastic educator based in the pre-settler territory of the Canarsie aka Brooklyn, NY. her practice has led to gifts of opportunities to meet, listen, learn, and witness an array of humans and more-than-human kin. her encounters with these life forces bolster her deep desire to create offerings of performance and education that highlight our innate relationship to place/Earth, and an urgent commitment to the health and restoration of plants and trees, soil, water, and animals. lisa organizes and facilitates opportunities to engage all peoples in the observation of ecosystems of the natural world and of our human interactions to ignite a kinship with Mama Earth, centered on gratitude. her current research delves into the sonic realms of lullaby and wailing in response to humanity’s active destruction of psyche and home. lisa is the recipient of a month-long residency at Ucross in Wyoming for spring 2021 where she will continue her research.
lisa is Special Projects Coordinator and an Ensemble Member with Dancing Legacy, a performing and teaching ensemble committed to enabling individuals to appreciate and participate in the rich dance heritage of the United States. she is an active member of Hungry Mothers, a trans-disciplinary collective developing modes of artistic practice that center remedial relations with Earth’s land & waters in envisioning a future of collective liberation.
lisa received her MFA in Dance from the University of New Mexico with concentrations in land-based choreography and performance, embodied dance history, and teaching. in 2015 SHIFT | DANCE was founded and launched by Jacqueline García, Kelsey Paschich, and lisa nevada. the trio also instigated SHIFT DANCE | FESTIVAL, one of the only annual dance festivals in Albuquerque, NM to present contemporary, research-based, and experimental dance forms from artists across the nation.
Erika Pujič (Realms) was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio where she began her dance training at the School of Cleveland Ballet and the Cleveland School of the Arts. She went on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Juilliard School where she was the recipient of the Martha Hill Award. Upon graduation, Ms. Pujič danced with Gloria Marina’s Spanish Dance Ensemble performing in New Jersey Opera’s “Carmen”. She was a principal dancer and rehearsal director for Henning Rubsam’s SENSEDANCE for seven years. Ms. Pujič was a founding member and rehearsal director for Battleworks Dance Company during it’s 10-year span (2000-2010). She has been an integral part of the creation of many works for Robert Battle and she has been dancing and setting his works for over 25 years. She was a Visiting Guest Professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque for the fall 2013 and fall 2014 semesters and a Visiting Guest Artist at George Mason University for the spring 2014 semester. Ms. Pujič is currently on faculty at Skidmore College and she has been an adjunct at Queensborough Community College since 2008. She has created works for The Ailey School, Marymount Manhattan College, Long Island University Brooklyn Campus, University of New Mexico, Skidmore College, ABT’s Summer Intensives, Summer Arts Institute, Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and New York State Summer School of the Arts. Ms. Pujič is also an Ensemble Member of Dancing Legacy.
Wendy Rein ’99: A native New Yorker, Wendy Rein (’99) has been dancing and breaking furniture since age 3. She co-founded RAWdance in San Francisco and brings over 20 years of professional experience to her work as a performer, choreographer, producer, curator, and teacher. Wendy has had the privilege of performing with artists such as Amy Seiwert, Deborah Slater, Alma Esperanza Cunningham, and Nancy Karp. She also worked for seven years in front of the camera and behind the scenes on a series of dance film projects with RJ Muna. After 16 years in the Bay Area, Wendy recently shifted to New York’s Hudson Valley as RAWdance expanded to two locations.
Patricia Seto-Weiss is Visiting Lecturer in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University, where she has taught ballet courses since 2018. In addition to her position at Brown, she is on the faculty at New Haven Ballet and Chrystie Street Ballet Academy in New York City. Originally from Germany, Ms. Seto-Weiss graduated from the Iwanson School of Contemporary Dance in Munich before continuing her studies at The Ailey School in New York. She began her teaching career at Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech, where she worked closely with Tammi Shamblin and Beth Barrow. She created and taught the Teen Ballet Series at the Ailey Extension, the open dance program of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, from its inception in 2007 until 2011. She has choreographed opera productions at Columbia University and The Juilliard School, presented work at The Ailey Citigroup Theatre as Artistic Director of VQ Dance Productions, and collaborated with visual artists Annegret Hoch and Susanne Thiemann in New York and Germany. www.patriciasetoweiss.com
Ryan T. Smith’02 received his BA in Theatre Arts and French Literature from Brown University. In the Bay Area, Ryan had the opportunity to work with artists such as Alma Esperanza Cunningham, Stephen Pelton, and Amy Seiwert, and was a member of the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company for 11 years, touring nationally and internationally, and participating in collaborations with artists and organizations in Kochin, Kolkata, Guangzhou, and Jerusalem. He has served as Co-Artistic Director of RAWdance since 2004, shifting from the Bay Area to New York’s Hudson Valley in 2019.
Charly Wenzel (PAUSE) is an actress, dancer, choreographer and award winning filmmaker. She won multiple awards for her experimental films “Global Tides”, “Licht”, “Schein”, “PAUSE” and “Faces”, which were screened at film festivals worldwide. Charly was the Artistic Director of her own project based dance company in NYC, she was the Associate Artistic Director of Naganuma Dance and she worked as the Rehearsal Director for Bodystories: Teresa Fellion Dance. Charly danced at the Bavarian State Opera Ballet in Germany and she performed with Shadowbox Theater, Naganuma Dance, Keila Cordova Dances, Bodystories, LolaLola Dance Theater, Morningside Opera, Soul Movement and others. For the past four years she was a performer in the Bessie award winning production “Then She Fell” by Third Rail Projects. More information at www.charlywenzel.com.
PERFORMANCE GROUPS
Dance Extension
Dance Extension was established in 1979 by Julie Adams Strandberg Brown University’s founding director of dance, on the premise that the training of dancers must include the opportunity to perform, teach, and revisit masterworks. While the dancers in the company are encouraged and supported to create their own work, they also have the opportunity, rare in the academy, to work with some of our most revered choreographers and exciting contemporary innovators. Dance Extension has performed dances by Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, José Limón, Jack Cole, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Pilobolus, Colin Connor, Carolyn Dorfman, Anne-Alex Packard, Billy Siegenfeld ’70 and Lisa Race. The repertory includes works by Carolyn Adams, Ruth Andrien, Laura Bennett ‘92, Danny Buraczeski, Danny Grossman, Donna Jewell, Lorry May, Carla Maxwell, Donald McKayle, David Parsons, Pearl Primus, and Charles Weidman. Dance Extension has performed at elementary and secondary schools; at other colleges; for Brown University Alumni Clubs in England, Illinois, California, New York, and Washington, DC; for general audiences in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York City, Boston, and Saratoga Springs; and was hired to perform and lead workshops with dance educators and students in the Syracuse public school system.
Dance for All People (DAPpers)
Dance for All People (DAPpers) was created in 2013 by Rachel Balaban ‘80, inspired by the Dance for PD® program developed by the Mark Morris Dance Group. DAPpers was first designed for individuals with Parkinson’s disease and other movement challenges and now includes people of all ages and all abilities. Rachel has adapted Repertory Etudes for the DAPpers who perform annually with Dancing Legacy, and in 2016, the DAPpers travelled to New York City where they performed Rainbow Etude and had a coaching session with choreographer David Parsons on Parsons Etude. DAPppers grew out of Artists and Scientists as Partners (ASaP), co-founded by Rachel with Julie Adams Strandberg. By partnering with diverse individuals and institutions and pioneering interdisciplinary research among artists, humanists, and natural and social scientists, ASaP facilitates the emergence of new knowledge and the design and implementation of accessible art programs that holistically address medical and social issues.
Dancing Legacy Ensemble
Dancing Legacy has grown out of the life’s work of dance icons and collaborating sisters, Carolyn Adams and Julie Adams Strandberg, who recognize and honor dance as one of our nation’s greatest cultural assets. Ensemble members are frontline representatives of the reflective, collaborative, and creative practice in communicating the dynamic heritage of American dance. A devoted group of independent dancers, the Dancing Legacy Ensemble performs in showcases, as guest performers with other companies, and as a company-in-residence at partner sites. The performing repertory includes Repertory Etudes, full works, and new choreography. In addition to performing, Ensemble members conduct teaching residencies with dance students across the country and play a central role in Repertory Etudes development. Although Dancing Legacy is based in Rhode Island, the Ensemble maintains a flexible format, similar to a jazz music ensemble, with members living across the USA and guest artists joining for selected projects and performances. The company maintains ongoing programming with partners at Brown University, New York State Summer School for the Arts, and Bak Middle School of the Arts.
RAWdance
RAWdance is an award-winning company that is committed to creating adventurous, thoughtful, and welcoming programming that challenges what contemporary dance is, where it happens, who it includes, and the role it plays in our lives. A Home Company of ODC Theater in San Francisco, RAWdance has performed across the U.S. and in Asia, and has screened short dance films in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America. Under the shared artistic direction of Ryan T. Smith, Wendy Rein, and Katerina Wong, the company has also presented works by over 125 artists through its curatorial programming. RAWdance prioritizes increasing access to art by bringing dance directly into the public sphere as well as the theater. The company has performed in SF’s art galleries, parks, civic spaces, restaurants, a mall, the library, and more. In 2019, the company expanded to include a new branch in NY’s Hudson Valley.