Disposable Bodies

William Robinson holds a B.F.A. in Modern Dance Performance from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and was awarded the school’s prestigious President’s Award, along with the 2008 Outstanding Achievement in Modern Dance award. Mr. Robinson has also taught modern dance technique based on the work of Doris Humphrey at Temple University in Philadelphia, and is currently a member of Cardell Dance Theatre and Brian Sanders’ JUNK, both based in Philadelphia. He has also worked with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Momix, Group Motion, Curt Haworth, Wally Cardona, Rennie Harris, David Crosby, and Raven Symone, the Local Dance History Project as part of the Philadelphia Dance Projects.

Merián Soto,  choreographer and performance artist. Soto is best known for her interdisciplinary solo, group and collaborative works that explore and reflect upon the legacy of colonialism and Latino heritage, history and culture. Soto earned a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from The Gallatin School Of Individualized Study at New York University and she received a Masters of Arts in Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Soto is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards. In 2015 she received a fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage recognizing her 40-year career in dance performance, focusing on the body’s relationship to consciousness and creating “a dance of the future, a dance of healing, transformation, and transcendence.” Soto is the Founding Artistic Director, along with Patti Bradshaw and Pepón Osorio, of Pepatián, the Bronx-based, multi-disciplinary Latino arts organization. In that capacity, she developed and produced numerous projects featuring works by emerging Latino dance and performance artists, including the Latino dance and performance festival, Rompeforma: Maratón De Baile, Performance y  Visuales,  co-directed with Viveca Vázquez, and presented in Puerto Rico from 1989-1996

Current projects include Fenomenal, Rompeforma 1989-1996, a documentary co-directed and produced with Viveca Vázquez; Dancing Shadows Series—videos and choreo-photo-graphics documenting her own shadow in movement; ongoing collaborations with Eiko Otake and Awilda Sterling, and Legacy Unboxed,  with  choreographers  Liz Lerman, Jawolle Zollar, Johanna Haigood, Eiko Otake.   She has performed with Cardell Dance Theater since 2017. 

Mackenzie Morris Graduated summa cum laude from Georgian Court University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and honors in dance and choreography. She has been with Cardell Dance Theater since 2015, performing “Supper, People on the Move” in New York, the Dominican Republic, and various locations across the east coast. Most recently, she has been involved in the 2022 premier of CDT’s “Disposable Bodies.” In addition to her work with Silvana, Mackenzie has performed in various showcases in and around Philadelphia and is a certified pole dance instructor and aerialist. 

Tyler Rivera (they/them) is a movement artist and choreographer based in Philadelphia, PA. In May 2021, they graduated from Georgian Court University with a B.A. in Dance. In Rivera’s undergraduate training, they learned from artists such as Silvana Cardell, Megan Mazerick, William Robinson, and Michaela Mann. Recent performance credits include performing in various works by Megan Mazerick, Emily Mayer, and Silvana Cardell (Cardell Dance Theater). Tyler has been working with Cardell Dance Theater since 2019. As a choreographer, Tyler’s work “valIDity” was selected by the American College Dance Association to be performed at their biannual national festival. They also received the emerging scholar award for the piece in 2020 from the New Jersey Women and Gender Studies Consortium. Tyler’s work was in the 7th Annual Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers: LGBTQ Intersections.

Muyu Yuan Ruba, a Chinese dance artist and choreographer, received her B.F.A. in Dance from Shanghai Normal University in 2013 and her M.F.A. from Temple University in 2017. She is the sole founder of Shero Dance Company and L&M Dance Studio, which began in 2016. She was awarded the Rubys Artist Grant in 2021. Joined Cardell Dance Theater in 2021. Most recently, she was the Raven in Opera Philadelphia’s production of “The Raven” and choreographed and produced “Pulsed Call” for the Philadelphia Fall Arts Festival and the Fringe Art Festival in 2022. In addition, she is an adjunct professor at Georgian Court University in the Dance department. Her work incorporates other media such as puppetry, installations, dance film, improvisation, and fashion.

Tyra “Crux” Jones-Blain is a multidisciplinary artist from New Jersey with a focus on movement art. She graduated from Temple University in 2020 with her Dance BFA. Now based in Philadelphia, she offers freelance services as a dance instructor, choreographer, & performer. She is the co-founder of Forbidden Fruit, a curatorial company that produces experiences around performance art & wellness. She is also a full time events producer & marketing coordinator for Mona, a tech company. Her artistic mission embodies the healing power of movement in all ages, phases, & places of life. 

Dramaturge

Blanka Zizka has been the Artistic Director of The Wilma Theater since 1981. In January 2016, The Vilcek Foundation announced Zizka as the recipient of the Vilcek Prize, awarded annually to immigrants who have made lasting contributions to American society through their extraordinary achievements in biomedical research and the arts and humanities. She received the Zelda Fichandler Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation in 2011 and was a Fellow at the 2015 Sundance Institute/LUMA Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat. For the past six years, she has been developing practices and programs for local theater artists to create working conditions that support creativity through continuity and experimentation. She has directed over 70 plays and musicals at the Wilma. 

Composer 

Maria Chavez Born in Lima, Peru, and based in NYC, Maria Chávez is best known as an abstract turntablist, sound artist, and DJ. Coincidence, chance & failures are themes that unite her book objects, sound sculptures, installations & other works with her improvised solo turntable performance practice. Chavez’s 2012 book on abstract turntablism, Of Technique: Chance Procedures on Turntable, written and illustrated by Maria, has developed a reputation as both an academic resource and a foundational text for a new generation of turntablists. Currently, Maria is on the cover of the Wire Magazine, UK, and on the textbook on the History of Experimental & Electronic music by Routledge Publishing. Her latest solo exhibition spanning a 20,000 square foot abandoned loading dock in Houston, TX ABSORPTION SCULPTURE: The Orange Show, 2023, is currently on view until mid-May. Another large-scale installation of hers is on view as part of the group exhibition, Don’t Blame it on ZEN: The Way of John Cage & Friends at MOCA Jacksonville in Florida from October 28, 2022 – May 7, 2023. Artists’ works featured in this exhibition include John Cage, Laurie Anderson, Glenn Branca, Christian Marclay, Charlotte Moorman, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, and others. Her Abstract Turntablism Trio with Victoria Shen and Mariam Rezaei are artists in residence with the Counterflows Festival (Glasgow) and the Rewire Festival in the Hague, the Netherlands, in the spring of 2023. 

Visual Artists

Dh Cardell was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1977. He began his relationship with art intuitively in a neighborhood workshop at the age of seven, and after finishing high school, he began to carry out illustration and set design commissions for massive shows. Parallel to these commissions, he completed his academic training in Buenos Aires as a Superior Professor of Visual Arts and later at the University of San Martín, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. He continues his permanent experimentation and training on new technologies applied to visual language.

Although he considers drawing the discipline that structures every image, he is not limited to a particular discipline. From figuration, he explores contemporary multidisciplinary languages and considers that tools, materials, and contexts contribute to the aesthetics and composition of an image.

Paula Meninato is an Argentine-born American artist that creates social change through artistic activism. Since 2011, Paula has exhibited her socially-conscious art at 22 group exhibits and five solo shows in 8 countries, including a solo exhibition at the Embassy of Argentina in Washington, DC. In 2019, Paula curated a panel discussion at Tate Modern through the Tate Exchange program at Plymouth College of Art. In 2017, Meninato published Blueprint for Creative Dissent, an eBook on artistic activism. She is preparing for an exhibition at WheatonArts, a museum in New Jersey. Paula graduated from Tyler School of Art with a BFA in Painting, academic honors, and a presidential scholarship. She has a Master in Arts from Plymouth College of Art, where she focused on practice-led research on how art can be used to dismantle cognitive barriers that enable anthropocentrism. http://www.paulameninato.com

Video Projections 

Colin J. Saas is a video and lighting designer as well as a founding member of 10th Floor Productions LLC in Philadelphia. He is interested in emerging technology and its integration into live performance, events and installations. Recently he opened his first Broadway show as the assistant projection designer for New York, New York. His other projects include collaborations with The Philadelphia Flyers, The Philadelphia Ballet, Philadelphia Zoo, Metropolitan Ballet Company, Azamara, MSC Cruises, Gretna Theatre, Our Market Project, Cardell Dance Theater, The Wilma Theater and the Klip Collective.  www.10thfloor.live

Allan Irving, Ph.D. has taught at the University of Western Ontario, the University of Toronto, and the University of Pennsylvania Widener University. Areas of teaching include social policy, history and philosophy of social work and social welfare, community social work practice, health and mental health policy, postmodernism and social work practice, and the arts and humanities and social work practice. Among his publications are, Reading Foucault for Social Work (co-edited).

 

Supper, People on the Move!

Dancers

Bethany Formica graduated with a BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 1994. Currently she is a master lecturer at The University of the Arts and performer with Cardell Dance Theater and Curt Haworth; Bethany has worked with The Kevin Wynn Collection, Sean Curran, Pearson/Widrig DanceTheatre, Martha Bowers, Michael Foley, the Sanza Nemo Collective,  JoAnna Mendl Shaw, BoanDanz Action, Nichole Canuso, Megan Mazarick, Melanie Stewart Dance Theater, Myra Bazell, Lee Etzold, Kate Watson-Wallace, White Box Theatre, Group Motion, and Merge Dance, Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre (Poland), Melina Martin (Argentina), among others. She received an Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts (2012), Dances in Public Spaces Grant/Stipend (2011), Rocky Award (2009), Fellowship for Choreography from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (2008), and several Professional Development Awards supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through Dance Advance. Her work has been presented in New York City, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Bulgaria, Poland, England, and Italy. She was the co-director of REACTIONARIES from 2005 to 2006. 

Leanne Grieger, originally from Long Island, New York, she trained at the Ailey School and at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance until her move to Philadelphia in 2006. She attended The University of the Arts, where she graduated with a BFA in Modern Dance Performance, and was awarded 2010 Outstanding Overall Performance in Modern Dance. She has worked with IdiosynCrazy productions, The Naked Stark, Group Motion, Brian Sanders’ Junk, Melina Martin (Argentina), Wally Cardona (New York), Raphael Xavier, John Luna, Vince Johnson, Gabrielle Revlock, and Nicole Bindler. Her choreography has been shown at Philly PARD’s Mixed Grille, Hybridge Arts Collective Last Mondays, Group Motion’s Spiel Uhr, the Bookspace, and Round Table Theater Company’s 24Hours: A Festival of New Work. She is currently a performer with Curt Haworth Movement and Performance and Choreosplat Dance Works, and is currently the managing director of Philly PARD. Photo: Jennifer Baker.

Adrian Plascencia is a native of California’s Bay Area. Adrian made the move to the east coast to pursue an education in dance. He attended The University of the Arts and received a degree in Modern Dance Performance. While in school, Adrian received stellar training from his faculty and was awarded a scholarship to attend the Martha Graham School for Contemporary Dance. Adrian has had the opportunity to perform Philadelphia talent Brian Sanders, Curt Haworth, Zane Booker, Anna Rubio, Vince Johnson, Jaamil Kosoko, and Manfred Fischbeck, among others. He is currently a member of Choreosplat Dance Works and Band of Artists. Photo: Jennifer Baker.

Maria Urrutia. Cuban Born, Maria Urrutia is currently an assistant professor at West Chester University in the Theater and Dance Department. Her creative practice work expands into various disciplines including architecture, poetry, dance (including Cuban rumba and America contemporary dance forms), and food making as an art practice.  She also holds a M.F.A. Interdisciplinary Arts, Goddard College, an EdM, Dance Education Masters, from Temple University and a BFA in Modern Dance from The University of the Arts.  Her scholarly work, which focuses on Cuban rumba, has been presented in London, Toronto, Montreal, and Edinburgh. Additionally her teaching of Cuban rumba in Diaspora took her to Tokyo, Japan, and Santiago, Chile. As an artist she has worked with Cardell Dance Theater, SCRAP, and Myriam Herve-gil. Her recent work In Absence has been presented at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, a curated show Indiscipline in Vermont, and Trondheim, Norway. Photo: Jennifer Baker.

Zachary Svoboda, a native of Kansas City, earned his BFA in Modern Dance Performance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Zachary has performed in Group Motion dance Company and in many venues, from Philadelphia’s City Hall to house parties, as well as internationally in Paris, France, Guatemala City, Guatemala, and Tokyo, Japan. During the month of August ’11, Zachary spent his time in the woods of Martha’s Vineyard dancing at The Yard. Zachary has danced with such artists as Oscar Araiz, Wally Cardona, Jaamil Kosoko, Myra Bazell, Megan Bridge, Silvana Cardell, Akiko Kitamura, Lisa Kraus, Kenshi Nomi, and Kate Watson-Wallace/Anonymous Bodies. At Georgian Court University he serves as the Technical Director/Production Manager to the dance department, he was the Production Manager for Anonymous Bodies creation, Mash Up Body, which premiered April 2013, and has done tech work for the LiveArts Festival, Annenberg Center for th Arts, and many other local performing artists.   

Hassan Syed is a dancer and choreographer from New Jersey. Starting with Hip Hop dance, Hassan later grew to explore different styles to manifest his own choreography and movement. Hassan has traveled both nationally and internationally performing his choreography in several different countries. Hassan received his BA in Dance from Georgian Court University and his MFA in Choreography at Temple University. Hassan is currently dancing for Cardell Dance Theatre as a principal dancer.  He has performed in places such as Canada, Pakistan, Belgium, England, The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and different parts of the United States. Hassan was awarded the Leadership Scholarship award to attend American Dance Festival in 2019. Hassan was also accepted into Jacob Pillow’s first street dance program in 2020. Hassan just completed his first guest choreographic residency at Georgian Court University. Currently, Hassan is on faculty at Drexel University, while still performing as a movement artist throughout the world. Hassan was awarded first honors in Choreography of his graduating class at Georgian Court University. Hassan was also the recipient of the Rosenick Fund Award during his MFA at Temple University.

Hayley Stricker studied Dance at the University of the Arts where she was an Honors Scholar. During her college career she had the pleasure of performing choreography by Katie Swords-Thurman, Jesse Zaritt and Sidra Bell. She worked as an intern with Cardell Dance Theater through the University of the Arts’ Summer Fellowship program. She was also a stage manager for the Dance Apocalypse with Nicole Bindler and Gabrielle Revlock. In July of 2015 she received her 200 hour Vinyasa Yoga Certification from Dhyana Yoga. Hayley also works as an Artist on Call for BuildaBridge International.Ama Ma’at Gora is a Philly-based multidisciplinary artist, educator, and choreographer. She received her BFA in Dance from Georgian Court University. Shortly after, she chose to continue her education in dance at Temple University, where she received her MFA. These experiences allowed her to work with choreographers such as Kariamu Welsh, Lela Aisha Jones, Earl Moseley, Sidra Bell, Gregory King, Silvana Cardell, and more. Previously, at Drexel, she served as Community Based Learning Director overseeing artistic and civic engagement; now, she serves as an adjunct professor teaching Afro-Modern and choreographing for Drexel’s Fresh Dance. An avid believer in collaboration, she worked with Lela Aisha Jones as a co-teacher at Bryn Mawr College. She began Ma’at Works hoping to put black femme, queer, trans and fat folk on stage. She received the 2020 Transformation Award. As she continues to create work, she is excited to announce her participation in the 2022 New Dance Alliance Black Artists Space to Create Residency. Performing with Cardell Dance Theater since 2017.

Composer

Nick Zammuto has produced music and videos for many projects and collaborations over the last 12 years, most notably for his sound collage project ‘The Books’ and more recently his four-piece band ‘Zammuto’. He has toured extensively worldwide, with a show combining live performance with tightly synched video projections consisting mostly of found footage from VHS tapes and photo collections. He has also been working on a series of interactive sound sculptures and visually oriented musical instruments. He built his studio from a ramshackle tractor garage on his family plot high in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Over the years he’s gathered a strange assortment of acoustic and electric instruments, synthesizers, drums, and vintage production equipment. His sound sculptures are focused on making sonic concepts visual through a synesthetic approach. Sound vibrations are translated to visual motion by various means, such as speakers blowing puffs of air into kitchen spoons, or lasers reflecting off of vibrating auto-parts.

Visual Artists

Jennifer Baker visual artist has lived in Philadelphia since 1978. She attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) and the Art Students League in New York. Baker’s most recent (2017) shows of her paintings and monotypes have been at Art 101 in Brooklyn, the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, and the Crane Arts Building in Philadelphia. She has also exhibited at Pleiades Gallery in New York, and Projects Gallery, Nexus Gallery, F.A.N. Gallery, and The Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia. She was selected for a Challenge Exhibit at Fleisher Art Memorial in 1997. In 2014, Baker curated an exhibition about the history of Northern Liberties for the Philadelphia History Museum. In 2017 “Portraits” was presented at the Wilma Theater in conjunction with the play “Adapt!” Baker received a Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant in 2010, a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship for Works on Paper in 1993, and was a finalist for a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 1997.

Lighting Designer

Conrad Bender is a production designer with twenty years experience in event and facility management, theatrical and corporate production, and lighting, sound, and video installations. He is currently the technical director of FringeArts and is a production designer at MC3. He began his career with a degree from Swarthmore College.

 Performers and collaborators from 1998 to the present

Manfred Fishbeck and Group Motion Multimedia Dance Company, Briguita Herrman, Scrap Performance Group & Myra Bazell  (Dancer/Choreographer), Madison Cario (Lighting Designer); Jorge Gonzalez Perrin (Visual Artist) Miguel Magud (Composer) Pedro Silva (Visual Artist). Cardell Dance Theater Philadelphia Performers: Olive Prince, Jumatatu Po, Shavon Norris, Mina Estrada, Sinead O’Neil, John Luna. S.Cardell Danza Teatro, Buenos Aires, Performers: Melina Martin, Noelia Leonzio, Gaston Mazieres, Eliana Lardone, Martin Goicoechea, Matis Etcheberry, Laura Paolini, Julio Gervasoni, Silenia Castellanos, Mariana Gorosito, Eleonora Martinez, Ana Mayorano, Oscar Gaitan (Lighting Designer), Miguel Magud (Composer), Jorge Gonzalez Perrin (Visual Artist)