Luciana Achugar

Luciana Achugar (Artistic Director/Choreographer) is a Brooklyn based artist from Uruguay. She moved to NY after graduating from CalArts in 1995. Since then she has worked with many great dance and visual artists such as Chameckilerner, Levi Gonzalez, Maria Hassabi, John Jasperse, Luis Lara, Amanda Loulaki, Michael Mahalchick, Jeremy Nelson, Marcos Rosales and Wil Swanson. From 1999 to 2003 achugar collaborated with Levi Gonzalez on three dance works that were presented by Dixon Place, Movement Research at the Judson Church, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, The Kitchen and Dance Theater Workshop. Her own work was presented in New York by Movement Research at the Judson Church and the MELT Summer Dance Festival; Dance Theater Workshop; Danspace Project; the Ensemble Studio Theater; The Latino American Dance: Not Festival Project; CANADA Art Gallery; Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery; and in Montevideo, Uruguay at the Festival Iberoamericano de Danza and the Centro Cultural de España en Montevideo.

Manhong Kang

Manhong Kang is an international artist, performer, and meditation teacher who dances in harmony with the cosmic rhythm. Among other modalities, Mr. Kang trained in Korean traditional, ritual, and mask dances, and studied and performed Indian Chau dance dance with Guru K.C.Naik for three years in India.He has been studying/teaching/performing for over 30 years in Korea, India, Japan, Indonesia, Germany, and the United States. Mr. Kang was on the factulty of the Seoul Institute of the Arts, where he graduated after designing his own curriculum which included Zen meditation, Taoist training and acting. His B.A and M.A. come from Goddard College in Vermont, where he studied under an Asian Cultural Council grant while performing at LaMaMa E.T.C. in New York City. He taught Movement meditation, Asian dance and Drama, and Ki Energy Dance as a faculty member at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. His first book, AWAKENING, describes his approach to meditation, and is in its sixth printing in Korea.    

LeeSaar The Company

LeeSaar The Company was established in Israel in 2000 by the actress and writer Lee Sher and the dancer/choreographer Saar Harari. The company uses the different disciplines and training of theater and dance to create original theater and dance performances. The company members are from Germany, Italy, Taiwan, the United States and Israel. LeeSaar the company was also invited to open the Harkness Dance Festival at The Alvin Ailey Theater in February 2007 and was asked to return to the festival in March 2008 to present the new work, “Geisha.” Currently the company is working on a Co-production of Performance Space 122 and EMPAC - the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, with season in December 08. Lee and Saar received the Six Points Fellowship for 2007-2008 and were nominated for the Alpert Award in Dance 2008. They are 2008 Guggenheim Fellows.

Parijat Desai

Desai began training in bharata natyam at age five in Houston under Rathna Kumar and Padmini Chari. She has also studied with Katherine Kunhiraman, V.P. and Shanta Dhananjayan, and Viji Prakash. At Stanford University (B.A., anthropology, 1992), Desai studied modern dance with Halifu Osumare, Ray Tadio, and Katherine Dunham herself. She continued contemporary dance with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble in Denver and under various teachers in New York City. Desai obtained an MFA in choreography at UCLA, studying with Victoria Marks, David Roussève. In Los Angeles, she studied postmodern technique with David Roussève, Cheng-Chieh Yu, and Maria Gillespie. Desai returned to UCLA to teach choreography in the fall of 2005.

Dalia Carella

Dalia Carella, Artistic Director of The Dalia Carella Dance Collective (DCDC)  is a world-renowned Global Fusion Artist and Choreographer specializing in Near/Middle Eastern and Contemporary dance.  Ms. Carella has delved deeply in the studies of dances from the Near and Middle East including Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, as well as North Africa including Morocco and Algeria. Her works represent both traditional and contemporary movement ranging from ancient rituals, gypsy (roman) dances to ethnic contemporary theater pieces as well as Cabaret Theater inspired by the 1920s and 30s without labels. Dalia choreographed and performed with DCDC at The Duke on 42nd Street Theater in Fran Kirmser's Production of, “In Search of a Goddess, Inspirations of the Divine Enchantress Ruth St. Denis.” .  "In Search" will be performed by DCDC and students at Adelphi College in October 2008 as part of their 70 year tribute to Ruth St. Denis. DCDC recently performed with Lori Bellilove's Isadora Duncan Dance Company at the Alvin Ailey Citicorp Theater in Bellilove's "“The EveryWoman Series: The Red Thread.”  Ms. Carella's numerous concerts and teaching tours have led her throughout the US, Canada, Egypt, England, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Portugal. 

Gerald Casel

Philippine-born Gerald Casel received a BFA from The Juilliard School and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee assisted by a fellowship from the Advanced Opportunity Program. He is known for dancing in the companies of Michael Clark, Stanley Love, Zvi Gotheiner, Lar Lubovitch and Stephen Petronio where he was a member from 1991-1998 and 2001-2005.  Casel was honored to receive a New York Dance and Performance Award “Bessie” for sustained achievement in 1997.  As a teacher, he has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, UW-Milwaukee, Barnard College, Marymount Manhattan College and currently as a faculty member at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. In 1999 and 2006-7, he was a Movement Research Artist-in-Residence and this year is a finalist for NYFA's Urban Artist Initiative Fellowship.  His company, GERALDCASELDANCE, has performed at La MaMa Moves, DTW, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, Joyce SoHo, Danceworks (Milwaukee), Conduit (Portland) and ODC Theater (San Francisco). He has been commissioned by The Yard (Make Way For Dragons, 2001), NYU Second Avenue Dance Company (Kinship Descent, 2007) and The Barnard Project at DTW (Frost, 2007).  

Paul Singh

Paul Singh earned his BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign. Directly after, he moved to NYC with intentions of dancing and choreographing until his feet fall off.  With dance being a fairly new sport to him, Paul is taking every opportunity to move as fast, small, twitchy, slow, large, crafty, carefully, convulsively, repulsively, romantically, blindly, efficiently, emotionally, stupidly as his body and mind will allow. Fortunately, he has been given the chance to do this for choreographers Cheng-Chieh Yu, Erica Essner, Patricia N. Nanon, Noemie Lafrance, Renée Wadleigh, Gerald Casel, Stephan Koplowitz, Douglas Dunn, Christopher Williams, Jimena Paz and Risa Jaroslow. He has been fortunate enough to have his work presented at various venues in NYC including the Judson Church, Dance Theater Workshop, Dixon Place and Joe’s Pub. In 2004, his solo piece “Stutter” was presented at the Kennedy Center. In continuing to choose his own adventure in the years to come, Paul will continue to make work for his little company, Singh & Dance, until he can visually find a means of relating to everyone who sees it.