Mara Poliak

Mara Poliak is a dancer, artist, writer, collaborator, and teacher living in Oakland, California on unceded Ohlone land. Their performance, practices, and pedagogy center the commons, human and non-human lineages, queer solidarities in decolonizing and liberation work, and the body as a complete site of knowing. Long-term collaborators include Layton Lachman, Margit Galanter, Frances Rosario, Chani Bockwinkel, Abby Crain, and the Cave Coast Collective. Mara is a founding member of SALTA, a collective that hosted a free monthly mobile performance series for four years, and now organizes a yearly residency with a group of interdisciplinary artists in rural Northern California.

Talk_performance_2016_CounterPulse Photo by Robbie Sweeney. Snake Talk was created and performed by mara poliak, Layton Lachman and Abby Crain, with sound design by Samuel Hertz and lighting design by Elizabeth Ardent. Snake Talk premiered at CounterPulse Theater, (San Francisco, CA) in 2016, and toured to Performance Works NW (Portland OR), Ponderosa Tanzland (Stolzenhagen, Germany) ACUD Macht Neu (Berlin, Germany), Quarter Block Party (Cork, Ireland), and Links Hall (Chicago, IL).

Antonio Ramos

Antonio Ramos was born and raised in Puerto Rico where he trained in jazz, salsa and African dance. He later received a B.F.A. in Dance from Purchase College/SUNY. Antonio began his career performing with Ballet Theatre of Puerto Rico, Ballet Hispanico of New York, Ballet Concierto and Ballet Municipal (Puerto Rico). More recently, Antonio has performed with choreographers Mark Dendy, Neil Greenberg, Kari Hooas, Luis Lara Malvacias, Jeremy Nelson, Stephen Petronio, Merian Soto, Kevin Wynn, Ori Flomin and Donna Uchizono, among others. Antonio has taught at the University of Puerto Rico, Ballet de San Juan; Ballet Teatro de Puerto Rico; Ballet Municipal of Puerto Rico; Ballet Concierto; Danza Jazz of Puerto Rico; Dance Space Center; BAAD!/Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance; Latin Dance Festival in New York City; Princeton, Cornell, Wesleyan and Marymount Universities; Barnard College; SUNY/Purchase; The New School; NYU; The International School of Bangkok; Den Norsken Ballett Hoyskole in Oslo, Norway; and The Paluca Shule in Dresden, Germany.

David Thomson

David Thomson_Spinning a Yarn_2019_Aldrich Museum_collaboration with Analia Segal as part of her solo exhibition, Contra la Pared.

David Thomson is a creator and collaborative artist. He has worked with a wide range of artists including Trisha Brown, Bebe Miller, Ralph Lemon, Sekou Sundiata, Tracie Morris, Meg Stuart, Marina Abramović, Yvonne Rainer, David Bowie, Maria Hassabi, Deborah Hay, Alain Buffard and Kaneza Schaal among many others. His work has been presented and supported by The Kitchen, Danspace Project at St Mark’s Church, Dance Theater Workshop, Movement Research, Baryshnikov Arts Center, BAM’s Next Wave Fesitival, Gibney Dance Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Invisible Dog, Mt Tremper Arts, PSNY and The Yard. Thomson has been recognized for his own work with awards and fellowships from US Artist, LMCC, Yaddo, MacDowell and Rauschenberg. He is currently a LMCC Extended Life | Lifeline Fellow (2018-21). He has served on the faculties of Movement Research, NYU/Experimental Theater Wing, Sarah Lawrence, The New School, Barnard, Pratt and Bennington. Thomson has served as an artist advocate, board member, arts administrator and mentor. In 2017, he initiated The Sustainability Project in collaboration with Kate Watson-Wallace, which serves as a platform and practice for research that seeks to expand the discourse surrounding ideas of financial, artistic, and personal empowerment within the arts community. Thomson began dancing at Haverford/Bryn Mawr Colleges and later received his BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from SUNY Purchase.

www.davidhamiltonthomson.com 

David Thomson_he his own mythical beast_performance_2018premier_PSNY