Mereminne Dancers
Company Bios - 2003
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Director |
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Lacy James graduated from Swarthmore College with degrees in English literature and comparative religions. She is a former member of the Isadora’s Dance Legacy company and has performed with Coyote Dancers, the Martha Graham Dance Company’s Panorama, MaureenFleming’s Mandala project, and in the lead role of Nocturnae, a dance film selected by several international film festivals. Lacy’s dances have been presented in Philadelphia, New York, North Carolina and Germany. In 1998 she was chosen to represent the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in the Emergency Fund for Student Dancers benefit concert, performing her solo work gravity flight. Lacy formed Mereminne Dancers in 2000, and the troupe has since appeared at New York City venues including the International Dance Festival NYC-2002, the 92nd Street Y, The White Room Dance Series, and the Dancers Responding to AIDS Remember Project. Lacy is also a singer-songwriter, and composes instrumental music for some of her dances. |
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Dancers |
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Marina Cashdan, a native New Yorker, began her modern dance training as a scholarship student at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She is currently a senior at Barnard College of Columbia University, majoring in English and minoring in dance. Marina has had the opportunity to work with such choreographers as Lynn Barr (and be part of Lynn Barr Dancers' summer tour in Italy), Donlin Foreman, Jeff Moen, Elisa Monte, and Karla Wolfangle, and has worked with Risa Steinberg and Yuriko Kikuchi in restaging Jose Limón’s A Choreographic Offering and Martha Graham’s Steps in the Street respectively. This is her first appearance with Mereminne Dancers. |
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Born in Texas, Jessica Delia graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy and from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance Performance. She has taught at SUNY Purchase, Frostburg State University, Port Washington School District, and Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. Jessica has performed with Chalasa Performance Company, Isadora's Dance Legacy, Pearl Lang Dance Theater, Martha Graham Dance Ensemble, and in 2002 performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company in "Indisputably Martha Graham" at City Center. She enjoys working with Lacy James and Mereminne Dancers and has been fortunate enough to do so since 1999. |
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Deborah Goodman serves on the faculty of the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance where she teaches technique and directs curriculum-based movement workshops as part of an Empire State Partnership Grant. She has performed with Sandra Kauffman, Richard Move, Goldhuber/Latsky, Pearl Lang, Cailin Heffernan, and with the Martha Graham Dance Company's Panorama. Ms. Goodman choreographed "Elements", a rock opera, with Redshift Productions and performs a duet concert/teaching workshop with Sandra Kaufmann, "Legacy of the Masters." She has taught at NYU, Long Island University, The Connecticut Conservatory of the Performing Arts, Interlochen Center for the Arts and USDAN Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. Deborah is happy to be dancing with Mereminne Dancers once again. |
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Robert Halley (Unionville, Ontario, Canada) graduated with a bilingual diploma from St. Robert's Catholic High School. He then attained his Ontario Academic Credits from Cardinal Carter Academy of the Arts. In 1995, he began dancing with Performing Dance Arts, peforming with them across North America. He trained at Toronto Dance Theatre and Arts Umbrella in Vancouver. As a Fellowship student at The Ailey School, he performed works by Max Luna III, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Pascal Rioult, David Parsons and Alvin Ailey. His training was enriched through study at the School at Jacob's Pillow, where he performed works by Jiri Kylian, Angelin Preljocaj and Ohad Naharin. Mr. Halley's performance credits include La Belle Danse, Dancearts Vancouver, The Fred Benjamin Dance Company, and Adam's Company Dance. Mr. Halley currently dances for Ailey II, touring, sharing, and shining across the U.S.A. |
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Stacey Kaplan, a native New Yorker, received her first dance training in ballet and began her performance career in children's theater with the Once Upon A Time Theater Group. She studied on scholarship at the Martha Graham School , and has since performed with Pearl Lang Dance Theater, Bluetooth Dance Group and Coyote Dancers. Ms. Kaplan began working with Mereminne Dancers in 2000. |
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Rebekah J. Kennedy was born and raised in New York City. She holds an MFA in Dance (Choreography) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a BS in Dance and Theatre from Skidmore College. After her stay in North Carolina, Kennedy returned to NYC with her dance company, Urban Wash. She has choreographed for and performed in various projects throughout the eastern United States. Her choreography has been presented by the Sidelong Dance Company and the Informall Theatre Company as well as by Artistika's Featured Artist Series, the Open Your Eyes Foundation, and the UNC Greensboro Department of Dance. She has performed with BJ Sullivan, the Sidelong Dance Company, the John Gamble Dance Theatre, the Informall Theatre Company, and Esse Aficionado. Kennedy has been both a guest artist and a featured artist throughout North Carolina, including at the North Carolina School of the Arts and UNC Greensboro. Kennedy joined Mereminne Dancers in November 2002. |
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Val Loukianovets is from the Ukraine, where he was named Ukrainian National Ballroom Champion and graduated with honors from Zhitomir Dance Academy. After two years with the Army's Military Dance Ensemble, he graduated from Moscow University of Arts. Val has toured Europe and Asia with folk troupes, variety revues, ballet's Semenyaka & Co., and even CATS! Since moving to New York , Val has appeared in cabaret revues staged by Yuri Pototsky and is currently a member of the Christopher Caines Dance Company and Joanna Mendl Shaw's The Equus Project/Dancing With Horses. These are his first appearances with Mereminne Dancers. |
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Djamila Moore, from Kohala, Hawaii began studying Hula and hip-hop at age seven, through the West Hawaii Dance Theatre. She was introduced to modern dance at Jefferson High School for the Performing Arts in Portland, OR. Djamila attended the American Dance Festival in 2000 and 2001, where she was honored to perform in the ADF commissioned work of Indonesian choreographer, Boi Sakti, and Russian choreographer, Tatiana Baganova. Djamila has also studed with Brenda Daniels, Alberto del Saz, Stephen Rooks, Jeff Slayton, Andrea E. Woods, Shen Wei, Karla Wolfangle, and Ming-Lung Yang. In the summer of 2002 Djamila attended Impulstanz Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria where she studied voice with Janis Brenner, Limon technique with Joe Alegado, hip-hop with Brian Green, and also enjoyed intensive classes in African drumming, African dance, Butoh, Capoiera, Contact Improvisation, and Alexander Technique. After receiving her BFA in Contemporary Dance from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2002, Djamila moved to New York City to pursue a career in performance. She is happy to be joining Mereminne Dancers for the company's 2003 New York season. |
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Naoko Morita is from Saitama, Japan and began her dance training in jazz dance and ballet. After graduating from high school she moved to Pasadena, California to further her dance studies. She received a B.A. in Dance from California State University Long Beach, where she studied with Keith Johnson, Douglas Nielsen and Sophie Monat and performed in works by Susan McLain and Andrea E. Woods. At the 2002 American Dance Festival, Naoko performed in the repertory of bopi (bopi's black sheep) and in her own choreography. In 2003 she moved to New York City, where she has most recently appeared with the Dawn Lau Dance Company and at Aaron Davis Hall in the work of Andrea E. Woods. Naoko would like to thank her family and friends for their trust and love. |
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Kumiko Nasu was born in Tokyo, Japan. While earning her B.A. in theater from Drake University in Iowa, she danced with Iowa Dance Theatre. After graduation she moved to New York to study at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She has been a member of the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble since 2002, and has also danced with The Firewalkers and eDance. She began dancing with Lacy James and Mereminne Dancers in 2002. |
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Makiko Oka has danced with Kathy Rose and with the Martha Graham Dance Company in Graham's ballet Panorama. Since 1996 she has been directing her own company Mai Dance Project, performing improvisational and collaborative movement with musicians, painters, sculptors and photographers. Makiko received her M.A. in Dance Education at New York University, and is also a certified instructor of Pilates and Gyrotonic. She has been teaching Pilates for the past seven years at gyms, dance studios and universities in Japan and the U.S., and is currently studying the Feldenkrais Method®. |
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Virginia Pedicord began her dance studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Houston before attending Carleton College in Minnesota. She received a B.A. in Biology from Carleton while dancing with Semaphore Repertory Dance Company under the direction of Mary Easter and Jane Shockley. In New York, Virginia danced and choreographed with Carol Fonda & Company and Pi Dance Theatre before joining Lacy James/Mereminne Dancers in January 2002. |
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Lisa Pelletier danced in Boston with Dance Spectrum and graduated from the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She has been dancing with Lacy James for the past 4 years while also working for Barbara Calvano in Limon-based projects. |
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Nicole Rocci was classically trained in Ballet under the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus at Mohawk Valley Ballet. She has spent summers studying with Columbia City Ballet, Boston Ballet, and American Repertory Ballet, and also has intensive modern, character and jazz dance training. She received her B.A. in Psychology with high honors from Syracuse University and obtained credits there towards a dance major at Hamilton College. Nicole completed the professional scholarship training program of Peridance Center and has most recently been performing with Mariana Bekerman Dance Company, SABA Dance Theatre and Figment Dance Ensemble and taking classes towards her M.S.W. at Fordham Univerity. She is excited to be joining Mereminne Dancers for the company's 2003 season. |
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Sadira Aryan Smith started dancing tap with Phil Black when she was a child, but ventured into modern and ballet dance six years ago. She trained in Japan at the Fukuoka Kanako Ballet School, the Nishikawa School of Traditional Japanese Dance and with Eiko Rikihisa. Upon her return to NYC, she continued her studies with Peff Modelski, Fabrice Herrault and Milton Myers. Sadira was a Richard Ellner Scholar at Broadway Dance Center, a STEPS Scholar, and a full scholarship student at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She has worked with the Paris Opera Ballet, ROSY CO. Contemporary Dance Co. under Kota Yamazaki and is currently a member of the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble and the Fred Benjamin Dance Company. Sadira graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in East Asian Studies from St. John's University, has a black belt in Aikido and is excited to be a part of Mereminne Dancers 2003. |
Collaborators |
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Originally from Japan, costume designer Uki Kittaka has received both BFA and MFA degrees from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University after studying at SUNY Purchase and BalletArts. As a costume designer, Uki has worked with Lacy James, Sara Joel, Isadora's Dance Legacy, Chris D. C. Ramos, Gotham Dance Group, Patricia Kenny Dance Collection, Igal Perry, and Ballet Academy East. She also makes costumes for her own dance pieces. Uki's choreography has been presented at SRC's 10th Choreographer's Showcase, Evolving Arts Theater 10th Annual Choreographer's Showcase, and A New Generation of Dance in Westchester '92 and '93. She has also been a faculty member at Ballet Academy East. |
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Angela Wiele |
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Lighting designer Stephen Petrilli has designed for Pilobolus Dance Theatre, Shapiro & Smith Dance, The Kevin Wynn Collection, Isabel Gotzkowsky and Friends, Complexions and Performance Artist Judith Ren-Lay. In the theater, Stephen has designed several plays for New York's Pearl Theatre Company, Melting Pot Theatre Company, National Asian American Theatre Company and Second Generation Productions. He toured as Production Stage Manager for Nikolais and Murray Louis Dance Company, and spent five years touring as the Lighting/Sound Supervisor for Pilobolus. He and his girlfriend Shannon had a baby boy, Liam, in December. |
