i Dance

  i Dance: A Modern Dance Performance in First Person Narrative

WHEN: September 25th & 26th, 8:15PM

WHERE: Dallas Hub Theater, 2809 Canton St. - Dallas, TX

ADMISSION: $12 Student/Senior, $15 General Admission

Buy Tickets at: www.DallasHubTheater.org, 1.877.238.5596

Dana Lawton is a Professor of Dance at Saint Mary's College where is currently the Director of the Saint Mary's College Dance Company. She is also a faculty member at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, and a certified yoga instructor. In the studio she teaches choreography, modern dance and yoga, and in the classroom "Perceiving the Arts" and "World Music and Dance." Ms. Lawton danced professionally with the renowned San Francisco company Janice Garrett & Dancers from 1997-2004. She has choreographed her own work and was presented at ODC and the Cowell Theater in San Francisco, Eighth Street Studios and the Temescal Arts Center in Berkeley, and several stages in the northwest. She served as Artist-in-Residence at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center 2006, was awarded Outstanding Performer in the 2000 Vision Series, and was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for her performance in Janice Garrett's Wayfarers. Ms. Lawton holds an MFA in Choreography from Mills College and a BFA in Dance from California Institute of the Arts. Upcoming, she will perform a new work, Coasting, with original score by David Karagianis, at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco as part of the theater's Vision Series.

(Choreographer/Performer in i Dance)

Mary Williford-Shade has been hailed by the Washington Post as "the dancing equivalent of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream.'" Mary Williford Shade made her mark on the dance scene as a dancer with Mark Taylor & Friends. Since then, she and her Baltimore-based partner Sandra Lacy have formed a solo-duet repertory company called Lacy & Shade. They commission works by such choreographers as Irene Hultman, Lisa Race, Mark Taylor, Michael Foley, Jose Luis Bustamante, Mark Dendy, and Karrine Keithley. In addition to her solo and duet work, Mary has also performed with Mark Dendy, Maryland Dance Theater, and Dance Alloy of Pittsburgh. Ms. Williford-Shade received her MFA from Ohio State University, is a certified Laban Movement Analyst, and is a nine year member of the dance faculty at Texas Woman's University. Her other teaching credits include Cleveland State University, University of Quebec, Connecticut College, George Washington University, Towson State University, The Klutz Schule in Hamburg, Germany, the American Dance Festival, and the Bates Dance Festival. (Choreographer/Performer in i Dance)

 Jhon Stronks  is an independent performer and choreographer. As performer he has danced with Winifred R. Harris’ Between Lines (Los Angeles), Keith Johnson and Dancers (Los Angeles), Duende Dance Theater (Atlanta), Coriolis Dance Project (Atlanta), Sandra Organ Dance Company (Houston), Travesty Dance Group (Houston), Leslie Scates (Houston), Pink Aware (Houston) and Spent Five Seasons as a Member of Core Performance Company (Atlanta). jhon’s choreography has been commissioned by The Houston Metropolitan Dance Center, Several Dancers Core’s MFA Houston Projects, California State University, Fresno, Moving in the Spirit, UNC Greensboro, and spent 5 years as the resident guest artist/ choreographer for Spelman College’s Dance Theatre. He is the Artistic Director of “there… in the sunlight.”, a project heading that functions as a vehicle for jhon’s independent choreography. He is a founding member of Atlanta ’s collaboratively produced dance event, The Nerve Series, and sat three years as Artistic Director for Africa to A Train and Story Catcher, a series of Music and Dance Collaborations between The Neighborhood Music Schools of Georgia State and Moving in the Spirit. (Choreographer/Performer in i Dance)

Gesel Mason is Co-founder and Artistic Director for Mason/Rhynes Productions and Gesel Mason Performance Projects. Ms. Mason has performed with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, toured Germany with the Repertory Dance Theatre of Utah, and was a member of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange from 1996-2000, where she continues to perform as a guest artist. Ms. Mason’s solo project, NO BOUNDARIES: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers, includes the work of Donald McKayle, Bebe Miller, David Rousséve, Reggie Wilson, Andrea Woods, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. The project received a National Dance Project Tour Only Grant for 2008/09 season and two Metro DC Dance Awards in 2007 for Outstanding Individual Performance and Outstanding Overall Production – Small Venue. She has also worked with Alison Chase, Sardono Kusumo, Jacek Luminski, Victoria Marks, Susan Marshall, Peter Pucci, Doug Varone, and Ralph Lemon in the final installment of his Geography Trilogy: “Come home Charley Patton”.

(Choreographer in i Dance)

Kayla Hamilton is an independent dance artist working in both New York City and Washington DC, where she collaborates with Gesel Mason. In 2007 Kayla produced her 2nd evening of modern dance in Washington DC bringing together dance artist from Texas, Washington DC and Ohio. In May 2006 Kayla completed her BA in Dance studies at Texas Woman’s University where she was a member of DanceWorks, TWU’s repertory company, for 4 years. While at TWU, she received an Excellence in Performance Award from TWU in 2003-04. She also was awarded a performance merit scholarship to attend Bates Dance Festival. Hamilton’s choreography has been produced in the TWU Dancemakers Concert Series as well as by “The Moving Spirit Dance Collective” in Baltimore, Md. (Performer in i Dance)

Lesley Snelson-Figueroa is Co-Artistic Director of Muscle Memory Dance Theatre and is a Professor of Dance at Collin College. Lesley serves as the 2009-2011 Lebrecth Chair for Scholarly and Civil Engagement for the College. Before arriving at Collin, she served as adjunct dance faculty for Texas Woman's University, Tarrant County College, and University of North Texas and was faculty & choreographer for Denton Dance Conservatory. Mrs. Figueroa completed her MFA studies in choreography and dance performance at Texas Woman's University. At TWU, Lesley created her curriculum for understanding Hip Hop dance as a Fine Art form emerging from popular, visual culture. She was honored to receive the TWU Outstanding Performer Award and the first ever Outstanding Leadership Award given by the Dance Department. From 1998-2001, Lesley served as co-choreographer, assistant to the artistic director and a performer for The Butterfly Project, a bay-area performance group whose mission is promoting the empowerment of Women. The Butterfly Project was formed at Mills College of Oakland, California where Mrs. Figueroa completed her undergraduate degrees, a BA in Dance and a BA in Business Economics. Her love for movement and fitness lead her to become a Certified Pilates Trainer through Colleen Glenn's PeakPilates System. Lesley has also studied the Power Pilates System and does her continuing education through the For Healthy Living Traditional Pilates community . Mrs. Figueroa's choreography has been presented throughout the United States through the work of M2DT, universities and numerous festivals. (Performer in i Dance)