WELCOME TO IMAGI*NATION

Carmen Caceres

Carmen Caceres is a dance artist originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received a BA in Dance and Education at SUNY Empire State College and deepened her studies in dance, performance, and choreography at the former Merce Cunningham Studio in New York. In her native city, she graduated from the National School of Dance and studied Dance Composition at the National University of the Arts UNA. Caceres has been creating and presenting dance works in Argentina and NY since 2009. In 2012, she founded DanceAction, a creative platform composed of artists from multiple disciplines to produce performing artworks in collaboration and provide educational opportunities. Her works have been presented in several venues, such as Dixon Place, Green Space Studio, Triskelion Arts Center, Teatro Sea, The Mark Morris Dance Center, the Center at West Park, and the Center for Performance Research. As a performer and collaborator, she has worked with Ines Armas, Katie Rose McLaughlin, Isabel Lewis, Jillian Peña, Lisa Parra, Elia Mrak, Jody Oberfelder, and Sarah Berges, among other artists. Carmen also works as a dance educator and program director for different art education programs in New York City, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. www.carmencaceres.com

Carmen Caceres

ARTISTS BIOS Carmen Caceres (Choreographer/Director/Dancer) is a dance artist originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received a BA in Dance and Education at SUNY Empire State College and deepened her studies in dance, performance, and choreography at the former Merce Cunningham Studio in New York. In her native city, she graduated from the National School of Dance and studied Dance Composition at the National University of the Arts UNA. Caceres has been creating and presenting dance works in Argentina and NY since 2009. In 2012, she founded DanceAction, a creative platform composed of artists from multiple disciplines to produce performing artworks in collaboration and provide educational opportunities. Her works have been presented in several venues, such as Dixon Place, Green Space Studio, Triskelion Arts Center, Teatro Sea, The Mark Morris Dance Center, the Center at West Park, and the Center for Performance Research. As a performer and collaborator, she has worked with Ines Armas, Katie Rose McLaughlin, Isabel Lewis, Jillian Peña, Lisa Parra, Elia Mrak, Jody Oberfelder, and Sarah Berges, among other artists. Carmen also works as a dance educator and program director for different art education programs in New York City, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. www.carmencaceres.com DanceAction is a contemporary dance company based in New York, led by Argentinian choreographer Carmen Caceres. The company’s culturally diverse team is comprised of artists from several disciplines, such as dance, music, drama, media, and visual arts. Together, they create dance works that reflect social realities that concern people, relationships, and social justice with the purpose of interpreting these issues and using the works to propel change. DA participated in numerous festivals, and performance series in New York, and their works have been awarded the Brooklyn Arts Fund Community Grant, the Dance/NYC Emergency COVID-19 Grant, and most recently, the City Artist Corps Grant. DA has also been invited to numerous international dance festivals. Its first full-length work, Game Night, was part of the 2016 International Contemporary Dance Festival of Mexico City (FIDCDMX). In 2018, the company participated at the International Contemporary Dance Festival and Campus “Ticino in Danza” in Ticino, Switzerland, performing 2 Minutes Hate. The same year, this thought-provoking piece was also presented in NYC at Women Center Stage Festival – Directors Weekend II, organized and curated by Culture Project. Israel Harris (Artistic Associate/Dancer) is a Latinx American artist who was born in Guatemala and raised in Bellevue, WA. He began dancing at the age of ten and graduated from New York University Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Dance. He currently dances as a company member with Sean Curran Company and Dry Marinaro Dance Company. He also had the amazing opportunity to dance featured roles in works by Wayne McGregor and Ronald K Brown/Evidence and worked with Lar Lubovitch, Ori Flomin, and the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation. As a freelance, NYC based-artist, Israel’s interests span areas of performance, choreography, teaching, video editing, media and marketing practices, and social advocacy. He strives to work at the intersection of art and advocacy, recently taking on the specialty role of Racial Justice Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Israel enjoys collaborating on creative processes which inspire the voices and perspectives of others to be heard. Jenna Purcell (Artistic Associate/Dancer) grew up dancing in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a B.A. in Modern Literature from UC Santa Cruz, where she had the pleasure of working with Tandy Beal, Mark Franko, Sommer Ulrickson, Danny Scheie, Paul Whitworth, and Ted Warburton. She has performed with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Tandy Beal & Company, Donofrio Dance Company, ChrisMastersDance, Megan Bascom & Dancers, Andrew Schneider, Anne Zuerner, Caitlin Dutton-Reaver, Lindsey Hanson Collective, and Third Rail Projects, among others. She was also a cast member in Third Rail Project’s long-running immersive production Then She Fell, where she also served as Rehearsal Director. She is currently working with Third Rail Projects, Lundahl & Seitl, and DanceAction. Lydia Perakis (Artistic Associate/Dancer) is a Greek, New York-based artist who creates multidisciplinary works that utilize movement, spoken text, visual art, and multimedia. Her training includes a BFA in Dance from NYU-Tisch School of the Arts and a Minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. She has worked with choreographers such as Jeremy Nelson, Christina Robson, Luis Lara Malvacías, Arnie Zane, and the Yonis. Her own choreographic works have been presented at the Danspace Project, Green Space, Jennifer Muller/The Works Studio, SMUSH gallery, Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and more. She is also a dance educator via the educational platform of Outschool and has been teaching movement classes professionally for the past four years. https://www.lydiaperakis.com/ Mallory Markham-Miller (Artistic Associate/Dancer) is a New York-based dancer with a BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of Oklahoma. She has performed for and collaborated with Columbus Dance Theater, Kristin Damrow and Company, Garrett + Moulton Productions, Robert Moses Kin, Amy Seiwert, Twisted Oak Dance Company, Blind Tiger Society, The Anata Project, Nina Haft & Co, ka.nei.see | collective, and more. Mallory is also a dance teacher and Kane School of Core Integration certified Pilates instructor. Mar Orozco Arango (Artistic Associate/Dancer) is an international circus and dance artist based in NYC. In this capacity, she has performed in many theaters and performance venues around New York City, both presenting her own work and performing in shows by various choreographers and producers. She received her BFA in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts, spent a year in Israel furthering her dance studies, trained with some of the most prominent circus artists around the world, and studied yoga for over fifteen years. Sofia Baeta (Artistic Associate/Dancer) was born in Brazil and moved to the US at seventeen to pursue her dance education at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. After graduating with a BFA in Contemporary Dance, Sofia relocated to NYC as a recipient of the Kenan Fellowship at Lincoln Center Education. She has performed in works by Martha Graham, Merce Cunnigham, Ton Simons, Austin McCornick, Charles Czarny, Douglas Dunn, Brenda Daniels, Mari Meade, and Juel Lane, among others. Her repertoire also includes highlighted roles in classical works such as La Bayadère and The Nutcracker. Her self-choreographed solo, In the eyes of others, was performed at The Ailey Citigroup Theater in 2019. Sofia is also a teaching artist and has taught for organizations such as LCE, Dancing Classrooms, and WR ARTS. She is currently working at National Dance Institute and Helen Simoneau Danse. Caroline Alter (Understudy/Docent) is a creative movement educator, performer, and choreographer. They are a recent Point Park University graduate with a BFA in modern dance, a minor in education, and co-founder/President of “Reform,” the school’s Contemporary Dance Club. Caroline has attended intensives such as SALT Dance, Bates Dance Festival, and Hubbard Street. Caroline is a frequent performer at “The Space Upstairs” in Pittsburgh with an improvisation-based company run by Pearlann Porter. Throughout her career, Caroline has been so fortunate to work with incredibly passionate and kind artists such as Jason Mcdole, Cameron McKinney, Hayden Frederick, Martha Nichols, and Irania Garcia. She is eager to be in collaborative and investigative spaces while contributing to the art form that has given her so much. Caroline is a curious mover and learner who loves having a medium to connect with her inner self and her surroundings. Sara Fox (Understudy/Docent) was born and raised in the north suburbs of Chicago and later pursued a degree in dance at the University of Michigan, where she had the opportunity to train with: Shannon Gillen, Ron De Jesus, Peter Sparling, and Jillian Hopper. Sara danced with Chicago's Extensions Dance Company (2014-2017), working under the creative direction of Lizzie Mackenzie. She also had her own choreographic work shown throughout her time at Michigan, and during her senior year, she became the President of Cadence Dance Company, a student lead dance company on Campus. She is currently based in NYC, where she has had the opportunity to perform works with Tracie Stanfield and Mathew James. Sara has recently joined the WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company as an apprentice. Aviya Hernstadt (Assistant Director/Stage Manager) is a dancer, movement educator, and New York City native. While working towards her BA in Psychology and Sociology at Pitzer College, she studied and performed with Kevin Williamson, Sakina Ibrahim, and Israeli choreographer Ronit Ziv, among others. Aviya spent a year living and studying in Quito, Ecuador, where she performed with La Frente de la Danza Independiente. Since moving home to Brooklyn, Aviya has performed with Dance to the People and joined DanceAction in December 2018. She currently teaches dance and works at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, supporting their youth education programming. Emilio Teubal (Musician/Composer) is a pianist, composer, and arranger from Argentina based in New York. He has recorded over twenty albums, both as a sideman and composer/bandleader, including the 2018 Latin Grammy Winner album Vigor Tanguero by the Pedro Giraudo Group. His most recent is the 2020 piano album Tides. Emilio has performed in venues such as The Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Blue Note, and Joe's Pub, as well as nationwide and internationally. He has also been an essential member of multiple ensembles, such as the Pedro Giraudo Quartet, Pablo Lanouguere Quintet, Sergio Reyes's Romancero Latinoamericano, Erik Friedlander, and Satoshi Takeishi. Emilio is a recipient of the 2007 Meet The Composer's Van Lier Fellowship and has been commissioned to write music for Saint Peter's Church, Dan Lippel, and the Adam Tully Tango trio. https://emilioteubal.com/ Mary Madsen (Immersive Experience Consultant) is a dance artist based in NYC. Originally from Wisconsin, she holds a BFA in dance from the University of Milwaukee and has been a member of the NYC dance community since 2004. Mary currently works with Third Rail Projects and was proud to be a performer and rehearsal director for their Bessie award-winning show Then She Fell; she also collaborated with and performed in works by such dancemakers as Jody Oberfelder, Becky Radway, Megan Bascom, the Resonance Collective, Elia Mrak (Seattle), Regina Nejman, Kelly Anderson (Chicago), David Appel Dance, Rebollar Dance Theater (D.C.), Simone Ferro (Milwaukee), and others. Occasionally, Mary also creates solo performance works and dance films. Dwayne "Dj" Fralin (Lighting Designer/Technical Director) is a Lighting Designer/photographer from Washington, DC. His past credits include Marisol, Walrus in the Body of a Crocodile, and As the Sun Sets. He is blessed to be around such radiating talent that this team gives off.