PROGRAM 1
Thursday, February 13 @ 7:30 pm
▪ Zjana Muraro, England
▪ Ari Ramirez Carrasco, NV
▪ Limon 2, NY
▪ Kanyok Arts Initiative, NJ
▪ Beijing Dance Academy, China
▪ Giovanni Castellon, Florida
▪ Santina Leone, NY
▪ VisBallet, Italy
▪ Freespace Dance, NJ
▪ WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company, NY
Zjana Muraro © Ashley Christina
Zjana Muraro, MA, Tisch NYU, Performances Studies is a performing artist working with improvisations, dance and digital technology whose works intersect pop culture and social activism. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, she currently makes performances as part of the independent dance scene in London, UK, teaches dance technique at Trinity Laban and has had her written research published in international journals. Her work has been supported by Arts Council England, European Cultural Foundation, and Compagnia di San Paolo, East London Dance, and UAL College of Fashion. Zjana’s also a somatic movement practitioner (RSME) and founder of Ilan Lev Method London in 2015. The work presented is choreography made using motion capture and Artificial Intelligence as a collaborator through Zjana’s innovative and experimental process of dance composition. Website: www.zjana.com
Ari Ramirez Carrasco is a dancer and choreographer based in Las Vegas, NV. Her love for dance led her to attend College of Southern Nevada, as well as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she earned her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography, as well as a certificate in Pilates. Her choreographic work over the years has been presented virtually and on stage.
Ari combines different skills for her work, such as music editing, makeup, directing, and dance on film. She has found a passion in education as well, with being a teaching artist in the Las Vegas valley. Ari’s work, No Puedo Explicar, aims to talk about dealing with anxiety, how it can present itself, and how it often cannot be explained why it happens and how it feels. She is excited to keep sharing her passions with others through the SoloDuo Dance Festival.
Ari Ramirez Carrasco © Marcia Davis
Limon 2 © Beatriz Schiller
Limón2 is dedicated to the development of fresh and inspiring professionals for a sustainable career and lasting contributions to the dance world and the Limón legacy. Celebrating its 4th season, L2 proudly offers Fellowships to selected dancers. Limón2 seeks to generate innovative programming and accessible community engagement, through performances and exciting dance experiences for all humans.
L2 brings together emerging talent, the iconic works of José Limón, along with today’s most exciting up and coming choreographers. The treasured spirit and humanistic legacy of José Limón lives on with Limón2!
This excerpt of The Unsung is a powerful evocation of the lives and dancing of indigenous tribes who lived in harmony with their vast landscape. The dancers, using the ground and their bodies, are also the musicians for The Unsung which reverberates with rhythm and our connection to the earth. Limón researched and visited different tribes, each with a unique culture, and drew from their ceremonies where dancing was an act of power and connection with the landscape - dancing being done long before Europeans came to the Americas.
Lana, a vibrant artist from Kanyok Arts Initiative, brings her solo piece "Seriously" to life, choreographed by the acclaimed Ida Saki. This contemporary jazz work, inspired by dystopian themes and infused with a circus-like energy, showcases Lana’s impeccable technique and expressive depth. The performance takes the audience on a dynamic journey filled with ups and downs, blending musical playfulness with profound emotional connection. As the haunting music sets the tone, Lana’s movements echo its dissonance, revealing an inner tension between grace and collapse, freedom and restraint.
Kanyok Arts Initiative is an innovative platform dedicated to nurturing the next generation of dancers and artists. With a focus on well roundedness and professionalism, the initiative pushes the boundaries of all styles of dance, blending various influences. Kanyok Arts Initiative provides a platform for artists like Lana to explore thought-provoking themes and captivate audiences worldwide.
Kanyok Arts Initiative © Lana Zecchino
Beijing Dance Academy ©
Bejing ance at the collegiate level. “Quintessential Colors’ is a piece of work that has been a standout throughout Tara’s career, much thanks to Liana Weisbord and her artistic interpretation and dedication to the vision. We all bring color to this world, it just depends what color will shine at what moment. Often times our personal experiences and opinions guide these colors and their illuminations. We love to witness each other shining, wholeheartedly. We love, even more, to see the aura that surrounds each of us.
Giovanni Castellon is a Cuban-American from Miami, Florida, where he studied at New World School of the Arts High School and Miami Dance Collective. Giovanni continued his studies at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts as a Kenan Excellence Scholar, where he received his BFA in Contemporary Dance and a Minor in Arts Entrepreneurship. Outside of schooling, he has had the opportunity to learn and work with Jacob Jonas, Dante Puleio, Ella Rothschild, and Sam Coren.
During his time at UNCSA, Giovanni discovered his love and passion for choreography, production, and directing. Creating works that are grounded, earthy, human, and extreme. Giovanni is presenting “Duro”, a work about a strong individual that is powerless to time, leaving the person with nothing but faith that this too will pass; A battle and lesson of patience.
Giovanni Castellon © Andrew Bowen
Santina Leone is from Long Island, New York and received a B.F.A. in Contemporary Dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (2024) where she studied the forms of Cunningham, Limón/Humphrey, West African, Horton, ballet, and Countertechnique, as well as compositional practices. At UNCSA she performed contemporary works by Brenda Daniels, Darrell Grand Moultrie, and Dwana Smallwood. She has also performed repertory by Trisha Brown, José Limón, Paul Taylor, and Yue Yin.
Santina Leone © Andrew Bowen
Currently, Santina teaches Pilates, is an administrative assistant at ArtBridge (a New York City based non profit organization), and interns in the costume shop at the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Her work "Where will we meet?" was the capstone compositional project of her senior year of college, and explores spatial and temporal relationships between two dancers, with musicality being the thread that holds them together.
VisBallet © Roberto Breccia
The VisBallet company, founded and directed by Eugenia Morosanu, was born in 1992. It is based in Ancona, Italy. The Company ranges from neoclassical to contemporary and dance theatre working with renowned Italian choreographers and it has already demonstrated its talent not only on Italian stages but also in Europe.
The presenting piece -We'll see. This choreography comes from the need to break the rules of society in which everyone has to produce, perform, be updated and always be perfect. It’s a scream of freedom of a generation that wants its life back.
Freespace Dance, under the artistic direction of Donna Scro Samori, a former principal dancer with the Nikolais/Louis Dance Company and a founding member of Sean Curran Company, is renowned for creating emotionally driven work with a bold, athletic signature style. The company's performance credits include Citi Center, Ailey Citigroup, DTW, Joyce SoHo, Peridance, St. Mark's Church, NJPAC, SOPAC, OSPAC, Fringe Festival Edinburgh, Solo/Duo Festival, DUMBO, and Jacob’s Pillow. Excerpts from “Seventies Sweet” are part of a longer work celebrating love and freedom. The piece was inspired by the movements and qualities of the 1970s. FSD is grateful for the following support; The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, NJSCA, Hyde & Watson Foundation, NJ Cultural Trust, and New Music USA.
“HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS ARE THE FOCUS OF DONNA SCRO AND HER FREESPACE DANCE COMPANY.” — NEW YORK TIMES
Freespace Dance © Julie Lemberger
MoreMeant, founded in 2022 by the artistic direction of Gregory Lev, is a boundary-pushing dance-theater company that fuses provocative storytelling with innovative choreography. Lev's background in diverse dance styles and his keen eye for social critique inform the company's unique aesthetic, blending surrealism, humor, and raw human emotion.
The duet, performed by Lev and dancer Andrea Frankfurt, is an energetic display of colliding ideas and theatrical associations that opens with Frankfurt's solo section. She leaps, spins, falls, and contorts powerfully between various states of consciousness, emotions, and physical conditions to the sound of a loud, and at times even alarming, soundtrack. Later, Frankfurt and Lev unite and perform a tense movement sequence that gradually becomes lighter, one that outlines a relationship of trust and partnership between the two." - Joy Bernard, Portfolio Magazine, 2022.
Moremeant Dance-theater © ASYA SKORIK
Moremeant Dance-theater © ASYA SKORIK
WHITE WAVE Dance © Jullie Lemberger
A pioneer of “Hallyu (한류): Korean Wave”, Young Soon Kim, an internationally acclaimed choreographer whose work has been hailed for its exhilarating, visually stunning, and emotionally rich. Formed in 1988, WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company strives to inspire audiences through multi-dimensional dance productions reflecting themes and philosophies both modern and timeless. For nearly four decades, Ms. Kim and WHITE WAVE have appeared globally on principal stages including Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Joyce Theater, Kennedy Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, National Theater of Seoul (Korea), National Theater of Taipei (Taiwan), Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts, as well as Theatre de la Ville in Paris, Maison de la Culture in Le Havre, France; Teatro Nazionale in Milan, Teatro Tendu Striscie in Rome, Italy; Schauspielhaus in Cologne, Germany; as well as the Festival d’Avignon in Avignon, France, among others. In 2003 Ms. Kim was featured in the documentary film Arirang: The Korean American Journey, which was premiered at the Smithsonian Institute and broadcasted nationwide by PBS. In 2013 and 2014, Ms. Kim was nominated twice for the Annual KBS Global Korean Award. 2019 has been invigorating for WHITE WAVE Dance, including a highly successful tour to Korea & China!
WHITE WAVE Dance © Jullie Lemberger