Featured Choreographers

Anaya Cullen
Gravitational Forces— Thursday, March 31 
Anaya Cullen

Anaya Cullen began her artistic exploits at age five performing musical theatre with the Pacific Children's Musical Theatre. She has danced with SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre, and has been an active Fire Arts performer. Anaya has designed and made costumes for dance, opera and theater companies across the United States. Credits include State Street Ballet, Chautauqua Ballet Company, Aspen Opera Theater Center, Ballet Idaho, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre, State Street Ballet Young Dancers and Gustafson Dance, Santa Barbara Dance Institute, Salsa Lolita Dance Company and Clave Libre Productions. Her costumes were featured in the Santa Barbara Magazine, A Midwinter Night’s Dream, State Street Ballet’s Pas De Deux with Evening Wear, Nov/Dec 2009 issue. In 2010 she was a creative resident at the Parsons Paris School of Art and Design.

Steven Jasso
Gravitational Forces— Thursday, March 31 
Steven Jasso

Steven Jasso is a member of the State Street Ballet as well as Fractal Movement. He began dancing as a self-taught pop'n'lock / hip hop dancer and initiated his formal training at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. He also studied ballet folklorico (Mexican folk dancing), music theory, and music education. Jasso became affiliated with State Street Ballet in 2006 when he attended the Summer Intensive program. In addition to his work with Fractal Movement, he performs throughout the year with State Street Ballet as well as other groups such as PCPA Theaterfest.

Sulijah Learmont
The Sky to the Ground — April 8-10
Sulijah Learmont

Sulijah is a BFA dance major as well as a member of senior company at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She studied ballet and modern dance at the Coronado School of the Arts under Betzi Roe. She has attended the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater summer intensive program & Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company workshop in New York City. Her choreography Lumi was presented at the Santa Barbara Dance Arts, Kinesis showcase 2011 and is currently in the repertory of the 2011 UCSB Senior Dance Company. 

Kaita Lepore
Gravitational Forces— Thursday, March 31 
Kaita Lepore

Kaita Lepore holds a bachelor’s of science degree in Dance and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She has studied numerous forms of dance in a variety of places including Minnesota, Washington DC, Virginia (Arlington Center Dance Company), Maryland (American Dance Institute), Wisconsin and NYC. Following graduation from college, she taught dance to at-risk youth in Mae-Sai, Thailand through the Thailand Project.  She performed both nationally and internationally with the Sonneblauma Dancz Company for two years.  In addition to her work with Fractal Movement, she continues to choreograph, perform and collaborate on works in Santa Barbara with various artists including Misa Kelly, Robin Bisio, Cybil Gilbertson, Erin Martinez and Emily Wheeler. 

Jennifer Muller
The Sky to the Ground — April 8-10
Lecture — April 8
Jennifer Muller

Jennifer Muller is a leading figure in American Dance and has been the Artistic Director of her company Jennifer Muller/The Works since its inception in 1974. With her visionary approach to dance theater and her innovative, multi-disciplinary productions incorporating spoken word, live and commissioned music, artist-inspired décor, costumes and unusual production elements, Muller has defied convention and created a distinct signature style, as well as a deeply informed educational approach and a singular artistic philosophy. She has created over 90 choreographic works since 1974, including 5 full-evening productions. Her creative output includes an extraordinary choreographic vocabulary with spoken dialogue, live music, lighting, scenic and costume designs. She is known for her history of collaborations with artists such as Keith Haring, Sandro Chia, Keith Jarrett and Yoko Ono, among many others.

Speeds is seminal for its innovative vocabulary, built from extremely simple units (walking and running) into a multi-part structure celebrating human capacity for freedom in movement. The work reflects the tenets of post-modernism and at the same time challenges those tenets by referencing and embodying virtuosity. It is a fusion that is both of its time, and unusual for its time. The work points thematically and metaphorically to change as the essential ingredient in movement. The word “ change” is spoken by dancers to signal a general or individual shift in action. Costumes – all white, in the spirit of minimalism – also change throughout the performance, as pieces are taken off or put on.

The musical score was created by composer Burt Alcantara, a frequent collaborator of Ms. Muller’ s, who also composed scores for Netherlands Dance Theater, Louis Falco Dance Company and other internationally recognized dance companies. In Speeds, Mr. Alcantara engaged cultural questions of the period, integrating classical structures with recognizably populist rhythm, tonality and melody. The piece was composed and performed on an original Arp synthesizer, known for its advancements in timbre, flexibility and attack after its antecedent, the Moog.

The original lighting design for Speeds was created by renowned lighting designer Richard Nelson. Rick was regarded as one of the preeminent designers of his time, influencing subsequent generations of theater designers with his insightful designs. These grew from his ability to see clearly into the heart of a work and elucidate its subtleties with nuanced, elegant lighting concepts.

Marco Pinter
Gravitational Forces— Thursday, March 31 
Marco Pinter

Marco Pinter creates artwork and performances which fuse physical kinetic form with live visualizations. In 2010 he produced RUCKUS, a media/technology performance event incorporating Cloud Eye Control, Pamela Z, and his company's own Dichotomous.  His company later developed Gravitational Forces, a dance/technology piece created for the Contemporary Arts Forum.  In 2009 he created several interactive performance and installation pieces for events at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, working with dance groups including Company XIV, String Theory and dancers from the State Street Ballet. Pinter has developed interactive installations for Disney Imagineering and children’s media products for Mattel. He has 7 issued patents and 23 pending patents, in the areas of live video technology, robotics, interactivity and telepresence.  Pinter is a PhD student in the department of Media Arts & Technology.

Lauren Serrano
The Sky to the Ground — April 8-10
Lauren Serrano

Lauren is currently a senior dance Bachelor of Fine Arts student at University of California Santa Barbara and a member of senior company. She is originally from Orange County and went to Orange County High School for the Performing Arts for classical and commercial dance. She has won various scholarships including a 3-month training scholarship at Edge Performing Arts studio, CADTD scholarship, Patricia Sparrow scholarship, and the Alice Condodina UCSB performing scholarship. She has performed in various live performances including J's Hairshow World Tour "Latino Expo", New Works Dance Concert, back up dancer for singer Mayor Hawthorne, and the UCSB Main Stage performances. Her choreography was recently chosen to appear in the Santa Barbara New Works Concert 2010. Lauren has been working as a hip-hop teacher for children in Santa Barbara through the non-profit organization of Everybody Dance Now, as well as teaching contemporary and jazz at Santa Barbara Dance Arts. She plans to go to New York after graduation in June.

Lindsay Slavik
The Sky to the Ground — April 8-10
Lindsay Slavik

Lindsay is a B.F.A. dance major at UCSB from Orange County, California.  She has trained with the Joffrey Ballet School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Dance Company.  Currently she is training under Christopher Pilafian, Nancy Colahan, and Valerie Huston and is a member of the Senior Dance Company.  This is her second piece of choreography at UCSB and she is excited to present it.

Pavel Zavarzina
The Sky to the Ground — April 8-10
Pavel Zavarzina

Born in Belarus, Pavel has lived in Russia, Sweden, Peru, and California. He began dancing, at age 15, with Hip Hop and then started Modern training after being inspired by his fellow dancers. As his love for the art grew, he progressively trained independently, both exploring his teacher?s technical corrections and breaking into his personal style. He has also collaborated with music composition students in the Primavera Festival held by the Music Department, and taught in after school programs in Santa Barbara through Every Body Dance Now. He is currently a senior B.F.A. Dance Major and performs with the UCSB Student Dance Company. He trained in Alonzo King?s Lines Ballet school in July 2010 and plans to do so again this coming summer. After graduating, Pavel plans on pursuing dance professionally.

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