danceCONNECT: a series of stages + stories

Check out www.DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Gabriella Sibeko (she/her) is a freelance dance and teaching artist raised in Montreal, Canada, having also resided in Durban + Cape Town, South Africa. She is currently based in New York City. In 2013 she was granted a Scholarship to The Ailey School where she trained for the next 3 years, graduating from the Certificate Program in 2016. Her artistry has been shaped profoundly by the choreographers she has worked with including Mike Esperanza, Jon Rua, Yoshito Sakaruba, Katherine Maxwell, Ellenore Scott, Mary Grace McNally, Lauren Cox, Mathew Rushing, Francesca Harper, Teddy Tedholm and Andrea Ward. to name a few. Gabriella co-choreographed the international video campaign entitled ‘Freedom: International Day of the Girl' produced by The Global Goals Campaign and Beyoncé Knowles, receiving wide international recognition. She can be credited in music videos, Serenading in the Trenches by Sondre Lerche, The Runner by Alison Sudol, Mish Mish by Noah Souder-Russo, and Show-Off by Ana Kay. She has also performed in multiple NYC venues as a back-up dancer for singer/songwriter, ELENI and has worked and traveled as an assistant for Nathan Trice, Emily Greenwell and Erica Sobol. She performed as a featured dancer for the 2020 PHISH concert held at Madison Square Garden, choreographed by Jon Rua. She is currently a member of Hivewild, MG + Artists, Jon Rua's TheGrit, Channel:Dig, ELSCO Dance and Cloude.NYC. Most recently, Gabriella began working in dance administration as Hivewild's Dancer Liaison, and is pursuing a degree at The University of Massachusetts Amherst part-time. Gabriella is the featured dancer in an upcoming Netflix documentary, entitled Malinche, set in Ibiza, Spain. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out www.DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Mary Grace McNally (she/her) is a dance performer, choreographer and teacher, originally from Massachusetts. In June 2018, she self-produced, directed and choreographed her first evening-length work, Not For Picking, which premiered at Theaterlab NYC. Mary Grace is honored to be the winner of the 2018 Capezio A.C.E. Award. She was also announced as ADA's National Choreographer of the Year in 2016. Mary Grace's work has been presented at The Joyce Theater, The Dance Gallery Festival, Dixon Place, Young Choreographer's Festival, Centre National de la Danse in France, and deSingel in Belgium. She has studied with artists such as Medhi Walerski, Jesse Zaritt, Adi Salant, Jermaine Spivey, Spenser Theberge, Tilman O'Donnell, and has performed the works of Doug Varone, Tommie-Waheed Evans, Katie Swords-Thurman, Emma Portner, Erica Sobol and Ryan Spencer. Most recently, Mary Grace was a featured dancer at Madison Square Garden for Phish's 2020 NYE concert, choreographed by Jon Rua. She also created new works for Divinity Dance Company (UT) and East Carolina University (NC). Mary Grace is the Artistic Director of MG + Artists, a project-based dance collective. In January 2020, she premiered her newest work, WHEN IT FALLS, at The Montalbán in Los Angeles, produced by Break The Floor. Mary Grace is a guest instructor and choreographer at competitive dance studios, workshops and universities across the country, as well as Guest Faculty at Peridance Capezio Center and Broadway Dance Center. She received her BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts in 2015. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out www.DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Catie Leasca is a dance artist currently based in Brooklyn, NY. With roots in Massachusetts, she has traveled and danced abroad in Israel, France, Belgium, and Germany. Catie has been a resident artist in NYC at Gibney Dance through Work Up 5.0, Brooklyn Arts Exchange as a 2019 Space Grant Recipient, New Dance Alliance as a LiftOff artist, CPR as part of UArts/Chez Bushwick Creative Exchange, and has shown her work at Movement Research through Judson Church, Dixon Place, createART, Dance in Bushwick, The Woods, and STUDIO4. She has danced professionally with Netta Yerushalmy, Helen Simoneau Danse, Jessie Young, Janessa Clark, Sophie Tibiletti, Bryn Cohn + Artists and is a founding company member of MG+Artists. Her film work has been presented at Screendance Miami through Miami Light Project and Philadelphia Screendance Festival. She has curated and produced her own publication ideasinisolation, in response to COVID-19 and gather / an evening of fall dances, a free community performance in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Most recently, she was awarded the Masterworks Foundation Choreographic Award. Catie has taught in NYC at Gibney Dance, FAILSPACE and Bridge For Dance. Her writing has been published in DanceGeist Magazine. Catie graduated with her B.F.A. in Dance from the University of the Arts, with the Dean's Award for Excellence and the Sustainability award. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out www.DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Known as one of “Tap's Leading Ladies” and cover girl for Dance Spirit magazine's Tap issue, Maud Arnold is a member of the female tap band, the Syncopated Ladies, widely known for viral videos that have accumulated over 70 million views, the most successful being their tribute to Prince and their cover of Beyoncé's Formation, which Beyoncé shared on all of her social media and then hired Syncopated Ladies to perform at her Ivy Park active wear clothing line launch at TopShop, London. Maud also performed live with the Syncopated Ladies on ABC's Good Morning America, the Ellen Show with Pharrell Williams and N.E.R.D. and sold-out concerts in Los Angeles, Dubai, New York City, and Washington, DC, receiving rave reviews in The New York Times and more. ​Maud has quickly become a sought after teacher, judge and performer worldwide. Mentored and trained by Debbie Allen, Maud has taught at Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles. Further to teaching in the USA, Maud has taught tap dancing and Afro-Funk in Dubai, Brazil, Japan, Spain, Haiti, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Croatia, Ukraine and Russia. Maud's Television Credits Include: Black Lady Sketch Show, BET Experience: 106 and Park, The Late Late Show With James Corden, HBO's Boardwalk Empire, Switched at Birth, Secret Talents of the Stars as a featured dancer with Mya, The Today Show and Syncopated Ladies winning Season 11 of FOX's So You Think You Can Dance: Dance Crew Battle. Maud can be seen in national commercials and print ads forToyota, GAP and CANTU and has worked with Beyoncé on several commercials and music videos. Maud's choreography has been featured on Good Morning America and she made her directorial debut with Dola's Space Daughter series. Maud is the co-director and producer of the critically acclaimed DC Tap Festival pioneering new experiences for dancers and artists worldwide. and with her sister Chloé Arnold they were recognized by the US House of Representatives as arts preservers and ambassadors. Maud is also a female entrepreneur that holds a degree from Columbia University. Further to teaching, she oversees Chloe and Maud Productions and their many entities including their clothing lines: I LOVE TAP and UniLove as well as their tap dance workshops and after school programs. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Antuan Byers (Dallas, TX) is a graduate of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program in Dance. He holds a certificate from the Parsons School of Design and is an alumnus of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He was a scholarship student at Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Dallas Ballet Center, and has attended summer programs including Abraham.In.Motion, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Jacob's Pillow, Northwest Dance Project, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE Dance Company, all with partial or full scholarship. Antuan has been featured in OUT Magazine, Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit Magazine, and has global campaigns with ASICS and Capezio. He has also danced for recording artists Erykah Badu, Jennifer Holliday, The Skins, and D.R.A.M. Antuan has toured internationally with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's second company, Ailey II, and has performed with The Washington National Opera Ballet, Keigwin + Co., Mark Morris Dance Company, as well as solo work by Kyle Abraham. Antuan has been an ambassador for the Joyce Theater, Company Management Assistant for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and is currently on the Steering Committee of Dance Artists' National Collective (DANC) and a founding member of the Black Caucus at the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). Antuan is currently dancer The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, performing a diverse repertory including Christopher Wheeldon, Mark Morris, Lorin Latarro, Susan Stroman, Kim Brandstrup, Alexei Ratmansky, Sue Lefton, and Philippe Giraudeau. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Al Blackstone is an Emmy Award-Winning director, choreographer, and educator. His passion for bringing people together to experience something meaningful drives him to make dances, tell stories, and encourage joyful connection. Born in New Jersey and raised in a dance studio, he has called New York City home for more than a decade. In that time he has created emotional work for the stage and screen, thrown dance parties for charity, and introduced hundreds of people to one another. He believes deeply in the power of dance, community, and kindness. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Jazmine Colón is a Philadelphia based dance artist from West Palm Beach, Florida. In West Palm Beach, Jazmine graduated from Alexander W. Dreyfoos Highschool of the Arts. In 2019, Jazmine graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. At UArts, she had the pleasure of performing in works choreographed by Bobbi Jene Smith, Andrea Miller, Jesse Zaritt, Sidra Bell, Paul Matteson, Jennifer Nugent, Helen Simoneau, and Beth Gill. She also has had the opportunity to study abroad in France and Belgium, dancing and learning from artists such as Daniel Condomine, Gala Moody, and Clinton Stringer. Jazmine has also danced alongside companies including BODYTRAFFIC, Hofesh Shechter Co., Akram Khan Dance Co., and Chunky Move. After graduating, She was given the opportunity to assist Elisa Clark in the restaging of Mass by Robert Battle, Jimena Paz in the restaging of Stephen Petronio's Lareigne, and Annie Rigney for her new work Etude for Elbow, all at Uarts. She is a current member of Ballet Florida, a South-Florida based dance company. Jazmine is also the small business owner and Designer of the work is never over, creating handmade dance wear that celebrates inclusivity of all bodies. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Teddy Tedholm is a choreographer, dancer, and dance instructor based out of NYC. He has worked with artists as varied as Netta Yerushalmy, Kate Sicchio, Erica Sobol, Sidra Bell, Douglas Becker, Billy Larson, Emily Shock, and many others. Since receiving a BFA in Ballet from University of the Arts, he has studied under Doug Varone and Deborah Hay and presented work throughout the country live and on film to great acclaim. In NY he directs his own company, tedted Performance Group, and is on faculty at Peridance Capezio Center and is Guest Faculty at Broadway Dance Center. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Sophie Tibiletti is a Brooklyn based dancer, maker, and teacher. She began her dance training in Longview,Texas. In 2013 she moved to Philadelphia to further pursue her dance education at the University of the Arts, under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. There, she performed works by Jesse Zaritt, Katie Swords-Thurman, Curt Haworth, Mark Haim, and Netta Yerushalmy, and created many works of her own. She was also given the opportunity to study and perform abroad in France, Belgium, and Israel. Sophie graduated with a BFA in Dance in May of 2017. She currently teaches at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Petite Performers, and Williamsburg Montessori School. In 2018-20 she has presented work at Spark Dance Forum, mouthful movement festival, Sans Limites Movement Festival, WAXworks, The Craft and Small Plates Brooklyn, and has performed at venues including Gibney Dance, BAAD!, Center for Performance Research, Triskelion Arts, and New Dance Alliance. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Jermaine Maurice Spivey was born in Baltimore, Maryland USA and is a graduate of Baltimore School for the Arts and The Juilliard School. From 2002-present, Jermaine lived and worked predominately in Europe but recently returned to make his home base in Los Angeles, California. He has been a company member of Ballet Gulbenkian and Cullberg Ballet, worked as a freelance/guest artist for Hofesh Shechter Company, Robyn Live 2016, The LID, Arias Company and The Forsythe Company from 2013-2015 as well as a cast member of American Repertory Theater's original production The Shape She Makes conceived by Susan Misner and Jonathan Bernstein. Most consistently since 2008, Jermaine has been a member of Crystal Pite's project based company Kidd Pivot. He has also worked as rehearsal assistant and/or staged Crystal Pite's work for companies such as Cedar Lake Ballet, Carte Blanche, Hessisches StaatsBallett Wiesbaden, Netherlands Dance Theater and Paris Opera Ballet. Jermaine has instructed dance all across North America and Europe for professional companies, universities, studios and training programs including USC Kaufman School of Dance, The Juilliard School, UCLA, NYU Tisch, Baltimore School for the Arts, LA Dance Project, The Performing Arts Project, MOVE NYC, No)one. Art House, Nuova Officina Della Danza, Dance OUT, Salt Contemporary Dance and GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. He is a 2001 Princess Grace Awardee and a 1998 National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts 1st Level Awardee. At this moment in his career, Jermaine is very grateful for the opportunity to choreograph, having most recently created for Rambert 2, Salt Contemporary Dance as well as two full evening works with partner and co-creator Spenser Theberge titled Rather This Then and Position 3. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Make sure to listen to PART 1 with Byron Tittle in Episode 01! At a young age, Byron Tittle started tap dance with David Rider and the American Tap Dance Foundation in his hometown of New York. Wanting to study other disciplines, he also trained at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway. Byron recently toured the United States, Australia, and New Zealand with Hugh Jackman in The Man, The Music, The Show, and is humbled to have received a 2019 Princess Grace Foundation Dance Fellowship Award. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Matilda Sakamoto (she/her) was born in Los Angeles. She attended the Juilliard School. She is freelance dancing and choreographing in New York, Los Angeles and abroad. Matilda recently starred in Apple's "Snap" campaign and performed as May Smith in Richard Nelson's newest play, The Michaels, at the Public Theater. She was recently chosen as an Art Omi dance resident and will be apart of the 2020 Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellows Program at Jacob's Pillow. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Professional dancer/educator, Rob Bynes (he/him) was born and raised in New Jersey. Rob Bynes got his start praise dancing in church and learning to freestyle in the jersey & baltimore club culture. A year and a half after high school, his formal training began with a “R.D.T.” based out of Rutgers University before being discovered by Bloc NYC less than a year later in 2014. Over the years he has had the pleasure to make the Monsters of Hip Hop cast, teach over 50 international classes and work with artists such as Missy Elliot, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Rosalía and Tinashe to name a few. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- Inger Cooper is a freelance performer and choreographer in the NYC. After graduating from University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a BFA in Dance in 2015, Inger began her own project based group, ingercooper|dancers, and was commissioned by the Barnes Foundation to create work for Fall 2015. Inger and her company have since performed through various organizations and spaces in the NYC And Philadelphia area, including KYL/D's InHale, Koresh Dance Company, Philly Fringe Festival, REVERBdance, Triskelion Arts, WAXworks, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Arts on Site. In 2019, she worked with members of Peridance Dance Company in producing a music video for Cardboard Rocketship. Inger has also presented work at the CND in Paris and Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp. Inger currently curates The Craft, a monthly performance series, in Brooklyn, NY [now virtual] and is a 305 Fitness Certified Instructor. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- "I love people. With my art and in life I hope to journey deep into the conquering of fears in order to emerge as light. Most importantly, I wish to be of service to the African-American community and to the African Diaspora as a whole.”Lauren is a storyteller, teacher and traveler who is the newly appointed Lecturer in Jazz Dance at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her personal research and application of the lineage of Black Dance in America has brought about this new beginning. With a background in Poetry, a degree in Sociology and the accumulative study of Jazz, Hip Hop, Afro-Latinx styles, Commercial Dance and more she has become an influential voice in the New York dance community for the past ten years amongst diverse circles. She is looking forward to continuing her lifelong study and love of dance in academia as we experience and understand it's transmutation in this new era.

Check out DanceConnectSeries.com for more information on each guest! Instagram: @danceconnectseries -------- At a young age, Byron Tittle started tap dance with David Rider and the American Tap Dance Foundation in his hometown of New York. Wanting to study other disciplines, he also trained at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway. Byron recently toured the United States, Australia, and New Zealand with Hugh Jackman in The Man, The Music, The Show, and is humbled to have received a 2019 Princess Grace Foundation Dance Fellowship Award.

A new podcast led by Catie Leasca, Gabriella Sibeko + Mary Grace McNally,
where we listen and chat with dance artists of all different backgrounds. Our mission is to share the infinite ways of being part of the dance community - spoiler: none of them look the same! 
Grab your coffee, get comfortable, and let's talk DANCE!