(re)MOVE: Back Towards Again the (re)TURN Facing | April 2016 Artist Bios

Artistic Director/Choreographer/Dancer

Choreographer KARIN STEVENS formed Seattle-based, Karin Stevens Dance, in 2009 producing eight evening-length concerts and multiple commissioned works for various organizations including Seattle’s Taproot Theatre, Book­ it Repertory Theatre and Theatre Puget Sound. She has created over 70 dance works, touring across the US. In 2009, she joined master choreographer, Molissa Fenley, as Associate Artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts (FL) and was Fremont Abbey’s inaugural Artist in Residence, producing dance education workshops and curated performances. As a performer, she has danced with VOCI Dance, Double Vision, Omega West, Push Up Something Hidden Dance, Westwick Dolder Dance Theater, Molissa Fenley and Dancers and Penny Hutchinson. She studied Dance at the University of Washington and received her MFA from Mills College.

Dancers

TAYLOR AUGUSTINE is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder with a B.F.A in Dance and a B.A. in Integrative Physiology— the only student in the history of the school to complete both majors simultaneously. She trained in ballet with the Colorado Ballet and the International Ballet School, where she performed many feature roles. She studied modern under Gabe Masson and Doug Varone and has performed professionally in projects with Erika Randall, Heidi Henderson, Kathleen Hermesdorf, and David Dorfman.   She has also been fortunate enough to participate as a soloist company member for Avant Garde Dance, Control Group Productions, and DanceJENKINSDance. Taylor joined Karin Stevens Dance in the Spring of 2014. She is also currently studying to receive her doctorate in physical therapy.

Born in Shoreline, WA, PHILIPPA MYLER is a freelance contemporary dance artist trained in ballet, modern, and jazz from the age of four. Myler currently dances with Karin Stevens Dance and is Associate Director with Ktisk Contemporary Dance in Seattle, WA, choreographing and performing with the company. Myler has danced for Anna O’Conner and Nathan Blackwell in Velocity’s Bridge Project, Sarah Kathryn-Olds’s Serendipity Dance Brigade, Xaviera Vandermay’s 3rd Shift Dance, Coleman Pester (Tectonic Marrow Society), Connie Villines (re:flexion) and Erin Boyt’s Version Excursion. Myler has had the privilege of dancing for choreographers Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi of Vancouver’s Kokoro Dance, Kim Robards in Denver, CO, and Seattle’s Pat Graney. In 2013, she spent an inspirational two months in as Artist in Residence with Fiji’s VOU Dance, performing, teaching, and choreographing on the company. After graduating with a BA in dance and a BFA in English from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, Myler co-founded the collective Triadic Dance Works, which has performed original works in Canada, the US, and Germany. In addition to showing short works at festivals in the Vancouver area, Myler has been twice commissioned to choreograph a full evening of work for Port Moody’s Wearable Art Awards Show.

Myler avidly pursues knowledge of many different ways of moving, including African dance, the traditional dance forms of the Pacific Islands, capoeira, and aerial silks. She studied contact improvisation intensively with Peter Bingham on a scholarship at EDAM and has trained with German dance companies COCOONDANCE and Tanztheater Bielefeld. Myler has attended numerous workshops and intensives in the United States and Europe, including Frey Faust’s Axis Syllabus (Berlin, DE), Gross Dance Company (Amsterdam, NL), LEVYdance (San Francisco), Pilobolus (NYC), Spectrum Dance Theatre (Seattle), and Ajkun Ballet Theatre (NYC). Myler loves to share her lifelong passion for dance with the next generation by teaching creative movement, contemporary modern, jazz, hip hop, and ballet to students of all ages and is a staff writer for SeattleDances.

NATHPTALI ANN BEYLEVELD, hails from Southern California, Idaho, Jackson, Mississippi, and most recently Houston, Texas. She graduated Cum Laude in Biblical Studies from Belhaven University, with a minor in dance, in 2002, studying ballet, modern, improvisation, performance and choreography. Under the direction of Marc Arenston, Lauri Worrill Biggs, Amy McIntosh, Deborah Birrane, Stephen and Britta Wynne. She then moved to Houston and danced and performed with Ad Deum II for 3 years. Naphtali had the privilege of studying with Randall Flinn, Kathleen Lobue, Clara Cravey, Jane Weiner and many others. She also toured with Ad Deum to Singapore, Malaysia, and New York. Naphtali then performed with Psophonia Dance Company, under the direction of Sophia Torres and Sonia Noriega, performing in Houston and touring in Texas and Ohio. She also worked as a teaching artist with the company in Houston area schools. Naphtali is a certified Pilates instructor and taught throughout Houston. Naphtali and her husband moved to Seattle in 2009. She has the privilege of working and performing with Karin Stevens Dance Company for the past 6 1/2 years, performing in Seattle and touring in Montana. Naphtali also danced with Dance Jenkins Dance, under the direction of Shirley Jenkins. She has performed with Elizabeth Mendana Productions, Katy Hagelin Dance Project, Jamie Karlovich, Barefoot Collective, and MaryAnn McGovern and Dancers. While Naphtali isn’t rehearsing, she teaches Pilates at Pilates on 10th and the downtown Y.

ANJA KELLNER-ROGERS is a contemporary dance artist and yoga teacher currently residing in Seattle, WA. Anja grew up in Ithaca, New York, where she began her formal dance training at the age of four and went on to attend college at Ithaca College, where she graduated summa cum laude. While on the East coast, Anja had the privilege of training and performing under the direction of artists Bill Evans, David Dorfman, Suzanne Oliver and Juanita Suarez. Additionally, she has studied with Larry Keigwin, Doug Varone, Gina Gibney, Donald Halquist, James Hansen, Anne Burnidge and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago.

In 2013, Anja relocated to Seattle with just two suitcases, her one eyed dog and an itch to dance. Since then, she has been fortunate to work with many Pacific Northwest based choreographers including KT Niehoff, Shannon Stewart, Noelle Chun, Alice Gosti, Coleman Pester and  Adriana Hernandez. She has performed in various Seattle venues including Velocity Dance Center, the ACT Theatre and Neumos. Anja is thrilled to be dancing and performing with Karin Stevens Dance.

Composers/Musicians

MICHAEL OWCHARUK is a composer, pianist and bandleader working in jazz, chamber and orchestral music, Slavic folk, rock and creating music for dance, theater and film. He leads the Michael Owcharuk Trio and Quartet, is a member of Crystal Beth and the Boom Boom Band and has toured across the US with Seattle heavy-pop-psych innovators, Truly. His work has been supported by 4Culture, The Seattle Mayors Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and Jack Straw Productions and he holds a Bachelor of Music from Cornish College of the Arts. He has been featured on NPR, KEXP and KBCS, at the Seattle International Film Festival, Bumbershoot and Earshot Jazz and with the Seattle Rock Orchestra, the Bushwick Bookclub Seattle, Karin Stevens Dance and Theater Puget Sound among others.

Michael’s theater credits include work as composer, music director, performer and recording artist for: King Lear (Freehold), Red (Intiman), August: Osage County (Balagan), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (STG), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Book-It), Savage Love (produced by Kathryn Stewart), 25000 Posts (written and produced by James Lapan), and productions by The 14/48 Projects.

Composer and bassist NATE OMDAL is Co-Founder of the 12-piece big band, Seattle Jazz Composers’ Ensemble and The Nate Omdal Quintet and has created music with PNW composers and musicians Soul Kata, Michael Owcharuk, Josh Rawlings, Spekulation, Clave Nagila and Le Trio. He studied Music at Cornish College of the Arts receiving the Hadley Caliman Merit Scholarship and a nomination for an Earshot! Magazine Golden Ear Award. He is Co-Founder of independent record label, BrokenTime Records and recently co-founded a non-profit with the Seattle-based arts management company, Shunpike, to help commission new jazz compositions and collaborations.

Composer, pianist, and keyboardist WAYNE HORVITZ performs extensively throughout Europe, Japan, and North America. He is leader and principal composer for the quartet Sweeter Than the Day, the Gravitas Quartet and the Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble. Past ensembles include The President: the Horvitz, Morris, Previte Trio: Pigpen; Zony Mash; The New York Composers’ Orchestra; Ponga and The Four Plus One Ensemble. Horvitz has been commissioned by The Kitchen, The Kronos Quartet, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New World Records, The Seattle Chamber Players and Earshot Jazz and has received commissioning grants from Meet the Composer, The National Endowment for the Arts, Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, The N.Y. State Arts Council, The Mary Flagler Carey Trust, The Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund and The Fund for U.S. Artists. He is the recipient of the 2008 NEA American Masterpieces Award and two Map Fund awards. His work includes collaborations with some of the world’s leading musicians, multiple record productions with musical artists and collaborations in film, theatre and museum installations.

Musicians

Violist HEATHER BENTLEY is a member of Trio Pardalote, Artistic Director of Club Shostakovich, Principal Viola of Northwest Sinfonietta, Co-Founder of North Corner Chamber Orchestra, Concertmaster of the improvising string orchestra, Scrape, and was Conductor of the Northwest School Chamber Orchestra for seven years. She was a Fellow and Principal Violist at the Tanglewood Festival, Associate Principal of the New York String Orchestra and has appeared as a soloist with the PNB Orchestra, the Northwest Sinfonietta, San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra and Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. Her chamber music appearances include the Seattle Symphony Chamber Series, Seattle Chamber Players, the Olympic Music Festival and Second City Chamber Music Series. She was Director of Chamber Music for Seattle Conservatory of Music for over nine years, serves as Director of Cornish College of the Arts’ Summer String Quartet program, is on faculty at Seattle’s Lakeside School and has led music tours to Europe and China as Conductor of the Northwest School Chamber Orchestra. In 2015, she premiered her electro-acoustic, semi-improvised collaborative opera, The Ballad of Ishtar and released her first improvised collaborative album, Meeting Point, with composer Steve Layton.

ALEX GUY is a violist, violinist, singer, composer and leader of the Seattle-based chamber-pop ensemble, Led to Sea. She has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe with Mirah, Laura Veirs, Jherek Bischoff and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down and collaborated with Seattle groups, Wayne Horvitz’ Electric Circus, the Degenerate Art Ensemble and the Seattle Rock Orchestra. She just released her third record: The Beautiful Humming of Ms. Fortune, and is developing her first feature-length film score for documentary With Wings and Roots.

Classically trained violinist and performing artist PARIS HURLEY works to externalize the internal through sound, movement and the transformation of spaces.  She has worked with some of the PNW’s most influential artists including Kultur Shock, Jherek Bischoff , Degenerate Art Ensemble, Paige Barnes, Beth Fleenor, Samantha Boshnack, Hanna Benn, KT Niehoff, and Vanessa DeWolf and has performed in over twenty countries across Europe and the Americas, having performed in some of the world’s most esteemed venues, including Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Her work has been presented locally at On the Boards, CityArts Fest, the Henry Art Gallery, Velocity Dance Center, Seattle Center, Seattle University’s Hedreen Gallery, Project: Space Available and the James Washington Foundation.

Violoncellist MARIA SCHERER WILSON is a Seattle-based classical, experimental, chamber rock and freelance musician. Known for cross-disciplinary collaborations with American, European and Canadian artists, her personalized approach to cello has attracted artists Florence Henderson, Jody Watley, Eyvind Kang, Jherek Bischoff, String Theory and Cat Power among others. She often shares the stage with experimental artists Led to Sea, B’shnorkestra, Scrape, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Ahamefule Oluo, John Teske and Paul Kikuchi and has rocked Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, Moore Theater, The Chapel Performance Space, the Royal Room, Jazz Alley and The Triple Door with artists Hauschka, Dance Theater of Harlem, Wayne Horvitz, Bill Frisell and Lee Oskar. Sought after for her tone and recording skills, Maria has laid down tracks for John Zorn, The Head and the Heart, Recess Monkey, Fightstar, Spekulation, Katrina Parker, The Angel Band Project, Led to Sea, B’shnorkestra, Scrape, The Jane Austen Argument, Michael Owcharuk, ÄÄNIPÄÄ, Golden Hornet Project, and Amanda Palmer. Maria earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Evansville in 1999, cum laude, and a Master of Music in Violoncello in 2003, from The University of Texas, Austin.

Composer, clarinetist, and raucous vocal percussionist BETH FLEENOR harbors a strong love for variety and all sonic manipulation, moving freely through genres such as jazz, rock, classical, contemporary chamber, Slavic & American folk, metal, musique concrete, ambient, noise & pop. Her work has been heard internationally from 100,000 seat festivals, maximum-security prisons, rural bars, art galleries, bunkers, sidewalks, sacred spaces, and some of the most prestigious concert halls, museums, clubs and theaters in the country – in live music, recording, theater, dance, installation, and film. Believing that “art is the discipline of being,” Fleenor uses sound to open the channels of communication between and within individuals and environments. She has been based in Seattle since 1998.

Fleenor is honored to have worked with artists such as Wayne Horvitz, Denney Goodhew, Robin Holcomb, Butch Morris, Bobby Previte, King Crimson’s Trey Gunn, Mike Dillon, Matana Roberts, Jherek Bischoff, Joshual Kohl, David Byrne, Terry Riley, Jim Knapp, Paris Hurley, Bill Patton, Yemin Kim, Paul Moore, Timothy Young, Samantha Boshnack, and many more.

Currently she can be found performing with Crystal Beth & the Boom Boom Band, Workshop Ensemble (WE), Sam Boshnack Quintet, Double Yoko,  FLOW (duo with Michael Owcharuk), Wayne Horvitz’s Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble, Wayne Horvitz: Electric Circus, and Seattle Jazz Composers Ensemble.

ISAAC BOYLE is an Indonesian-American drummer and composer based in Seattle, Washington. He is currently pursuing a bachelors of music degree at Cornish College of the Arts. He is looking forward to the premiere of his newest piece, Spring Song (for string quartet) on April 26 at poncho recital hall.

Lighting Designer

SARA TORRES is a Seattle based lighting designer known in the local dance community for her years as the Technical Director and Lighting Designer for the Seattle International Dance Festival. In addition to working with Karin on her show last October, Sara has recently worked as a Lighting Designer for the Khambatta Dance Company, Stage Manager for Spectrum Dance Theater, and Lighting Designer for IMPulse Circus Collective. More info at penumbralux.com