Say That Again?

Olivia Passarelli, an NYC-based freelance artist, graduated from Montclair State University with her BFA in Dance. There she performed works by Martha Graham, Bill T. Jones, Joshua Manculich, Earl Mosley, Christian Von Howard, and Stacey Tookey. Since graduating, she has been privileged to work with and perform works by Laura Halzack, Hope Boykin, Paul Taylor, Liz Gerring, Larry Keigwin, John Heginbotham, Haley Heckethorn & Joe Davis, Brandon Coleman, and more. She is currently a company member of LaHa Dance Group and five two dance company. She received the Choreographic Excellence Award as part of Montclair’s graduating class, was awarded 1st Place in Salt Contemporary Dance’s Shape Choreography Festival, and was the recipient of the 2024 Eryc Taylor New Choreographer Grant. Olivia is the co-founder and co-director of five two dance company, a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit organization, with Sophie Gray Gaillard. They have performed their work at Ailey Citigroup Theater, Mark Morris Dance Center, the Emelin Theater, Peridance’s KNJ Theater, Alexander Kassar Theater, Briggs Opera House, Arts on Site, Tufts University, and most recently, overseas in Amsterdam, NL. She has set their works on the Taylor School Professional Division and the Steffi Nossen Pre-Professional dancers. five two was awarded the Directors’ Choice Award at the Spring for Spring Dance Festival and participated twice in the SharedSpace Program at Mark Morris Dance Group.

Daniel Ricardo Rocha is currently based in NYC, Daniel Ricardo Rocha Cartagena (he/him) is an enthusiastic investigator of the created universe. He holds a BFA in Dance from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. A first generation child of Colombian immigrants, his cultural understanding of rhythm and movement deeply inform his practice. The movement forms he has accumulated in this practice include classical ballet, physical theater, hip-hop, breaking, contact improvisation, contemporary floorwork, Latin social dance forms, and a myriad of improvisational and compositional methods. He has performed works by Mark Roxey, Olivia Passarelli & Sophie Gray-Gaillard, Giovanni Ravelo, Sunhi Willa Keller, Rena Butler, Grace Yi-Li Tong, Catherine Messina, Gordon Hall, and others. As of 2023, he is a member of five two dance company and regularly collaborates with artists across NYC and beyond.

The Erotica Ball

Ryan Kirby (he/him) is a director and emerging choreographer from Waco, Texas, currently based in New York. His work fuses the ecstatic physicality of dance with the fierce propulsion of ’90s house music, creating choreography driven as much by rhythm and endurance as by story.
Alongside his artistic practice, Ryan works as a fitness instructor, a discipline that directly informs his choreographic approach to treat music as an engine for movement, stamina, and collective momentum. His recent credits include an ’80s-inspired adaptation of 'Much Ado About Nothing' and the Waco debut of the acclaimed queer play 'The Boys in the Band'.

the winding of unwinding

Jo Wokurka (they/them) is performer/choreographer based in New York City. A recent graduate of Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Dance and Choreography Concentration, they create contemporary works that explore the human psyche in a curious, theatrical way. Most recently they presented works at Uptown Rising '25 and Drye Marinaro Dance Company's Love Moves Showcase '26. Outside of choreography, they have performed works by Molissa Fenley, Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Alice Klock, and Terrence Marling.

Untitled

Jamie Kleinschnitz (she/her) is a freelance artist, performer, choreographer, and dance instructor based in NY. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Adelphi University with a minor in Psychology. She has also studied at the London Contemporary Dance School in the UK, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Gypsy Project LA, and is currently studying neuromuscular anatomy as it pertains to dance performance and preparation under Anneke Hansen. Jamie is currently an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Adelphi University, and has taught at the Steps on Broadway Academy, Long Island High School for the Arts, in addition to numerous institutions for young and pre-professional artists across the tri-state area. She has performed works by Ohad Naharin, Azure Barton, Alexander Ekman, Paul Taylor, Manuel Vignoulle, Alice Klock, Florian Lochner, William Briscoe, Wesley Ensminger, and Michelle Thompson Ulerich, among others. Jamie has been a movement artist with Urban / Tribe, VALLETO Dance, Zullo/Raw Movement, and currently, SAXYN Dance Works, TAKE Dance, and ChristinaNoel & The Creature.

Khris Beeson is a New York City–based dance artist from Kernersville, North Carolina. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance and a BS in Health & Society from Southern Methodist University. As a performer, Khris has danced world premieres by Take Ueyama, Desmond Richardson, and Laja Field, as well as repertory works by Martha Graham, Robert Battle, Medhi Walerski, and Brandi Coleman. She most recently appeared in The Feeling of Volvo, directed by Andrew Winghart and Terumi Murao, and Frank Winters’ upcoming short film Nellie Bly. As a dancer with Take Ueyama’s Take Dance, Khris also serves as a choreographer’s assistant, restaging and rehearsing works for both company and university settings, most recently for BalletX. She has also led workshops for Take Dance at NY City Center and The Taylor School, honing her skills as an educator and rehearsal director. As a creator, Khris directs her own movement projects for both stage and film. Her debut dance film premiered at Arts on Site in 2024. She has also completed choreographic residencies at Moulin/Belle in Mareuil en Périgord, France and at MOtiVE Brooklyn. Beyond her choreographic and performance work, Khris is committed to research-driven training and interdisciplinary artistic development. She is currently studying neuromuscular anatomy and dance protocols with Anneke Hansen, exploring the connection between anatomical insight, coaching, and efficient movement.

Against/With

Shoshana Sklar (she/her) is a professional dancer and choreographer based in New York City. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and currently a dancer at The Metropolitan Opera. Born in Miami, Florida, she trained at New World School of the Arts High School and is a National YoungArts Winner. Over the years, she has worked with and/or performed works by choreographers including Ohad Naharin, Hofesh Shecter, Sharon Eyal, Martha Graham, Jermaine Spivey and Spenser Theberge, Lea Ved, Guy Shomroni, Peter Chu, Laja Field, Celia Rowlson Hall, and Mike Tyus. Shoshana is particularly interested in improvisation and movement research as a vessel for healing and self-discovery.

FIKA

Orphic is a newly emerging inspiration unfolding under the talented gaze of NYC based choreographer Tiernan Yei. Tiernan’s unswerving practice is to center dancers in every artistic endeavor while cultivating the definition of Orphic itself - the qualities of mystery, intrigue and being beyond ordinary understanding - from within each dancer to ripple outward through each expression of dance. As a company, Orphic explores waves of dynamic energy where rhythm, tension and flow intertwine. The work moves between control and release - an ever-shifting dance of power and surrender. Orphic is offered as structure; awaiting the opportunity to serve as a vessel for the meaning every dancer seeks to pour out in their art. It is not only the form and technique of each dancer’s body that are instrumental, but also the dancer’s soul and essence of existence.