jess pretty is an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and the current artistic director of AUNTS; a punk/DIY performance series that hosts events/festivals/shows to highlight the works of experimental dance makers in NYC. she has shown her work at La Mama Experimental Theater Club (2017 La Mama Moves Festival), New York Live Arts (as a 2016/17 Fresh Tracks artist), CATCH!, Gibney Dance Center, Brooklyn Studios for Dance, the CURRENT SESSIONS, panoply performing arts space, Green Street Studios, three ACDA conferences, and the Chocolate Factory Theatre. prett ..read more

Tristan Koepke (he/him) is a dancer, choreographer, and educator based in Portland, ME. He holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is currently Assistant Professor at Bates College and Associate Director of the Young Dancers Intensive at the Bates Dance Festival. Benny Olk (he/him) is a performing artist based in Minneapolis with an interest in contemporizing and contextualizing American modern and post-modern dance. As a member of Lucinda Childs Dance Company, he performed reconstructions of pieces such as Dance and Available Light. He performed in reconstruc ..read more

Paula Mann has been creating dances for 44 years and is a graduate of New York University. She was full time faculty at the University of Minnesota Department of Theater and Dance from 1993-2013. She is co-artistic director of Time Track Productions. APRIL 25-27, 2024 CBDF Featured Artist Work: Nothing A trio: performed by myself, Leila Awadallah and Roxane Wallace. We question and  interrogate our understandings of our realities through movement. Building a focused movement vocabulary since November 2022, we are intent on shifting the structure of the movement and its qualities, hoping ..read more

For over forty-five years I was a movement educator, dancer and choreographer devoted to the exploration of the expression of the mind through the body. I graduated from the Juilliard School in 1971 and my first professional job was working in dance pioneer Anna Sokolow’s Players’ Projects. I continued to dance and perform professionally until 1995. My creative work as a choreographer and dancer always focused on how movement could fully express the states and conditions of the mind and heart. The objectification of movement has never been my interest; rather my concerns were always about exca ..read more

Joe Chvala has created over 30 original works for the stage that have toured from New York to Paris and from Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival to Litle Falls, MN. He is the founder and artistic director of the highly acclaimed percussive dance company, Flying Foot Forum. Articles and reviews of his work have appeared in national and international magazines and newspapers including the New York Times, La Monde, the Chicago Tribune, Dance Magazine, and the Village Voice. The range of his work has been described as "somewhere between Sammy Davis, Jr. and Samuel Becket" and has earned such accolades a ..read more

Swan Song Studies marks Zhauna's 6th full evening length production. Previous productions: The Dream Channel- Episodes 1 & 2 at The Ritz Theater, Episode 3 (in 3D) at Open Eye Figure Theatre, Her Hysterical Nostalgia (Open Eye Figure Theatre) and Beauty and the Beast (Minneapolis Fringe- Best Dance Production-Audience Choice Award). In New York Zhauna was featured in over 500 shows spanning 3 years with the award winning off-broadway immersive productions Sleep No More- Punchdrunk and Then She Fell- Third Rail Projects. She was an original member of Ballet of the Dolls for 25 years and Ass ..read more

Kathryn (Thern) Anderson started her dance training at the U of M in 1968 with Margret Dietz, Heidi Hauser and Judith Mirus.  In 1971 she joined Margret’s Company, Choreogram ,and danced there until 1976.  She then moved to Port Townsend, WA to work with Meg Robson, then to Portland Oregon to dance with Spira, and started Oregon Dance Consort with other dancers from the Wigman tradition.  She was in New York from 1980 to 1987, studying at the Erick Hawkins studio, Floor Barre with Zena Rommet, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Anatomy and Kinesiology, Ideokinesis at NYU, Subtle Self wit ..read more

Maria Genné is a dancer, choreographer and educator, recognized as a pioneering leader in the intergenerational interactive participatory performing arts, and arts and health fields. Her national award winning work to create interactive dance, music and story programs for intergenerational participants is designed to tap into the artistry and creativity of older adults and invite them to be central collaborators in the artistic process of dance, music and storytelling. It models a new and vital role in society for the community based professional performing artist, and new possibilities of int ..read more

Christian Burns is a Teaching Artist, Performer, and Choreographer. His body of work is built upon interdisciplinary projects relating to the intersection of Improvisation, Choreography, and Training. Some of his collaborators include Hope Mohr, Bobbi Jene Smith, Alessio Silvestrin, Chris Aiken, Ray Chung, Eric Beauschsne, Shinichi Lova-Koga, and Kirstie Simson among others. He was a guest artist with The Forsythe Company and a member of Alonzo King Lines Ballet and James Sewell Ballet among others. He helped create burnsWORK, The Foundry, and Parsons Hall Project Space. His formal training fr ..read more

Myo-O Marilyn Habermas-Scher has an extensive background in the performing arts, including choreography, opera, vocal improvisation, performance art and story telling.  She is trained in Qi Gong and Body Mind Centering TM, as well as practicing yoga and Gyrotonics. She is the originator of VoiceWork, a somatically based voice training, which she has offered in private practice for nearly fifty years.  She has taught at several colleges and universities.  She has received a number of grants for her choreographic work, and founded a vocal improvisation group, AWAKE!  In addit ..read more