Friday November 7TH
Show 1 - 7:30 pm
Meet the Artists
THE MOVEMENT PROJECT was founded in 2009 by Megan Gargano (she/her) and Rebecca Leuszler (she/her) with goals to support professional dance in Cleveland. Through the years, TMP has grown their efforts to support artists throughout NE Ohio, specifically the communities of Cleveland and Akron. In 2013 TMP launched its first full season of performances and has since then produced over 35 evening-length concerts, has created over 60 new works, produced 6 original dance films, and has performed at various venues such as Cleveland Public Theatre, The Breen Center, Dumbo Dance Fest in NYC, Baldwin Wallace University, Ohio University and Transformer Station. In 2019, TMP collaborated, performed and produced a sold-out concert with Pam Tanowitz and her NYC company Pam Tanowitz Dance. In 2013 and 2016, TMP was awarded The Fedora Award, a grant for individuals and organizations that focus on positively helping communities of Northeast Ohio. And in 2017 TMP was awarded funds by Puffin West Foundation to further support TMP's annual summer intensive, a 1-week summer intensive focused on providing affordable and accessible dance education to youth dancers. In 2015, TMP launched the Cleveland Artist Initiative, a program designed to support and fund the creation of new work by Cleveland artists. Today, over 60% of TMP's operating budget is dedicated to paying artists. In 2016, TMP launched Cleveland Dance Fest, an annual dance festival featuring Cleveland choreographers and is hosted each year in Cleveland. TMP Co-artistic director Rebecca Leuszler was awarded the 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship funded by Community Partnership for Arts & Culture and Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) to produce the first festival. In 2019, 2021 & 2022, TMP was awarded funds by CAC to continue growing the festival, as well as in 2020 by Ohio Arts Council. Since its inaugural year, over $54,500 has gone towards paying artists. In addition to our programming in Cleveland, TMP has worked to provide resources to artists, families, and youth throughout the communities of Akron. TMP is committed to fostering the next generation of Akron artists through the development of sustainable and equitable practices for dance professionals. TMP's outreach programs have included The Akron Art Museum, Miller South School for Visual & Performing Arts, The University of Akron, and our annual year long residency at Firestone CLC. In 2023, TMP officially became a proud Pathway Partner with the College & Career Academies of Akron through Akron Public Schools. 2024 marked TMP’s first annual CDF | Akron Concert Series. Fall of 2017 TMP launched The Movement Project School of Dance for youth 2.5-18 years old, serving the neighborhoods of Cleveland. In 2022, company member Elyse Morckel was promoted to Associate Director, expanding upon her already strong commitment to community building throughout the Akron and Cleveland communities. January 2022, TMP moved its operations to Cleveland’s westside community of Fairview Park where they offer year-round weekly professional classes, summer intensives, company rehearsals, festivals and performances. Fall 2024, TMP was selected as a 2024 Knight New Work grantee—an initiative of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that supports artists and organizations in Akron, Miami, and Detroit who use technology to innovate how art is created, shared, and experienced.
ANGELINA DIFRANCO is a dance artist, writer, and choreographer. She graduated from Kent State University with honors in May 2023 and holds a BFA in dance and a BA in English with a concentration in professional writing. She has trained with Deeply Rooted, Koresh, Visceral, and LA Contemporary Dance Company and partaken in residencies with choreographers such as Amy Hall Garner, Hope Boykin, Stefanie Batten Bland, Laura Smyth, Staycee Pearl, and Tiffany Mills. Angelina danced professionally with InPulse Dance and MoJo Co.Lab, and is currently in her fourth season with Dancing Wheels, where she has toured internationally, choreographed repertoire, and earned the Dancing Wheels Teacher Certification. As a choreographer, her work in film has won Best Overall at the Kent State Film Festival and Best Experimental Film at the Highland Square Film Festival. Angelina’s choreography has been performed at Cleveland Dance Fest, the Museum of Contemporary Art, OhioDance Festival, and CDF Akron Series. Alongside her work as a performing artist, Angelina is entering her second season teaching at Studio J and Cleveland Dance Project. As a writer, she has taken part in See Chicago Dance’s critical writing fellowship and has been published in See Chicago Dance, Luna Negra, Brainchild, Arts Air, and The Movement Project’s Blog.
CHRISTINE HOWE (she/her) is a dance educator, performer, and maker currently serving as Assistant Professor of Practice in Dance at The University of Akron. She holds a BFA from The University of Akron and an MFA with performance emphasis from The University of Iowa. In Iowa, she received the Iowa Arts Fellowship and served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant under the direction of Rebekah Kowal. As an educator, she strives to create community environments in the classroom to support spaces of exploration and experimentation to leave students with a sense of creative individuality, an investigative curiosity, and a deep passion to move. She has taught for festivals such as The Cleveland Dance Festival and the American College Dance Association while also serving as a guest artist at numerous studios through NE Ohio. As a maker, her choreographic works have been presented by Columbus Contemporary Dance Company, The University of Akron Dance Company, The Cleveland Dance Festival, Take Up Space in Chicago, The Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, and Lindenwood University in St. Louis. She been selected for choreographic fellowships by Suttle Dance Company in Detroit and The Movement Project in Cleveland. Her choreographic research works deeply with performance techniques to dance beyond just spectacle, creating empathetic and humanistic connections.
PERENNIAL MOVEMENT GROUP (PMG) is a program of dance classes and performance opportunities for adults over 50 directed by Chloe Napoletano and Sarah Ramey. PMG facilitates dance classes in central and southeast Ohio dance studios, community centers, and senior living facilities, reaching over 200 seniors each year with dance experiences. PMG’s performance ensemble, The Perennials, is made up of 12 dancers over the age of 65 who create and perform original work in venues ranging from retirement communities to concert stages. Since 2021, the group has created 9 original works.
CDF 2025 Show 1 Artist - Perennial Movement Group - Katherine G. Moore (Photo Credit: Tiana Kargbo)
GLADYS LAWRENCE, a member of The Perennials, created her duet, Two Not One in collaboration with Katherine Moore as part of a performance project last year that featured new works created by adults over 50. Gladys is a Christian, wife, mother, grandmother, and Veteran. She earned a degree in History and Political Science from Birmingham-Southern College. There she got her first introduction to dance by taking several ballet classes. Her involvement in the Veterans Administration’s Whole Health Initiative, where she took a dance class in 2021, rekindled her passion for dance, years after military service, homeschooling her children and subbing in the public schools. She has a passion for serving others, especially kids. She teaches a kids' Sunday school class and has volunteered many hours in community service activities. Her hobbies and interests are visual art, music, dance, gardening, cooking, soap making, and walking. She has logged over 3500km (2175 miles) participating in American Volkssports organized walks.
KATHERINE G. MOORE is a movement and teaching artist whose work spans theaters, outdoor environments, galleries, and community spaces. Katherine earned a BA from Hope College and an MFA from The Ohio State University. Active professionally as a performer and choreographer across the US for over a decade, she has recently held creative residencies at The Croft (MI, 2021), Akron Soul Train (OH, 2023), Keshet Center for the Arts (NM, 2023), and Wildacres Retreat (NC, 2023). In addition to holding extensive teaching experience in studio and community settings, she was also a faculty member at the University of Southern Mississippi from 2019-2022. She currently lives in Columbus, OH where she works as an adjunct lecturer and guest artist for area schools such as the Ohio State University, Ohio University, and Ohio Wesleyan University.
TORI ZEGARELLI is a mover, creator, and educator based in Cleveland. She has performed professionally with Aerial Dance Chicago, Dance in the Parks, Hedwig Dances, and most recently, GroundWorks DanceTheater. During her time with GroundWorks, Tori had the privilege of performing works by renowned choreographers including Antonio Brown, David Shimotakahara, FLOCK (Alice Klock & Florian Lochner), Olivier Wevers, Peter Chu, Rena Butler, Sidra Bell, and Spenser Theberge. In her final seasons with the company, she also served as Artistic Associate and Web Designer, contributing both artistically and administratively. As an educator, Tori has worked with dancers of all ages, teaching at Cleveland State University and in various pre-professional programs throughout the Chicago and Cleveland areas. She has also facilitated and assisted with numerous community engagement programs in Cleveland Public Schools and adult education settings. Tori holds a BFA in Dance from Point Park University. She is a certified yoga instructor and integrates somatic practices into both her teaching and personal movement research. Her work is rooted in sharing the joy of dance, fostering connection, and encouraging a continual pursuit of excellence.
ALFONSO ABRAHAM CERVERA (he/they) is a first-generation queer Mexican American choreographer, educator, and researcher whose work is rooted in community, hybridity, and the re-imagining of Mexican American identities through dance. Born in San Bernardino, California, and currently based between Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio, Cervera serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Dance at The Ohio State University, where he teaches Ballet Folklorico, Latin Contemporary, Composition II, and Contemporary Technique. Cervera’s choreographic practice centers on Poc-Chuc, a hybrid technique that fuses Mexican Ballet Folklorico aesthetics with modern and contemporary forms, creating new frameworks for Latine embodiment and social justice in performance. His work expands upon folklorico without being bound by tradition, addressing queerness, migration, and cultural futurism as vital choreographic questions. He is co-founder of Primera Generación Dance Collective, recognized by Dance Magazine as one of the “25 to Watch” in 2025, where collective authorship serves as a guiding principle. His projects, including RP and Café Con Pan, explore accessibility, queer storytelling, and the preservation of histories through performance, sound, and media. Cervera’s artistry has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and numerous other local and national funding organizations. He has presented work across the U.S. and internationally, and continues to build collaborations between academic and community spaces. Through teaching, choreographing, and collective creation, Cervera seeks to archive stories of survival and joy, imagining futures where queer Mexican American identities thrive at the center of dance.
CDF 2025 Show 1 Artist - Elliot Reza Emadian and Paul Leary (Photo Credit: Elvis Njomo)
ELLIOT REZA EMADIAN & PAUL LEARY
ELLIOT REZA EMADIAN is an interdisciplinary artist, teacher, and scholar. Their work occurs in the intersection of dance and choreography, video art and editing, sound and music, light and photography, and popular culture. More at elliotreza.art
PAUL LEARY is currently Associate Professor of Music at The Rochester Institute of Technology where he is teaching electronic music and theory. After earning degrees in music composition at the University of Michigan and the Cleveland Institute of Music, Dr. Leary completed a PhD in composition from Duke University in 2012. Dr. Leary has a passion for collaborations with dance and EDM. Paul’s works often include hand built instruments that bring kinetic motion to his electronic works through sensors. Recent works have included a 9 foot wooden pendulum and a bike wheel rig that utilize magnetometers and accelerometers. Paul’s other interests include cycling, woodworking, and arts and crafts. Paul builds midi controllers in his wood shop and plays the Shakuhachi flute.
CDF 2025 Show 1 Artist: Kora Radella (Photo Credit: Prince Davenport)
KORA RADELLA is a choreographer, movement teacher, and performer. Radella’s choreography has been performed in New York City at venues including Judson Church, Danspace Project, 92Y, CPR, Pioneer Works, and Roulette and in many other locations including Barcelona, Berlin, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Mexico City, and Paris." Noted for her use of "awkward grace," Radella researches being on the edge of control, pushing both physical and psychological balances. She has been a recipient of artist residencies at Yaddo Watermill, Lake Studios Berlin, and Bogliasco (Italy). She received Ohio Arts Excellence Awards in 2014 and 2018. Radella has been a dance professor at Kenyon College since Fall 2004. She is a certified yoga teacher (500RYT).
ROSS FELLER - Ross Feller's compositions have been performed throughout the USA and Europe at major venues and festivals. His awards include the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, ASCAP Young Composer’s Competition and the Gaudeamus Foundation International Composer’s Competition. As a saxophonist he has toured and performed internationally with bands including Doctor Nerve, Cheer-Accident and Faust. He has also created work and performed extensively with choreographer Kora Radella. He has been a music professor at Kenyon College since 2011. He previously taught composition at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, was a yearlong Guest Scholar at the Paul Sacher Stiftung, Basel, and currently is the Reviews Editor for the Computer Music Journal, The MIT Press.
CDF 2025 Show 1 Artist - Teagan Reed
TEAGAN REED
Tea (she/her) is from St. Petersburg, Florida, and started dance at age 12. She trained at the Patricia Ann Dance Studio as well as the Pinellas County Center for the Arts, LINES Ballet, and Next Generation Ballet before going on to receive her B.F.A. from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music and completing the Hubbard Street Pro Training Program. Tea has performed, taught, and choreographed across the east coast at various places including American Repertory Theatre, Adam Winert at Jacobs Pillow, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Dance in the Parks Chicago, Little Fire Artist Collective, Aerial Dance Chicago, Groundworks Dancetheatre, Cleveland Dance Project, Christina Lindhout and Artists, Ajayi Dance, and The Movement Project.
CDF 2025 Show 1 Artist - RESILIENCE Dance Company
RESILIENCE DANCE COMPANY (RDC) is a non-profit, contemporary modern dance company with a mission to create exceptional dance experiences that fuel human connection. Founded in 2019 by Artistic and Executive Director Emily Haussler, RDC’s work is rooted in building healthy, sustainable dance spaces that put artists first and enable curiosity, play, and creative risk taking. Highly collaborative, RDC both creates original, evening-length works each season and commisisons a mix of emerging and renowned choreographers at the cutting edge of contemporary dance. RDC envisions a future where there are no more "starving artists", and programs multiple education, outreach, and professional initiatives to uplift artists, inspire the next generation, and bridge communities.
www.resiliencedancecompany.com
VICTORIA LYNN AWKARD is a multi-hyphenate creator, administrator, educator and the Director of VLA DANCE. She pursued her multiple interests at Goucher College and graduated with high honors in Dance, Visual Art and Secondary Education. As the Director of VLA DANCE she is researching how to lead with joy, pleasure, and breath in and outside of art making practices. This work is guided through the lineage of Black and queer liberation practitioners. Alongside directing VLA DANCE, Victoria is a freelance artist, who most recently choreographed for Huntington Theater, Company One Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera, and Commonwealth Shakespeare. Victoria is also an educator having worked at Salem State University, Brown University, West End House, Middlesex School, and Urbanity Dance. She continues to deepen her teaching practices as a mentee with Midday Movement Series. Victoria is currently a Brother Thomas Fellow, and recipient of the Next Steps for Boston Grant Dance Program as well as a recipient of the Queer (Re)public Theater Offensive Residency. Through her work she aims to inspire people to pause and reflect on their actions towards themselves, their community and their environment.