SATURDAY November 8TH
Show 3 - 5:00 pm
Meet the Artists
SPACE STATION DANCE RESIDENCY
JACOB HENSS (he/him) is a dancer, producer, choreographer, and teacher primarily based in the Midwest. He currently works at Illinois State University as an Assistant Instructional Professor. In the past, he has been an adjunct faculty member at Millikin University since 2020 where he was awarded outstanding adjunct faculty in 2023. Henss also was a Lecturer for the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign(UIUC) since 2022. He holds an MFA in Dance from UIUC (2019-22) where he was awarded the Vannie L. Sherry Memorial Award for best graduate performer in 2021 & 2022. He is also a graduate of Webster University (2013–17) with a BA in Dance and Music where he was awarded dance honors and the emerging choreographer award. Henss has performed with the Modern American Dance Company (MADCO), located in St. Louis, MO, where he was a MADCO2 founding member (2017–18) and later an apprentice for the leading company (2018–19). Work post undergraduate graduation includes becoming the producer and Artistic Director for Space Station Dance Residency, an organization dedicated to presenting experimental dance work in the greater St. Louis area.
PAIGE CUNNINGHAM CALDARELLA joined the Dance faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in August 2022 after fifteen years at Columbia College Chicago. She performed with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) at venues like the Joyce Theater, David H. Koch Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Barbican in London, the Tate Modern Museum, and Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, participating in both repertoire and new works. After MCDC, she danced with Chicago-based The Seldoms, touring New York and Russia. She has performed with various dance artists over the years including Onye Ozuzu, Timothy Buckley, Darrell Jones, Alfonso Cervera, Anna Peretz Rogovoy, Mandy Salva, Colleen Halloran, and Cynthia Oliver. Paige creates choreography informed by these diverse dance histories while blending contemporary ballet with modern dance forms, emphasizing discomfort, risk-taking, and conflict as growth components. Her 2012 work, Without Consideration, for the Cincinnati Ballet, was described as "a modern dance piece cut with classical ballet… by turns satirical, ominous, and oddly compelling" by Julie Mullins of City Beat magazine. Recognized as Best of Chicago Dance 2013 by the Chicago Tribune, she has received multiple grants and fellowships, including the 2023 Merce Cunningham Trust Fellowship. She has restaged Merce Cunningham's work for various institutions and has taught the Merce Cunningham technique at numerous schools and trainee programs. Paige holds a B.F.A. from Juilliard and an M.F.A. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
JOEL K. LINEBACH is a free-lance dance artist based in Northeast Ohio and New York City. He is a graduate student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio working on his PhD in macromolecular science & engineering. He also holds an MFA from CWRU in contemporary dance. He was the recipient of the 2021 Lily Dreyfuss Memorial Award for Excellence in Dance and the 2022 and 2023 Kathryn Karipedes Scholarship for Modern Dance. Additionally, he was awarded a 2023 Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities Graduate Research Grant which led to his 2024 Naomi Wolin Award for Excellence in New Directions in Dance. Over the last few years, Linebach has presented work in Ohio, Michigan, New York, and Illinois. In his own choreography, Linebach highlights athleticism and technical complexities, favoring movements that paint the performance space and encourage interactions between the dancers. Performance-wise, Linebach has danced in complete works choreographed by Gary Galbraith, Larry Keigwin, Janice Rosario, Pam Tanowitz, Bill Wade, and Pascal Rioult; in addition to excerpts of works by Martha Graham, Mark Morris, Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Ronald K. Brown, Omar de Roman de Jesus, Yin Yue, and John Lehrer. In addition to his own work, Linebach is dancing with Inlet Dance Theatre as an apprentice.
MONALI NANDYMAZUMDAR, a research scientist with a doctorate in Microbiology, continues her scientific career in the USA while nurturing a deep passion for Odissi dance, cultivated under the guidance of Dr. Kaustavi Sarkar. She has showcased her artistry in numerous dance festivals across the USA, performing both as a soloist and in ensemble choreographies with her Guru. Committed to continuous growth, Monali refines her skills through regular workshops and training from world-renowned artists. She has also established online practice groups to build a global community of Odissi practitioners, encouraging daily 'sadhana' (spiritual practice). Her academic curiosity about the meaning of dance drives her to engage in theoretical and scholarly dialogues surrounding Odissi. Looking ahead, Monali plans to explore collaborative expressions of Odissi through different dance styles, music, poetry, and painting. With a deep desire to share the beauty of Odissi with a global audience, she is dedicated to empowering herself and others through the transformative power of dance.
JOSIAH GUNDERSEN (he/him) began his dance training at Studio West Dance Academy in Olympia, Washington when he was 15, though he’s been dancing his entire life. In 2015 he relocated to St. Louis to attend Webster University where he graduated with a BFA in Modern Dance (2019). Since graduating, Josiah became a founding member of Resilience Dance Company and has collaborated extensively with independent choreographers Emily Duggins and Jacob Henss. Josiah is an active choreographer, most recently choreographing a solo work “appendage” for Big Plate Dance’s “Half Baked.” He is also a contributing dance writer for St. Louis Dance HQ. When he is not dancing, you can find Josiah exploring different neighborhoods of St. Louis and giving walking history tours for the Missouri History Museum.
CDF 2025 Show 3 Artist - Take Root (Photo Credit: Minty Photography)
TAKE ROOT has performed at the New Dance for Asia International Festival/Seoul, South Korea, Incheon Yeonsu International Dance Festival/Incheon, Korea, Uferstudios/Berlin, Solo/Dueo Festival/NYC, Austin Dance Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Detroit Institute of Arts, National Theater of Costa Rica, Red Bull House of Art/Detroit, TEDx, Detroit Dance City Festival, RADfest, Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, The Music Hall Center for Performing Arts Detroit, Hamlin Field House Theater/Chicago, Northwestern University, Ohio University and at The University of Costa Rica. Ali Woerner (She/Her), Founder/Artistic Director, is Associate Professor of Dance at Oakland University. She received her MFA from the University of Michigan and BFA from Oklahoma City University. Woerner has performed, choreographed and taught all over the world; including Colombia, Costa Rica, Japan, Berlin and Korea. Woerner created two outreach programs Take Root offers in the community; Dance for Parkinson’s Disease Program (DPD) and Arts Education Impact. The company offers weekly DPD classes in five locations, guest lectures for the Graduate Neuro Interventions course at Oakland University. Woerner was a guest host for the National Parkinson’s Movement Disorder webinar, speaker for the Parkinson’s Disease Symposium, Michigan Parkinson’s Facilitator’s Conference, Women in Dance Conference and the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. The Arts Education Impact program works with k-5 children in partnership with Center for Success on the discovery of non-codified movement/music, providing problem solving, confidence and focus.