Our next round of Creating Change Conversations starts with a conversation between LGBTQIA+ dance and theatre artists. Join us as they share their experiences and ideas for both educational and professionals settings.
Event is pay-what-you-like. Suggested donation is $10.
Join:
Charlie Baker (he/him, they/them) is a performer, intimacy director and coordinator, and the creator of Xploring Gender; currently residing in Chicago, Charlie has spent the past 5 years openly advocating for trans and genderqueer performers and their ability and right to tell their own stories both in academic and professional capacities. Xploring Gender began as an act of visibility: coming out and transitioning publicly on social media to dispel rumors, myths, and misunderstandings about being trans or the process of HRT, while creating community along the way, it has now grown into an educational platform both for the LGBTQIA+ community, and allies.
Instagram & CashApp: ImCharlieBaker
Venmo & PayPal: XploringGender
Cat Cogliandro (they/she) received her BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase and will be pursing her masters at The University of Arizona (fall 2021.) They have worked with creators such as Phillip Chbeeb, Sonya Tayeh, Tyce Diorio, and Ian Eastwood, to name a few. Cat was 2nd Runner Up at the 2015 Capezio ACE Awards and has been featured in Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine, and Dance Spirit Magazine. She has taught at studios like Broadway Dance Center, Peridance, Millennium Dance Complex, and Movement Lifestyle, and tours with Celebrity Dance Convention and Heat Dance Convention. Cat is a passionate educator, activist, and advocate for creating safer, more inclusive dance spaces, and aims to empower dancers to love themselves and honor their truths, while standing up for themselves and those around them.
Venmo: @cat-cogliandro
Visual Description: José as "Stephanie" wearing blue glitter makeup in the shape of a heart that takes up the center of her face. She is wearing black hair and a simple spaghetti strap black dress.
José "Stephanie" De La Rua (she/her) is an actor, director, writer, teacher, and drag queen. Originally from South Florida, she now lives in Chicago where over the pandemic she and her friends have created the online show QueerStar, a variety show themed around each zodiac season. She has played Yvan in art with New City Players, Katurian in The Pillowman and Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit at Florida Atlantic University, and in the beginning of July will be performing in The Real Househoes of Bushwick in Brooklyn with I Don't Wanna See That. Through her work she wants to foster community, speak truth to power, and laugh a lot. See @dragmestephanie on Instagram and Twitter. Donations on Venmo or CashApp can be made to the same handle.
Teniece Divya Johnson, MA (Lehigh University, Sociology), MFA (University of Florida), is a student of life, stunt performer and certified intimacy coordinator and intimacy director for television, film and stage. Some credits include HBO’s Emmy winning Succession, Lovecraft Country, RAMY, HULU's Wu-Tang: An American Saga, FX's POSE, STARZ Run The World, The Hunters on Amazon, West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg and the limited series The Underground Railroad written and directed by Barry Jenkins on Amazon. Teniece is also honored to have worked on Slave Play at the Golden Theater and NYTW. www.imdb.me/teniecedivyajohnson . Teaching and performing for over a decade, Teniece uses a multidisciplinary approach to cultivating self-healing and creative wellness practices. Driven to keep actors safe but the story dangerous, Teniece’s devised theater experience, movement training and spoken word poetry lends for a natural curiosity and commitment to honoring and dissecting what is on the page in order to develop a captivating movement dialogue of action and reaction. They are also an outspoken advocate for diversity, inclusivity, restorative justice, anti-racism, boundaries, empathy, collective healing and consent culture. https://linktr.ee/TenieceDivyaJohnson
@teniecedivyajohnson IG
@fireandfinesse Venmo and Fireandfinesseinc@gmail.com PayPal
Devin Hill is a graduate from the University of Central Oklahoma with a B.F.A. in Dance Performance. Her love of dance began at the age of three and has lasted a span of twenty years. Devin set her sights on dance as a career during her time pent at Collin College in Plano, Texas. While at Collin College, she was exposed to: Jazz, Ballet, Modern, Hip Hop, Tap, African, Improvisation, and Latin Ballroom. Devin has had the opportunity of working with multiple artists such: as Christopher K. Morgan, William “Bill” Evans, Clarence Brooks, Brandon Fink, Hannah Baumgarden, Jeremy Duvall, Gregg Russell, Lachlan McCarthy, and Cat Cogliandro . She was also a member of the 2015- 2016 award winning Kaleidoscope Dance Company. Since graduating from UCO, Devin has continued to further her knowledge of dance by performing, choreographing, and participating in intensives and workshops across the United States. In 2018, Devin had the honor of performing with Liz Lerman’s Dance Exchange at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Hill currently resides in the D.C. metro area, where she performs in ReVision Dance Company and facilitates for Dance Exchange. Devin also serves as a disabilities dance advocate for The Dance Safe Organization and is an ambassador for Embody Dance Conference. Ms. Hill strives to use her artistry to create a more safe and inclusive dance world for everyone .
Instagram @dev_jloverhill_
CashApp: $Devjloverhill
photo credit: Joseph Hernandez
Jose Solís began his career as a critic at age 16 when he launched a film review website while living in Honduras, where he was born. He began writing about theatre while attending college in Costa Rica, and upon moving to NYC in 2012 focused entirely on the stage. His work appears in The New York Times, American Theatre, TDF Stages, Backstage, 3 Views, and America Magazine. In 2020 he was selected as the Floria Lasky Visiting Artist at Hunter College where he will host the Wed@One series, and started the BIPOC Critics Lab, a workshop he created meant to train the cultural critics of the future. The second installment of the Lab will be hosted by the Kennedy Center. He is also the creator and host of Token Theatre Friends, a weekly web series/podcast where he talks to some of the most influential theatre artists working today.
Venmo: jrsm86
This conversation is made possible by your donations, The Pollination Project, and New City Players.