MANUELA SANCHEZ (Manni) is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn. She trained at Talent Unlimited High School, Ballet Hispánico and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She holds a BFA from Long Island University- Brooklyn Campus with a minor in Psychology, and later on received her 500-hr RYT Yoga certification and Fully Comprehensive Pilates Certification.  In addition to working with Eva Dean Dance since 2012, Manni has worked with several choreographers and companies including Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Amalgamate Dance Company, Christal Brown’s INSPIRIT, nathantriceRITUALS, Maverick Dance, MoveWorks, Bill T Jones, and works as a dancer and faculty member of Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance. She relocated to Miami, FL in 2013 to serve as a company member and rehearsal director of Augusto Soledade Brazzdance for five years and continues to work with them on a project basis. As a national ambassador for Club Pilates, Ms. Sanchez has been interviewed on shows “Good Morning America” and “Coffee with America”, and has published articles on Self Magazine, MinBodyGreen, and Thrillist. She currently continues to freelance as a dance artist, teaches fitness throughout NYC, and is a signed model with MMG Talent Agency and Naturally Fit Agency. She is grateful to be alive and pursue what she loves.

CAROLINE PARTAMIAN is a sound and visual artist. Her work is influenced by her training in dance as she integrates the concept of abreaction into her work – the extraction of dormant memory stored within a muscle, resurfaced through physical movement, of which an individual was previously unaware; these memories can take many forms – traumatic, erotic, comforting, etc. By focusing on the process rather than the anticipated result, her work encourages what can be revealed when one becomes conscious of their kinetic movement in the process of creation. Her work has taken on the form of compositions, graphic notations, sound environments, books, video, and more. She has shown work at BoxoPROJECTS, Marfa Open, Wassaic Project, Otion Front, Flux Factory, Anthology Film Archives, Babycastles, Compound Yucca Valley, and more. She also runs a small publishing press, Weird Babes, in the form of zines and prints featuring artists’ and her own works-in-progress and experiments, and is the co-founder of Other Desert Radio in the California high desert.

DONALD KNAAK (Percussionist/Composer and Environmentalist) – The music of Vermont composer, musician and environmentalist Donald Knaack has been performed at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The Van’s Warped Tour, festivals with Phish, World Environment Day at the United Nations, Sundance Film Festival, among others He has composed two critically-acclaimed works for choreographer Twyla Tharp, been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, the BBC and television commercials for The NBA, Electronic Arts and ESPN.

A dancer, aerialist, and yogi, Kirana has been drawn to movement arts, beginning with ballet at Minnesota Dance Theater. She continued her education at University of Minnesota, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Kirana moved to New York City to train at Alvin Ailey’s Independent Study Program, and has danced professionally in NYC. With a passion for holistic healing and mind/body connection, she was drawn to teaching yoga, and received her 500 RYT. She continued her education and is a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) through Prema Yoga Institute in NYC. She is currently back in school to study Neurosomatic Therapy, a form of manual therapy that seeks to find and treat the root causes of pain based on structural imbalances. She uses her variety of movement and training to teach a wide variety of classes ranging from strength training, to meditation and restorative sessions. She has a passion working on an individual basis to help facilitate healing, incorporating yoga elements that focuses on restoring balance on all aspects of the individual – physical, psychological, and spiritual.

JESSICA CAMPBELL MS, NTP practices holistic healing mechanisms of the body through food, movement, and mindfulness you can experience in her free chakra yoga flows on her YouTube channel at Food Foundation. Jessica prefers healthy comfort food to diets and delicious movement to exercise. With a BA in dance from San Diego State University, Jessica has studied dance her entire life, choreographing and performing nearly every form of dance from Argentine tango, Afro-Cuban, classical ballet, modern, West Coast Swing, to Pole dance and aerial arts. Jessica has performed intermittently with Eva Dean Dance since 2002 and is honored to be gracing the stage with Eva again.

Born and raised in Japan, Rie Fukuzawa received her Master of Arts in dance education from Ochanomizu University, Tokyo. She came to New York in 2003 to study dance with an “Overseas Study Program Scholarship for Artists” funded by the Japanese government. Her choreography has been presented at Joyce SoHo, Movement Research at Judson Church, Fine Field Art Festival, Studio series/Body-Arts Laboratory, E-Moves 15 Harlem Stage, and various New York and Japan venues.

Rie has been collaborating with Satoshi Haga as binbinFactory since 2010. Many venues have presented them, including 92nd Street Y, DanceNow (2010-2023), Downtown Dance Festival, Movement Research at Judson Church, Dixon Place, Performance Mix Festival, Le Festival de Bargemon, Le Festival d’Art Contemporain Seillans and Roquebrune Sur Argens in South France.

Their first creation, THREAD, won 2nd place at THE A.W.A.R.D. Show! presented by Joyce SoHo NY. They created the story for T.B.T.B. (Theater Breaking Through Barriers) and did a Japan tour in 2017. 

They are Recipients of residency programs and grants, including Swing Space Residency from LMCC, Eva Dean Dance with Mertz Gilmore Creative Grant, SEANSE Art Residency at Volda University in Norway, City Artist Corp, Creative Engagement from LMCC, Baryshnikov Arts Center, SU-CASA artist program and LMCC Arts Center Residency.

Rie is a certified GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® Pre-trainer and instructor of kid’s ballet class.

Laura Izquierdo began dancing Ballet and Spanish Dance at the Academia de Danza Esther Racero in Madrid, Spain. She expanded her training at Danza 180 Madrid and Ateneo della Danza in Siena, Italy. In 2021, Laura moved to New York to study at The Ailey School, where she was chosen by Clifton Brown to perform an excerpt of “Festa Barocca” at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 2022 New York City Center season. Laura has worked with choreographers such as Brice Mousset, Levi Marsman, and Ephrat Asserie. She attended the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Intensive, Hofesh Shechter, and NVA&Guests winter intensives. In 2023, Laura completed the Scholarship Program and has since become a freelance dancer in New York, working with different companies and choreographers such as Jesse Obremski, Jaqulyn Buglisi, Jenny Rocha, Leonardo Suarez Paz’s Piazzolla 100, and Salvatore Larussa Dance Theater. She also enjoys choreographing, teaching, and fitness. Laura is excited to perform with Eva Dean Dance for the first time!

Sammie Murray is a Brooklyn based dancer, choreographer, and administrator. Originally from Vermont and a recent graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Sammie has trained with the Ailey School, Bates Dance Festival, and David Dorfman Dance. Most recently, they have had the pleasure of working with AXIS Dance as a choreographic fellow. They have danced and performed with artists such as Kaleid Dance Collective, Steme Dance, SHIFT Dance, Shakia Barron, Barbie Diewald, and Tatiana Desardouin. In their own choreographic practice, they explore queerness and oddity, and have presented work with Spark Theater Festival and Drye Marinaro Dance.

Jorgie Ingram uses movement, imagination, and sensing to facilitate an expansion of what we believe to be possible of us and the space around us. We imagine and create tangible environments that support us; with emphases in somatic practice and mindfulness, Jorgie enacts this through dance research and performance, choreography, writing, multimedia art-making practices, creative consultation, and project management/assistance. 

Based in New York City, Jorgie is an alumna of The University of The Arts, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with her BFA in Dance. While there, Jorgie was invited to work with Jocelyn Cottencin & Emmanuelle Huynh, learning their work Monumental, performed at CAMPING at the Centre National de la Danse in Paris, France. She also worked alongside Ming Wong and Yu Cheng-Ta, co-choreographing and performing at the Watermelon Sisters Party.

Jorgie has presented her own work at the Thinking Making Doing Salon at the University of the Arts, the CND, The MAAS Building, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers Inhale Performance Series, WAXWorks at Triskelion Arts, and the Southern Vermont Dance Festival. In 2021, Jorgie was invited by Donna Faye Burchfield to act as a Teacher’s Assistant to Professor Thomas F. DeFrantz at the University of the Arts’ Dance MFA program. She has most recently been invited to perform with Jungwoong Kim & collaborators at Studio 34 in Philadelphia, in Jungwoong’s improvisation score, improvising home, and has acted as a design correspondent and cinematographer for Jason Vu’s multimedia dance work, THROUGH NOISE, commissioned by The Asian Arts Initiative. She currently freelances in New York City + beyond.

Photo by Dan Aragon

Sally Butin (she/her) is a Brooklyn based movement artist from Hastings on Hudson, NY. She graduated in 2020 from the University of Michigan with a BFA in dance where she performed works by Rosie Herrera, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Doug Varone, Shannon Gillen, Ohad Naharin, and many others. Since graduating she has performed work by Charli Brissey, Johnny Mathews III, Damien Muñoz and Virginia Garcia. She has trained internationally at venues including the B12 Dance Festival in Berlin, Sidra Bell’s Module, Marcat Sevilla, and San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. As a choreographer, her work has been presented at Triskelion Arts, Hana House, the Power Center for the Performing Arts, Hill Auditorium, and in music videos including ‘Sally’ by Gigi Perez. She served as Artistic Director of Dance 2xs Michigan, a sector of the international hip hop crew. She currently teaches Dance Church classes in NYC and dances for Johnny Mathews III and Dash M.

Rebecca Light began dancing at the age of four at The Acton School of Ballet. She danced with Commonwealth Ballet Company before earning her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Fordham University and The Ailey School. While at Ailey, Rebecca had the opportunity to perform works by Alvin Ailey, Robert Battle, José Limón, Chuck Wilt, Gabrielle Lamb, Henning Rübsam, Chalvar Monteiro, and Tina Bush. Rebecca has also trained with The Limón Institute, BalletX, and Ballet Hispánico. In her professional career, Rebecca has danced with Nefelaba Dance Theater, Elizabeth Burr Dance and choreographer Kelsee Booker-Jordan, The 98 Art Collective, Buglisi Dance Theatre, DanceKerr & Dancers, and Eva Dean Dance. Rebecca has taught and performed internationally with JUNTOS Collective in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia. Rebecca is also a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher, and teaches both group and private classes around New York City.