Artists & Projects Directory

• Africa Consortium
• David Zambrano
• Dean Moss
• Faustin Linyekula
• Gregory Maqoma
• Lars Jan
• Leila Buck
• Marc Bamuthi Joseph
• Nora Chipaumire
• Ralph Lemon
• The America Project
• Voices of Strength

David Roussève/REALITY

Esther M. Baker-Tarpaga has a B.A. from Bowdoin College in French and Anthropology and an M.A. in Dance and M.F.A. in Choreography from the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA. In 2006 she was invited as a Cultural Envoy through the US State Department to teach and perform in South Africa (Heart of the Arts), Botswana (Maitisong Festival), and Burkina Faso (Dialogue De Corps Festival). She has performed numerous times at the French Cultural Center in Dakar, Senegal and has collaborated with Senegalese dance companies Compagnie Kakat’Art, Compagnie 1ere Temps, and hip hop artist Keyti of Dakar All Stars. Her dance films Ndox Mi/Water, In-Between Baobabs, and Malik and Sukeyna have screened in the US and Senegal and she is co-producer of documentary short United Nations of Hip Hop, which was selected for AFI International Film Festival. She has performed in work by Victoria Marks, Deborah Slater, and is currently a member of David Roussève’s company. In 2006 she implemented and led UCLA’s first summer study abroad program for dance in Senegal at Germaine Acogny’s Ecole de Sables. She is a recipient of a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship and co-founder of Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project, which recently returned from a performing and teaching tour in Japan and Malaysia (www.btdanceproject.com).

Nehara Kalev is a dancer, choreographer and New York native who echoes her family’s Jewish history of strength and survival. As co-founder of Catch Me Bird Dance Theater, Nehara collaborates with husband C. Derrick Jones, creating reality-based performance that grapples with the lunacy of being in a partnership that exists both onstage and offstage. (www.catchmebird.com) She has harnessed her aerial dance expertise with Airealistic and has performed featured roles while touring with the acrobatic Diavolo Dance Theater for four years. She attended the High School of Performing Arts in New York and has a B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.F.A. from UCLA. A dedicated world traveler, Nehara loves teaching her special brand of upside down performance techniques in workshops and residencies across the country and the globe.

Marianne M. Kim is an interdisciplinary artist and educator working in dance, theatre, and video art. She received her M.F.A. from U.C.L.A’s Department of World Arts and Cultures with a focus on choreography and technology in 2004. Her most recent interdisciplinary works have been presented by Collision Symposium at the University of Victoria, man.in.fest International Experimental Theatre Festival in Romania, DeBalie Center for Culture and Politics in Amsterdam and Kinesthetic Kino in San Francisco. As an artistic associate of Chicago performance collective, XSIGHT! (1993-2001) Marianne presented worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, Dance Center of Columbia College, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, University of Illinois Weselyn, University of Alaska in Anchorage and Fairbanks and Out North Contemporary Art House in Anchorage. Independently, Marianne has directed theatre for Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and the ARGE Kultur House in Austria. Marianne has presented her video work at festivals, galleries, and performance spaces in Portugal, Atlanta, New York City, Anchorage, Salzburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ontario, Cluj-Napoca and throughout the Midwest. During her time in Los Angeles (2000-2004), Marianne presented work at LACMA, REDCAT, Crazy Space Gallery, Highways Performance Space, Japan American Cultural Center, and the Electric Lodge. She has taught classes at Northwestern University, UCLA, University of Illinois at Weselyn, and been on faculty at University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Chicago Lab School, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently an assistant professor at Arizona State University’s Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance Department. In the past Marianne has been a guest artist for Yu Dance Theatre, Simone Forti, Joe Goode, Johannes Birringer, Richard Maxwell, Deborah Hay, and Katsura Kan. She is a recipient of fellowships from Illinois Arts Council, Jacob K. Javits Foundation, and several grants from the Chicago Artists Assistance Grants, Durfee Foundation and NEA/Dance USA to create new work. She received Chicago’s Ruth Page Award for Choreography and Performance in 1999 and was nominated for a 2002 Lester Horton Award.

Taisha Paggett is a Los Angeles based dance artist and certified yoga instructor. Her own work and collaborations for the stage, gallery, and public sphere have been presented and supported by several venues throughout California as well as in Chicago, New York City and Utrecht, The Netherlands. For three years she lived in New York City in which time she worked with Fiona Dolenga Marcotty, the Stanley Love Performance Group, and Kraig Patterson. In addition in Rousseve’s work, she’s currently involved in the projects of Mira Kingsley, Victoria Marks, and is a member of the audio action collective, Ultra-Red. She holds an MFA from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures and is co-founder and co-editor of the dance journal project, itch.

Sri Susilowati is a dancer/choreographer from Indonesia and has choreographed extensively in the U.S. and Indonesia establishing dance groups and teaching students. Sri founded and directed Sri Dance Company, a dance group that creates and performs contemporary works on the subjects of community, gender, and ethnicity through dance and multi-media. Sri also founded the group, Harsanari, (Old Javanese for “Dancing Joy”) based in San Francisco. Sri has performed as a solo dancer and with her group throughout the United States including at the Kennedy Center, the Symphony Space, Pier 59, the Palace of Fine Arts, Highways Performance Space, the Ivar Theater, the Barnsdall Theatre, the Deaf West Theatre, the Electric Lodge, and a variety of universities and other local venues. The Dance Documentation Project filmed her workshops and performances for the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum. Sri other project includes producing the annual Dancing in the Margins Festival, a project consisting of community workshops and an opportunity for world dance choreographers to develop and present their contemporary work in a professional setting. She has been the recipient of many fellowships and distinctions including 2005-2006 City of Los Angeles Artist-in-Residence (AIR) and COLA grants, the Puffin Foundation grant, the James Irvine Foundation 2006 Dance: Creation to Performance grant, and the Alma Hawkins Choreographic Award. Sri received her BFA from Indonesian Institute of Arts in Yogyakarta and MFA from UCLA. Sri currently teaches at Santa Monica College.

Olivier Tarpaga is a choreographer, dancer, and djembe drummer originally from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. From 1997-2001 he toured Africa, Europe, and America as a professional dancer with the Bourgeon du Burkina. From 1994-2001 he trained with Salia Sanou of Companie Salia Ni Seydou. From 1999-2002 he toured internationally as a Djembe drummer and Storyteller with Amadou Kienou’s Ensemble Foteban. In 2000 Tarpaga co-founded Compagnie Tâ, which was selected as a finalist at the fifth choreographic encounters of Africa and Indian Ocean in Madagascar. In 2002 he moved to the USA where he co-founded BAKER &TARPAGA DANCE PROJECT. He has performed and taught dance and drumming throughout the USA, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, France, Germany, England, Wales, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Canada, French Guyana, Israel, South Africa, Botswana, Burkina Faso and Mali. He teaches African Dance at University of California, Los Angeles and in the Fullerton and Los Angeles School Districts.

Anjali Tata is an artist engaged in the exploration of Contemporary Indian dance. She incorporates post-modern choreographic tools and movement on core principles and techniques of Bharata Natyam, Yoga, and Modern dance. Tata holds an M.F.A. in Dance from UCLA’s Dept. of World Arts & Cultures and is an arts educator in the fields of Dance and Yoga as well as a free-lance writer. Her training includes 22 years of Bharata Natyam experience under the tutelage of her mentor Viji Prakash and over 10 years training in Yoga and Modern dance. After touring with Prakash’s Shakti Dance Company across the U.S., Canada, and India from 1992-96, she has since been choreographing in both traditional and contemporary genres. She has presented new works at many venues throughout California including Artwallah, a forum for emerging South Asian artists in 2001, 2003, and 2004, the World Festival of Sacred Music, Highways Performance Space, Long Beach Women’s Festival, Japan America Theatre, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Thousand Oaks Civic Center, the Monterey Poetry/Dance Series, and the Hollywood Bowl. Anjali feels blessed and inspired to be working with David Roussève and has also worked with several other artists including Lynn Dally, Parijat Desai, Paula Present, and Nitin Sawhney. She is a co-founder of Post Natyam Dance Collective along with Sandra Chatterjee, Shyamala Moorty, and Sangita Shreshtova (www.postnatyam.net). Tata relocated from California to Kansas City in 2004 and currently teaches dance and yoga in the Kansas City area (www.anjalitata.com)