ChoreoLab 2025 Program

BIOS

Kate Alexandrite is an artist and researcher living in North Carolina. Their work uses performance, video and installation with a focus on social memory and material practices of belief in relationship to computation. Alexandrite is working on her PhD as part of Duke’s Computational Media, Arts and Cultures program where she is a member of the (experimental& collaborative) Lab for Social Choreography and S-1.

Jessica Almy-Pagán is a multidisciplinary artist and scholar. "I am drawn to gestures that mark live, fluid boundaries in both public and private realms… to individual and collective actions that sometimes offer space for liminality, sometimes delineate distinct directions or crossroads… to intergenerational ritual patterns asserted and repeated in time and space, along with their residual images, objects and sounds… to a conscious choice of sharing pivotal life moments, of making them visible, audible, lived with others. More than two decades ago I drew salt lines on my living room floor, and then extended them out onto the sidewalk and street in my mother’s home country of Puerto Rico. By following the core trajectory of this year-long installation project, and the rich bodies of performance work it sparked, I ended up traveling halfway across the globe, documenting several threshold-marking traditions of women in India and Brazil.  For me, both art and research embody creative processes, intertwining personal experience and contemporary  theoretical concerns, while acknowledging layered histories and shared memories of others. The ongoing collaborative work of Indigo Yard Gals continues to explore and present cross‐disciplinary approaches to research, scholarship and practice, reflecting the depth of knowledge and agency residing in the collective worlds of our own backyards."

Michela Arietti (she/her) is a junior from Milan, Italy. She is a Program II student, majoring in “Embodied Resilience” studying how nutrition and movement practices can engender or heal trauma through neuroscience. In 2011, Michela started studying at La Scala Theater’s Ballet School and later at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. She graduated from the former’s affiliated school in 2022 with a diploma in ballet and a concentration in contemporary floorwork. During her time at Duke, she has been exploring other styles of dance outside of ballet, with a special focus on de-institutionalized practices and social choreography. As an undergraduate, the Duke Dance Program has awarded her the Clay Taliaferro Award.

Hiba Benjeddou is an international student from Morocco. She is a senior majoring in Mathematics with minors in Cinematic Arts and French Studies. Though Hiba did not have formal dance training initially, she joined Pureun, Duke’s competitive dance group, and later became the team’s artistic director for a year. She specializes in vogue and waacking — taking classes at Duke before receiving a scholarship to train in these dance forms in South Korea and to compete in various vogue battles. She currently teaches at DIA Dance Studio and is the artistic director of their beginner programs as well as the official competition team. 

Sriprada Biduru is a passionate Kuchipudi dancer with a diploma degree in Kuchipudi from Potti Sree Ramulu Telugu University. With over 300 stage performances, Biduru has had the privilege of showcasing this classical art form on prestigious platforms, including Harvard University and Duke University. Currently, Biduru teaches Kuchipudi at Duke University and serves as a group fitness instructor, blending the love for movement with wellness. Biduru has had the honor of delivering a guest lecture on Kuchipudi dance at Duke’s ballroom dance class. Biduru’s dedication to dance has been recognized with four state awards and one national award in India, along with the honor of being a two-time Guinness World Record holder in Kuchipudi dance. Through Biduru’s performances and teaching, Biduru strive to inspire, educate and keep the legacy of Kuchipudi alive

Beverly Botsford is a cross-cultural percussionist and educator deeply committed to building bridges with music, movement and word. Embracing drumming traditions of Africa, Cuba, Brazil and her native North Carolina, she celebrates more than 30 years of professional experience, teaching and performing in major venues around the world. 

Kahlila Brown (Durham, NC) started her dance journey at a young age through the dance ministry at her home church and through a local youth dance company. After developing a deeper interest in dance from attending an arts high school, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Dance with a k-12 licensure from UNC-Greensboro. Upon graduating from UNCG, she relocated back to her hometown where she currently teaches contemporary/modern dance (with a sprinkle of jazz/ballet) at a community high school. When she is not teaching, she enjoys collaborating with local artists, performing and taking classes.

Grace Cassar is a dancer from Keene, NH residing in Baltimore, MD. She earned her BA in Dance from Goucher College where she was president of the hip hop team. Presently, her practice is focused on improvisation and rituals of self-healing through movement. She is thrilled to return to Duke University, after collaborating on  portal obscura for Julia Piper’s MFA thesis.

Natalia Cervantes is a proud Latina artist from Manhattan Beach, California. She is currently a candidate with the MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis program. In her research, she positions the body as an archive of generational memory, which she began investigating as an undergraduate student. She earned a B.A. in Psychology and Dance with a minor in Latina/o/x Studies from The American University where she was in the Honors Program and fully immersed in the dance community as a choreographer, performer and collaborator. She performed at The Kennedy Center as a member of the locking crew, Cinematic, and presented her undergraduate capstone work, Familia Cervantes, at the American College Dance Association Mid-Atlantic South Region Conference. At Duke, Natalia developed a layered practice called welding, which opens space through the body in motion to process seemingly intangible borderlands or third/in-between spaces. She is committed to uplifting Latinx identities, communities and stories. 

Indigo Cook is a second-year student in Duke’s MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis. They work within the intersection of movement, music and contemporary performance practices of experimental and avant-garde art. They relish any opportunity to listen deeply, move wildly and play with time.  

Kristin Clotfelter co-directs Studio C Projects (SCP), a collective investigating intersections of movement, design and performance; is Associate Artistic Director of Barriskill Dance Theater School; and teaches dance at Duke University. Kristin has been a member of Susan Marshall & Company since 2011 and Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre since 2005.  She has also worked with Johannes Wieland, Sara Shelton Mann and Abigail Levine. Additional performance credits include: The Metropolitan Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, State Theater of Kassel in Germany and Punchdrunk’s off-Broadway show, Sleep No More. She has been awarded residencies through Durham Independent Dance Artists, Tobacco Road Dance Productions and Dance Omi. SCP’s work has been presented by the North Carolina Dance Festival and Company. Kristin holds a BFA with honors and a minor in Visual Arts from the Alvin Ailey/Fordham University program and an MFA from the University of the Arts.

Caroline Edmondson (she/her) is a junior from Raleigh, NC, double majoring in Theater Studies and Dance with a minor in Education. She is excited to participate in her first ChoreoLab through this tap jam and Professor Harrison's ballet piece. Caroline previously trained at the Holly Springs School of Dance and continues to study ballet, tap and modern at Duke.

Brooks Emanuel, J.D., MFA, has a unique background in both (1) dance and choreography and (2) civil rights law, policy advocacy, and legislative and political work. He obtained his J.D. from NYU Law and his MFA in Dance from Duke University. He has had the great fortune to work for both Stacey Abrams and Bryan Stevenson, as well as serving as public policy director for Planned Parenthood Southeast. Brooks has both performed at Symphony Space in New York City and drafted petitions to the United States Supreme Court. His current work aims to bring all these experiences to bear. In addition to facilitating workshops, Brooks creates performance works that investigate humans’ relationships to each other and the rest of the natural world.

Millie Evonlah is a David M. Rubenstein Scholar and senior at Duke University.  Studying Neuroscience on a pre-medicine track, she aspires to be a surgeon and work in the United States and in Ghana, where her family originates. Millie’s love of African dance forms stems from the energy and cultural connection she is able to share with the world.

Ayan Felix (sometimes just “Felix”) lives and performs in NC as a movement artist, environmental justice advocate and multi-disciplinary collaborator. Born to the swamps of Beaumont, TX they moved to Durham for the Duke Dance MFA program, completed in 2021. Since then held residency at NCDF (23-24) and made work in NC, TX and NY. The land heavily informs their artistic practice which takes root in collaborative process with other cultural organizers, body workers, agitators and spirits. Their current research examines pleasurable terror and Black American markers of social class with a focus on burlesque and cabaret performance. Learn more at Movingaf.com.

Helena Freire Haddad is a Duke PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering. Outside of her time in the lab, she nurtures a passion for dance and has been very fortunate to engage in it during her time in graduate school. She was first trained in ballet and modern techniques, but since coming to Duke, she has discovered an interest in the practice of African dances thanks to Professor Ava and her mentorship. She is very excited and grateful for this opportunity to perform again!

Longtime Duke Dance Program musician for studio classes, John Hanks serves as its supervisor of musicians. He has also been a musician with the American Dance Festival ‘s Summer Intensives since the early 1980’s and traveled several times with them to festivals in Seoul, Korea, and Henan, China. John began his career at Duke in 1987 as percussion instructor for the Duke Music Department, where he taught for 20-plus years. He is an active freelance drummer and percussionist, performing with many diverse groups including: the Willie Painter Band, Choral Society of Durham, Duke Chapel Music, the Coastline Band, and more. “I am immensely grateful for the inspiration and support from the many dancers, instructors, and musicians I have crossed paths with over the years!”

Iyun Ashani Harrison is a dance maker, educator and executive director of Ballet Ashani. Born in Saint Andrew, Jamaica, Harrison trained in acting, classical ballet, modern technique and Jamaican folk dance. He graduated from the Juilliard School (BFA) and Hollins University (MFA). Harrison danced with the Dance Theatre of Harlem under the artistic direction of Arthur Mitchell. At the Dance Theatre of Harlem, he developed a love for neo-classical ballet and dancing choreography by George Balanchine, Glen Tetley, Michael Smuin and Billy Wilson. This experience profoundly influenced Harrison’s movement aesthetic and laid Ballet Ashani’s foundation. Harrison’s professional credits also include Ballet Hispanico, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Ailey II, National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica and guest appearances with Connecticut Ballet, Flint Institute of Music, Collage Dance Collective, Seattle Dance Project and St. Louis Black Repertory Theater. With these companies, he danced in choreography by Jirí Kylián, José Limón, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, Lar Lubovitch, Donald Byrd, Edwaard Liang, Talley Beatty and George Faison. Harrison’s television credits include PBS’ “Setting the Stage” 2007, NBC’s “20th Hispanic Heritage Awards,” PBS’ “Who’s Dancin’ Now? – Arts Education in Your Community” and “The South Bank Show” in England. Harrison’s choreography has been commissioned by the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, Ailey School, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Collage Dance Collective, Men in Dance, American Dance Festival, Boost Dance Festival, University of Florida, Henderson State University, Pomona College, Goucher College, Webster University, Cornish College of the Arts, Jamaica School of Dance and University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Barbados. Harrison has held several academic positions, including professorships with Cornish College of the Arts, Goucher College, Webster University and Pomona College. In addition, he has taught on the faculties of Pacific Northwest Ballet, Peabody Conservatory, The Ailey School and Maryland Youth Ballet. Harrison is the co-editor and a co-author of the anthology “Antiracist Ballet Teaching” (Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2023)

Asili Johnson (she/her), originally from Brooklyn, NY is a choreographer and performer working at the cross points of performance, authenticity and business. She is invested in watching the process come to life. She is also a recent graduate of Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts in both Economics and Dance Performance & Choreography. Now, she is a part of the sixth Duke Dance MFA: EIP cohort. Asili is enamored by the Black vernacular dances that inform her movement with her background in traditional American genres of dance while being rooted in her training in traditional West African dance and rhythms. 

Amari Jones (Durham, NC) received her Master of Fine Arts: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis at Duke University in 2022. She has performed in repertory works choreographed by Marcus White, Mari Meade, The Clarice Young Dance Project and Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company — under the artistic direction of Andrea E. Woods-Valdés. Amari has presented her research twice at the Conference on African-American & African Diaspora Dance and at the Thomas Undergraduate Research and Creativity Expo. Amari’s research at Duke in the MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis program encompasses racial identity formation processes and the specific roles that the public K-12 educational system plays in these processes. Her movement praxis offers a liberatory pedagogical intervention that uses dance as an investigation of Black girls’ embodied knowledge across multiple improvisational sites.

Bonita Joyce resides in the culturally rich community of Durham, NC where she has had the opportunity to learn from teachers deeply rooted in African dance, music and history. She has performed with the Duke African Repertory Ensemble with Professor Ava L. Vinesett and SUAH African Dance Theater with Wesley Williams. There will always be heart-space for her teachers at the Hayti Community Center and the CAARE Healing Center.

Johanna Kepler is a choreographer, creative director and visual artist. She holds a BFA in Dance and a Minor in Latino Studies from the University of Michigan. Her research explores the body as a living archive and a site for cultural transmission, as well as how dance can transcend the body through VR technology and sustainable funding structures in the arts. In March 2020, Johanna founded the Power of the Performing Arts project, interviewing over 300 professional artists worldwide about the pandemic's impact. Johanna has worked as a dancer and choreographer in New York City and Boston and was employed as a full-time administrative staff member at American Ballet Theatre from 2021 to 2023. She also co-founded Digital Drip Fashion House, showcasing her digital creations at Art Basel Miami 2022.

Michael Kliën (*1973, Austria) is a choreographer and artist whose work has been realized across the globe. Commissioned by leading cultural institutions throughout Europe and North America, he has developed an expanded choreographic practice known as social choreography—a socio-politically engaged approach to movement, thought, and organization. Drawing on systems theory, ecological thinking, cybernetics, relational aesthetics, and embodied cognition, Kliën’s work situates choreography as both a social theory and a field of participatory action. For Kliën, social choreography is more than an art form: it is a practice of attending to the conditions for change—change that is inscribed in the body and emerges through embodied relation. In 2017, he was appointed Professor at Duke University, and in 2020 he founded the Laboratory for Social Choreography at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. Through the Lab, he investigates the fundamental role of embodiment in ethics, social relations, and governance. His current research focuses on experimental forms of learning, moving, and organizing that respond to the urgent complexities of our time. The Laboratory choreographs situations—sensitive, imaginative gatherings—that bring together artists, citizens, and thinkers in an ongoing search for ethical presence, shared meaning, and alternative futures.

Julia Krawczyk is a choreographer based in New York City. Recent credits include “Cherry” premiering at Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, DC. Krawczyk trained at New Bedford Ballet and holds a BA in Dance from Goucher College. Currently, she is the studio coordinator at the Upper West Side Corepower Yoga Studio. 

Miranda Li is a sophomore from Houston, TX majoring in Global Health and Public Policy and minoring in Dance. On campus, she’s involved in Defining Movement and Embodiment Contemporary Dance student dance groups. 

Kayla Lihardo is a senior from California pursuing a Program II degree in Neuroaesthetics, and she currently serves as the company director of the student-run ballet group Devils en Pointe. She conducts research in affective neuroscience in the LaBar Lab and has carried out interdisciplinary research as a member of the Bass Connections Laboratory Art team. Kayla’s choreography has been presented at the Duke Dance Program’s 2023 and 2024 ChoreoLab productions, and she continues to explore movement practices as a member of Embodiment Contemporary Dance and Duke Arts Studio student dance groups. 

emily liptow (she/they) is a soon-to-be-graduate of Duke's MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis program, a multi-disciplinary artist, creative producer, facilitator and community organizer from the watershed of Lake Erie. Working with movement, voice and textiles, they create experiences – in the form of performances, rituals, workshops and gatherings – that weave intergenerational relationships between people and with ecosystems. In Durham, NC, em teaches contact improvisation through Living Arts Collective and co-organizes monthly Group Shakes. Their movement practice is shaped by training in contemporary dance forms, physical theater, contact improvisation, Tai Chi and capoeira.  

Alex Meng is a senior at Duke University, double majoring in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Growing up in Long Island, NY his passion for dance began with popping in middle school and later expanded to international Latin and ballroom styles. Since then, he has won several national competitions and performed at venues like Lincoln Center and during NBA halftime shows for the Brooklyn Nets. In college, Alex has choreographed for both Stony Brook University’s k-pop dance team and Duke’s ballroom dance team. He aims to combine Latin, ballroom and hip-hop styles to create unique and exciting performances.

Mercia Perry, known on stage as "Ceeya Jay", is a poet, spoken word artist and passionate advocate for creative expression. Writing poetry since adolescence, Ceeya Jay found solace and power in words, using them to navigate life's complexities and emotions. In 2009, she stepped into the spoken word scene, bringing her verses to life with a unique blend of raw honesty, rhythm and emotion. Beyond the stage, Ceeya Jay is the moderator and creator of "The Poetry Hour," a virtual poetry club and community dedicated to fostering a safe space for poets, spoken word artists, creative writers and poetry enthusiasts. Follow her journey on Instagram and Threads @ceeyajay_thepoet. 

Tonya Perry is a scientist-turned-project manager who is still trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. Attempts dancing for stress relief. Amari's proud mom. 

Julia M. Piper holds an MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis from Duke University and a BA in Dance with Environmental Studies from Goucher College. Her unique approach to environmental research through dance performance centers the body and its ecological entanglements. To highlight the interconnectedness of humanity and the environment, she explores methods of moving beyond anthropocentrism by experiencing both physical and psychic landscapes in new ways.

Ife (e-fay) Michelle Presswood is a choreographer and artist-educator, engaging Afro- Diasporic and Black venacular/social dance and praxis as a means of exploring individual, communal and cultural identity and expression. Employing her Black moving body as a vessel of cultural and socio-political knowledge, Ife ponders and articulates the multiplicities of Black/Black cultural presentations and existences as a means of reclamation and radical self-autonomy.

Mia Rothschild is a first-year student at Duke University from New York City and plans on studying Public Policy, French and Dance. She has studied dance at numerous schools, including Ballet Hispánico, the Steps on Broadway Youth Program, LaGuardia High School and Alonzo King LINES ballet. At Duke, she is a member of Devils en Pointe, the university's student ballet company. 

Tria Smothers is a Duke graduate who continues to dance with the Duke African Repertory Ensemble. She incorporates movement into her mental health practice and assists others with getting in touch with their bodies and helping them live fulfilling lives.

Arely Sun (’26) is a junior from Saratoga, California, majoring in Computer Science with minors in Visual Media Studies and English. She trained in ballet for most of her life and has transitioned to exploring other forms of dance since coming to Duke. On campus, she’s involved in Defining Movement and Embodiment Contemporary Dance student dance groups. 

Amare Swierc, a Duke University undergraduate from Missoula, Montana, has 12 years of dance experience at Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre. She's trained in ballet, contemporary and cultural dance, attending summer intensives at Opus One Ballet Firenze, Ballet Beyond Borders, California Dance Theatre, etc. On campus, she is active in Devils en Pointe, Embodiment, Borderless Magazine and Chronicle photography. She aims to double major in International Comparative Studies and Dance, with a minor in Journalism and Media, aspiring to blend international relations with cultural connectivity through the arts for both conflict resolution and international diplomacy.

Destiny Touchine is Tábaahá (Water’s Edge Clan), born for Tł’ááshchí’í (Red Cheeks People Clan). Her maternal grandpa is Naaneesht’ézhí (Zuni Clan), and her paternal grandpa is Táchii’nii (Red Running Into the Water Clan); Destiny identifies as a Navajo woman from Window Rock, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation. Destiny is a Dance major with a Psychology minor. She began dance at five, starting with pom, jazz and hip-hop. Later, she expanded to breakdancing, modern and contemporary; joining the Duke Dancing Devils and added African dance techniques while deepening her passion for hip-hop in college.

Meitav Vilensky is a multimedia movement artist currently based in Atlanta with a BA in Dance Psychology and Arts Administration from Goucher College. Responding to tactile sensations, Meitav creates collages and other multimedia works focused on the art and joy of play. Learning how to ‘play’ again as an adult has been essential to her peace of mind. Through her art she explores taking things, including ourselves less seriously. 

Ava LaVonne Vinesett is a dancer, choreographer, scholar and primarily a “memory worker” who currently serves as a Professor of Dance and Faculty Director of the Baldwin Scholars Program at Duke University. She co-founded Indigo Yard Gals (IYG) with Jessica Almy-Pagán and is a founding member and former Assistant Director of the Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble. Her work explores identity as a danced concept—a dynamic, fluid space where race, gender, nationhood, size, language, religion, and power converge in motion. Through her choreographic lens, she interrogates how the body becomes a site of memory, history, and cultural narrative. With research interests rooted in Black visibility in public spaces and memory, she examines African-based practices of healing in Cuba, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Caribbean. These healing traditions and their relationship to dance became a foundation for co-founding Indigo Yard Gals, a collective focused on dance, ritual, and healing as transformative practices. IYG’s work includes site-responsive performances such as Enter the Yard (2016), Go To Water (2017), and Indigo Tent: Caroline and Jim, More than a Silhouette (2022). These performances weave together movement, sculpture, and ritual to examine the potency of shared spaces, ancestral divinities, and spiritual medicine, which often emerge in the most intimate places—what IYG calls "HOME."  Conjuring resonances which borrow from King’s radical interdisciplinarity, Lorde’s biomythography and Hartman’s critical fabulation, she interrogates and re-imagines histories often untold, engaging in storytelling that binds past, present, and future, while centering Black narratives. IYG's projects engage deeply with social justice, environmental activism, identity, and imagination, sparking dialogues around community, culture, and possibility.  Vinesett is a prolific choreographer and scholar, with writings in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine and The Oxford Handbook of Black Dance, edited by Thomas F. DeFrantz. Her work continues to challenge and expand the boundaries of dance as an academic and creative field, integrating embodied knowledge with critical theory to highlight the intersections of movement, history, and healing.

Richard J. Vinesett has studied African percussion, specifically the instrumentation of the jembe orchestration, under the guidance of Khalid Saleem. He was a performing artist with the Chuck Davis African-American Dance Ensemble, Rhythms of Life under the direction of Khalid Saleem, Cultural Journey under the direction of Bradley Simmons, and Kambankafo Dance & Drum Ensemble under the direction of Mohammad Da Costa. Under the tutelage of Bira Santos, Richard added Candomblé drumming to his performance roster, and with David Font-Navarrette and Eluaye, Lucumí batá. Richard is a musical accompanist for the Duke Dance Program and Musical Director of the Duke African Repertory Ensemble.

Oswin Wan is a Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University with a passion for movement and creative expression. In addition to research in metamaterial, Siwei explores modern dance and choreography as a way to engage with physicality and artistic storytelling.