Incredible Artistry Coming To NYC!
NYC Aerial Dance Festival 2024
About the Artists
PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS HERE
Akim Funk Buddha is a multi-faceted performance artist with talents ranging from high-energy Classic Hip Hop rhymes, beat-boxing and Mongolian throat-singing, to body-balancing, martial arts, tap dance, and circus arts. Akim creates borderless performance art fusing sounds and movements. He is known for his holistic Approach to Hip Hop, drawing from a full spectrum of cultural traditions and artistic disciplines. Akim's exceptional stage productions transcend borders and has featured at prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center (Washington DC), and throughout New York City including Central Park Summer Stage, The Blue Note ,The Whitney Museum (VH1 Hip Hop Honors), Lincoln Center Outdoors, Joe's Pub, The Winter Garden, La MaMa Theater & The Rubin Museum. His shows are featured annually at BAMCafĂ© Live, The Brooklyn Academy of Music. He won the award for Best Choreography in New York's Fringe Festival where he choreographed for actors in the musical "Average Asian American.” Akim has made appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman and Sesame Street, and can be seen as an M.C. in the award winning Documentary “FreeStyle - The Art of Rhyme”.
Akim's Collaborating Dancer/Performer:
Paris Kylil was born and raised in NYC and started dancing at the age of 18. He began studying the arts as an actor and then branched off into dance, specifically in the style of hip-hop fusion. Paris has danced for Lil Kim, a NYC rap legend, in her 2021 tour, and was booked for the film "Once Again (For the Very First Time)” by Funk Buddha Casting which focuses on dancers with a specialized skill set. The film is directed by Boaz Yakin and choreographed by Rennie Harris. Paris has also choreograph sets for showcases such Syberite and Club NYC. You can find his content on his social media platforms @Paris Kylil.
Choreographer/Performer:
New York Cat (they/them) has performed on NYC stages since 1998. An NYU Tisch graduate, their successful Professional Musical Theatre career was re-routed by a hit and run that broke their back, leading them into nightlife and aerial dance where their work has been prolific. Cat has danced with The Ghana National Dance Company, in National Tours and Union Regional productions, can be spotted on Broad City, High Maintenance, Incarnate, The Bridge, Law & Order, music videos and more. Since 2017 they've been teaching and coaching stretch, mobility, injury prevention and aerial hoop. As a Trans, Queer and Vegan Artist Activist, Cat strives to fight for the rights of LGBTQ, AFAB people, PoC, the Poor, Animals and the Environment through their Art as well as their organizing work with The Poor People's Campaign. You can connect with Cat on IG at @newyorkcat.
Choreographers/Performers: Maia Ramnath and Medea Exogiinos began working together on creative projects in 2018. In January 2024 they performed their evening-length mixed-media circus theater piece, Conjunction at Theater for the New City. These amazing dancers will come together again for our festival!
photo above: Alexander Rivero
Maia Ramnath has created and performed many interdisciplinary works as co-founder/director of Constellation Moving Company, while also performing as a freelance aerialist and modern dancer with various artists including Pat Catterson & Dancers, Molissa Fenley, Fly-by-Night Dance Theater, Yonder Window Theater Company, Hybrid Movement Company, the Neopolitical Cowgirls, Lisa Natoli, Elise Knudson & Bianca Falco, Sarah Wollschlager’s Surface to Air Dance, and the Merce Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group.
photo above: Alexander Rivero
Medea Exogiinos began as a gymnast, competing in USAG's Tumbling and Trampoline and then pursued concert dance, training and performing with Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. After two years as a scholarship student at The Ailey School, Medea joined the second company of Martha Graham, dancing works by Martha Graham, Blanca Li, Carrie-Ellmore Tallitsch, Virginie Mecene, and Medea's own choreography at the Martha Graham Studio Theater, City Center, The Joyce, and BAM. Medea also appeared as a freelance artist for Francesca Harper Project, Buglisi Dance Theater, and Gloria McClean. Since discovering more creative flexibility in multi-disciplinary circus arts, Medea has performed at venues such as The Box, Secret Loft, House of Yes, and Slipper Room; and collaborated with Constellation Moving Company, Athena Entertainment, Hybrid Movement Company, and ABCirque.
Photo below: VivarPhoto.com
Dancer / Collaborator: Cecilia Fontanesi, (PH.D.,
Fly-by-Night dancer) is a dancer, choreographer, movement analyst, dance
therapist, and neuroscientist. She graduated from the Laban/ Bartenieff
Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS), where she is currently faculty.
Cecilia also lectures for the Dance Department at Barnard College of
Columbia University and Hunter College, CUNY. In 2015, she co-founded
the collective of dancers Parcon NYC, exploring the relationship with
the environment through movement and social reflection. Since 2017, she
has served as Artistic Director Associate for the IDACO festival in NYC.
She is supported by Cathy Appel's Overtime Dance Foundation. Her work
stands at the intersection of modern dance, improvisation, social and
environmental theatre, and neuroscience.
Choreogorapher:
Cherie Carson (UpSwing Aerial Dance Company) performed her first aerial dance piece in 1990 and has created more than 50 aerial pieces. Her first dance film in 1992, was named a finalist for the Robert Bennett Award in Los Angeles that year. Her choreography has been performed in a planetarium, on stilts, on rollerblades, in sculpture gardens, reflection pools, in a dress of 11 yards, on a bungee cord hanging from a Banyan tree, on trapeze, tissu, slings, rope, harness and invented apparatus. Her last six dance-for-camera films (2020 – 2022) have collectively been selected by 95 festivals around the world and have won 21 awards. Cherie currently resides in San Francisco Bay Area and is Artistic Director of UpSwing Aerial Dance Company based in Berkeley, CA. Since 2005, UpSwing has been a Berkeley destination for dancers and aerialists to lift their artistry and skills to new heights. Director Cherie Carson has a unique style that blends choreographed movement with improvisation and collaboration among her dancers and students. UpSwing specializes in merging dance with rope and harness, low flying trapeze (Motivity Trapeze), aerial slings, bungees, tissu, and other flying apparatuses. There are currently six performing dancers/aerialists in the company.
photo above: AK Sandhu
UpSwing Dance Company Dancers:
Helium Valentine (dancer, Upswing Aerial Dance Company) began dancing in primary school with the Atlanta Ballet and continued technique even when she moved to the small town of Fresno in the 20th century. After a cold stint in Ohio to attend Oberlin college, upon graduation she moved to LA. There she eventually found the aerial arts, completed the Protrack program in Boulder, CO, then came back to California where she joined UpSwing in 2017.
Dorian Maffei (dancer, Upswing Aerial Dance Company) developed a penchant for going upside down by age three and went on to be a top competitive gymnast into her late teens, competing regionally and nationally. It wasn't until her college years in Santa Cruz that she discovered her love for aerial. With the combination of her gymnastics and dance background, she naturally gravitated toward rope, finding its dynamism and beauty in strength addictive. Her training has taken her to Santa Cruz, New York, and the Bay Area.
KC Hyland (dancer, Upswing Aerial Dance Company) is an actor and aerialist specializing in dance trapeze and aerial hoop who performs in a variety of live and virtual shows for audiences seeking unique storytelling experiences. Fifteen years of competitive rugby have given KC a fierceness which manifests as passionate, soulful movement. Performing on dance trapeze and her custom red Tiny Hoop around the San Francisco Bay Area, KC can also bring her humor, room-filling personality, and a grinning charisma to any stage.
ADVANCE TICKETS HERE
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