Behind the Movement

2023 Bessie Outstanding Creator/Choreographer for The Jazz Continuum, 2021 Bessie Outstanding Performer award winner, and New York Times lauded Best Dance & Breakout Star LaTasha Barnes is an internationally awarded and critically-acclaimed dance artist, choreographer, educator, and tradition-bearer of Black American Social Dance from Richmond, VA. She is globally celebrated for her musicality, athleticism, and joyful presence throughout the cultural traditions she bears: House Dance, Hip-Hop, Waacking, Authentic Jazz, and Lindy Hop, among them. Barnes’ expansive artistic, competitive, and performative skills have made her a frequent collaborator to Dorrance Dance, Singapore-based Timbre Arts Group, Ephrat Asherie Dance, and many more.Barnes’ leadership and business skills have placed her in positions of service as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival®, Vice President of Marketing & Outreach for the International Lindy Hop Championship®, Board Member of the Black Lindy Hoppers Fund, the Frankie Manning Foundation, and a contributing member to the NEFER Global Movement Collective.Expanding the scope of impact for the communities she serves, Barnes completed her self-designed Masters in Ethnochoreology, Black Studies and Performance Studies thru New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study (2019). Her thesis and continued applied research are working to bridge the gap between communities of practice and academic cultural dance research, performance, preservation and pedagogy.  In support of this dialogue, Barnes was honored to be a contributing author to the award winning text Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century - Univ. FL Press (2021). Ensuring future artists and dance scholars maintain authentic cultural context as they move through the world bearing forth Black dance traditions. To further support this effort Barnes joined the esteemed faculty of Arizona State University School of Music, Dance & Theater as Asst. Prof of Dance in Fall 2021.From the analysis of here research and in deeper concert with the mission to strengthen Black artists reverence for and expression with Jazz, Barnes is honored to be the visionary creator and Artistic Director of the multi-award winning intergenerational and intercommunal cultural arts project and stage experience The Jazz Continuum, commissioned and presented by Guggenheim Works & Process and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2021.Additionally she is deeply honored to be a part of the Brain Trust that developed the ground-breaking stage production Swing Out, bringing the passion and power of Lindy Hop and its community to the concert stage. The New York Times said of her collaboration with Caleb Teicher in Swing Out, “Barnes is especially extraordinary for the way the past and the present can pass through her...”Across all her efforts, Barnes' eternal purpose is to inspire fellow artists and arts enthusiasts to champion artivism through cultivating an authentic sense of self and intention in their creative expressions and daily lives.

Tom Weksler is a dancer, choreographer and director of the company Wonderground Movement Arts with his partner Roser Tutusaus. Tom is also the founder of ‘Movement Archery’, a workshop concept that presents a unique approach to Movement, philosophy and dance. Since 2014 he has been teaching this approach internationally in dance schools, circus schools, universities, professional companies, martial arts gyms and more. Tom’s teaching is globally acclaimed and he is considered one of the pioneers of the modern ‘Movement Culture’. Movement Archery: movementarchery.com Wonderground Company: wondergroundcompany.com GoFundMe for Matthew Stillman: https://gofund.me/69b59d67 Primal Derma: primalderma.com/btm

Abigail Rose Clarke is an author, somatic educator, writer, and artist. She has an inordinate amount of love for octopuses, the moon, and her extensive collection of anatomy books. She is the creator of The Somatic Tarot and The Body Oracle decks, and the author of Returning Home to Our Bodies: Reimagining the Relationship Between Our Bodies and the World (world release date: January 9, 2024, with North Atlantic Books and Penguin RandomHouse).  She has developed what she calls The Embodied Life Method, which centers on the relationship between body and culture, and how we can use the inherent wisdom of our bodies to be in direct conversation with our creativity and our aliveness. When we do that, we dismantle oppressive systems and build a future that is lush and generative and deeply relational.      Abigail does not teach that embodiment always feels good, because it doesn’t. Her work prioritizes exploration over assumed results, because the body is always adaptable and always adapting. Our creative efforts should do the same, and they can, when we are in relationship with our own bodies.   In a world of such rapid change, Abigail teaches embodiment as a practice and a responsibility. As the world changes so dramatically we are tasked with the enormous responsibility of remaining present to the world as it is, which requires we remain present to ourselves as we are. From here, the way forward becomes possible.     You can learn more about Abigail’s work and approach here:   www.abigailroseclarke.com IG: www.instagram.com/abigail.rose.clarke Returning Home to Our Bodies is available for pre-order and is out on January 9, 2024 https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730766/returning-home-to-ourbodies-by-abigail-rose-clarke/ GoFundMe for Matthew Stillman: https://gofund.me/69b59d67 Primal Derma: primalderma.com/btm

Born in 1995 in Milan (Italy) , Davide Bonetti is a professional acrodancer. At the age of 18, Davide attended FLIC Contemporary Circus School in Turin as an acrobat, where he specialised in handstands. At 22, he got directly into the second year of CNAC (Centre National des Arts du Cirque) in France, specialising in acrodance. He then toured between France and Belgium as a performer and since 6 years, he has been giving acrodance workshops in italian dance academies and european festivals such as B12 research or die (Berlin), HJS Summer intensive (Amsterdam), Frei Art Festival (Freiburg).

Matt Mulligan loves to move, loves to laugh, and loves helping people feel better.He has spent 20 years weaving threads between a professional practice of circus, dance and physical theatre, while coaching people to find for themselves more joyful, authentic physical practices. Matt is also an advocate and consultant for arts access & inclusivity. Follow Matt on Instagram @mattmulligan Coaching: www.bodyroots.org Arts: www.rootandbrancharts.com

Katharina Dodel – Movement Play & Yoga "Joy and ease“ has become something like a slogan of wampediboo over the years. She started this playful orbit to spread the creative spirit she's felt since childhood. She grew up on the countryside in south Germany, explored many things from playing the violin to climbing trees, from table tennis and athletics to volleyball. Later on as a journalist she kept asking questions. So why not continue asking them to myself? In 2017 she moved to Berlin to deepen her yoga studies and to explore life a bit more. It’s a deep interest that drives her and a playful spirit she's sharing with other people in my Movement Play classes – solving riddles and dissolving blind spots on the physical map to encounter the world with a little more joy and ease.

Sekou Heru, aka Tony Williams, has been involved in the performing arts since he was very young. His first love was B- boying. In high school, he attended Mercer County School of the Arts and studied modern dance. In 1993, Sekou started studying Capoeira Angola with Mestre Joa Grande at the Capoeira Academy in NYC. He went on to fuse his breaking and modern dance styles with hip hop and house dance. Sekou has worked with Gwen Guthrey, toured with Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and can be seen in videos with Aretha Franklin, MC Lyte, Clubland, Pet Shop Boys, Foxy Brown, and Jay Z. Sekou was a featured dancer in the movie Marcy X with Damon Wayans, can be seen in the dance scenes on Spike Lee’s The 25th Hour, and seen in Brown Sugar starring Taye Diggs and Sanna Lathan. He has toured in Germany with German rapper Tony Cottura, and has traveled several times to Japan for the annual premier Dance Delight event as a guest judge and featured dancer with the group Dance Fusion, of which he is a founding member. He was a part of the opening act for Cece Peniston’s Japan tour, and also opened for Cool C's Let me clear my throat in his Japan performance. He was featured in Japan’s "woofin" magazine as one of NYC’s top dancers. Sekou toured the USA with Fred Ho and The Afro Asian Ensemble in the Martial Art stage show Voice of the Dragon. In 2005 Sekou choreographed the Dance Dance video for Fall Out Boy that went #1 in the country and won a Best Video Award at the MTV VMAs.

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is a historian of contemporary American politics and culture. She is the author of CLASSROOM WARS: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture (Oxford University Press, 2015), and FIT NATION: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession (University of Chicago Press, 2023). She is co-producer and host of the acclaimed podcast WELCOME TO YOUR FANTASY, from Pineapple Street Studios/Gimlet and the co-host of PAST PRESENT podcast. She is a frequent media guest expert, public speaker, and contributor to outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and the Atlantic. Natalia is Associate Professor of History at The New School, co-founder of the wellness education program Healthclass 2.0, and a Premiere Leader of the mind-body practice intenSati. Her work has been supported by the Spencer, Whiting, Rockefeller, and Mellon Foundations. She holds a B.A. from Columbia and a Ph.D. from Stanford and lives with her husband and two children in New York City.

Adriena is a physiotherapist, a movement teacher, and a passionate student of life born and raised in the Czech Republic. As a former professional athlete representing her country in Ice Hockey for five years, her life always spans around some form of physical practice and discipline that continues to be the guiding force on her path of self-discovery.  After going through burnout as an athlete, Ido Portal deeply influenced her path, following his teachings from 2013 to 2021. Until very recently, Adriena was a teacher at Pohyb je život, a movement community based mainly on Ido's philosophy, for the last six years. Since receiving her bachelor's degree at the University of West Bohemia, her work and interest continue to guide her deeper into understanding and connecting the dots between multiple fields and areas such as manual therapy, trauma release, psychotherapy, and general movement practice.  Currently living on the move she spends most of the year traveling the world, expanding her experience as a student, teacher, and therapist implementing her knowledge into clinical treatments as well as into her teachings. Meanwhile, she continues to lead her community by combining distance learning through online platforms with in-person gatherings according to her travels. Recently Adriena joined Marcello Palozzo's team in shared pursuit of supporting people to improve the quality of their lives through deep transformative work while continuously nurturing her process of individuation.

Lewie is a doer of many things. He is most known for doing spinny, shiny, flippy things on the floor where he has pioneered a new form of hard-floor circus tumbling. In 2013 He won a gold medal at what his mum calls "the circus Olympics" or the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris for an aerial straps piece. Lewie is recognised as one of the foremost contemporary circus artists in the world and has been working professionally in multiple aspects of the circus and performing industry for over 15 years. He has worked as an acrobat, choreographer, director, trainer and tour manager both nationally and internationally with the Australian companies Circa and Gravity and Other Myths before co-founding a new circus company in Tasmania called Rooke.  He is now (unsuccessfully) trying to retire from performing and concentrate on passing on his physical knowledge both online and in-person while being the best Dad he can be to his new daughter. The things he most enjoys doing now all involve other people; forming human towers and throwing bodies around a stage, manipulating and diving through hoops, parenting and trying to choke out fools using Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Unfortunately, as he is a blue belt, he is usually the fool being choked.