Laura Ward, Artistic Director

Canadian born, East Village resident, Laura Ward, founded Octavia Cup Dance Theatre in 1998. Octavia Cup performed in February of 2010 in Barbados with Barbara Morrison and the Tom Finlay Trio. Other interesting places include Alta, Norway, Avignon, France and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as on the Delacorte Theater stage in Central Park (in a Tribute to Marc Bolan). Laura's work has been shown at many New York venues including the 92nd St Y with New Choreographer's On Pointe, Merce Cunningham Studios, Williamsburg Art Nexus, The Chocolate Factory, and the Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock. Octavia Cup guested with Ballet for Young Audiences in their past two Spring Dance Festivals. In 2009 that included doing Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks with the Astoria Symphony at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center.  In 2008 in addition to doing Whistle me Higher: Imaginary Dances from Bingo Palace at the Theater for the New City, Laura collaborated with experimental theatre director, Peter Campbell, on Yellow Electras at the Ontological Hysterical Theatre. Laura and Peter are looking forward to another multimedia Medea project at the Meadowlands Environment Center this September. Laura also worked with Erin Kamler on one incarnation of her musical Runway 69. Laura has choreographed for NYC's Earth Celebrations Festival and danced with Classics Dance Theatre, Yass Hakushima Mime Theater and Roots of Brazil. Laura is a Laban Movement Analyst and teaches for Equinox and the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies.

Georgina Aragon, Assistant Director

Georgina Aragon began her training in New Paltz, NY and graduated high school from the North Carolina School of the Arts. She attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and studied under Deborah Noble at S.U.N.Y., New Paltz. In 1996, Georgina joined In Forward Motion Dance Company, with whom she performed the works of Jean Churchill at DTW and danced in David Matthew's music video "Crash." She has performed in Tucson, AZ with the Arizona Dance Collective under the direction of Jane Willet and Richard Holden, where she was featured as the Gypsy Queen in Two Pigeons and danced in Guido Tuveri's Fourth Wall. Georgina is currently a teacher and guest choreographer for Configurations Dance Company in High Falls, NY and for Figures in Flight, and teaches at both the New Paltz School of Ballet and Highfalls School of Dance. Georgina has been on faculty at Duchess Community College since Fall 2002, and has also taught at Equinox Fitness Clubs in NYC. In 2003, began teaching dance at High Meadow School in Stone Ridge, New York. Happily commuting from New Paltz every week to rehearse with the company, Georgina joined Octavia Cup in 2000 after meeting Laura Ward at a choreographer's concert in Woodstock, NY in August 1999.

Kristen Goldrick

Originally from New Jersey, Kristen Goldrick began her ballet training at the age of six. She was trained under the direction of Mark Jelks, Dorit Koppel, Carolyn Santinicola, and Katrina Killian in NJ, as well as in NYC at Steps on Broadway and Ballet Academy East, and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Ms.Goldrick attended Muhlenberg College as a Baker Scholar for the performing arts, and was a ACDF Nationals finalist at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In addition to her work with Octavia Cup Dance Theater, she has performed with Upstate New York Ballet, the Albano Ballet, Bergen Dance Theater, and the Classic Ballet Company. She is currently a freelance artist in New York City.

Nana Hitomi

Nana Hitomi was born in Tokyo, Japan. She started training in Gymnastics at age 5. and started ballet at age 10, as well as various performance techniques, including Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, Theatre, Tap. She performed with Tokyo Disney Land. She came to NYC to study at Dance New Amsterdam in 2008. Currently she is enjoying aerial dance too.

Jessica Martineau

Jessica Martineau graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with degrees in Dance Performance and Anthropology-Zoology. She has been a scholarship student at the Merce Cunnningham Studio, and apprentice with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and has danced in the companies of Liss Fain Dance, Penninsula Ballet Theatre, Christopher Caines Dance, Todd Williams/WilliamsWorks, Douglas Dunn & Dancers, Abel Costa, Christopher Williams, and Paul Singh/Singh & Dance. She also had a 2 year stint as Las Vegas showgirl in Donn Arden's Jubilee!. This is her first season with Octavia Cup.

Katie Moorhead

Katie started dancing at a young age in Pennsylvania. She performed in the Philadelphia parades as an avid tap dancer. At 15, she joined First State Ballet Theater of Delaware and in 2002, she graduated with honors from the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Wash. DC. She danced with Arts Ballet Theater with tours to Denmark and Poland. And in 2003, she was the first American dancer to receive an Honorable Merit Diploma from Terpsihora Foundation of St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2007, she moved closer to home as a freelance performer in the tri-state area. Presently, she dances for various companies and choreographers in NYC and teaches in Long Island. She is also a certified apprentice of GYROTONIC. She loves Kat’s class and all that Alvin Ailey offers. She’s honored to be a substitute teacher for this class.

Jaime Thompson

Jaime Thompson is a native of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Growing up, she studied ballet, modern, tap, and jazz at the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet, formerly known as Cumberland Dance Company. Ms. Thompson studied at summer programs with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, The Rock School of The Pennsylvania Ballet, and Boston Ballet. After high school she spent two years studying at Point Park College in Pittsburgh. Ms. Thompson then finished her college education with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from The Boston Conservatory. She joined Laura Ward/ Octavia Cup Dance Theatre in 2004. Ms. Thompson is also a member of Ballet for Young Audiences/ Long Island City Repertory Ballet. She currently resides in Eastport, New York and teaches ballet, tap, and jazz at the East End Dance Studio.

Natalia Wodnicka

Natalia Wodnicka began her early dance training in Texas and at the age of 15, she spent a year in France where she studied with Danièle Villers of the Paris Opera Ballet School. She has trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, at Alvin Ailey, at STEPS on Broadway and in Biarritz, France. Natalia has performed both soloist and principal roles with festival ballets and has danced for numerous choreographers in New York City. She also danced in Europe as a corps member at the National Ballet in Wroclaw (Poland), where she performed corps and soloist roles in Swan Lake, Paquita, the Nutcracker, and many contemporary works. Natalia continues to coach with Lisa Lockwood, formerly of ABT, and with Arleen Sugano, Artistic Director of Ballet Arkansas. She is a guest artist with the Festival Ballet in Texas, and joined Octavia Cup Dance Theatre in July 2009.

Fa Ventilato, Composer

Fa Ventilato, was born 1967 in Switzerland. He is a New York based music artist and producer. His work, within the variety of contemporary music, finds its way into film, performance, art installations, dance theater, and conceptual pop albums. He played in bands such as Halcion, Pee Air, Melomane and Drum I Lama. In recent years his focus has switched to the world of home recording, experimental electronic music and exploring the art of sampling. His commissions include: refined soundtracks for the 7th and 8th BIFF trailer (Brooklyn International Film Festival); the sound installations for the Columbian video artist Monika Bravo; "Playing With Time", "September 10th"; and for the music on the animations - "The Last Autumn Days", "One Way", "A Matter of Life", "Passing Moods", "Mattino d'Inverno Mattino d'Estate" by the Italian artist Luisa Rabbia. Ventilato has collaborated with the Swiss dance theatre company Sans Filtre making 3 real time soundtrack performances for them. Laura Ward and Fa met in February 2007 and began working together right away. Several of their improvisational videos can be seen on youtube.com and were filmed in the Joyce Soho. Excerpts of this show premiered in Avignon, France, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at the 92nd st Y in 2007. A preview excerpt was shown at City Tech in 2008.

Judy Thomas, Installation Artist

Judy Thomas began her formal art studies at the University of Iowa where she majored in painting, drawing and printmaking. In her junior year, she was one of 30 art students from around the country to be selected for the Yale Summer School of Art at Norfolk. After receiving her BFA from Iowa in 1982, Judy won a Harriet Hale Woolley fellowship to Paris to study with renowned printmaker S.W. Hayter at the Atelier 17.

In 1986, Judy moved to New York City to attend graduate school at Hunter College. After completing her MFA in Painting in 1988, she joined the mass exodus of young artists to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The pioneering, renegade spirit of the early 90's helped to shape the direction of her art. Turning away from painting, Judy began to create temporary, large scale sculptural works. These individual works were specifically created for the abandoned warehouse spaces along the waterfront in Brooklyn, as well as more accessible venues in Manhattan and the around the country.

Judy's collaboration with Laura Ward has been a natural extension of her artwork. Their first project in 2001 at Williamsburg Art Nexus was a success. The spirit of cooperation continues in 2004 at Merce Cunningham Studio, where Judy will be creating sculptural pieces to compliment Laura's unique choreography.

http://www.judythomaswebsite.com

Michel Ayello, composer

Born in 1960, Michel Ayello, aka Lugg Vale, is a French composer currently living in Marseille.

Active as a professional musician since 1987, Ayello collaborated on world tours with the theatre company Generik Vapeur as well as other top international acts including Iggy Pop, Dave Stewart, Shirley Bassey and Charles Aznavour. Ultimately, he gave up this career path in favor of work which would offer him a closer relationship with the public, choosing to pursue training in music therapy.

After receiving his degree in Music Therapy from the University in Tours (France), Ayello began to perform in nursery schools, elementary schools and hospitals under the auspices of the French program "Culture à l'hôpital" (Culture in the hospital). Greatly enriched by these experiences, he continues today to work as a music therapist while at the same time composing for France television and for various dance companies (Christine Fricker (Marseille), Doriane Moretus (Anvers).

His current show "Rimbshot," which recounts the life of poet Arthur Rimbaud, was recently performed in Paris in collaboration with the dancer Montaine Chevalier (Ballet Prejlocaj).

Ayello’s work can be heard at: 

http://luggvale.bandcamp.com/album/lugg-drops

Alberto Zayden

Alberto Zayden was born in Havana, Cuba the son of a Cuban mother and a Lebanese father.  He was raised in Miami, Florida and is a long time resident of New York's East Village.  He is currently shopping a novel inspired by his family's migration from Lebanon to Cuba and The United States.

His play, THE CIGARETTE EXCHANGE, was produced in Soho at Synchronicity Space.   His fiction and poetry have appeared appeared in various literary magazines and have been incorporated into several multi-media dance and music performances.  The New York Times has called his poetry, "Visionary."

Sari Fainburg

A graduate of the Shenkar College of Fashion and Design in Israel, Sari now works as a designer in the textile industry. In 2007, she moved to New York to live out her dreams, among which was her desire to dance again. Having danced intensively from the age of 5 until the age of 15, it was dancing in New York that brought Sari together with Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre. She is thrilled to be collaborating with such a talented group of people who have created this special space for creativity and expression.

Like in a dream, one thing leads to another: playing with snow freed from old strings led to hallucinated dresses and cues of sound and movement.