BODYTRAFFIC

BODYTRAFFIC uses the creative spirit of its Los Angeles home as a backdrop for delivering performances that inspire audiences around the globe to simply love dance. The company attracts skilled dancers from throughout the world who have trained at such places as The Juilliard School and the School of American Ballet, and its enviable repertory includes the works of stellar contemporary choreographers like Kyle Abraham, Ohad Naharin, Fernando Magadan, Sidra Bell, Victor Quijada, Hofesh Shechter, and Micaela Taylor. This combination of superb artists and highly creative choreographers has elicited numerous critical accolades, including one from the Los Angeles Times which described BODYTRAFFIC as "one of the most talked-about companies—not just in LA, but nationwide."

Since its founding in 2007 by Artistic Director Tina Finkelman Berkett and her co-founder Lillian Barbeito, BODYTRAFFIC has preserved its place at the forefront of the concert dance world with a style that, according to The Boston Globe, "suggests invention, attitude, and urban edge," an aesthetic that has led to appearances at many prestigious international theaters and festivals. In 2015 the company was selected by the Obama administration to be United States cultural ambassadors to Israel and Jordan through DanceMotion USA, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department, that sought to engage international audiences through educational opportunities, cultural exchange, and performance. BODYTRAFFIC also served as cultural ambassadors of the United States in South Korea (2016), Algeria (2017-2018), and Indonesia (2018).

In 2016 the company made its Hollywood Bowl debut when it performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and during the 2017-2018 season it went on to celebrate its 10^th^ anniversary season with an international tour to more than 20 cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg for the Context Diana Vishneva Festival, and The Hague for the Holland Dance Festival. The celebratory season culminated with performances at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, where BODYTRAFFIC is honored to be the current company-in-residence.

BODYTRAFFIC's extensive outreach and education programs are essential to its commitment to ensuring that dance endures for both the artists and the audiences of the next generation. Touching lives in Los Angeles and beyond, the company provides training opportunities for pre-professional and professional dancers, as well as customized dance experiences for all people, with an emphasis on sharing the art form with underserved and diverse populations.

For more than fourteen years, BODYTRAFFIC has exhibited the talent, devotion, and discipline necessary for preserving the art form. As it looks forward to a future filled with even more dance, the company thanks those who have supported it along the way.

TINA FINKELMAN BERKETT (Artistic Director) grew up in New York City. Under the tutelage of Michele Cuccaro Cain, she trained and learned to love dance. Tina attended Stuyvesant High School and Barnard College, Columbia University where she graduated summa cum laude with degrees in math and economics. Upon graduation, she joined Aszure Barton & Artists and performed with the company throughout the United States. Tina became Aszure Barton's assistant and taught alongside Barton both in the U.S. and abroad. She had the incredible honor of being a founding member of Mikhail Baryshnikov's Hell's Kitchen Dance, where she also served as the company's dancer liaison. In 2007 Tina moved to Los Angeles and founded BODYTRAFFIC with Lillian Barbeito. Tina often remarks that BODYTRAFFIC is the dream come true that she never knew she had. She is so thankful for the past 14 years and feels incredibly in debt to all who have played a part in this incredible journey. In particular, Tina must thank her family and her partner Guzmán and, most importantly, her children Jack and Sofia for being her greatest inspirations and supports.

GUZMÁN ROSADO (Associate Artistic Director) started dancing at the International School of Dance of Carmen Roche Scaena in Madrid on a scholarship sponsored by the Ministerio de Cultura de Madrid. Guzmán danced with Ballet Joven de Carmen Roche until 1999, when he was offered a scholarship to attend the School of American Ballet (SAB). After his time at SAB, Edward Villella invited him to dance with Miami City Ballet. From 2002 to 2007 Guzmán danced with Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporaneo. In 2007, with André Mesquita and Teresa Alves da Silva, Guzmán co-founded Tok'Art, a cultural platform. He has performed extensively as a guest artist throughout Europe. He teaches ballet, yoga, and movement workshops. Guzmán is also currently BODYTRAFFIC's resident filmmaker and has won awards for his film work. Guzmán joined BODYTRAFFIC in 2012.

ETHAN COLANGELO was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, where he began his initial training at Canada's National Ballet School and Elite Danceworx. He is now an alumni of The Juilliard School where he received the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreographic Promise. As a choreographer he has presented his work at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, Juilliard's Choreographic Honours Showcases, APAP 2018, Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Colangelo was also one of nine choreographers selected internationally for the Copenhagen International Choreography Competition. Recently he has created work for the BODYTRAFFIC summer intensive, was selected as an Emerging Choreographer for Springboard Danse Montreal 2020, had a choreographic partnership with the 92Y in New York, created a new work for Arts Umbrella Dance Company in Vancouver, Canada, and crafted a dance film consisting of 70 dancers from around the world. Furthermore, he self-produced and choreographed an original work featuring Rae Srivastava and Stefanie Noll who are current emerging artists with Ballet BC. Colangelo is looking forward to a new creation with Whim W'Him Contemporary Dance in Seattle and MOVE NYC coming up this fall.

MATTHEW NEENAN began his dance training at the Boston Ballet School. He later attended the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and the School of American Ballet in New York. From 1994-2007 Matthew danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet where he was also named choreographer-in-residence. Matthew's choreography has been featured and performed by the Pennsylvania Ballet, BalletX, the Washington Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Ballet West, Ballet Memphis, Milwaukee Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Tulsa Ballet, Ballet Met, Oklahoma City Ballet, Juilliard Dance, New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, Sacramento Ballet, Nevada Ballet Theatre, Indiana University, Opera Philadelphia, and LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts (NYC), among others. He has received numerous awards and grants for his choreography from the National Endowment of the Arts, Dance Advance funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Choo San Goh Foundation, and the Independence Foundation. Matthew has been honored to receive the New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute's Fellowship Initiative Award and fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. In 2005 Matthew co-founded BalletX with fellow dancer Christine Cox, and the ensemble is now the resident dance company at the prestigious Wilma Theatre.

MICAELA TAYLOR is a professional dancer/teacher/choreographer from Los Angeles, where she trained at Marat Daukayev School of Ballet and Los Angeles County High School of the Arts. She graduated from Cornish College of the Arts and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance in 2014. She has worked and performed with BODYTRAFFIC, Ate9 Dance Company, Zoe Scofield, Camille A. Brown, and Kate Wallich. Her choreographic passion led her to found Los Angeles-based contemporary dance company The TL Collective in 2016. Her individual movement style of hip hop combined with contemporary technique has led her to find a new way for people to move which is best described as contemporary/pop. Alongside the launch of The TL Collective, Taylor has been commissioned to choreograph and teach for LA Contemporary Dance Company, AMDA College, Springboard Danse Montreal, MoveNYC, Cal State Long Beach, and Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre. Her work has been presented at Gelsey Kirkland Performing Arts Center, ACE Hotel, Raymond Kabaaz Theatre, Grand Performances, and Odyssey Theatre Ensemble. She is the recipient of the inaugural EMERGE Choreographic Award and has choreographed for Gibney Dance Company. Micaela's commission for BODYTRAFFIC has been awarded a New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project grant, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

KATIE GARCIA (Company Member), originally from Miami, Florida, graduated from The Juilliard School in 2017. She also trained at New World School of the Arts, Dance Town Studios Miami, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Springboard Danse Montréal. After graduation from Juilliard, she was a member of Parsons Dance for two-and-a-half years and performed in her own collaborative works. Katie has taught master classes at such institutions as Yale University, New York University, Akron University, Florida State University, and Hunter College. In pursuing her passion for community outreach, she participated in GLUCK and TAP for Life, programs allowing her to perform in NYC and Miami hospitals and wellness centers. In 2016 she orchestrated a project in Botswana, where she taught dance and special education movement therapy classes for children. She has also presented her co-produced dance films with Joan Rodriguez at the Blacktinx Dance Festival, Solo Due Dance Festival, Dumbo Dance Festival, and at a NYC art gallery with mixed-media artist Anna Khachatryan. This is Katie's first season with BODYTRAFFIC.

PEDRO GARCIA (Company Member) began his studies at the National Conservatory of Lisbon, working with teachers including Mikahall Zavialova, Irina Zavialova, Catarina Moreira, and José Luís Vieira, among others. In 2014 he won the 3^rd^ Prize at Tanzolymp Competition in Berlin. He received his diploma in 2015 and continued on to earn a degree from School Superieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower. Pedro joined the junior ballet Rosella Hightower DNSP3 for one year and then went on to join the Ballet Nacional de Marseille, where he worked with Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten until 2018. In 2019 he joined Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporaneo, under the direction of Vasco Wellenkamp. Most recently, Pedro has worked with choreographers Nelia Pinheiro and André Mesquita, and he joined Quórum Ballet for one season, where he worked with Daniel Cardoso and Lior Tavori.

ALANA JONES (Company Member) is a Houston native. She is a founding member of Vitacca Dance Project under the direction of Kelly Ann Vitacca and trained under Ballet Master Phillip Broomhead while attending the High School of Performing and Visual Arts. In 2014 Alana was accepted on scholarship and trained with American Ballet Theatre and Dance Theatre of Harlem. Thereafter, Alana was accepted on scholarship to SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, where she received her BFA. While at Purchase, she was invited into the ballet concentration where she performed and studied works by George Balanchine, Norbert De la Cruz, Michelle Ulerich, and Colby Damon. She has also trained with Ballet X, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance, and Arts Umbrella. Alana earned her BFA and began her professional career with Visceral Dance Chicago. She is thrilled to be dancing with BODYTRAFFIC for her first season.

TIARE KEENO (Company Member) received her BFA from The Juilliard School in 2016. While at Juilliard, she worked with choreographers Camille A. Brown, Kyle Abraham, Kate Weare, and Brian Brooks. She also performed repertoire by Jíri Kylián and Twyla Tharp, as well as lead roles in Martha Graham's Dark Meadow and José Limón's Missa Brevis. After graduation, Tiare was a company member of Nevada Ballet Theatre and worked in collaboration with Cirque du Soleil. She attended Springboard Danse Montreal, where she performed works by Aszure Barton, Spenser Theberge, RUBBERBAND Dance Group, and Kidd Pivot. She has been a faculty member of FRESH Dance Intensive in Canada and is currently a member of Share the Movement, an organization aiming to increase diversity in the professional dance community through educational and financial support to young BIPOC artists. In 2017 Tiare moved to Macau, China, to appear in a cirque show with MGM's ScenoPlus Productions. Upon returning to the U.S., she performed in Al Blackstone's Freddie Falls in Love at The Joyce Theater. Tiare joined BODYTRAFFIC in 2019.

TY MORRISON (Company Member), from the greater Boston area, dedicated 13 years of his life to versatile dance training at The Gold School Dance Art under the direction of Rennie Gold. Ty received a BFA in contemporary dance from Boston Conservatory at Berklee on full scholarship. During his time at Boston Conservatory, he worked with and performed works by such acclaimed choreographers as Darrell Moultrie, Catherine Coury, Bradley Shelver, Adrianne Hawkins and Martha Nichols. Immediately after graduation, he was featured in on-site dance film productions with choreographers Roderick George, Ashley Lindsay, and Antonio Brown. He has had the honor of being a guest artist with the Limón Dance Company and an active artist with little house dance. Ty is delighted to be joining BODYTRAFFIC for his first season.

JOAN RODRIGUEZ (Company Member) was born in La Habana, Cuba, where he graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Arte with the Best Graduate of the Year Award. His professional career began with DanzAbierta, and he went on to join Malpaso Dance Company. He became a political refugee in 2017 and relocated to Arizona, where he focused on creating, teaching, and producing multimedia projects. He has also served as a guest artist-in-residence for universities and arts centers throughout the U.S. and has received awards in several dance competitions. In 2019 he joined Parsons Dance and choreographed an original work for the company as part of the 2019 GenerationNow fellowship program. Throughout 2020 and 2021 Joan has focused on freelancing in dance, teaching and videography. Joan has also showcased his own collaborative works at the Blacktinx Dance Festival, the Solo/Duo Dance Festival, and at NYC art galleries as part of mixed-media performances. He has taught guest classes at The Juilliard School, New York University, Gibney Dance, Yale University, Hunter College, Akron University, and RWU. He was recently commissioned as a choreographer by Connecticut Ballet for their Ballet Under the Stars 2021 summer program. Joan is thrilled to be joining BODYTRAFFIC for his first season.

JORDYN SANTIAGO (Company Member) is from North Carolina; she is a Los Angeles-based dancer and choreographer who studied at The Dance Theatre of Jacksonville before continuing to train throughout the U.S. and in Israel and Europe. She has danced for Ate9, Freemove Dance, tedted Performance Group and Mg+artists. In 2021 Jordyn performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in a production of the opera Prism, under the direction of Beth Morrison Projects. She has toured as a backup dancer with the Los Angeles band Half Alive in a piece choreographed by The JA Collective and has created new works with Bryan Arias for the Arias Company. Along with choreographers Dana Wilson, Ebony Williams, and Christopher Scott, she appeared in the recent film production of In The Heights. Jordyn has taught at highly respected institutions and collectives like Peridance Capezio Center, Brickhouse, and The University of the Arts. Most recently, she was a guest artist with Ate9 in its premiere of Joy at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. This is Jordyn's first season dancing for BODYTRAFFIC.

MICHAEL JARETT (Production Manager/Lighting Designer) is delighted to be working with BODYTRAFFIC. Michael is an assistant professor/design specialist for the UNLV Department of Dance, where he recently received the 2021 Charles Vanda Award for Excellence in the Arts. Previously, he was the lighting designer/dance technical director for the VCU Department of Dance and Choreography. He received his MFA in theater design from Brandeis University. Mike has designed for numerous choreographers and companies including Robert Battle, Monica Bill Barnes, Adam Barruch, Maria Bauman, Antonio Brown, Myra Daleng, Leah Glenn, Christopher Huggins, Linda Kent, Stephanie Martinez, Ari Mayzick, Nicholas Villeneuve, Kate Weare, Kyle Abraham/Abraham.in.Motion, Agua Dulce Dance Theater, Amaranth Arts, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, Dance Iquail!, FDance, Ground Zero Dance, Starr Foster Dance, Thang Dao Dance Company, and the VON HOWARD PROJECT. Theater design credits include Urinetown (RTCC Award), Sweeney Todd (RTCC Award), and Moth (RTCC Award).