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Resident Artists
History
This dance studio has been in daily use by performing artists for a century! The space was originally used by the University of Washington for theater and dance classes, and was then the home of the Martha Nishitani Modern Dance School for almost 50 years. In 2002, Ms. Nishitani retired, and in January 2003, the space re-opened under the stewardship of Open Flight, a partnership of local dance companies formed by original members Cheronne Wong, Locate performance group, BetterBiscuitDance, and Rockhopper Dance.
Locate performance group
Co-Directors Paige Barnes and
Pablo Cornejo have been collaborating since 1996, performing and producing independent shows in Ecuador (1996-1997), Mexico, Cuba and throughout the Seattle area.
Paige Barnes is an independent choreographer, performer, and teacher from Seattle. She is a co-founding member of Open Flight studio and Locate Performance Group. She has received choreographic and educational awards from the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, Artist Trust, City of Seattle Arts and Cultural Affairs and danceWEB (Vienna, Austria) among others. A recent work "Stenophobia (fear of narrow spaces)" premiered at On the Boards' Northwest New Works festival in June 2007. At the end of 2006 she created Molt, an evening commissioned by Consolidated Works that toured to Minneapolis and Philadelphia through SCUBA's national touring program. Paige is a certified instructor of the Gyrotonic Expansion System and teaches at Gyrotonic Seattle. She received a BA in Dance and Geography from the University of Washington.
Pablo Cornejo was born and raised in Quito, Ecuador and has been
creating work since 1987. Cornejo's works have been presented in Mexico,
Cuba, Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador, San Francisco, and all around the
Seattle area, in places such as On the Boards and Bumbershoot. Pablo has
been commissioned by Cornish College of the Arts, Velocity Dance Center,
and d9 dance collective. Cornejo has received choreographic awards from
Artist Trust, 4Culture, The Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and
Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation. He teaches advanced and
intermediate modern classes at Open Flight.
For more information, e-mail Locate.
Cheronne Wong
Since 1999, Cheronne
Wong has shown her choreography at many local venues including On
the Boards, the Seattle Asian Art Museum and Velocity. Nationally, her
company has been presented at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (MA),
Mulberry Street Theater, Judson Church, Here Theater and Dixon Place in
NYC and Wesleyan University (CT). Her choreography has been recognized
with grants and artistic residences from many local arts agencies. She
features on the King County Touring Artist Roster. Her
performing credits also include work with Pedro Alejandro, Chen and
Dancers, Mark DeGarmo, Mark Dendy, Pat Graney Company and Sarah Skaggs.
A native of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Ms. Wong has also lived in England
and brings her eclectic background to her aesthetic palette, blending
post-modern dance with elements of popular art forms. She holds a MFA in
Performance and Directing from Score (Labanotation) from Ohio State
University.
For more information, e-mail Cheronne Wong or call
206-387-7487.
Aiko Kinoshita/acornDance
acornDance, directed by Aiko Kinoshita, encourages networking between independent artists through collaborative events, often featuring both local and visiting artists. These productions include performances, classes and lectures in Seattle and the home communities of visiting artists. Recent collaborators have come from Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Wisconsin, Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
Aiko Kinoshita has been involved in contemporary dance for the last 20 years as a teacher, choreographer, arts administrator and performer. Since moving to the Pacific Northwest in 1998, Aiko has danced with numerous regional choreographers, performed in her own work and toured nationally and internationally as a member of Lingo Dancetheatre. Her choreography has received support from the Bossak-Heilbron Charitable Foundation, 4Culture, Allied Arts and the Issaquah Arts Commission among others. Aiko holds a MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois, and teaches modern dance classes at Open Flight and also at Velocity Dance Center.
For more information, e-mail acornDance/Aiko Kinoshita.
The Test Pilots
The Test Pilots are Violette Tucker and Misha Kaschock, creators,
directors, performers, composers, dance-makers of a cerebral-visceral
blend. They research and redefine their art through experiments in
music composition, movement invention, and new techniques of
performance. The Test Pilots claim there are rules and no rules; we
choose the line we tread. The experiments they conduct serve a dual
purpose: to ride a personal edge of creative thought and action, and to
create art that probes and tugs at the psychic web that connects us all.
Violette Tucker holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Ohio State
University. She is a performance coach for dancers and teaches Ballet
at Velocity Dance Center.
Misha Kaschock, also an O.S.U. alum, dances with Scott/Powell Performance.
For more information, e-mail Violette Tucker or call 206-329-1128.
Open Flight Partners Emeritus
Former partners at Open Flight include:
BetterBiscuitDance - Alex Martin & Freya Wormus
Rockhopper Dance
Crispin Spaeth Dance Group