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| Co-Artistic Directors: (Click on Co-Artistic Director Photo to go to Individual Artist's Page)  ____ ____ Affiliated Artists: (Click on Photo to go to Artist's Bio)  ____ ____  ____ ____  ____ ____  ____ ____ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ BIOS: Donna Ahmadi received her B.F.A. in dance form SUNY Purchase in 2000, and has performed in recent years for Stephan Koplowitz, Alison Chase (Pilobolus), Andrew Marcus Performance, Brett Howard Company, Tarin Chaplin, and currently dances with Third Rail Projects, Red Hawk Indian Arts Council, and Thunderbird American Indian Dancers. During 2003, Donna taught for the Northern Rivers Conservatory of the Arts in Australia, where she founded Mantis Dance Theater, performing her site-specific and environmental choreography in northern New South Wales. Donna has been an active fancy-shawl dancer in the Native American community, dancing socially, competitively, and in educational workshops for more than 10 years. [back to top] Kris Bauman is a multi-instrumentalist who has been performing professionally since he was sixteen. He studied jazz performance and composition at The New School's jazz and contemporary music program, where he learned from such masters as Reggie Workman and George Garzone. Kris has performed extensively in and around New York City since his arrival here in 1996, and has also toured Europe several times. His performances can be heard on many rock, jazz, and R&B albums, and he was featured with bassist Alexis Cuadrado on NPR's Studio 360. He currently performs with his own bands "worldclass," a modern rock group, and "The Dang-it Bobbys," a "country/eastern" band. He has collaborated with producer Mike Barnard (Christina Aguilera, The Strokes), recording artist Bilal (Def Jam Interscope), Ilhan Ersahin (Nublu records), and most recently with choreographers Zach Morris and Tom Pearson. www.thedang-itbobbys.com. [back to top] Elizabeth Carena, an actress, musician, and arts administrator, has been performing on and behind the stage and screen for almost 15 years. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from Fordham University at Lincoln Center, and has studied acting at the British American Drama Academy in London, England and stage fighting at HB Studios in New York, NY. Currently, Liz serves as Managing Director of Third Rail Projects and Capital Associate of Theatre for a New Audience. She regularly performs and records with the Brooklyn-based bands Ann Courtney and the Late Bloomers and Clair, and recently appeared in the short film Tapped, directed by Kathleen Green. [back to top] Mark DeNardo was born an Italian/Puerto-Rican Catholic boy in Bethlehem, PA, hometown of John Coltrane, the same birthday as Jacques Cousteau. He studied violin as boy, bass guitar as a youth, and guitar as a man. The most recent instrument he has studied is the Game Boy. Discovering Little Sound DJ, a program designed to work with the 1989 Nintendo videogame system sound card, DeNardo began weaving his 8-bit blues and folktronic tales of robots, heroes, and days. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. www.markdenardo.com. [back to top] Kathleen Green has been working in literally every aspect of film, television, and theatre since 1995. While focusing on directing, producing, editing and shooting dance, she is more commonly known as a multi-purpose production ninja. After working primarily in theater in both New Orleans and Chicago, she began her film career with the non-profit Film Bureau 606** and quickly leapt into Chicago’s production scene as a producer at the age of 19. That fall, she packed her bags to seek her fortune in New York. Since then, she has worked with children, rock stars, muppet makers, turtles, Chihuahuas, art stars, scientists, monks, drag queens, and a whole bunch of people that have Daytime Emmys. In fact, she’s worked for the people that make the Daytime Emmys. In 2004, she founded bunkerfilm, a production entity that has produced a number of short films and music videos, with a strong focus on dance. In 2005, she began collaborating with Third Rail Projects on a number of dance works for the camera. Kat is currently working on a documentary about the history of dance on camera, finishing post production on Third Rail Project's BeWing, editing the screen adaptation of Tanya Ritchie’s play, Dummy, and developing new methods of capturing dance on camera. www.spygirlpix.com. [back to top] Rob Mastrianni is the front man for the eclectic rock band, Next Tribe, known for its psychedlic gypsy punk flavor. He performs utilizing guitar, electric sitar, vocals, percussion, didgeridoo and Native American flute. Mastrianni has worked with Louis Mofsie and The Heyna Second Sons as well as the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers on many projects, and with Tom Pearson on three dance collaborations. Rob has toured with Keith Caputo (of Life of Agony infamy) and recorded with him on his first solo record, Died Laughing. He also won the national Jimi Hendrix Guitar competition for the whole of the East Coast. Currently, you can see Rob in the NYC subway system as he and KK have been selected to be a part of NYC's prestigious Music Under New York Program. They will be featured in a full-length film about NYC performers... coming soon. You can also hear his flamenco guitar and electric sitar stylings on the L Word 2005 soundtrack. www.nexttribe.com. [back to top] Louis Mofsie is the leader of The Heyna Second Sons singers, the Artistic Director of the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, and a member of the Hopi and Winnebago tribes. He received his MA from Hofstra University and taught art for 35 years at the Meadowbrook School in East Meadow, New York. Mofsie has curated exhibits at the Whitney Museum of American Art and other venues. He has been a guest artist at the Walker Art Center and has shown his own work at the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma and at the Woodards Museum and the Gallup Ceremonials, both in Gallup, New Mexico. Mofsie has illustrated the books The Hopi Way, Coyote Tales, and Teepee Tales, and choreographed productions for the Lincoln Center Repertory Company, the Mercer Arts Center and Theater for the New City. He has made several recordings, including Songs and Dances of the American Indian and Authentic USA 1 and has lectured at the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Columbia University, Wesleyan University and New York University, among others. He has composed three original scores and developed work in collaboration with Tom Pearson/Third Rail Projects at Theater for the New City, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and Lincoln Center Out-if-Doors. [back to top] Marissa Nielsen-Pincus is a dance, site-specific, aerial, film, and installation artist. Marissa is a founding member of Third Rail Projects (2001-present). Her recent projects include: MY VALIANT ORPHAN (2007), a duet with Donna Ahmadi, and BEWING, a feature length dance film slated to premiere in 2007. Marissa has acted as a primary creative collaborator and performer with Third Rail in numerous other projects. Her work and collaborations with Third Rail have been performed at Dance Theater Workshop; La Mama E.T.C.; Dixon Place; The Merce Cunningham Studio; and as part of Chashama’s OASIS 2007, NYU’s Inter-disciplinary Technology Program; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's SiteLines series at the South Street Seaport and at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian; and Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors. She has participated in residencies at Swarthmore College; LMCC’s MOVE:133 Beekman; and the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center. Marissa studied Contemporary Dance at the London Studio Centre (London, England) and toured England with Intoto Dance and Claire Gammon Dance Company. Marissa lives in Brooklyn with a man and two cats and teaches yoga and anatomy around the city. [back to top] Tara O’Con, originally from New York, currently resides in Brooklyn where she makes solo dance pieces in various New York City venues, and performs for many other exciting choreographers including Third Rail Projects, O'Con has had the privlege to work with Ellis Wood Dance, mvworks, Jillian Sweeney, Sam Kim, Mina Nishimura, and Stephan Koplowitz. Recently, O'Con's own work was presented at Dance Theater Workshop as part of the Fresh Tracks Performance and Residency Program. [back to top] Mayuna Shimizu is a native of Fukushima, Japan and a founding member of Third Rail Projects. She studied Japanese Literature and Culture, Chinese Philosophy and Literature at Toyo University. In New York, she has served as a rehearsal director, choreographer and stage manager for several productions. In 1998, Mayuna established Blue Muse Dance Project to provide hot dance makers the opportunity to show work. Her own work has been presented at Dance Theater Workshop; E-Moves III at Aaron Davis Hall (awarded Aaron Davis Hall's Fund for New Work- with support from the Jerome Foundation); Theater for the New City; Jubilee Hall in Singapore; Queens Museum of Art as part of the Queens International world music, dance, and film Festival; Theater of the Riverside Church’s NuDanceNowFestival; 9th & 10th Dancenow/NYC Festival at Joyce Soho; The American Dance Guild's International Festival; Downtown Dance Festival at Battery Park; Joe's Pub; International House of Japan in TOKYO; and many others. She was an Artist- in-Residence at Nanyang Academy of Arts in Singapore and Queens Museum of Art, and has subsequently presented work under its auspices as well as with other dance companies and individual choreographers including: Rebecca Kelly Ballet; Nathan Trice/Rituals; Slam; VISIONS Contemporary Ballet; The Japan Ballet Association; Third Rail Projects; and many others. She is active as a member of Tremotion/Emo Project, Yinnism Project and NPO Peace Forest in Tokyo, Japan. Currently her work has been selected for the international dance conference, ASIA PACIFIC DANCE BRIDGE 2007: EXPLORING PARTNERSHIPS, organized by World Dance Alliance. She recently made her debut with Battery Dance Company at the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Bytom, Poland and served as a BDC teaching artist for Dancing to Connect on BDC’s German/European Tour. She has also served as a Festival Curator for The 26th Annual Downtown Dance Festival 2007. www.bluemusedance.org. [back to top Tori Sparks has been performing in New York since 1999, largely in the realm of site-specific and installation performance. Since 2000, Sparks has collaborated as an Assistant Director, Choreographer, Movement Coach and featured performer with artist Julia Mandle (J Mandle Performance). For five years she was a senior member of the dance company AMDaT, in which she toured multi-media dance works internationally. Sparks performed principle roles in Noemie Lafrance's Noir (Whitney Biennial) and the Bessie-Award winning Descent. She continues to work with Beppie Blankert, Eric Jackson Bradley, and in 2005, was Assistant Director to Tom Pearson for Third Rail Projects' REEL. Other credits include works by Rob Besserer, Chris Burnside, Tere O'Connor, Nicholas Leichter, Stephen Koplowitz, performance artists Michelle Handelman and Tunga, and photographers Spencer Tunick and Clayton Cubitt. She has been featured in TimeOut NY, Trace Magazine, The New York Times, Dance Insider and the book, Performa 05. Sparks' own work using video can be viewed on sharpelbow.com. Her videos have been shown at Dance Theater Workshop and as promotional tools for the band Towers of Hanoi and the installations of Julia Mandle. Sparks is a certified hatha yoga instructor registered with the Yoga Alliance. She studied at the Asheville Yoga Center in North Carolina and is currently on faculty at Long Island University's C.W. Post campus. She received her B.F.A. in Dance from Florida State University. [back to top] Barry Weil does a lot of things, but he’s probably best known for his work as a puppeteer and character creator. His puppets and masks have been seen in many NYC theatre productions, including Third Rail’s Hope & Anchor, Screaming Shrubbery and Uktena. Barry and his creative partner Tanya Khordoc are Co-Artistic Directors of Evolve Company, and have been playing with puppets very seriously since 1996. Their work together includes Evolution, Secrets History Remembers, The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Robot, and The Taste of Blue. They were given the honor of directing, designing and performing the world premiere of former Czech President Václav Havel's play Motormorphosis for Untitled Theatre Co. #61's Havel Festival in NYC. Barry & Tanya are also creating puppets and models for UTC #61's calypso musical adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle at Walkerspace (which features Barry as a performer). In addition to all this, he’s been inside the "Audrey II" plant in so many productions of Little Shop of Horrors that he's starting to sprout leaves. [back to top] |
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