Artists were selected by a panel from a pool of over 30 applicants.
Artists receive a commission award, rehearsal space and production support in preparation for the premiere of Here & Now: 2020 at The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse.
Maya Billig is a Miami native and dance theater artist. Currently an Artist-in-Residence at The Deering Estate, she has received a Locust Projects’ WaveMaker Grant in 2019 for her interest in blending dance, film, and environmental activism. Her live works have been presented at the historical Kampong in Coconut Grove, Fountainhead Studios, and Art Basel Miami. Her dance films have been selected by Crosscuts (Sweden), Prisma Independent Film Awards (Rome), ADF Movies by Movers, and Screendance Miami.
For Here & Now: 2020, Maya proposes a new short dance theater work performed to an original score based off the radio adaptation of “The War of the Worlds” by Orson Welles. Through movement and theatricality, this piece explores themes of media sensationalism, attention, distraction, and power.
Loren Davidson and Britney Tokumoto met as two dance artists performing in a Miami based dance company.
Loren Davidson is a dance artist based in Miami. She currently performs with Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre and Adele Myers and Dancers and works as a Body Conditioning and Pilates instructor. She has taught and choreographed at the American Dance Festival, Florida State University, Tisch School of the Arts and Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp.
Britney Tokumoto is a dancer based in Delray Beach, FL. She attended Mid-Pacific School of the Arts in Honolulu, HI and graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. Britney also participated in Springboard Danse Montreal in 2017. She is currently performing with Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre and Adele Myers and Dancers.
For Here & Now: 2020, Britney and Loren’s proposal is an experiential audience-based inquiry centered around contact vs. connection and the ways we show up for one another. Their research includes a heavy social media component, specifically Instagram, as a means of highlighting our existing relationships.
Liony Garcia is a dancer and choreographer based in Miami. He holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts from New World School of the Arts, as a performer he’s worked with BodyTraffic (LA) performing choreographic works by Guy Weizman and Roni Haver (NL) and Barack Marshall. Locally he’s worked under the direction of Alexey Taran with Bistoury Physical Theater and is a founding member of Rosie Herrera Dance Theater. Liony is currently a dancer in Brigid Baker’s WholeProject.
For Here & Now: 2020, Liony has been selected to receive additional support of his Here & Now: 2019 work called Corporeal Decorum – a multidisciplinary performance that incorporates a dynamic collaboration between architecture, dance, sculpture and the most advanced technologies in Computer Generated Imagery and Augmented Reality Projections.
Miami native Chadwick Gaspard’s first encounter with dance was at age 19 within Miami’s underground Hip Hop scene. He began formal training at Miami Dade College and went on to the University of Florida to earn his BFA in Dance. Currently, Chad is focusing on research involving the combination of street/urban dance with contemporary in order to develop his pedagogical approach to teaching, creating work and his own technique.
For Here & Now: 2020, Chad tackles the idea and perspectives of black masculinity and what that entails. This interactive work will allow the audience to visualize and perceive the black male experience through a fusion of contemporary dance, street dance styles, and storytelling.
Maria “Mercy” Lopez is a Miami Native who started pre-professional training at Miami Dade College’s Kendall Campus. She had trained under the guidance and mentoring of Professor Michelle Grant Murray. At MDC, she was in Jubilation Dance Ensemble, a pre-professional company, for three years. Shortly after, she continued training at University of Florida and graduated with her BFA in Dance in Fall 2019.
For Here & Now: 2020, Mercy proposes a choreographic work which talks about the Hispanic soldiers laying down their lives for the United States to then be betrayed by either them or their families being deported.
Seth “Brimstone” Schere embodies Hip Hop’s “Can’t stop, won’t stop!” attitude. He is the co-founder of PATH: (Preserving, Archiving & Teaching Hiphop, Inc., a nonprofit entity devoted to cultural preservation) and Sober Studios (a therapeutic music program for people in recovery). Since the late eighties, Brimstone has been shaping Miami’s scene as an artist, engineer, performer and producer.
For Here & Now: 2020, Brimstone proposes the creation of a sequel to the musical inspired film/theatrical production, Fiddler on the Roof utilizing the artistic elements of Hip Hop culture, (MC/Rap, DJ, Bboy/Bgirl, Urban “graffiti” Art), the production addresses ethnic, religious, cultural and socioeconomic status issues against the backdrop of Miami – a city in transition.
