ALYSON CARTAGENA, Director of Dance
Ms. Cartagena’s training includes the American Dance Festival, International Ballet Competition, Ballet Aspen/Ballet West, Harvard University, two consecutive scholarships to the Joffrey Ballet, Florida State University (BFA), and the University of California, Irvine (MFA)Her recent performance in Loretta Livingston's Blooming, Re-Joyceing, was named one of the Best Dance Performances of 2006 by the LA Times.  Currently Alyson is working on certification in Integrated Movement Studies at Loyola Marymount University and certification in Isadora Duncan technique in New York City.  

LIZ CASEBOLT received her Master of Fine Arts in Experimental Choreography from the University of California, Riverside and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Dance from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.  Liz is the Co-Artistic Director/Choreographer for casebolt and smith a Los Angeles based company.  Her emerging duet dance/theater company has presented work all over Southern California, including at the UC Riverside Performance Lab, New Dance at St. Joseph Ballet, and UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures. 

RACHEL ANNE LOPEZ was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.  She received a BA in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and an MFA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine.  Rachel recently deepened her yoga practice with the Yoga Shakti 200 hour Teacher Training Certification Program.  When not sharing her love of movement with children by teaching dance, improvisation and choreography, Rachel performs as an improvisational dance artist locally and abroad.  Ms. Lopez currently teaches at Rio Hondo College, Long Beach City College and
California State University, Long Beach. 

CAROL McDOWELL is a movement/video artist based in Los Angeles who creates interdisciplinary performance structures and environments. Her work has been presented internationally, most recently in Southern California at Under the Radar Series/High Energy Constructs, Skirball Cultural Center, Sweeney Art Gallery, Electric Lodge, Wedge/Women’s Building, Platinum Oasis, Crazy Space, Highways, FAIRY/Side Street Projects, and the Dance Moving Forward Festival. Commissions, grants, and fellowships include the National Dance/Media, Asia Pacific Performance Exchange, Makasar Arts Forum, Indonesian Dance Festival, Djerassi Foundation, Colorado Council of the Arts, Island Dance Festival, DTW, Working in the Kitchen, DIA Art Foundation, and PS 122. McDowell was the Director of the Performing Arts Center at the Naropa University in Boulder, CO and is currently a PhD candidate in Culture and Performance at UCLA.

SHYMALA MOORTY is a founding member of the Post Natyam Collective, an international collective of choreographers that create contemporary work based on South Asian and western dance forms.  She has performed with Post Natyam in Europe, India, and across the U.S.  Her solo show, RISE, was acclaimed as a "tour de force" by the LA Times (1/17/04) and is featured on the Artist Roster of TeAda Productions.  Shyamala received an MFA in dance from UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures and has studied the classical Indian dance Bharata Natyam from Medha Yodh and Malathi Iyengar.

DIANA SHERWOOD  has a background that includes ballet, modern dance, world dance, philosophy, yoga, Pilates, and new media.  She has performed throughout the US and Canada including a motion captured performance in Riverbed's "Pedestrian" that has been touring internationally since 2002.  Diana was a member of the Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble from 2003-2007 and currently appears with Afro-Brazilian dance company Swing Brazil.  A choreographer and maker of installations, her work has been seen locally at Open Space, Beyond Baroque, LATC, and Diana was recently chosen to curate an evening of found dance as part of Highways Performance Space 2008 Curator Series.  Her work has been screened at Dance Camera West and she is the recipient of a Pew Charitable Trusts Fellowship for media and dance.  Diana holds a Master of Arts from UCLA and a Master of Fine Arts from the
University of California, Irvine.