Saturday November 4th
Emerging Works Concert - 5:00 pm
Meet the Artists
CDF Emerging Works Concert 2023 Artist - Elyse Kassa, Emma J Little, Anna Stover
ELYSE KASSA, EMMA J LITTLE, ANNA STOVER
Elyse Kassa (she/her) is a multidisciplinary movement artist based in Columbus, Ohio. Kassa graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ohio University, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance: Performance & Choreography; Minor in English; and Certificate in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies. Her dance practice draws from contemporary dance technique, somatic intuition, and playful improvisation. Kassa’s work has been selected for performance in the Cleveland Dance Festival Emerging Works Concert (2022), CDF Virtual Dance Film Gallery (2022), and the East-Central ACDA Gala Concert (2020). She has worked with an array of choreographers including David Dorfman, Alexandra Beller, John Bohuslawsky, and Benny Simon. Most recently, Elyse was selected to participate in the b12 festival in Berlin, Germany. In addition to creating her own work, Elyse performs with LP & Dancers. She also serves as the Studio Manager for Flux + Flow Dance Center.
Anna Stover (she/her) is a performer and choreographer based in Columbus, Ohio. She is a recent graduate of Ohio University where she received a BA in Dance, a BS in Geography, and a certificate in Geographic Information Systems. Anna held the title of President for the Movement Organization at Ohio University. Her most recent group choreography, -rupt, was chosen for the American College Dance Association (East Central Regional Conference, 2022). Anna had the opportunity to restage -rupt for the Mid- Atlantic Dance Initiative held in Charleston, West Virginia 2023. She has performed in works choreographed by Brian Brooks, John Bohuslawsky, Benny Simon, and Alexandra Beller.
Emma Little (she/they) hails from Raleigh, North Carolina. They graduated in 2022 with their BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. Most recently, Emma has worked with choreographers Brian Brooks, Shen Wei, and David Dorfman—as a rehearsal director, performer, and student, respectively. As a creator, Emma has always loved improvisation and practices of relationship and conversation through movement and sound. Their collaborative work was twice selected to represent Ohio University at the American College Dance Association. In the summer of 2019, they were an ATLAS Young Choreographer at ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria. They are excited to have landed in Columbus and to be collaborating with a variety of movement artists in the community to create work that brings them and the world joy!
MEGAN BRYARS (she/her) is a twenty-three year old full time Dance Instructor. She has been dancing for sixteen years. After graduating college, she continued to purse her passion in dance. She teaches Hip Hop at the Beck Center in Lakewood, OH as well as teaching Ballroom and Latin Dance at La Danse Cleveland in Beachwood, OH. She also does freelance performing and choreography. She performed in the show “Eleanor Danced!” right after graduating. In 2022 her first ever dance film "Coping" was featured in the Cleveland Dance Fest. She loves collaborating with artists throughout the greater Cleveland area, and building connections with all types of artists. She continues to make dance films and now has 3 projects to her name with more to come. Throughout her sixteen years of dancing, she has performed in the UK, Walt Disney World, Playhouse Square, The Cleveland Public Library, and many other places. She plans to move to Atlanta, Georgia to continue her career in dance and dance on film.
CULTIVATE DANCE PROJECT (CDP) is a non-profit, Columbus-based, contemporary dance company that seeks to provide an environment that fosters both individual creativity and unity in movement by cultivating the artist and athlete in each dancer. Choreographers and artists work together to create entertaining and engaging art through the collaboration of storytelling with live performances and by using today’s technology to make art more accessible. Founded in fall of 2018 under the direction of Melissa Hinchman (she/her), CDP repertory has been featured in local productions and festivals including; Columbus Dance Alliance WORKS #2, Ten Tiny Dances Columbus, City Dance Showcase III and IV, the Columbus Arts Festival, and the New Albany Dance Festival. In 2022, CDP’s film, “Memory Is A Monster”, was selected to be a part of Constructed Sight Dance Film Festival in Pittsburgh, PA and Cleveland Dance Fest Virtual Dance Film Gallery. CDP produces an annual company showcase, featuring original works choreographed and performed by company dancers. The most recent showcase, all together, featured seven works reflecting on each choreographer’s experience as a woman, from the roles we willing play to the roles we are often assigned, we explored conflicted identity and the power within each of the seven feminine archetypes. CDP offers donation-based, open company classes every Sunday morning to movers in the community looking for a space to further their training and delve into their artistic potential through full-bodied movement.
EMILY PIERCE (they/them/she/her) is an emerging dancer and choreographer based in Athens and Columbus, OH. They recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College, earning a BFA in Dance Performance & Choreography and a Certificate in Diversity Studies. As a choreographer, Pierce relies on kinesthetic experience and (auto)biographic context to create meaningful dance work that strives to connect to those who witness it. Their recent evening-length group work, what does this mean for Us? (2023); short dance film, Getting to Know You (2023); and solo work, you would let loose your longing (2022), were created in conjunction with their undergraduate thesis project that explored what it means to negotiate queer intimacy in artistic practice, the importance of trauma-informed tools and practices in rehearsal processes, and how we continue to create, maintain, and support queer communities in artistic spaces. Pierce was honored that you would let loose your longing was selected to perform at the American College Dance Association’s East-Central Conference Informal Showing (2023). Their additional performance credits include works by Alexandra Beller, Brian Brooks, Kelly Hurlburt, Travis D. Gatling, Christi Camper Moore, John Bohuslawsky, the Ohio University African Ensemble (dir. Dr. Zelma Badu-Younge & Dr. Paschal Yao Younge), and several Ohio University student works. Alongside choreography and performance, Pierce has extensive production experience as a stagehand, lighting designer, video operator and stage manager, and has worked behind-the-scenes at several Ohio University School of Dance concerts and at the Lancaster Festival in Lancaster, OH.
MADISON BURRIS (she/they) is a performer, teacher, and dance maker from Northeast Ohio. She grew up dancing at Spotlight Dance Center in Mentor, Ohio, close to their hometown. She has had vast opportunities to perform, assist, and teach around the country with companies like Dancemakers Inc. and Independent Lake Camp. Madison has had the chance to work with artists such as Charles O. Anderson, Abby Zbikowski, Donald Isom, Eddie Taketa, and Erica Sobol to name a few. Madison Burris most recently graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. There she researched how human connections can be cultivated through dance. Madison's thesis examined how the process of facilitating a close-knit community of dancers to create work took shape, leaving her with philosophies she’ll forever carry throughout her processes moving forward.
JULI HARTER (she/her) has dance experience of over sixteen years, competition experience of ten years, and is in her third year in her BFA in Dance: Performance and Choreography at Ohio University, as well as pursuing a BA in English: Creative Writing. Her personal style is a mix of modern/contemporary and hip hop, and she is interested in the exploration of mixing sharp, intricate movements with fluid, expansive movement, as well as physicality, intensity, and endurance, pushing the boundaries of what the human body can take in dance and showing the struggle in the movement. When it comes to concepts in her choreography, she’s interested in human experiences and struggles, such as vulnerability, loneliness, mental illness, and identity.
ERIN BROD (she/her), a native of Cleveland, Ohio began her dance training at the age of three. She is a current BFA dance major with a concentration in Performance and Choreography and a minor in Wellness at Slippery Rock University. Within her nineteen years of dancing she has trained in contemporary, ballet, hip hop, modern, jazz, acrobatics, and tap. Through her years of dancing she has worked with Alex Wong, Teena Custer, Divinity Dance Company, Jennifer Keller, Jessie Ann James, Lauren Froderman, Lindsay Viatori, and Ursula Payne. Erin has been choreographing her own solos and group pieces for the past 6 years, which have been presented in multiple locations. Her most recent accomplishment was completing her internship within the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World in 2022. After graduation she is planning on returning to Walt Disney World to be a part of the entertainment department and eventually returning to school for higher education to receive her Doctorate in Physical Therapy to work in Dance Medicine.
CDF Emerging Works Concert Artist 2023 - Erin Brod
CDF Commissioned Artist 2023 - Karen Opper-Rhoad (Photo Credit: Cameron Perry)
KAREN OPPER-RHOAD (she/her/hers) is a 2018 Case Western Reserve University graduate with her Master of Fine Arts degree in Contemporary Dance, and a 2013 Central Michigan University graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre and Interpretation with a minor in Dance. At CMU, she was a member of The University Theatre Dance Company and was selected to present her choreography in the faculty concerts. Opper-Rhoad’s final project earned her the privilege of working with tap artist Ellie Sciarra, co-choreographing the classic musical 42nd Street. In her third year of graduate studies, she choreographed and performed her thesis concert, Infinite Directions. In the spring of 2018, she received the esteemed Eva L. Pancoast memorial fellowship which funded summer travels to Italy to dance with Carlos Melis, who studied under Pina Bausch. In May of 2018, Opper-Rhoad and fellow CWRU graduate Richard Oaxaca were selected among New York City’s up-and-coming emerging artists to perform in the NEXT@Graham showcase, at the Martha Graham Dance Studio in NYC. At CWRU, she performed in works by Karen Potter, Jim Hansen, Larry Keigwin, Nai-Ni Chen and Gary Galbraith's Imagined Odyssey, a collaboration with CWRU’s Interactive Commons and Microsoft. This collaboration led to Opper-Rhoad’s current role as Director of Special Projects as part of the Interactive Commons team. During 2020, she was a board member of Urban Dance Cleveland, a non-profit organization bringing opportunities for dance to minorities throughout the Cleveland area. In 2021, Oaxaca and Opper-Rhoad were featured as part of the national dance lineup which performed at the Brighton Dance Festival in Brighton, Michigan. Throughout 2021-2022, she has had the opportunity to serve as a guest artist for several studios in the Cleveland and Boston areas as well as teaching two master classes for the Theatre and Dance department at Central Michigan University and creating a Dance History course for Lorain County Community College. In August of 2022, she and her husband Jacob, welcomed their first child, Elizabeth.