Nina Martin
choreographer/improvisor, pedagogue, dance theorist and performer Nina Martin Performance
Centered in the phenomena of perception, composition and spontaneous movement states her research springs from over 50 years of embodied research in postmodern dance aesthetics and especially into the workings of the human neuro/visual perceptual system and preconscious movement phenomena. Martin tours across the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia teaching and performing inspired by dance systems: Ensemble Thinking™ and ReWire Movement States™ which complement her practice of Contact Improvisation.
Performance/collaboration credits include Lower Left Performance Collective, Martha Clarke, Shelley Senter, Roma Flowers, Barbara Dilley, David Gordon Pick-Up Company, Mary Overlie, Deborah Hay, Simone Forti, and Steve Paxton along with Daniel Lepkoff, Lisa Nelson, Warshaw, and Nancy Stark Smith in the PBS Dance in America Beyond the Mainstream nationally televised program. Martin’s choreographies received six fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as other honors. Martin also danced as a founding artist of Channel Z in NYC with Lepkoff, Paul Langland, Diane Madden, Stephen Petronio, Warshaw, and Robin Feld.
Martin is an artist member of the Lower Left Performance Collective where cooperative inquiry is valued: Lower Left Collective. ReWire Movement States™ and Ensemble Thinking™ are dance systems initially conceived by Nina Martin and continually developed by Lower Left artists which also offers a certification program in Ensemble Thinking. Martin hosts dance destinations in Far West Texas in the artful town of Marfa in the Chihuahuan Desert. Martin is a newly certified teacher in Gyrotonic™ and she is a Professor of Dance Studies at TCU School for Classical & Contemporary Dance SCCDance.
Mirva Mäkinen
Dancer/ Dance Teacher/ Choreographer
I graduated as a Doctor of Dance from University of Arts in Helsinki in 2018. My doctoral research is about Somaesthetics of Contact Improvisation. Artistic research is focusing on values in contact improvisation and how it is presented in a somaesthetic performance context. I graduated (MA) from the Dance Department from the University of Arts, Finland in 2000, before that I did masters of Physical Education from University of Jyväskylä.
In dance I am interested in the feeling of flow and research of kinetic energy. I love to investigate movement, its rhythm and different ways of inhabiting the body. A feeling of dancing is created by management of gravitational forces, falling responses and inertia.
My Choreographies, Dance Pedagogy and Art Pedagogy refers to artistic activity infused by pedagogical viewpoints, generating a field of continuous learning. My choreographies provide a strong foundation for creative and critical thinking, as well as development of solid artistic-pedagogical skills. I believe that making art is based on listening to and encountering each other. It is an open process of interaction and learning, where we step into the unknown, take risks and try out new ways of doing.
From 2000 onwards I have worked as a dance teacher, choreographer and lecturer for dance at the Kallio Upper Secondary School of Performing Arts. During the last 25 years I have been teaching in several international dance schools and professional dance companies including for example Cullberg Ballet in Sweden. I am regularly teaching bachelor and MA students in University of the Arts, Helsinki.
I have been working as an choreographer and as a dancer with many different dance companies and choreographers, here few of them: Helsinki Dance Company, Tampereen Työväen Teatteri, Center for new dance Zodiak, Dance theatre Minimi, Dance company Karttunen Kollektiv (choreographer Jyrki Karttunen), New Circus Company Circo Aereo, choreographer Joona Halonen, Echo Echo dance company (Northern Ireland), collaboration with Frey Faust and collaboration with Joerg Hassmann. During 2014-2024 I have been working as a dancer with finnish choreographer Valtteri Raekallio. I have been performing and teaching contemporary dance internationally in more than 40 different countries.
Chris Aiken
Performer/Teacher/Dance Improvisation
Chris Aiken is an internationally recognized performer and teacher of dance improvisation and contact improvisation. His approach has been guided by the effort to link the poetic imagination with the capacity to engage ecologically through perception, intention, and action. This means the integration of our awareness and understanding of self, other beings, and our the world around us. It includes history, culture, and things that are made. His current interests include finding ways to create situations where people feel empowered and sensitized to one another, open to the unknown, and respectful of one another and the environment. Chris has performed and collaborated with many renowned dance artists including Angie Hauser, Kirstie Simson, Nancy Stark Smith, Peter Bingham, Andrew Harwood, Joerg Hassman, Ray Chung, and Steve Paxton. His work has been shaped by years of practice with the Alexander Technique, Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis, ideokinesis, yoga, and myofascial bodywork and release technique. He received his MFA degree from the University of Illinois and is currently a Professor of Dance at Smith College.
Lani Nahele
Body-Mind Centering, Gyrotonic, Gyrokinesis and Reiki
I have been intrigued by the human body and its movement potential my entire life. I have been a professional dancer, a choreographer, a dance company member, a collaborator, a movement educator and a bodyworker. I earned my BFA at SUNY @ Purchase. In NYC, I danced with Ohad Naharin, then with Trisha Brown in her company for seven years. I then spent several years in Europe: Spain, France, Austria and Germany teaching, making choreographic work and performing. I was awarded a commission in Germany and made a women’s quintet. Collaborators have included Frey Faust, Dieter Heitkamp, Helge Musial, Ka Rustler, Eva Geueke, Catherine Musinsky, Olivier Besson, Jen Polins, Saliq Savage, Chris Aiken…and others. I taught dance and pedagogy at Springfield College while guest teaching at Bard, Marlboro, Smith, Julliard and Keene Colleges. I studied directly with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and have been a Practitioner of Body-Mind Centering since 1994. I have been trained and certified in Circulatory Massage, Pilates, Gyrotonic, Gyrokinesis and Reiki. I direct Studio rEvolution and there I center my private bodywork practice, Embodied Healing.
Sarah Young
Investigator In Underscore Group With Nancy Stark Smith
Sarah Young (she/her) has been delving into the Underscore since 2011, when she had her first talk-through with Nancy Stark Smith at Eden’s Expressway in New York City. She has been a co-coordinator of the Global Underscore since 2020 and part of the Underscore +/- research group in Northampton, Massachusetts, US since 2013. She participated in the Underscore-based performance installation, Glimpse 2, at 92nd Street Y, NYC (2014) and attended Nancy Stark Smith’s January Workshop (2020) and Explore Underscore in Bremen Germany (2024). In addition to the Underscore, she’s interested in Nancy’s “States of Grace.” Sarah is a teacher and practitioner of contact improvisation, a Guild Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner, former director of Earthdance in Plainfield, Massachusetts, and a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Morocco. She received her BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She will pursue her MFA at Smith College starting Fall 2024. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts and Stolzenhagen, Germany.
Symara Sarai
Symara Sarai is an independent choreographer and dancer recognized as one of @dancemagazine’s “25 to Watch” for 2025. Based in Brooklyn and working with the company Urban Bush Woman.
In her early years, Symara journeyed to Tobago for two years, immersing herself in both folk dances and contemporary forms. Later, a scholarship took her to Beijing for another two years, where she expanded her repertoire by studying both folk and classical Chinese dance.
Symara’s work involves exploring the relationship to text—transforming material drawn from a day’s experience, a fleeting thought, or a dream into abstract compositions. Her performances are characterized by elements such as room readings, streams of consciousness, and the process of activating the voice to turn sentences into songs. These methods emphasize an open-ended, non-literal form of expression.
Having collaborated with other artists in contact improvisation and text-based projects, she has now shifted much of her focus to solo practice and small group formats, such as trios. Symara teaches improvisation scores that integrate text and movement, inviting participants to engage with the process without requiring any formal contemporary dance training. Her classes are conducted in English, underscoring her commitment to making her practice accessible and inclusive.
Meta Bobbe
Investigator In Underscore Group With Nancy Stark Smith
Meta Bobbe (she/her) is an integrative body therapist, embodiment and movement researcher, and CI community organizer. Since her first encounter with CI in Israel 2012, this practice has been a focus of her life. In 2018 she joined the Underscore +/- group and has been exploring it weekly since. For 14 years, the group has been investigating the Underscore and experiencing the impact of what dedication and repetition does within it. She’s excited and honored to co-present some of these learnings. Meta is part of the leadership team at Earthdance serving on the CICo seasonal jam organization team since 2019 and is a former Earthdance Board Member. Meta is a Certified Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist, Ilan Lev Method Practitioner, and Licensed Massage Therapist. She received her BBA in Management and Human Resources from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She’s a traveler and former expat and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Angie Hauser
Angie Hauser is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher who’s work is grounded in improvisation, performance and collaboration. Hauser’s work is marked by her long-time collaborations with artists Bebe Miller, Darrell Jones, and Chris Aiken. She was awarded a BESSIE Award for Creation and Choreography for her work with Bebe Miller Company and has received major fellowships and grants for her performance with Chris Aiken. She is influenced by her other dancemaking collaborations with Mike Vargas, Jennifer Nugent, K.J. Holmes, Kathleen Hermesdorf, and Alex Springer/Xan Burley. She has taught contact improvisation and dance improvisation throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and in Colombia, and Peru. She received her MFA in dance from the Ohio State University. She is currently a Professor at Smith College in Massachusetts (USA.)