Emily Hansel is a San Francisco-based dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, arts administrator, and artist advocate. Originally from Rochester, Minnesota, Emily received their BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida. Emily currently dances for SFDanceworks, Post:ballet, Christy Funsch, and Mark Foehringer Dance Project. Emily has also performed Cunningham repertory in “Signals from the West: Bay Area Artists In Conversation with Merce Cunningham at 100” and danced with Rebecca Fitton Projects, Robert Moses’ KIN, Garrett-Moulton Productions, David Herrera Performance Company, Jennifer Perfilio, FACT/SF, and ZiRu Dance, among others.

Emily’s choreographic work, which is centered around dismantling systems of oppression in the concert dance field, has been commissioned by a variety of companies and presented at numerous venues throughout the Bay Area and across the country. Emily recently received an San Francisco Artist award from the San Francisco Arts Commission, an ODC Theater RDI Award, and was named an Individual Artist Fellow by the California Arts Council.

Through their choreography, writing, speaking engagements, and other creative work, Emily advocates for equitable, ethical, and healthy working conditions for dancers. Emily is a proud member of the Leadership Committee at Dance Artists' National Collective, where they head up DANC's development of a contract-building tool for dancers. Emily is a passionate arts administrator and has worked in administrative roles for a number of artists/companies in addition to producing their own work.

Emily occasionally teaches open classes and workshops for professional dancers and has taught ballet and contemporary to students ages 3 through 18 for seven years at Berkeley Ballet Theater, the ODC School, Steppin' Out Dance Studio, and other schools.

Rebecca Fitton is from many places and peoples. She nurtures community through movement, conversation, and food, and strives to equally prioritize her multiple roles in the field as an artist, administrator, and advocate. Fitton works as Co-Director/Director of Operations and Development for Bridge Live Arts and as Director of Studio Rawls for artist Will Rawls. She has been an artist-in-residence at Center, LEIMAY/CAVE, EMERGENYC, and The Croft. Their writing has been published by Triskelion Arts, Emergency Index, In Dance, The Dancer-Citizen, Etudes, Critical Correspondence, and Dance Research Journal. As an access practitioner, she narrates audio description for experimental dance and performance artists. They hold a BFA in Dance from Florida State University and an MA in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas at Austin.

gizeh muñiz vengel is a Mexican Movement, Teaching and Performing artist currently co-existing in Ohlone territory. She is dedicated to the study of existence through movement and stillness. Her choreographic work responds to processes of grief and joy, with an arduous commitment to transformation and presence. Her choreographic and teaching work has been shared in the United States, Mexico and Europe in festivals such as Improspeckje in Croatia, GUSH in San Francisco and 4x4 in Tijuana, to mention some. gizeh is currently an artist in residency at CounterPulse, PUSH, BANDALOOP and in The Community Engagement Residency with Bridge Live Arts, and the 2023-25 Radiate fellow of RAWdance. gizeh is curator and producer of KH FRESH Festival, Performance Primers and Gatherings class series in the Bay Area.

Jocelyn Reyes (she/her) is a Latin American contemporary choreographer, self-producer and dancer based in San Francisco. A first generation LA native, Reyes holds a B.S. in Cognitive Science and a B.A. in Dance from UCLA, and is the artistic director of REYES Dance. Reyes’ movement practice includes contemporary dance, improvisation and Latin social dances. Her choreographic work blends everyday gestures, athleticism, humor, abstraction and storytelling to question toxic behavioral patterns, heal and reimagine healthier ways of relating to ourselves and others. Reyes has produced three evening length works, presented choreography in many festivals/curated events, and received support from the California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commision, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, CASH Dance, the Berkeley Ballet Theater Residency and the Paul Dresher Ensemble Residency Program, among others. Reyes recently performed with Zaccho Dance Theater and is excited to share a new evening length dance work next fall at ODC Theater.

Erin Yen is a mixed-race professional dancer and choreographer currently residing in San Mateo, CA. Erin holds a BFA in Dance from the Ohio State University. She is fluent in Laban Movement Analysis, and she was the first to Labanotate work from acclaimed choreographer Doug Varone. Erin has performed works by artists such as Johannes Wieland and Bebe Miller, and she has danced with Alvin Ailey and BalletMet. Erin is the founder of Dragons Dance 501c3, a contemporary dance company which empowers artists to create impactful artwork.

Sophia Cotraccia, (she/they) is a drummer and composer based in Philadelphia. They are a recent graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory, where they studied the religious roots of the Caribbean steelband. Study Hall is Sophia's second collaboration with Emily after Four by Four in May 2022.

Thomas Bowersox is a lighting designer, production manager, and technical director, based in San Francisco. He graduated from the University of Southern Florida with a BA in Lighting Design. Select companies Thomas has worked with include ODC/Dance, 32 Sounds, The Independent, ACT, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Club Fugazi, Capital Repertory Theater, and New York Live Arts

Dancer photos by Natalia Perez. Emily’s photo by Robbie Sweeny.

Study Hall is inspired by a series of public workshops that brought Bay Area dancers and choreographers/directors together in discussion about cultivating healthy, equitable workplaces in our contemporary dance field. Study Hall’s four cast members participated in these conversations alongside members of the community and brought their takeaways into the studio for the development of this performance. Our conversations covered topics including:

• Dreaming up a dancer’s utopia
• The emotional labor of writing about our work
• Ownership and credit in collaborative processes
• Building budgets that prioritize dancer pay
• How can we hold decision-makers accountable?
• Ideas for resource sharing

These discussion topics were collectively determined in a community meeting where we utilized adrienne maree brown’s method for Emergent/Collective Agenda Development.

Many Community Study Hall (CSH) participants and other community members have expressed a hunger for this kind of programming to continue into the future, and Emily is currently applying for funding to launch a continuation of the CSH series. If you have ideas for the future of this series or are interested in becoming a conversation facilitator, please reach out to Emily. If you’re interested in staying in the loop about future events, you can subscribe to Emily’s mailing list and/or follow Community Study Halls on Instagram.

In order to document, process, and share the lengthy creative process behind this production, the Study Hall artists wrote a diverse collection of pieces that are available on our Substack.

A film of the Study Hall live performance (by Jacob Marks Productions), as well as an audio description of the film (by our very own Rebecca Fitton), will be available on-demand in August 2024.

If you’d like to revisit the work or share Study Hall with folks who didn’t attend, you can order the film + AD now.

To keep in touch, follow Emily on Instagram and join Emily’s mailing list.

You’re invited to check out the project budget to learn more about the expenses involved in producing Study Hall.

If you’re interested in making a donation to support Emily and this work, you can send a gift directly to Emily via Venmo or Paypal. Or make a tax-deductible donation via FACT/SF, Emily’s fiscal sponsor:

Donate

Please take a moment to fill out this brief, anonymous, demographic survey. (This information is important for Emily to have when applying to get funding for future projects.)

Demographic survey

This weekend and next, our friends over at flowers and fog are putting together a lovely show featuring mother-child duo Joy ChenYu Lewis and Melissa Lewis Wong. Check it out May 17-19 and 25-26: eventbrite.com/e/flowers-and-fog

Later this month, Megan Lowe Dances presents Just a Shadow, May 31st-June 9th. Learn more: meganlowedances.com/justashadow

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