Summer 2021 Residency Artists
Alyssandra Katherine Dance (AKD) is a contemporary dance company that was established in London in 2015 and is now based in San Francisco, California. The mission of AKD is to create innovative and culturally relevant works of art that promote awareness around topics of mental illness, East Asian identity, and female empowerment. The company has toured throughout the UK, presenting work at platforms such as FRESH-Northeast, Foot Print, and EMERGE, hosted by UK’s Dance Company C-12. Since then, company choreographer Alyssandra Katherine Wu has been listed on londondance.com as one of the most promising emerging choreographers of 2015. After its relocation to San Francisco, AKD has presented work around the Bay Area (CA), Los Angeles (CA), Tempe (AZ), Rochester (NY), and New York City (NY). They are the official winners of the audience choice award for PUSHfest 2016 and one of the six companies/choreographers to be selected for ODC's Pilot 68 program. In 2018, AKD was invited to be a part of the San Francisco Movement Arts Festival, RAWDances' Concept Series, and Joe Goode's Feedback series. Thereafter, the company has been selected to take part in Doug Varone & Dancers DEVICES, teach and present at the Nazareth College MAD Festival, perform at APAP through the Peridance Capezio Center, and show work at Arizona's CONDER|Dance Breaking Ground Festival. Since SIP, the company has shown work virtually through Joe Goode Annex's GUSH and Boston Contemporary Dance Festival. AKD is a proud two-time recipient of the Fleishhacker Opportunity Fund and Dancers' Group CA$H Grant.
Alyssandra Katherine Dance used the residency to continue working on The Oriental Woman. The piece, and larger project, delve into the stereotypes and fetishization of Asian women in Western culture and how, historically, Asian women’s identities are strongly defined by the misogynistic white perspective in Occidental countries.
Angela Arteritano is a Venezuelan multidisciplinary artist, choreographer, and researcher, based in the United States. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art and a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography. Her work deals with issues of migration and identity through an interdisciplinary choreographic practice. With over ten years of experience in traditional Flamenco, she has developed an experimental practice that is rooted in tradition but pursues new ways of understanding. Her multidisciplinary work has been presented in art galleries, performing arts theaters, and alternative spaces throughout the United States and internationally. Some of these spaces include The Miramar Cultural Center; Bayou Theater, Match Theater; Texas State Galleries; Denton Arts Center; among others. Additionally, her work has been recognized and supported by various non-profit organizations and institutions, including the recognition of 2021 Cultura Power Grant Awardee by San Jose’s leading Latinx Art Organization – MACLA.
During the residency, she created Retratos Migrantes, a dance film that explores the concept of belonging from the perspective of the migratory body, specifically focusing on women in migration.
Check out excerpts from the culminating performance to see how the artists developed their work through the Residency.
The Studio 210 Residency is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.