Luna is thrilled to welcome the following artists, educators and activists to share their voices and perspectives in our Dance Equity & Inclusion Day March 21.

Panelists

Suzanna Curtis

Suzanna is a graduate student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Special Education at UC, Berkeley and San Francisco State University. She holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Chicago and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Suzanna has studied autistic intelligence, autism and creativity, and her research currently focuses on the fascinations and special interests of autistic individuals. Current written works in preparation for publication include “Autistic Intelligence: A Review of the Autistic Cognitive Style and its Relation to Intellectual Giftedness.” Suzanna has presented at the 2016 AASCEND conference, SPEDDR, and autism-focused courses and research groups at UCB and SFSU, and her artwork Knitting Playscape was displayed at the Autism Art Resource Center (AARC), 2017.  She is also a member and adviser to the Autism Collective for Peer Socialization, Play and Imagination and the Autism Art Resource Center. An active participant in autistic culture herself, Suzanna is passionate about educating others about the neurodiversity paradigm.  

Eddie Madril

Alleluia Panis

Alleluia is an American Pilipino director, choreographer, and non-profit arts leader. She has created over twenty full-length dance theater works that have been presented on stages in the United States, Europe, and Asia.  She has received numerous awards, including the inaugural Artistic Legacy Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission in 2017 and the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Commission for Choreographers for her 2019-2021 dance and film project,   ‘In the Belly of the Eagle’. 

She is the Artistic and Executive Director of Kularts, the nation’s premiere presenter of contemporary and tribal Pilipino arts. Her dance film, ‘She, Who Can See’ was a officially selected  and screened at the  2018 CAAMFest  formerly known as the SF Asian American  International Film Festival. She served as member of National Performance Network’s Artists Committee, and as a board member of Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, Brava! For Women in the Arts, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, and Dance Bay Area, and an active member of San Francisco’s SOMA Pilipinas, Filipino Cultural Heritage District.

Judith Smith

Judith, Founding Member and Artistic Director Emerita of AXIS Dance Company, is one of the world’s driving forces in physically integrated dance.  Judith helped launch AXIS in 1987 and she grew the Company to be the nation’s leading physically integrated dance ensemble. She has left an amazing legacy and vision for the future of AXIS and integrated dance.

Her advocacy and equity work led to the first-ever National Convening on the Future of Physically Integrated Dance in the USA, followed by six regional town halls throughout the country in 2016. This project, supported by the prestigious Doris Duke Charitable Foundation National Project Program, culminated in an extensive report and the launch of the AXIS Artistic Advancement Platform to Advance Artistry, Opportunity and Equity for Dancers with Disabilities. She has been instrumental in the creation of the Dance/USA Disability and Dance Affinity Group and co-chairs the group. Judith is currently working as an independent consultant in dance and disability.

Embodying Equity Workshop Facilitator

Claudia Alick

Claudia Alick is performer, producer, and inclusion expert. Named by American Theater Magazine as one of 25 theater artists who will shape American Theater in the next 25 years, Alick has served as the founding Artistic Director of Smokin’ Word Productions, is a NY Neofuturist alum, published playwright, recipient of NYC Fresh Fruit directing award, TedXFargo speaker, the Lilla Jewel Award for Women Artists, featured on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and former Community Producer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. At OSF for ten years she produced events such as “The Every 28 Hours Plays”, “The Green Show”, The Daedalus Project, OSF Open Mics as well as producing/directing audio-plays with OSF such as the Grammy nominated “Hamlet”. Her personal projects include her podcast “Hold On…Wait for it”, vlog “This Week in Cultural Appropriation”, StreetPoetry, and one-person Show “Fill in the Blank” exploring disability and the medical industry. Claudia served on Oregon Arts Leaders in Inclusion, the steering committee of The Ghostlight Project, the steering committee for Black Theater Commons, and is currently managing content with The Crew Revolution black female leadership and co-president of the board of Network of Ensemble Theater.  In 2019 Claudia Alick serves as founding executive producer of the transmedia social justice company CALLING UP whose projects include The Justice Quilt, Decolonizing Boards, Co-artistic direction of The FURYFactory Festival and consulting with foundations and companies around the country. 

Inclusive Dance Jam Facilitator

Eric Kupers with Dandelion Dancetheater

Eric Kupers has co-directed, choreographed, and performed with Dandelion since its inception, creating numerous works that have been presented throughout California, nationally, and internationally. He is deeply influenced by his work as a performer in the companies of Della Davidson and Margaret Jenkins, as well as by important teachers Charles Edmondson, Bella Lewitzky and her company, Mel Wong, Silvia Martins, Ellie Klopp and Joe Goode. Eric is an Associate Professor of Dance at Cal State University East Bay and is heading up the development of an Inclusive Interdisciplinary Performance program at the university. Eric is the director of Bandelion, an ensemble of dance, music, theater and visual artists committed to ongoing interdisciplinary research, as well as the CSUEB Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble, which brings together students, alumni, community members and professional performers with and without disabilities and from diverse cultures to create original performance works. Eric aspires to create performance that resembles a collision of the work of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Pina Bausch, Contraband, and Dr. Seuss. Eric has created commissioned works for AXIS Dance Company (supported by a Princess Grace Award for Choreography), Big Moves, Cal State University East Bay, California Choreographers Festival, Dancing in the Streets/NYC, and choreography for projects by John Killacky, California Shakespeare Festival, and Highland Summer Theatre. He has been a resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, CELLspace, Jon Sims Center for the Arts, and ODC Theater.