SOULSKIN Dance's mission is to present inspiring performances that empower individuals and communities to come together. We aim to create a safe space for all people regardless of gender, ethnicity, or class. Using the language of dance, SOULSKIN Dance seeks to encourage discovery, empathy and tolerance in our complex and often divided world. Through thought provoking works we encourage dialogue and believe deeply in the power of artistic collaboration to create a rich cultural tapestry that comes to life through dance.
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Choreographer Adrianna Thompson attracts a roster of exceptional artistic collaborators to create a rich Pop Culture tapestry that comes to life through dance. Inspired by Haight Ashbury Salon parties of the 70’s, Thompson and her collaborators weave Media and Fashion design, musicians, DJ spins and dance to create immersive, electric dance happenings. Thompson’s choreographic style exudes personality and celebrates the musical genres she embraces.
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“ … pure dance, pure excitement… SOULSKIN puts the pop back in Dance"
- San Francisco Chronicle
ADRIANNA THOMPSON
Founder/Artistic Director of SOULSKIN Dance
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Adrianna danced professionally in New York City with Battery Dance Co, Carolyn Dorfman Dance Co, Mark DeGarmo & Dancers, and worked with Bella Lewitzky, Milton Myers, Jonathan Wolken, Brenda Daniels, Risa Steinberg, and Mary Jane Eisenberg. In NYC her choreography was presented at Joyce SoHo, the Cunningham Studio, The Riverside Theatre, Mulberry Street Theater, the Downtown Arts Festival, Trisha Brown Studios, Movement Research, Theater for the New City and Dance Space.. She was on faculty for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet for ten years, and guest faculty for Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA training program. She received a BFA in Dance from Cal State Long Beach and was awarded Performance of the Year by the Boston Globe.
In 2011 Adrianna became the Director of Dance for the Aspen Fringe Festival and was commissioned by the Aspen Art Museum to create a site-specific work as part of the museum’s Alan Shields exhibit, as well as a dance outreach program for children in 2017. She is a GYROTONIC® & GYROKINESIS® Specialized Master Teacher and has been practicing the method for 30 years.
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Click here to her upcoming courses calendar.
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SOULSKIN DANCERS
Erika Hassan
Erika's first performance as a professional dancer in NYC was in Adrianna Thompson’s Led Sequins over a decade ago. Erika also danced for choreographers Maureen Fleming, Heidi Latsky, Javier Dzul and Jennifer Muller. She traveled to Brasil, dancing in Marcelo Pereira’s Zen Companhia de Danca from 2000-2003, and to Japan to study with Butoh Master Min Tanaka. Erika performed in Tanaka’s theater Plan B in Tokyo in 2001 and in 2003. Back in New York she danced in and produced Ambivalent Skin at Theater for the New City in 2005. The following year she co-produced, danced and co-directed The Guest House with Adrianna Thompson also at Theater for the New City. She is a master trainer for GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® and part of the International Naam Yoga Teacher Training team. Erika joined SOULSKIN in 2013.
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Alexandra FitzGibbon
A native to Fresno, California, Alexandra began training with Shirley Winters Ballet. She furthered her education with a BFA in Dance Performance, studying at both SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Dance and Butler University. She credits much of her further education to LINES Ballet training program. She gained most of her performing experience in the Bay Area. She’s been in the Resident Corps de Ballet of the SF Opera since 2017, earning a soloist role in just her second season in the production of “Cavalleria Rusticana.” Alexandra has also performed with the companies SFDanceWorks, Oakland Ballet Company, Robert Moses, Marika Brussel, and Dance Theatre of San Francisco. Alongside dance, Alex developed a career in the fitness industry. She’s been a Certified Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor for over 12 years, is a certified GYROTONICR and GYROKINESISR Instructor, and has developed her own cross-training workout programs for dancers on YouTube.
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Sophia Rumasuglia
Sophia Rumasuglia is a Bay Area native that has performed professionally with Joffrey Ballet in New York, Ballet Austin, and Bay Pointe Ballet. She is currently a freelance performance artist in the Bay Area and has worked on projects with Ballet Bernasconi, No Strings Attached, Emotion Arts and Metamorphosis Ballet. She received her BFA from St. Mary’s college, and is a certified yoga and GYROTONIC® trainer.
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Federico Garcia
Originally from New Mexico where he began his dance training as a teenager at the suggestion of friends with Michele and Kevin Self, Federico went on to attend the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and The Rock School summer programs among others. While earning a degree in opera performance at New Mexico State University he continued to study dance performing with the university contemporary dance company and thus began his move into modern/contemporary dance. He began dancing with Dzul Dance shortly after moving to New York in 2012 and has also danced with Staten Island Ballet, Darrell Thorne and other projects around the city.
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Robert M. Valdez, Jr.
(Rehearsal Director)
Affectionately known as “Buddy”, received his dance training at the San Francisco Academy of Ballet and the San Francisco School of the Arts. He also earned a BFA from The Juilliard School. Some of the companies Valdez has performed with include Luna Negra Dance Theater, 360º Dance Company, Riedel Dance Theater, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Flexicurve, Armitage Gone! Dance, ZviDance, Limón Dance Company, Tabula Rasa Dance Theater, SoulSkin Dance, and Alchemy Arts Collective. Commercial work includes NYFW, Fashion/One TV, Comedy Central, & Janet Jackson’s Made for Now music video. Additionally, Valdez has certifications to teach yoga, the Feldenkrais Method ®, and Latin social dancing. SAG-AFTRA Eligible. Buddy joined SOULSKIN in 2021.
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Kennyth Montes De Oca
Montes De Oca is a Dominican Republic native and a Rutgers University alum holding a BFA in Dance. He has performed works by Bill T. Jones, Darrell G. Moultrie, Frederick E. Mosley, George Balanchine, Maxine Doyle, Keith Thomson, Maxine Steinman, Randy James, and many others. Montes de Oca is a former Ballet Hispano’s BHdos dancer, and currently is a member of the Company of Collaborative Artists under the direction of Camille Moten. This is their fourth season with Dzul Dance.
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Andrea Dusel-Foil
Andrea Dusel-Foil is originally from Casper, WY and has performed professionally in North Carolina, Maryland, Las Vegas, Copenhagen, and New York. This is Andrea’s fourth season with Dzul Dance. Additional credits include- Concert Dance: Martha Connerton Kinetic Works, Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Ballet Mink, The Coppola Rhythm Ensemble, The Flowers Project, Miriam Barbosa Dance (Transcending & Bliss), and Dzul Dance. Variety: The Cougar Ball, The Cougar Ball Third Time’s a Charm, and Night of 1000 Stevies. Teaching: Ballet Theatre of Maryland Conservatory of Classical and Contemporary Dance, and University of Nevada Las Vegas. Education: UNC Charlotte (BA in Dance), North Carolina Dance Theatre (Professional Training Certificate), Alvin Ailey (Independent Training program), Pennsylvania Western University (MA in Exercise Science). When Andrea is not dancing you can find her teaching Pilates, Lagree Fitness, Yoga and Barre around NYC. In early 2018 she started her business Andrea Dusel-Foil Fitness, and is very passionate about helping others to reach their health and fitness goals in a supportive and non-judgemental manner.
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Oren Yaari
Oren’s relationship to dance is a reflection of his family’s encouragement to be wildly bold and courageous with creativity. Their graceful acceptance informed Oren’s openness to all forms of movement and in recent years has led him to find his own version of dance. As an untrained dancer, movement to him as only ever served as a tool for tender expression with a strong emphasis on connecting himself and others back to truth. In the past year, Oren has worked under the supervision of Francesca Dominguez performing in her latest work of “Galvanizing Steel” as part of her MFA thesis from Hunter College, as well as “Nesting” which was done in collaboration with Doug Varone at Gibney Performing Arts Center.
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Leslie Plummer
Leslie Plummer, a native New Mexican, learned classical ballet from Patricia Dickinson-Wells and performed with New Mexico Ballet Company. She furthered her education at summer intensives with ABT and the Ailey School, and went on to receive her B.A. in Dance from the University of New Mexico. Leslie later performed with OUI DANSE under Artistic Director, Brice Mousset, in NYC. Currently, Leslie is a freelance dancer working in film and live performance. She also assists Norwegian dancer, teacher, and choreographer, Jon Ole Olstad, for various creative projects in Europe including, “Dancing in the Wild." Leslie is a certified GYROKINESIS® pre-trainer and certified GYROTONIC® level 1 pre-trainer, who has taught in New York City at Kinespirit Riverside, Steps on Broadway, Chelsea Movements, and Union Square GYROTONIC®. Currently, she teaches at The Movement Lab in Albuquerque, NM.
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Barbara Koch
Barbara was born in Muncie, Indiana. She attended high school at North Carolina School of the Arts and received her BFA from the California Institute of the Arts. She received a scholarship as an exchange student from London Contemporary Dance School. She also trained with Stefan Wenta, Bella Lewitzky, Shelly Senter, Bill Evans and Zvi Gotheiner. She worked with Zvi Dance in NYC for over a decade and has the pleasure of touring with the company to Columbia, Germany, Poland, Russia and across the USA. Barbara has also worked for Tandy Beal, Dandelion Dance Theater, Aerol Grimes, Chen and Dancers, Lula Washington Dance Theater, and The Well Tempered Ballet. She was involved in a project on Gotland Island in Sweden. It was a collaboration of 5 choreographers and dancers from the UK, The Royal Swedish Ballet, and the The Cullberg Ballet. The project toured Stockholm, The Royal Opera House in London and a beautiful medieval church on Gotland Island. As a solo artist Barbara has performed her work in Los Angeles, San Francisco, India, and Nepal. She has also created and performed pieces on trapeze. Barbara is thrilled to be joining SOULSKIN for this season!
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Diana Warren
Dianna Warren, a Michigan native, trained on scholarship at the Chicago City Ballet and Joffrey Ballet Schools. She has been a member of the Washington Ballet, Cleveland Ballet, Ballet Met, and Das Berner Ballet Switzerland, where she performed various soloist roles. She has also guested nationally and abroad. For seven years, she was a member of the Ballet/Chorus of Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. She is currently teaching Ballet, Pointe, and Variations in New York City. She is also a certified GYROTONIC / GYROKINESIS instructor and Pre-Trainer. . Dianna has been on the faculty at Peridance in New York as well as the Martha Graham School, French Academie of Ballet, and NYU/Gallatin. She is a movement explorer and teacher and grateful to still take time to perform.
SOULSKIN COLLABORATORS
Choreographer
Adrianna Thompson
Adrianna is the Artistic Director of SOULSKIN Dance which has premiered works at Dance Mission Theater, PUSHFest, SjDANCEco, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Santa Barbara HH11 Dance Festival, and was commissioned by the Aspen Art Museum in 2016 to create a site-specific work for SOULSKIN as part of the museum’s Alan Shields exhibit . Adrianna danced professionally in New York City with Battery Dance Co, Carolyn Dorfman Dance Co, Mark DeGarmo & Dancers, and worked with Bella Lewitzky, Milton Myers, Jonathan Wolken, Brenda Daniels, Risa Steinberg, and Mary Jane Eisenberg. As Artistic Director of MEFTAS Dance Theatre in NYC, her choreography was presented at Joyce SoHo, the Cunningham Studio, The Riverside Theatre, Mulberry Street Theater, the Downtown Arts Festival, Trisha Brown Studios, Movement Research, Theater for the New City, Dance Space, and the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, CO. She was on faculty for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet for ten years, and guest faculty for Alonzo King LINES Ballet. In April 2019 SOULSKIN Dance premiered Parallel Dialogues in Boulder and premiered a new ballet, Golden Mean to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus Art Movement at Dance Mission Theater. Adrianna was commissioned for two dance films, Shelter in Place (2020), and CLOSER (2021) and the Ballet Phoenix Rising for the Aspen Fringe Festival. Closer was presented alongside SOULSKIN's The Awakening at Dance Mission in Fall 2021. She is a GYROTONIC® & GYROKINESIS® Specialized Master Teacher and has been practicing the method for 30 years
Film Designer
Jaco Strydom
Jaco Strydom (Filmmaker) is a filmmaker and visual designer based in Los Angeles. He has created dance films, visual projection designs and installations for Dance Brigade, SoulSkin Dance, Axis Dance Company, and PERSpectives Dance. He was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award in 2019 for the installation of “Sin Palabras II: The Butterfly Effect," choreographed by Krissy Keefer. In 2021 he created a 30-minute dance film with choreographer Adrianna Thompson — “Closer” premiered at Aspen FallFest and was also shown in San Francisco. His collaboration with Axis Dance, "Roots Above Ground” choreographed by Marc Brew, toured Germany, Dubai, and the US in 2021/2022 and was featured on the The Joyce's digital streaming platform.
Costume Designer
Cathy Cooper
Cathy was born and raised in La Habra, California by Southern parents who always directed her to follow her curiosity. Her whole life as an artist has been to find that access into the genius of the world. Be it through sculpture and installation work, costumes for dance and film or writing and performing music, her curiosity has lead to that genius; A place of wonder and beauty which she has been making for over 40 years. One of the great things that has happened over time has been this making of things which has crossed over into powerful collaborations with other artists, dancers, choreographers and musicians. THAT is the genius. Being able to see her work form into something bigger, something unpredictable and magical. "It has made my work and my friendships stronger. It has made my love of the process of making art solid and profound."
Visual Artist
Iwalani Kaluhiokalani
Iwalani Kaluhiokalani is a multidisciplinary artist whose work centers painting, movement, and installation. She holds a BFA in Painting with Distinction and Departmental Honors from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, USA 2003, where she also studied dance and performance art in the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) program. She later continued studies in Laban Bartenieff Movement Analysis, completing a Laban Institute of Movement Studies program at Lesley College, Cambridge, MA. She is part of Kingston Gallery, Boston USA Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at Galatea Fine Art, Boston USA; Bromfield Gallery, Boston USA, The Pfizer Building and LabCentral of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge USA and recently La Traverse in Marseille, France. Additionally she is a Teacher of Teachers in Classical Pilates and the GYROTONIC® method of body conditioning which she has been practicing since 1997. She has created multi-disciplinary installation work for corporate collections and for the ACTivate residency at Boston Center For the Arts. Iwalani’s work is held in individual and corporate private collections internationally. She was born in Massachusetts to bi-racial parents of Hawaiian-Scottish and Dutch-Indonesian descent, respectively. She currently works in Boston, MA, USA, and Marseille, France.
Lighting Designer
Mike Inwood
Mike Inwood designs lighting for dance, theatre, opera, television, and special events. Past NYC credits include productions at BAM, NYLA, The Joyce, Ars Nova, Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theatre and Second Stage. In 2010, Mike received an Emmy Award for his work with NBC Sports' coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.
COMPOSER
ROXY ROLLER
Roxy Roller was born and raised in the Bronx,NY and is proudly a self trained musician. He fell in love with Rock N' Roll at an early age and was influenced by the first wave of glam rock bands like T Rex, Kiss, Queen and Bowie. He knew then at a young age what he wanted to do with his life. He traveled around as a young man with a group of gypsies learning the ways of the road and life on the streets. He ended up settling in Athens ,Georgia. He formed his first band there Naked in the Rain and worked in collaboration with many artists, soaking up the fertile creative environment of that unique southern town. Roxy then moved his band to San Fransisco at the height of the Lollapalozza nation and work at the Warfield Theater for Bill Graham Presents for 5 years.He met his wife Barbara during this period and moved to LA. for a year.They collaborated together on a few pieces that was performed with The Lula Washington Dance Theater and The Well Tempered Ballet. As well they performed their collaborations/creations at various rock venues and art galleries in Los Angeles. NYC was calling and for Roxy. It was a time to focus on recording. He turned his attention to loops, drum machines and sound scapes.The factories, noise, and industrial environment of 4th Ave Brooklyn and NYC reflected into his work. He was Inspired by early industrial music like Einsturzende Neubauten and Test Department as well as Lou Reeds Metal Machine Music. He immersed himself in musical creation, solitude, recording music and oil painting as opposed to public performance. It was a time of introspection. Since he has returned to the West coast he has been a prolific performer. His band Lucabrazzi was voted by SPIN Magazine one of the top 10 unsigned bands in 2010. Lucabrazzi was know to be the hardest working band in the Bay area for many years. He also played bass for Meat Hook and the Vital Organs and they were know to be the most dangerous band in the Bay area!! Mixing Glam, Gutter Punk and Industrial.. He then joined forces with punk legend Steve Ricablanca from VIKTMS and co fronts the band Pleasure Parade. He also plays in a bands with his wife Barbara Koch XoX. His booking company Chromespider Presents has booked countless bands, performers and events over the past decade. Roxy is also a radio personality and has worked on FCC Free Radio and Mutiny Radio in the Mission. Composing original music for Golden Mean is his first collaboration with SOULSKIN.
PLAYWRIGHT
LILLY BRIGHT
Lilly Bright is a writer, performer and movement artist living in Los Angeles. Her film career includes the production and distribution of award-winning films and documentaries under the banners of Curiously Bright Entertainment and Arthouse Films. Her play, American Standard: A Story of Enough, a one-act one woman solo show premiered in early 2018 and is currently being toured. She regularly teaches the Feldenkrais Method and (soon) Gaga dance-the movement language of Ohad Naharin. She is a mother of two. She believes in you.
DJ
CAMILLE CONROTTO
Camille’s love of music started as far back as she can remember, growing up listening to Soul/Funk/RnB/- Classic Rock, Blues and the golden age of Pop in the 80’s and 90’s. Classical music, jazz and musical theater heightened her love and passion for her craft when she started singing and playing instruments at the age of 8. She has performed with various Bay Area bands and worked with many talented musicians. You can see her DJing in local nightclubs, bars and parties all over the Bay Area, showcasing her love and appreciation for all music while she rocks folks on the dance floor!
COSTUME DESIGNER
JAMIELYN DUGGAN
A San Francisco native, Jamielyn established Eimaj Design in 2004 as a way to house and promote her various creative endeavors. With emphasis on ‘fashion that moves’, her custom work encompasses avant garde to casual clothing made to be seen, costumes for performance, visual and graphic design, and media direction and production. Her clients include ODC/Dance, Bandaloop, Liss Fain Dance, Milissa Payne Project, LINES BFA and Training Programs, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Project B., Hope Mohr, Alaska Dance Theater and Oakland Ballet. Achievements include work displayed at the De Young Museum, an Izzies nomination for design, and being cast as 1st alternate for season 6 of Project Runway. www.EimajDesign.com
GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER
DYLAN ELMORE
A London-based independent dance artist, he has worked with Batsheva Dance Company (Israel), Ballet Gulbenkian (Portugal), L’Anonima Imperial and Rami Levi (Spain), Daniel Larrieu (France), Tanzforum (Germany) and Galili Dance (Holland). He has danced works by Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Angelin Preljocaj and many others. As a freelance artist he has collaborated with and danced for many choreographers both in the United Kingdom and internationally. He is passionately curious about the body in motion. His regular movement practices include contact improvisation, sport climbing, yoga and GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® (of which he is a Master Trainer). He continues to delve deeper, bringing his lifelong movement enquiry and evolving personal practice to his choreography.
COMPOSER
NOH SALOMON
Noh is a classically trained pianist who studied music composition at CalState Long Beach. When composing, he draws from various genres of music such as rock and jazz. From a young age Noh was exposed to many styles of dance through his family, especially his sister Kim, who danced. Noh and Kim began creatively collaborating while in college and this exposure allowed him to work with other dancers. He enjoys collaborating with dancers because it allows his music to be translated to movement. He has been commissioned by and performed with choreographers Kim Salomon, Tracy Fitzpatrick, Brenda Daniels and Mehmet Sander.
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COMPOSER
SEBASTIEN THILL
Sebastien Thill is a Paris based solo dancer. He entered school in 1986 at ‘ L’Ecole de Danse de l’Opéra de Paris’, dances as Soloist in Le Bal des Cadets (D. Lichine), L’Oiseau de Feu (M. Fokine) and M pour B (M. Béjart). Thill began his professional dance career in 1991 at the ‘Opéra National de Paris’ under the direction of Rudolf Noureyev, and was promoted Choryphée the following year. He has danced in all Noureyev ’s productions: Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Raymonda, Sleeping beauty, etc. Thill has worked with worldwide known choreographers: Balanchine, Robbins, Béjart, Carlson, Petit, Neumeier, Massine, Fokine, Lifar, Naharin. In 2001 he created the solo Souvenir d’un après midi choreographer (Patrick King) and joined as a soloist in the Hamburg Ballet with whom he toured internationally and became the inspiration for new ballets: Winterreise, The Seagull, Death in Venice, Preludes CV, Parzival. In 2009 Thill moved to Berlin to work with choreographer Patrick King. In working with King, Thill performed many of his creations internationally, including before her Majesty Queen Sonia of Norway. In 2014 he was a soloist in La Damnation de Faust, directed by C.Spuck at Deutsch Opera; in 2016 a soloist in Paris ‘Simul’ Histoire d’Hommes by Redha; and in 2017 co-choreographed and danced in Gstaad 'Adios Nonino' a Tango Duo.
