Artist Statement
Funders/ Support
Kate Watson-Wallace’s work has been supported by:
- Map Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Rockefeller Foundation
- Doris Duke Foundation
- The Pew Charitable Trusts through Dance Advance
- A 2007 Pew Fellowship in Choreography
- The Independence Foundation
- The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
- The University of Pennsylvania
- Indiana University of Pennsylvania Lively Arts
- Susan Hess Choreographers Project
- The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival
- Whole Foods Market
- Phiily Car Share
- Klip Collective
- The Latest Dish
Bios
Kate Watson-Wallace
Kate Watson-Wallace, a 2007 Pew Fellow in the Arts in Choreography, is a choreographer and performer based in Philadelphia. She is director of anonymous bodies, a interdisciplinary performance company that creates site-based installation. Projects include, CAR, a performance for 4 audience members who sit in the back seat of a moving car, HOUSE, a show inside a row home, and the upcoming STORE, a performance piece about American greed. She has been presented throughout the US at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, ODC Dance (San Francisco), Velocity Dance (Seattle), Joyce SoHo (NYC), Bryn Mawr College, Kelly Strayhorn Theater (Pittsburgh), Wave Rising series (NYC) and DanceBoom at the Wilma Theater. Her work has been funded by the Rockefeller Map Fund, Doris Duke Foundation, Dance Advance, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Independence Foundation. She has choreographed music videos for Animal Collective and Black Dice. She has danced with Myra Bazell (2001-06) and Group Motion Company (1998-2002) and currently dances with Headlong Dance Theater. She has been a guest artist at Drexel University, The University of the Arts, Franklin and Marshall College, Temple University, Swarthmore College, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Choreography for theater includes: Brat Productions, Wilma Theater, and White Box Theater.
Collaborators
Alexandra Holmes
ALEX HOLMES (dancer) received her B.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002. She is originally from Makiti City, Philippines, and returns every year to eat mongoes in the sun and be with her family. Professionally, Alex has danced for Paule Turner/ c o u r t and PearsonWidrig Danctheater. In her time at VCU, she had the pleasure of working with choreographers such as David Dorfman, Nicholas Leichter and Joe Goode. She is thriled to be dancing for Kate Wawa. Alex is a Yoga teacher. She is also a mother to a Boston Terrier named DANGER, and two cats, KAI and MILO. She likes to ride her bike, swim in the ocean, and read strange fiction. She also loves tropical fruit and drinking dirty martinis. She thanks her friends, co-workers, pets, family and teachers for their love and support, for showing her how to be a good yoga student, and without whom she would not be so so happy.
Heather Murphy
Heather Murphy (performer) has been performing creative dances in Philly since 1996, while also touring both the U.S. and internationally. She was a co-founder of Moxie Dance Collective (1994-2004), is a former company member of Group Motion Company (1999-2002), and is an original company member of Headlong Dance Theater, whom she has now worked with for over 12 years. Heather can also be seen performing with Nichole Canuso Dance Company and Kate Watson-Wallace anonymous bodies. Heather is also the creator and founder of Baby Loves Disco, and is a mama to a 6 year old “monkey boy” named Max, and a 3 year old “bunny girl” named Isadora. She is wife to an architect and musician of Big Truck, named Mark.
Jaamil Olawale Kosoko
Interdisciplinary movement based artist, JAAMIL OLAWALE KOSOKO creates performances that draw from both visual and literary aesthetics. Poetry and video-art heavily contribute to how KOSOKO renders his ideas and concepts into dance. KOSOKO has performed in the choreographic works of various artists and companies including Ann Carlson, Yoshiko Chuma, Terry Creach, Lisa Kraus, Helen Lesterlin, Richard Siegal, Kate Watson-Wallace, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Headlong Dance Theater, Leah Stein Dance Company, Emergent Improvisation Ensemble, and, Faustin Linyekula and Les Studios Kabako (The Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa ). While KOSOKO has shown his own dances and dance-films atBennington College , Dance Theater Workshop, American Dance Festival, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, and Joyce SoHo among other venues, he has also been a resident artist at The Hudson School, Hoboken , NJ ; Community Education Center Meeting House Theater, Philadelphia , PA ; Earthdance, Plainsfield , MA . Currently, KOSOKO is in partnership with Melanie Stewart Dance and the 2008-2009 nEW Festival as a resident artist and is a member of Artists U, a non-profit organization focusing on professional development for Philadelphia based artists. www.kosokoperformance.org
John Luna
John Luna (performer) is a Philly-based freelance dancer/choreographer and a native of Texas. When he isn’t wiggling around on stage, Luna enjoys experimenting with video editing and projection, reading sci-fi and fantasy novels, and playing video games. John would like to thank his family for always supporting his endeavors.
Josh Cicetti
JOSH CICETTI (composer/ sound designer) is a composer who has played with a number of Philly bands. He has toured the U.S. and U.K. with the Heartache Disease, Lucky #13 and God Like Diablo, and opened up for Interpol, the Fall and the Liars. He has composed music for Kate Watson-Wallace and Scrap Performance Group. He is currently writing/playing in two new projects, Pink Pix and Dead Churches, and continuing his collaboration with Kate Watson-Wallace He also plays with the Philly band Gildenworks.
Karama Butler
Karama Butler (performer) is a native of Cincinnati, OH and has been a part of the Philadelphia arts community for three years. As a professional she has danced with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company's Second Company and Philadelphia Based companies dance theatre X under the direction of Charles Anderson as well as Smoke, Lilies, and Jade Arts Initiative under the direction of Zane Booker, both listed in Dance Magazine as "25 to Watch". She has studied at the Ailey School, Jacob's Pillow, Cincinnati Ballet, and the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati. Currently, she teaches modern dance in local schools through the Kimmel Center's education program, and is an instructor for the Koresh School of Dance. This is her first collaboration with Kate Watson-Wallace/anonymous bodies.
Lorin Lyle
Lorin Lyle (performer) has performed and made dances in Philadelphia since 1993 and has run rehearsal space there called the Parlor since 2000 (theartsparlor.space@gmail.com). He is ready for a spiritual revolution, a seamless broadband connection, and for the investment his parents made in his education to start paying off. He is deeply honored to share the stage with such magnificent performers.
Madison Cario
Madison's (lighting designer) training comes from experimentation, collaboration and through her work as the Production Manager and Technical Director for several performing arts organizations, including the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Venue 9 and Il Teatro in San Francisco, California. For the past 12 years she has been creating environments using lights, sets and sound. She has done design work for numerous dance and theater companies, including; Tania Isaac Dance, Group Motion, Sebestainne Mundheim, Kate Watson-Wallace, Thaddeus Phillips' Lucidity Suitcase, Scrap Performance Group, Myra Bazell, Silvana Cardell, ASH Contemporary Dance, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Curtain Call Creations, Marianela Boan, Sarah Jones, Opus I, Megan Bridge, ContempraDance Theater, Gwendolyn Bye, Rebecca Malcolm-Niab, Travesty Dance, Passion Y Arte, Martha McDonald, Merge Dance, Hannibal, Greg Giovanni, The Bald Mermaids, Rain Pyror, Rhodessa Jones, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Working Women Theater Festival San Francisco, Integrated Arts and others. MadisonÕs work has brought her to traditional theaters and black box theaters as well as non-traditional and site-specific venues such as warehouses, lots, empty houses, churches and outdoor locations.
Makoto Hirano
Makoto Hirano is a choreographer, director, performer, collaborator, writer, and aspiring carpenter. His performance ensemble OMNiBUS has been presented in numerous venues and festivals, including Yale University, The National Asian American Theater Festival, and Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. Performer/collaborator credits include:LOVE UNPUNISHED and PAY UP (Obie Award-winning Pig Iron Theatre Company); Still Unknown (Subcircle); The Happiness Lecture (Tony Award-winning Bill Irwin and Philadelphia Theatre Company); and most recently in Wandering Alice (Nichole Canuso Dance Company) and Car (Kate Watson-Wallace/anonymous bodies). In addition to performing, his writing has been commissioned for projects including: Tar (Charles Anderson/dance theatre X); Selective Sight and dance film Here (Subcircle). Makoto is a recipient of an Independence Foundation Fellowship and an APIA Residency at the Asian Arts Initiative. Makoto is a former-U.S. Marine, and studied dance at Columbia College Chicago before earning his BFA at Temple University. His favorite foods are pastries.