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2007 ARCHIVE THANKS PERFORMANCES BIOS CONTACTS AWARDS VIDEO
Lori Amare-Bujung Ms. Bujung began her training in Cleveland, Ohio with Allie Belle Thomas and renowned Jazz Instructor Frank Hatchett. Through Mr. Hatchett she was given access to many well-known instructors such as Rick Odums, Maurice Hines, and Connie Brazleton. Additionally, she trained in New York at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and Broadway Dance Center. She has opened up for Bill Cosby and performed for Winnie Mandela, Maya Angelou, the President of Togo and the Ambassadors of South Africa, India, Ireland, and Nigeria. Ms. Bujung holds a BFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University. She has danced professionally with several local companies including Several Dancers Core, Houston Repertory Dance Theater, Texas Dance Theater, Kuumba House Dance Theater, and City Dance Company with whom she toured France and Switzerland. Ms. Bujung is also the founder of the African American Arts Council of Houston, which produces the “Black Dance Festival”. Ms. Bujung has toured Mexico several times with Kuumba House Dance Theatre. She was a recipient of the National Performance Network Creation Artist Grant. An adjunct professor at Houston Community College; Ms Bujung teaches dance and dance history.
Tara Carpenter Tara has been dancing since the age of three. She grew up in a studio setting and was trained in jazz, lyrical, tap and hip hop. She has trained under some of the leading instructors in the nation such as Gus Giordano, Patti Obey and Rachel Tucker to name a few. Her creative style and innovative choreography has been awarded extensively at many dance and drill team competitions. Tara’s choreography has been performed at many events both locally and internationally such as Tanzommer Dance Festival in Innsbruck, Austria, Disney World in Orlando, Florida, University of Houston, Rice University, Texas Copperheads Professional Indoor Football Games, Houston Children’s Festival and at many other events. She is also a professional competition judge and has traveled across the United States judging routines for all ages, levels and styles of dance. Her goal and mission is to share her love of dance with many young, talented dancers.
Harrison Guy
Barbara King Barbara is the proud owner and artistic director of King's Dancing Centre, Houston's new, state-of-the-art studio with some of the hottest dance and movement classes in town. For the last 20 years, Barbara has dedicated her work to ballet, tap, jazz, International Latin, International Standard, and American-style ballroom dancing. Her extensive background, expertise in the ballroom area, and thorough knowledge in the performing arts have provided a firm foundation for a multitude of business ventures and successes. Having traveled throughout the world, Ms. King has coached and mentored her two sons and their partners in their competitive careers. She has also had the privilege of judging competitions in England during her travels. Ms. King, her two sons and daughter hold numerous championship titles in the International Latin and Standard Divisions as well as American Rhythm and Smooth. Ms. King is noted as an outstanding personality in the ballroom dancing industry for her superior work ethic-namely, her drive in developing motor skills, self-esteem, and social skills in children through both social and competitive dancing. Her primary focus is to instill core values in today's youth. Ms. King's most recent endeavor is working with the music and entertainment industry grooming young vocal and dance performance groups. She is currently training and promoting King's Dancing Centre's amateur couples to compete and to participate in the Barbara King Dance Company, enabling to perform and to travel to Europe to compete in World Competition.
Rathna Kumar Rathna Kumar, Founder-Director, ANJALI Center for Performing Arts, is one of the most awarded and recognized Indian dancers in the US. She is a recipient of numerous Dance, Choreography and Arts-in-Education Grants and Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Houston Arts Alliance, and the Texas Commission on the Arts, Certificate of Appreciation (Governor of Texas), Congressional Recognition (Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee), Apple Award (Texas Institute for Arts in Education), Outstanding Asian Award (Houston METRO), Teacher Recognition Certificates (National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, in 2000 and 2007), Outstanding Contribution to Asian Arts (Asian Pacific American Heritage Association), and an Honorary Doctorate in Performing Arts (Telugu University, Hyderabad, India). Ms. Kumar is a Board Member of World Dance Houston, Multicultural Artists Collective of Houston, and Houston Asian Arts, and a member of UNESCO’s International Dance Council and Association of Bharatanatyam Artists of India. Rathna is also the Artistic Director of Samskriti - Society for Indian Performing Arts, and has been a Teaching Artist with the Young Audiences of Houston for more than fifteen years. She has taught Master Classes at Houston Ballet Academy, Houston Community College, University of Houston, and the JCC. She is currently teaching a course in Bharatanatyam at the Rice University. Rathna is a world renowned figure in the dance field and was the keynote speaker at three conferences in three countries in one year – Global Conference of Non-Resident Indians (India – 2006), UNESCO’s World Conference on Arts Education (Lisbon, Portugal – 2006), and World Creativity Summit (Hong Kong – 2007).
Moon Moon Di started to dance in 1997. In 1999 and 2001, Mr. Di won 1st place in both Shanghai and Beijing’s hip-hop competitions. When Beijing created the largest hip-hop company in all of China, Mr. Di was their manager. He choreographed for the company and also served as the Artistic Director for visiting choreographers from Korea and Japan. He moved to America in 2004 and began training in Los Angeles with the choreographers for Britney Spears and Janet Jackson. He moved to Houston and taught the University of Houston hip hop dance company for several years while dancing as a guest artist for Planet Funk. In 2006, Moon started his own hip-hop company, Marvelous Motion. In the company’s first year, it performed at Dance Houston 2006 and Dance Houston’s Winter Formal at Zilkha Hall, Pepsi-Cola’s National Convention and opened for Gnarls Barkley at the Verizon Wireless Theater.
Sophia Torres Sophia L. Torres is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Psophonia Dance Company. She has choreographed over twenty original works under Psophonia and has received awards and recognition for her innovative choreography including the Artist Fellowship Award in Choreography and three Artist Project Awards for arts in education programming from the Houston Arts Alliance. Since graduating from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and Southern Methodist University, Sophia has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company and Travesty Dance Group. Sophia has worked with such talented choreographers as Bill T. Jones, Susan Marshall and Stephan Koplowitz. Sophia has created new works for Rice University’s Dance Theatre and for University of Houston’s Dance Ensemble where she is currently on faculty. This fall, her company will present Phantasia 2007 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts / Zilkha Hall
Laura Uribe Laura Uribe, a native Houstonian and Director of The Spanish Institute of Dance, has been dancing Flamenco for over 10 years. Her intentions are to elevate the art of Flamenco in the Houston area with her raw, earthy, authentic style of dance and teaching. She has, and continues to study with the best Flamenco artists in the world including Melissa Cruz and Antonio Granjero. Ms. Uribe is currently in the process of developing Houston’s premier flamenco company. Her goal is to travel from Spain to Houston on a regular basis to continue offering the most up-to-date and modern Flamenco techniques in Texas. She has earned respect as one of the leading Flamenco instructors due to her devotion to teaching and enriching her student’s knowledge. Since the establishment of The Spanish Institute of Dance in March 2005, her company has been featured in performances such as East Meets West (Dance of Asian America) at the Hobby Center’s Zilkha Hall, The Houston Rodeo Go Tejano Gala, and the book opening of Flamenco Academy by Sarah Bird.
Wes Veldink Wes Veldink is the founder and artistic director of his own company, The Wes Veldink Movement, based in New York City, NY. Wes travels the world teaching and choreographing for companies and institutions including the Oslo State Ballet School and Oslo dance Ensemble in Norway, the Osaka School of Music in Japan, the International Dance Festival in South Korea, Harmonique in France, the Dance Center in Amsterdam, the International Dance Meeting in Italy, and Columbia University in New York. As a performer, Wes has appeared in film, television, and videos. He is most proud of the rare opportunity to improvise live on stage with Ani DiFranco.
Shawn Welling
Shawn Welling is the chief director of Planet Funk, which he founded 15 years ago. Shawn’s career as a performer & choreographer began at the NBA World Championship games for the Houston Rockets in 1994 and continued with NFL & NHL half-time shows, concert openings, stage productions, music videos, over 60 TV appearances, and master dance classes throughout the US. Performance highlights includes Cirque du Soleil “Dralion”, Good Morning America, 2 ABC dance specials (one submitted for an Emmy) with Debra Duncan, and an NBC TV special with radio and TV personality Sam Malone. In 2000 Welling built Planet Funk Academy, which recently aired on the Bravo network in a 5-week series that was also highlighted on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to a 5 million viewing audience. Shawn has recently produced a variety of successful master classes for the Disney Lion King dancers, the cast for the Broadway hit Oliver, and MTV star Wade Robson. Shawn and his talented team are regular performers in Houston’s Downtown Theater District and for local celebrities like Roger Clemens. Recently, Shawn and 2 of his dancers visited with President George Bush senior in his office in regards to the acclaimed 2-hour rendition of Planet Funk's latest show “Electric Light Circus” which aided in the Tsunami Relief. H.P., Apple Computer, NASA, United Way, Second Baptist Church, Girl Scouts of America, and ConocoPhillips comprise the wide variety of clients that have hired Shawn, his company, and dedicated directors.
Kathy Wood
Kathy Wood received her Bachelor of Arts in studio art and art education from Houston Baptist University and her dance certification from the University of Houston. She is past president of the Houston Dance Coalition and the Texas Dance Educators Association and served on the Texas Dance Exit Test Committee. She was elected to the Texas Dance Educators Hall of Fame and recently received their Life-Time Achievement Award. She was honored with an American Red Cross Everyday Hero Award for her work with at-risk youth. Ms.Wood taught dance and art in Texas public schools for over twenty years. Her innovations in that field earned her groups six state championships as well as performances in educational forums and public events in Scotland, Greece, England, and Spain. After retiring from public education, Kathy entered the contemporary dance world in 1993 with an all-male hip hop crew that with her choreography became an instant hit in Houston. Her work with street dancers over the next 13 years produced FLY Dance Company, an international touring company performing 50-plus concerts annually in over 30 states in the U.S., Mexico, France, Estonia, Germany, and Austria at venues including the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, Jacob’s Pillow, and the Vail International Dance Festival. Currently her focus is on FLYworks’ non-profit mission, promoting dance opportunities and education for Houston-area youth through the FLY KiDS dance company, producing educational workshops for teachers, hosting youth dance festivals, and presenting dance groups from around the U.S. Ms. Wood’s work, as embodied in FLY Dance Company, has earned grants from the Houston Endowment, Inc., the City of Houston, the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County (CACHH), the Texas Commission on the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, and Target Stores.
Janie Yao Janie Yao trained with Mitsi Dancing School and the Houston Ballet in Chinese Classical and Folk Dance and Ballet. Ms. Yao is also a certified teacher of the Beijing Dance Academy Chinese Dance Syllabus. She earned a BFA in Dance Performance from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Ballet, Modern and Jazz. During her studies at SMU, Ms. Yao worked with numerous world renowned dancers and master choreographers and choreographed many works for the Meadow’s Brown Bag Series and other events. Her choreography has been invited to many prestigious events such as the Dallas Morning News: Dance for the Planet, grand opening of Cirque de Soleil: Dralion in Houston, the grand opening of the Meadows Museum of Dallas with the King and Queen of Spain, and etc. She is the founder and executive/artistic director of Dance of Asian America (DAA), a non-profit dance company established in 2001. DAA reaches over 35,000 people annually through two grand performances with the Miller Outdoor Theatre Season, performances as a Uniquely Houston Partner at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, and numerous community outreach programs for schools (K – 12), hospitals, senior homes, festivals, community events, and anymore. |
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