newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival | Program B

KST Presents

Pittsburgh’s only contemporary dance festival is back for its fifth year.

Presented by Kelly Strayhorn Theater

KST’s newMoves festival shares new work by young choreographers from Pittsburgh and around the country. Each evening is a medley of four to five short works presented in one exciting program. Come enjoy dance and a vibrant audience that knows how to have fun!

Special Events

This year, newMoves features even more special events that connect the festival artists with each other and with our terrific audiences. Events include lunch with the artists, dance studio visits, special parties, and more. Check out the complete schedule of events at the 2013 newMoves Festival page.

Featured Choreographers – Friday

• Gia T. Cacalano
  Gia T. Cacalano is a dancer, choreographer, improvisor, and educator originally from NYC. Ms. Cacalano works with frameworks for improvisation in live performance and has been working with movement since 1986. Ms. Cacalano graduated from Marymount Manhattan College NYC with honors, and was an intern with the Martha Graham dancers, performing alongside the company. She has studied butoh with Maureen Fleming and has worked extensively with renowned improvisors internationally. Ms. Cacalano has received numerous awards, served on arts funding boards, and received funding from many endowments. She is the founder of GIA T. PRESENTS, an international multimedia performance ensemble with a residency at Wood Street Gallery, and is supported by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Ms. Cacalano is adjunct faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Education and Physical Education.

• Katie Rose McLaughlin
  Katie Rose McLaughlin’s choreography has been presented by Movement Research at Judson Church, CATCH, the Invisible Dog, Dixon Place, Little Theater, AUNTS, Chashama, Dance New Amsterdam, Triskelion, 9×22 DanceLab, Links Hall, Red Eye Theater, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, and the International Festival of Art & Ideas.

• Shana Simmons
  Shana Simmons graduated from Point Park University with a BA in Dance in 2003. Shortly after, she moved to New York City and performed with various choreographers. Simmons completed an MA in Choreography from LABAN in London in 2009. She has performed her own works in Pittsburgh, New York City, Belgium, and London. She recently produced her own collaborative event Relative Positions in July 2012. Simmons is currently a member of Continuum Dance Theater and is performing with The Murphy/Smith Dance Collective this fall.

• Samantha Spies
  Samantha Speis is a Brooklyn-based performing artist. She graduated with a BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2008, she joined the acclaimed dance company Urban Bush Women, and is now co-choreographing a new work with Jawole Zollar, Walking With Trane, for the 30th anniversary. She has also spent several years working with Liz Lerman on various projects. In spring 2011, Speis was commissioned by the Jerome Foundation to present her solo, The Way it Was And Now at Danspace Project Paralles Platform Series, and most recently received a grant through the US Embassy of Dakar to perform in Senegal, West Africa at the Kaay Fecc Dance Festival. Speis was the 2012 recipient of the Alvin Ailey New Directions Choreography Lab, where she spent seven weeks working with Ailey students. She is excited to participate in the newMoves Festival and deepen her exploration of her work through performance.

• Mana Kawamura
  Mana Kawamura received dance training from Izumi Kawamura Dance Company in Japan, Folkwang Hochshule in Essen, Germany and Merce Cunningham Studio in New York. Her choreography has been performed in various festivals and venues such as Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (Inside/Out Series), DanceNow Festival, Dance New Amsterdam, and Irondale Theater among others.

• Andre Koslowski
  André Koslowski has been the Artistic Director of Pennsylvania Dance Theatre since 2003. A native of Bonn, Germany, he received a diploma from the Conservatory for Music and Theatre in Berne, Switzerland, and a Bachelor of Arts from London Contemporary Dance School. Koslowski’s choreography has been presented in Germany, Switzerland, and England, as well as in the United States. Many dance companies and universities have commissioned his work and featured his performances, including Laboratory Company Dance, the Pittsburgh Dance Connection, Dance Alloy, IUP Dance Theatre, Junction Dance Theatre, and Ohio Dance Theatre.

Event Details

newMoves | Program B
Friday, October 4 :: 7:30 PM
Kelly Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Ave :: Map

• General – $20
• 15206 Resident – $15
• Student/Artist – $10
• Festival Pass – $45