The Dream Eaters – Screening & Conversation
Thursday, April 7, 2022 @ 7pm/Pacific
Dream Eaters, a beautiful and strange path to healing and transformation.
Join us for a Screening & Community Conversation on our new dance films, “The Dream Eaters.” See excerpts of this project in development & be part of an enriching conversation with UCLA Professor in Departments of Physics & Astronomy; Neurology; Neurobiology at UCLA, Mayank R. Mehta.
Want to know what’s happening to your brain when you dream? Want to witness the sensation of transformation? Curious about our neurological pathways toward healing and how story can activate that process? Come and be part of this engaging, provocative night!
We are so excited for this event and we look forward to seeing you in virtual community.
Visit our website to learn more about this new work in progress, visit www.invertigodance.org/in-development.
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Guest Speaker
Mayank R. Mehta
UCLA Professor
Mayank Mehta grew up in Mumbai slum. He was extremely fortunate to be the only student from his class to go to college. For his PhD he researched quantum physics and the beginning of space-time. His recent research focuses on how neurons learn, remember, create abstract ideas and imagination.
To address this, his laboratory has built a virtual reality for rats that is far superior to any commercial VR for humans. Using this VR they have deciphered the dialog between many neurons and brain areas during learning and during sleep at an unprecedented resolution. Mayank is a professor in the department of Physics, department of Neurology, & department of Electrical & computer Engineering at UCLA.
Featured Artists
Laura Karlin
Invertigo’s Artistic Director
Laura Karlin is the Founder and Artistic Director of Invertigo Dance Theatre, a teacher, choreographer, and movement activist.Since establishing Invertigo in 2007, Laura has created over 40 pieces for the company, including eight full evening-length works. Her work for Invertigo has been presented at venues including the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ford Amphitheatre, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Broad Stage, and LACMA. Her work is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the California Arts Council, LA County Arts Commission, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.Laura graduated from Cornell University with a dual degree in Choreography/Production and Pre-Law/LGBTQ Civil Rights. In London, she choreographed for and performed with Synergy Dance Theatre, Snapdragon Dance and the prestigious Resolution! Festival.Laura has also been commissioned by LA Contemporary Dance Company, Celebrate Dance, and the Southern California Dance Invitational. She has been a guest artist and teacher at Loyola Marymount University, Santa Monica College, Pierce College, La Companyia in Barcelona, and University California, Santa Barbara. Additionally, she has established ongoing partnerships with other non-profit arts organizations in LA, including choreographing for and performing alongside the Independent Shakespeare Company for ten summers.When she isn’t in the Invertigo office or rehearsal room, Laura can be found teaching Invert/ED and Dancing Through Parkinson’s classes, practicing sustainable gardening in her home, or in the world camping and traveling.
Meena Malik
Co-Creator & Artistic Collaborator
Meena Malik (she/her) is a recognized vocalist, arts consultant/facilitator, conflict mediator and cultural organizer, who is known as a mover and shaker re-defining what community engagement and conversations around equity in the arts look like. Formerly as the Senior Program Manager of Theater at the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), she managed the National Theater Project (NTP), a grant program that supports the creation and touring of devised ensemble theater work. Meena organized and led “Beyond Orientalism: The Boston Forum” in October 2017 and is a co-founder and steering committee member of Boston’s first API (Asian Pacific Islander) Arts Network.
An alumna of the artEquity Facilitator Training, Meena is actively engaged in a national community of practice for anti-oppression work in the arts. Meena has worked in the performing arts community as facilitator, grant panelist, educator, speaker, and consultant with organizations such as Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET), MAP Fund, CreateWell Fund, Somerville Arts Council, Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA), Superhero Clubhouse, El Sistema in Acarigua, Showa Boston, Japanese Arts Network, and many others.
As an artist, Meena has performed with Opera Providence, MassOpera, Boston Opera Collaborative, New England Orchestra among others. She was the founding member of Voci Angelica Trio, an international world/classical band. Over the 14 years with the trio, Meena toured to the USA’s East Coast, Midwest and Southern regions; Canada; Japan; and South Korea.
Meena is a proud member of Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA), former mentee in their 2017 cohort of the Leadership Through Mentorship Program, member of the Network for Arts Administrators of Color (NAAC), and former fellow of the 2018 Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) Emerging Leadership Institute. Meena holds a Masters in Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory and a Masters in Arts Administration from Boston University.
Haylee Nichele
Rehearsal Director & incoming Interim Artistic Director
Hailing from Vancouver, BC Haylee Nichele started her professional training at Arts Umbrella and continued in NYC at the Juilliard School where she graduated with a BFA in Dance. She has 10+ years of performance experience and has worked for: Punchdrunk, Third Rail Projects, Brain Brooks, Justin Denton, Capital W, The Speakeasy Society, BODYTRAFFIC, Heidi Duckler Dance, Clairobscur, and Tender Claws. She is an immersive theatre creator and choreographer. Her work PACK was shown at the Scotia Dance Center in Vancouver and CREATURE co-created by Justin Denton and produced by The Great Co. She consulted for the VR experience The Key, was one part of The 5th Wall Forum’s inaugural teams, and has taught many dance and immersive workshops in the USA and Canada. Haylee has been an active collaborator with Invertigo since 2018 and is continually grateful for their support and artistic/community vision.
Hyosun Choi
Performer/Collaborator
At the age of 4, Hyosun mimicked her parents during their ballroom dance classes. An observing instructor offered to teach her. Around that time, she followed her cousin to a Korean cultural dance school and afterwards, declared that she was going to learn. Upon quickly mastering the Korean drums, fans, and swords, she performed regularly. At 7, she was winning National and Regional Ballroom Dance Competitions, including the Grand Prix. When her parents stopped ballroom dancing, Hyosun had to quit. A few years later, she stopped Korean cultural dance to focus on her schooling. This began a decade-long separation from dance.
After graduating as high school valedictorian, Hyosun attended USC on a scholarship with acceptance to their accelerated pre-pharmacy program. To her parents’ disappointment, Hyosun announced that she did not want to follow her father’s footsteps as a pharmacist after graduating in 3 years with a B.A in Biology and a minor in Cinema. During her last year, having enrolled in a jazz class on a whim, Hyosun was asked to join USC’s Jazz II Dance Company, and to perform for both faculty and student choreographers. One of the graduating choreographers she was paired up with was Kate Hutter, co-founder of Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company (LACDC), who would hire her years later.
Hyosun began recreationally dancing at EDGE Performing Arts Center as she secretly pursued professional acting while studying at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Encouraged by her family, she went to New York Law School. In New York, she took open classes at Atlantic Acting School, Alvin Ailey, Broadway Dance Center (BDC) and STEPS. BDC’s faculty teacher, Ginger Cox, invited her to join LiNK Dance Company. This launched her professional dance career.
Within a few weeks of moving back to Los Angeles, she auditioned for LACDC and was hired. Hyosun currently dances with LACDC, Invertigo Dance Theatre, Iris Company, and La Dansa Dansa. She is a certified trainer in the Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis Methods, works as a Corporate Trainer at Bank of Hope, is admitted to the State Bar in CA and NY, plays cello, piano, and guitar, composes music, and reads. Books. Now and then, she sleeps. She is very happy.
Corina Kinnear
Performer/Collaborator
Corina Kinnear started her training at her mother’s studio Parker Dance Academy, and then at International Ballet School. She continued in San Francisco, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet and Dominican University, as well as her certification as a Gyrotonic® instructor. Since, she has danced and toured as a performing artist and choreographer with companies in Los Angeles, New York, Montreal, Colorado, San Francisco, and throughout Europe including Invertigo Dance Theatre, the Deutche Oper Ballet, LA Opera, MiMoDa, Gibson Muriva Dance Company, Deutche Fernsehballet, The Movement Movement, Apex Contemporary Dance Theatre, Arrogant Elbow, and creating work in residencies at PARTS in Brussels, the CND in Paris, TanzFabrik in Berlin, and for the Oydessy Theatre Dance Festival.
Carol Gomez
Performer/Collaborator
Carol was born and raised in Malaysia. She trained in ballet and studied music in her youth. After high school she joined the Kuala Lumpur based Marion D’Cruz and Dancers company, which became a formative, dynamic, life changing experience, exposing her to a variety of Southeast Asian and contemporary dance forms and the use of dance, movement and theater to speak truth to power.
She graduated with a degree in Women’s Studies and Int’l Development from Mount Holyoke College and an MSW from Simmons College in Boston. She is the founder and former Ex.Dir of Matahari: Eye of the Day, (rebranded MataHari Justice) a Boston-based organization committed to building solidarity and creating community solutions for racial, social justice, labor and immigrant rights. She has published and co-authored several reports and chapter articles on supporting survivors of violence and trauma and creating coordinated community responses as part of the healing journey of survivors and their loved ones.
She currently serves as the Clinical Director at the Program for Torture Victims, CA. She practices as a trauma-responsive child and family therapist, is trained in somatic based therapies and EMDR and offers forensic psychological evaluation reports and expert witness testimony in immigration and federal courts. She collaborates with theater and dance artists to engage with community in collective healing as part of her work at PTV. She offers affirming consultation and supervision to BIPOCQI healers and therapists as Principle of Hearts & Minds Solidarity Counseling, LLC.
Maki Kitahara
Performer/Collaborator
Maki Kitahara is an award-winning professional dancer, instructor and choreographer from Japan. She was nominated for “The New Face Award” by The Agency For Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and performed many dance pieces in principal roles both in Japan and internationally. She began her NY-based professional dance career in 2018. Her first U.S. achievement was performing at Whitney Museum of American Art. Since then, she has been working with several dance companies and artists on various dance/art projects in NYC. In addition to her artist career, she is passionate for teaching as well, all levels and ages. Currently, she’s a faculty member at Gibney Dance in NYC and works as an assistant/interpreter for Japan region of the Youth America Grand Prix.
Aristides Rivas
Composer
Grammy nominated cellist Aristides Rivas is a founding member of the fusion world music band Voci Angelica Trio. Rivas has performed at a wide range of international music venues and festivals such as Caramoor Music Festival, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, Newport Jazz Festival, the Barbican in England, Sejong Center in South Korea, and Teatro Colon in Argentina, among others. Rivas is a specialist in El Sistema-inspired youth music programs and has presented at international conferences such as South Korea’s state run El Sistema conference, the ITAC4 at Carnegie Hall, and the El Sistema USA Symposium in 2019. Rivas is a cello faculty at California Baptist University. www.aristidesrivas.com/
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