 DAN GOTTWALD is a sculptor, instrument builder, video and installation artist and composer. His work focuses largely on the tactile and the temporary. His work has been shown and performed in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico as well as in Oakland, California where he currently resides. He has developed and taught art curricula in Albuquerque, New Mexico in conjunction with Americorps, OFFCenter Community Arts Project, The Harwood Art Center, the Southwest Organizing Project and the Montessori of the Rio Grande. Gottwald holds a BFA in Studio Arts from the University of New Mexico and a MFA in Electronic and Music from Mills College. For more info, please visit dangottwald.com |
 DANTE MANCINI – Dante has been entertaining audiences for over twenty years as a master magician and balloon artist extraordinaire. His work has been featured on television, in print, and live at thousands of events from New York to San Francisco. As a child, Dante grew up surrounded by a colorful cast of performers, artists, and creative thinkers in a suburb of New York. When he was nine, he discovered his love for performing magic. His passion to further perfect his craft would eventually lead him to study at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Tannen’s Magic Academy. Dante is regarded as one of the top balloon artists in the country. Dante’s incredibly detailed balloon creations range from the cute and whimsical to lifelike caricature renditions of famous political figures. His ability to create impromptu one of a kind balloon sculptures by request has earned him a reputation as a innovator in his field. More info: www.magicdante.com |
 DARCIE LUCE co-founded Oakland Improv Collective in 2007 withlong-time friend Tania Llambelis in order to feed her appetite for dancing in unconventional places. Darcie has performed in professional dance companies in Washington, D.C. and the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been honored to train in theatre and dance improvisation, technique, and choreography with such nationally-recognized artists as Daniel Burkholder, Danny Nguyen, and the late Ed Tyler, as well as Nejla Yatkin, Anna Halprin, and Kim Epifano. Darcie has also created and shown original work in Oakland and at Wesleyan University. She has a Master’s degree in applied anthropology, focusing on community-based research. For more info, please visit www.oaklandimprovcollective.org |
 ERIC KUPERS has co-directed, choreographed, and performed with Dandelion since its inception, creating numerous works that have been presented throughout California, nationally, and internationally. He is deeply influenced by his work as a performer in the companies of Della Davidson and Margaret Jenkins, as well as by important teachers Charles Edmondson, Bella Lewitzky and her company, Mel Wong, Silvia Martins, Ellie Klopp and Joe Goode. Eric is an Associate Professor of Dance at Cal State University East Bay and is heading up the development of an Inclusive Interdisciplinary Performance program at the university. Eric is the director of Bandelion, an ensemble of dance, music, theater and visual artists committed to ongoing interdisciplinary research, as well as the CSUEB Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble, which brings together students, alumni, community members and professional performers with and without disabilities and from diverse cultures to create original performance works. Eric aspires to create performance that resembles a collision of the work of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Pina Bausch, Contraband, and Dr. Seuss. Eric has created commissioned works for AXIS Dance Company (supported by a Princess Grace Award for Choreography), Big Moves, Cal State University East Bay, California Choreographers Festival, Dancing in the Streets/NYC, and choreography for projects by John Killacky, California Shakespeare Festival, and Highland Summer Theatre. He has been a resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, CELLspace, Jon Sims Center for the Arts, and ODC Theater. More info: http://www.dandeliondancetheater.org/about/artistic-directors |
|
 Heather Magic! presents “Living in the Miraculous,” an interactive magical experience where participants not only view a magical performance, but also participate and learn about the ‘mind mechanics of mastery’ as well as the ‘Art in their true Nature’. They are encouraged to uncover and strengthen their super powers and invasion more ways to bring more Every Day Magic to the world. For more info, please visit www.heathermagic.com
|
 MEGHAN BALLOG – Meghan has been a performer of movement her entire life. She grew up in the dance studio and eventually graduated from The Boston Conservatory with a BFA in dance performance. She has since been focused on street performing, improvised movement, and meshing improvisation with theater and dance. Her daytime experience involves being an electrician and knitter. For more info, please visit www.oaklandimprovcollective.org |
 NANCY HALL, ASSEMBLAGE & PUPPETRY. Forest Life, by Pacifica assemblage artist and Puppeteer Nancy Hall, is a kinetic sculpture made of found objects that creates the illusion of a woodland faerie named Mytri ( pronounced ” my-tree”, a Tibetan Buddhist term that means “Unconditional Friendliness”) is pedaling her flowers and herbs while pulling her home behind her…a kind of gypsy wagon, a “tiny home” with all the trimmings. The artist is hidden inside, where she pedals the modified trycycle, while her assistant walks along side to clear a path if necessary, or keep tiny hands from groping the puppet. It’s a gypsy wagon pulled by a kinetic fairy puppet named Mytri, all made of found objects. Mytri’s wings flap and her legs pedal to seemingly pull her home behind her. The wagon is festooned with herb and flower bundles. It is 1/3 human size, moves seemingly by magic (Hall is inside pedaling it!) and every so often she’ll park, get out and either play a song on my uke or tell a story. It has been a huge hit at burning man decompression, makers Faire and Fog Festival. |
 SHIRA YAZIV co-founder of Athletic PlayGround (www.AthleticPlayGround.com), enjoys encouraging people to move in new ways while learning skills and being creative. Her background is in capoeira, and loves to fusion it with her more recent passions; Dance and Circus Arts. You can find her often teaching Monkey Conditioning, Acrobatics, Partner Flips, Dance and Handstands at Athletic Playground, AcroYoga events, dance events, and retreats. For more info, please visit www.shira.yaziv.com |
 TANIA LLAMBELIS – dancer and director. Oakland Improv Collective co-founder, Tania has directed and performed in theatre and dance at UC Berkeley, the Mission Cultural Center, and the San Francisco Street Theater Festival, among other places. She has served as a program coordinator for the Mission Cultural Center and has taught dance and theatre to children and adults for over 17 years. Currently, she is a bilingual teacher at Global Family School (formerly Jefferson Elementary) in Oakland, and is enrolled in the Master’s in Theatre Arts program at San Francisco State University.For more info, please visit www.oaklandimprovcollective.org |
 THE ANALOGOUS ENSEMBLE is an ever-changing collection of instruments that have been designed and built by Dan Gottwald. The ensemble has is meant to encourage tactile involvement with object and sound, provide performance opportunities to musicians across abilities, act as intermediaries between states of matter and awareness, provide listening opportunities to willing and present parties, perform the Arboreal Suite, act as physical metaphors describing natural events, and facilitate community. For more info, please visit dangottwald.com/analogous-ensemble |
DANTE MANCINI – Dante has been entertaining audiences for over twenty years as a master magician and balloon artist extraordinaire. His work has been featured on television, in print, and live at thousands of events from New York to San Francisco. As a child, Dante grew up surrounded by a colorful cast of performers, artists, and creative thinkers in a suburb of New York. When he was nine, he discovered his love for performing magic. His passion to further perfect his craft would eventually lead him to study at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Tannen’s Magic Academy. Dante is regarded as one of the top balloon artists in the country. Dante’s incredibly detailed balloon creations range from the cute and whimsical to lifelike caricature renditions of famous political figures. His ability to create impromptu one of a kind balloon sculptures by request has earned him a reputation as a innovator in his field. More info: www.magicdante.com
THE ANALOGOUS ENSEMBLE is an ever-changing collection of instruments that have been designed and built by Dan Gottwald. The ensemble has is meant to encourage tactile involvement with object and sound, provide performance opportunities to musicians across abilities, act as intermediaries between states of matter and awareness, provide listening opportunities to willing and present parties, perform the Arboreal Suite, act as physical metaphors describing natural events, and facilitate community. For more info, please visit dangottwald.com/analogous-ensemble
