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Cynthia Booth

Dancer

Cynthia Booth is a Sacramento State University alumni who received a BA in Dance and a BS in Psychology. As a student she attended four American College Dance Association conferences where she participated in a variety of classes and performed each year.  Booth received training in aerial dance and unarmed stage combat at CSU Summer Arts 2014. In 2015 she attended, and interned, at the American Dance Festival at Duke University. She graduated in 2016 as the honor student for the Department of Theatre and Dance. Her movement is mostly influenced by training in Dunham and Horton technique, improvisation, and floorwork. Booth judges colorguard movement for the Northern California Band Association and dances with Lorelei Bayne Dance Projects and Impulse Anima. She is a dancer in Bernard Brown/bbmoves, a social justice dance theatre company. Booth started teaching and choreographing for the School of Sacramento Ballet in 2020. She stands on the shoulders of her teachers and mentors; Lorelei Bayne, Marcus Mills, Bernard Brown, Nolan T’Sani, Nicole Manker, Melisa Cervantes, Philip Flickinger, and Dr. Linda Goodrich.

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Joniece "Jojo" Boykins

Guest Artist

Joniece “JoJo” Boykins is an African American native of Inglewood, California. She graduated with honors, Cum Laude, receiving her BFA in dance from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College. During her time at Purchase, she performed the works of Doug Varone, Peter Chu, Kevin Wynn, Jonathan Reidel, Alexandra Beller, and Nejla Yatkin. Alongside her studies, she has attended professional programs such as Springboard Danse Montreal, Hubbard Street, Alvin Ailey, and Ron K. Brown/ Evidence’s summer workshop. Currently, she is the co-founder of the recently premiered dance festival, Upsurge Dance Festival. JoJo is also a company member with Lula Washington Dance Theater (Los Angeles). She has performed work by Donald McKayle, Rennie Harris, Christopher Huggins, Tommie Waheed, Lula Washington, and Tamica Washington-Miller. JoJo joined Doug Varone and Dancers in 2021.

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Quron Clarks

Guest Artist

Quron Clarks (Los Angeles, CA) began his dance training at a young age. He began to refine his craft at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts with additional training at the Lula Washington Dance Theatre School. Both programs not only polished Quron’s technique and inspired his passion for travel. Quron went on to study at the Institute of the Arts Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain. He graduated in 2017 as the valedictorian and principal awardee of the institute’s inaugural Honors Bachelors Degree course. While pursuing his degree Quron performed with professional companies including Martz Contemporary Dance Company, RIQ Dance Company, Young Artists Jazz Company, La Compinia Ballet, and Raul Tamez Contemporary Dance. Quron has also performed numerous commercial jobs with top choreographers like Bonnie Story, of the hit Disney Channel Original Movie series High School Musical. Post graduation, Quron worked with Royal Carribean and Norwegian Creative Studios. Performing in countries such as Mexico, Panama, and Cuba. Returning to Los Angeles in 2019, he began as company member of Lula Washington Dance Theatre. There, he has performed works by Donald Byrd, Christopher Huggins, Tommie-Waheed Evans, William ‘PG’ Grinton, Rennie Harris, Tamica Washington-Miller, and Lula Washington. He is now on faculty at Lula Washington Dance Theatre School and Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Courtesy of Lula Washington Dance Theatre, this is Quron's first season as guest artist with Bernard Brown/bbmoves.

Duron Fisher

Du'Ron Fisher

Dancer/Composer

Texas native, Du’Ron Fisher, moved to Los Angeles and began his dance training at West Los Angeles College. He continued his formal dance training at the Lula Washington Dance Theatre School, on full scholarship, and the historic American ballet school, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Du’Ron has performed in Tarzan with 3D Theatrical. He was also worked as a company member of Maura Townsend’s Project 21 Dance Company, and under the direction of Janet Roston in the Los Angeles-based, Mix eMotions Dance Company. He has also worked with choreographer, Ken Morris, performing at Highways Performance Space and Los Angeles Dance Festival. This is Du’Ron’s first season as a dancer and musical collaborator with Bernard Brown/bbmoves. 

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Tashara Gavin-Moorehead

Dancer

Tashara Gavin-Moorehead is a professional dancer, choreographer and dance educator currently based out of Los Angeles. Tashara graduated Cum Laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography in 2008.  In the last fourteen years,  she has danced with Inspirit Dance Company and Vissi Dance Theater in New York City, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Chicago and Lula Washington Dance Theater, and is in her 5th season with Pat Taylor’s Jazzantiqua Music and Dance Ensemble. Tashara has presented her independent work through The Orange County Emerging Choreographers Showcase, “Reflect” choreography showcase, and The Los Angeles Fringe Dance Festival. Tashara is a huge advocate for dance education and has been teaching in public charter schools, and community-based programs for grades K-12. Tashara is passionate about her African ancestry, and heritage, and uses dances as her way of understanding herself and her world better. She is also deeply committed to the continued fight for liberation and freedom for people of the African Diaspora. Tashara is currently researching the relationship between the Nguzo Saba and improvisation as a liberation practice, and has recently earned her M.F.A. from California State University Long Beach. She is a member of Bernard Brown/bbmoves.

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Adama Ideozu

Dancer

ADAMA, born in Los Angeles, CA began dancing at the Lula Washington Dance Theatre; in her later years, touring with them internationally and state side. A graduate of L.A. County High School for Arts and SUNY Purchase (BFA), Her additional training includes Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Alonzo Kings Lines Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Broadway Dance Center, Debbie Reynolds, Movement Lifestyle & Millenium Dance Complex (LA) along with West African Dance training with Pape Moussa Sonko, Babacar Ndiaye, Kosi Williams & Alseny Soumah. Adama has been seen at prestigious venues such as The Lincoln Center, The Getty Museum, Paramount Pictures, Ford Amphitheater, El Captain Theater, California African American Museum, The Wiltern & Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Smith Center in Las Vegas with Kamasi Washington, for Disney and Ellen DeGeneres, as well as with Debbie Allen in her production of Freeze Frame for the National tour including the Wallis Annenberg Theatre & The Kennedy Center, for the JFK Centennial. She been featured in productions of Nutcracker Swings as well as The Return by Donald Byrd, excerpts from Sweet Fields by Twyla Tharp, Angelitos Negros by Donald McKayle, Casa De La Secas, as well as Beloved by Lester Horton set by Don Martin. You can also catch Adama on national commercial campaigns such as Apple, Converse & Uniqlo, directed by Solange Knowles, other independent films, music videos & feature films such as Avatar & The Recipe by Kaytranada & Aluna. She has also worked under the direction of Lisa Bonet, Richy Jackson, Bad Boy Records, Shaun Ross & Jaquel Knight, dancing alongside Beyoncé. As a working dance model, she has appeared in advertisements for Cerno and Lancôme. ACT-SO National award winner, singer, actress and dancer, Adama shares love through her art!

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Kristina Garnett

Costume Designer

Kristina Garnett, Los Angeles-based designer, is a multihyphenate creative. Beginning with training in classical violin, piano, vocal training and dance (primarily at Lula Washington Dance Theater School), she booked my first ever performance job as Young Nala in the Lion King at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood (2001). A graduate of UCLA, with degrees in World Arts and Cultures; Dance; Visual and Performing Arts Education & Spanish, she created the inclusive fashion line Joni Margaux.  This has led to consulting on dance costume projects across the Los Angeles movement landscape. Her creations have been featured in international publications such as Vogue Italia. A holistic healer, she provides emotional and physical relief with the transmittance of Reiki Life Force Energy, creates Medicine Music to aid us through life’s transitions, designs and hand-sews garments with clients as a ceremony to embody self-love, teaches groundedness with my guided meditation and movement practices. She is co-curator and co-founder of KAART KAART Gallery with partner Arrington Fleming.

Steven Gordon

Steven Gordon

Composer

Steven T. Gordon is a jazz pianist, composer and songwriter from Los Angeles. His group, Steven Gordon Group is a winner of the Angel City Jazz Emerging Artist Competition. He has performed at venues including Walt Disney Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LACMA jazz series, the Blue Whale, and the REDCAT Theatre. Visit steventgordon.com for info, video and recordings. 

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Jingqiu Guan

Filmmaker

Originally from Chengdu, China, Jingqiu Guan is an independent filmmaker, dancer and scholar. Jingqiu has presented her dance films and documentaries in a number of film festivals in the US, the UK, Norway, Spain, Austria, Mexico, mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Her works center the voices and expressions of people of color, women, immigrants, and people of disabilities. Her recent dance film Family Portrait won the 2020 Chinese Screendance Maker Award from Jumping Frames International Video Dance Festival, Best Student Film Award from San Francisco Dance Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award from Chicago’s In Motion Dance Film Festival. Her documentary film Inside the Frame won the Best Editing Award for the documentary shorts category at Silver State Film Festival. Jingqiu has a PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA and an MFA in Dance Performance from the University of Iowa. Besides being an independent filmmaker, Jingqiu currently works as a Multimedia Producer at the Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine. 

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Malachi Middleton

Dancer, Filmmaker 

Second generation Los Angeles native, Malachi Middleton, is a Highly developed artist with extensive training in visual and performing arts. Malachi first began his artistry as a musician where he studied the violin, piano, and percussions before later transitioning to the world of movement at the age of 16. Dance, is where he discovered his love and admiration for telling stories. Training intimately and immensely with dance legends Debbie Allen, Lula Washington, Karen McDonald, and Terry Beeman, Malachi acquired the importance and impact of visual storytelling, It is here where he found his voice. It is here, where he discovered his ability communicate and tell stories through emotion, movement, and silence. His unique and refined approach has allowed him to work alongside Christina Aguilara, Sabrina Claudio, Jamie Foxx, Chris Brown, Rufus Wainwright, Aluna, Moses Sumney, Vitamin String Quartet,  David Guetta , Justin Simeon (Dear White People) as well as Creative and movement direct for Tequila 1800, Kali Uchis, Chloe Bailey as a creative consultant, Andrew James, and  Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company.

Malachi simultaneously studied Storytelling through Imagery specializing in Dance, Portrait, and Editorial photography. His work has been featured in Variety, and People Magazine and commissioned work for MoFA (Tallahassee FL), SOLA Contemporary (Los Angeles), Junebug Productions (New Orleans), and Outfest (Los Angeles). With his deep understanding of lighting, composition, and movement, film making came naturally. Malachi’s work is described as simplictic, sultry, refined, and mysterious. His use of silence, breath, movement, shadow, and light are dynamic and intensional creating worlds where verbal dialog is secondary to language of the body.

Vuong Nguyen

Vuong Nguyen

Dancer

Vuong Nguyen’s journey through the creative process of dance has challenged him to push his limits as an artist. He has trained at Bates Dance Festival. Vuong has been fortunate to work with local Sacramento dance companies such as Nhan Ho Project, Core Contemporary Dance and theProject. He currently works with Lula Washington Dance Theatre. His choreography has been presented in Los Angeles, Sacramento and New York City. Vuong received his Bachelor of Arts in Dance from CSU, Sacramento. He is a dancer with Bernard Brown/bbmoves.

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Glen Rodriguez

Dancer

Glen Rodriguez spent most of his academic life within the theatre. The Morgan-Wixson Theater Group became the central venue for his early performance in youth productions of several musicals, such as "42nd Street" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" under the direction of Anne Gesling. Being born and raised Los Angeles, Rodriguez has had the privilege of working with several artists including Los Angeles Choreographers and Dancers, Pasadena Dance Theatre, and Lula Washington Dance Theatre. He recently has been highlighted on the reality TV show, Legendary Season 3, and is an up-and-coming queen of drag. Glen is a member of Bernard Brown/bbmoves.

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Christopher Salango

Guest Artist

Christopher Salango from Stockton, CA received his Bachelor of Arts in dance from California State University, Sacramento where he discovered his love for Dunham Technique, under the tutelage of Dr. Linda Goodrich, Dr. Halifu Osumare, and Bernard Brown. Christopher continued his training with Urban Bush Women’s Summer Arts program, Elisa Monte Dance Summer Series, and is a two-time recipient of the Beth Young Scholarship for Ronald K. Brown/ EVIDENCE: A Dance Company’s Summer Workshop Series. He is a second-year candidate for the Institute of Dunham Certification and is excited to continue his journey while performing with his EVIDENCE family.

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Karam Salem

Composer

Karam Salem was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq. His career in music began at a very young age as a pianist. He had the honor to perform at historical stages such as Babylon and many others in the Middle East. At age 16, Karam was invited to represent his country as a pianist to perform in front of the First Lady of Jordan. By then, he had already developed a strong passion for music and found that music was his language of expressing emotion and ideas. Because of the serious risk of living in Baghdad in 2006, Karam relocated with his family to Syria as a refugee. Two years later, he received a full-tuition scholarship to study at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Indiana. Later on, he enhanced his knowledge and skills at the Film Scoring Program at UCLA, where he worked and studied with Hollywood's award-winning composers and orchestrators. Karam’s music has been heard on television, independent films, feature films, web series, documentaries, and concert halls around the U.S. and the Middle East. In recent years, Karam has written additional music for over 500 episodes of Animation TV Series, including "Trollstopia," "I Heart Arlo," "Trolls: The Beat Goes On," and "Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh." Lately, he co-scored with Alex Geringas, "Woody Woodpecker" (Short TV Series) for Universal, and "Chuggington" (Season 6) for Disney Jr. Karam’s relentless passion for music and unusual background has equipped him with unique sensibility to bring together a variety of music genres in his creative story-telling process.

Laila Shabazz

Laila Shabazz

Dancer

Ni’mat Laila Amatullah Shabazz began her formal dance training as an undergraduate student at Sacramento State University with the now retired Dr. Linda Goodrich, founder of the Sacramento Black Art of Dance (S/BAD). While at Sacramento State, she has had the great honor of performing the works of several astounding choreographers including: Dr. Linda Goodrich, Dr. Halifu Osumare, James Wheatley, Beatriz Godinez-Muniz, Lula Washington, Li Chiao-Ping, Raja Feather Kelly, Gary Masters, Melisa Cervantes, Nicole Manker and Osvaldo Ramirez. She has also performed in Les Blancs by Lorraine Hansberry and Flight by Charlayne Woodard. After performing in Bernard Brown’s debut work for S/BAD, “Our Backs…,” which premiered at the International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference & Festival, Laila received a full tuition scholarship to train with Winifred Harris, Ka-Ron B. Lehman and Alfred Harris at Your Soul’s Movement, a dance institution in Denver, CO. She has also trained extensively at the Dunham Technique Seminar in East St. Louis, MO. As a performer, she is particularly interested in the complexities of expressing the gamut of human experiences. She has been described as a powerful, internal mover with an intensity that demands total engagement. In the Sacramento community, Laila is currently working as an Arts Student Assistant for Sacramento’s pilot creative economy grant called CREAtE (Community Revitalization and Economic Advancement through Entertainment). In doing this work, she aims to physicalize Katherine Dunham’s methodologies of Intercultural Communication and Socialization Through the Arts. Laila dances with Bay Area artists, Audrey Johnson and dana e. fitchett. Laila is a member of Bernard Brown/bbmoves.

Jade Tabayoyong

Jade Tabayoyong

Dancer/Organizational Assistant 

Born and raised in Sacramento, Jade Tabayoyong has trained in various styles of dance.  It began at the age of four, doing ballet with Encore! Studio of Performing Arts in Elk Grove, California.  She then attended J. Rene Academy of Dance, where she competed in numerous Jazz and Contemporary solos/group works.  Jade has extensive training in Hula, from Ka Pa Hula Halau and Kúhai Halau in Sacramento, California and Te Mau Tamari'i a Tiare / Na Kamali'i a Kiele in San Francisco, California.  As part of the “Sacramento Kings’ Hip Hop Crew,” with a community performing arts dance school known as Sacramento Showbiz Productions, Jade had the opportunity to perform during the Kings’ and Monarchs’ basketball game halftime shows. For all four years of her high school career at Monterey Trail, Jade was actively part of the school’s Impulse Dance Company which offered training in Cultural, Lyrical, and Jazz dances.  From 2014 to 2017, she discovered originality and individuality through Hip Hop movement while involved with the notorious Sacramento crew Boogie Monstarz, directed (at the time) by April Bambao.  Jade is currently pursuing a Bachelors of Arts degree in Dance, with Sacramento State’s Department of Theatre and Dance where she has had the honor of performing in the work of the prestigious Lula Washington, Angela Rosenkran, Phillip Flickinger, and Aubri Siebert.  Her most recent professional engagements are to Bernard Brown/bbmoves under the direction of the illustrious Bernard Brown.

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