Alexandra Eady

2021 DANCER FELLOW

photo by Canaan Mattson

Alexandra Eady was born and raised in Minneapolis and began dancing at the age of seven. While in high school at St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, she was introduced to the contemporary dance technique of Yorchhā created by Ananya Chatterjea, the Artistic Director of Ananya Dance Theatre. In 2011, she became a company member with Ananya Dance Theatre and continues to perform, teach and tour with the company. Ananya Dance Theatre’s commitment to social justice and intentional choreographic creations is what fuels her performance on stage.

Alexandra teaches Yorchhā workshops and masterclasses in schools across the Twin Cities and nationally and internationally while on tour with the company. Her international performance and teaching experience includes the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe, New Waves Performance Institute in Trinidad, the Bethlehem International Performing Arts Festival in Palestine, and the Aavejak Aavaaz Festival in Delhi. In 2020 she was a collaborator in residence at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. Alexandra is committed to performing and creating works grounded in narrative and story that do not leave behind ancestral guidance. She works to bring her communities with her and perform in honor of those that have come before, the ones that are witnessing, and future generations. She is incredibly thankful for her wonderful mentors, teachers, students, friends, family, and most significantly, her parents and sister that give her endless energy and light.

2022 SOLO Commissioned Choreographer: Maria Bauman

Hassan Ingraham

2021 DANCER FELLOW

photo by Canaan Mattson

Hassan Ingraham, born and raised in Miami, FL, first discovered dance while attending Charles R. Drew Middle School. He continued his dance training at the New World School of the Arts and then received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at The Juilliard School in New York City. Hassan has worked with various prominent artists from the likes of Alexander Ekman, Christopher Huggins, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Dwight Rhoden, among many others. He has been a guest artist with Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Theater, Urban Spectrum Theater Company, and Peter London Global Dance Company. He was a dance specialist at the Promise Academy at the Harlem Children’s Zone and a faculty member at the Harlem School of the Arts. In 2011, Hassan moved to Minnesota to join TU Dance, where he danced with the company for 5 years. He also has been teaching ballet, modern, and jazz techniques for over 15 years.

With the combination of his experience and education, Hassan brings a fresh contemporary approach to his class that allows dancers to investigate new possibilities while learning how to operate their human anatomy efficiently. Aside from his dancing career and establishing himself as a master teacher, teaching the young aspiring to professionals, Hassan has choreographed for numerous dance schools and programs across the U.S. Currently, you can find Hassan teaching, dancing, and setting his choreography throughout the Twin Cities.

2022 SOLO Commissioned Choreographer: Norbert De La Cruz III

David Stalter Jr.

2021 Dancer FELLOW

Photo by Canaan Mattson

David Stalter Jr., born and raised in Minnesota. He started dancing the summer after freshman year of high school, dancing as an outlet to express himself. He’s self-taught, teaching himself all sorts of styles like Hip Hop Freestyle, Animation, Breaking, House, and many more. He’s danced with the 612 Timberwolves crew, where he’s danced with G-Eazy, Lil Jon, and Skee-Lo.

Winning over 15+ competitions in his dance career. He focuses on musicality, control, and becoming one with the music. He comes from a street background but has built studio experience throughout his dance career. He’s been teaching since 2015. Dance has taught him many different things and has made him the person he is today. His ultimate goal is to inspire as many people as possible with his art to spread love and light and help those in need. He believes it's important to be yourself no matter what because that's what makes you special, and that's what makes you, you. He's based in Minnesota, but his passion, art and dance have allowed him to travel to many different places so far like Chicago, Texas, L.A, Paris, and more. Currently, he works hard to become an even more versed artist and a better teacher. He has faith that one day he’ll travel the world teaching about self-love and dance, while continuing to be a student learning new things along the way.

2022 SOLO Commissioned Choreographer: Sheopatra

Ananya Chatterjea

2021 CHOREOGRAPHER FELLOW

photo by Canaan Mattson

Ananya Chatterjea/ অনন্যা চট্টোপাধ্যায় ‘s work as choreographer, dancer, and thinker brings together Contemporary Dance, social justice choreography, and a commitment to healing justice. She is the creator of Ananya Dance Theatre’s signature movement vocabulary, Yorchhā, and is the primary architect of the company’s justice- and community-oriented choreographic methodology, Shawngrām. She is a 2011 Guggenheim Choreography Fellow, a 2012 and 2021 McKnight Choreography Fellow, a 2016 Joyce Award recipient, a 2018 UBW Choreographic Center Fellow, a 2019 Dance/USA Artist Fellow, and recipient of the 2021 A. P. Andersen Award.

Ananya Dance Theatre is a company of BIPOC cultural activists and women and femme dance artists who believe in the transformative power of dance. In dancing stories where their lives and dreams occupy the center, they shift the landscape of mainstream culture, build understanding about arts and social justice, and empower artistic voices.

www.ananyadancetheatre.org

Touring Information

Alanna Morris

2021 Choreographer FELLOW

photo by Canaan Mattson

Alanna Morris (formerly Morris-Van Tassel) is a Brooklyn-born Dancer-Choreographer, Educator, Artist Organizer, and Curator, who danced with TU Dance (St Paul, Minnesota) under artistic directors Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands from 2007-2017. She was featured in works by Kyle Abraham, Gioconda Barbuto, Camille A. Brown, Ronald K. Brown, Greggory Dolbashian, Katrin Hall, Francesca Harper, Dwight Rhoden, and Uri Sands. In 2020 they served as the company's Artistic Associate and is a founding Teaching Artist at The School at TU Dance Center.

Alanna is the Artistic Director of I A.M. Arts (formerly Alanna Morris-Van Tassel Productions), founded in 2017 as a fiscally-sponsored project of Springboard for the Arts to sustainably provide opportunities for the development and presentation of new dance works, international collaborations, educational and community-development initiatives. For more on community development programs go here.

In January 2023, Morris premieres Invisible Cities, a collaborative reimagining of Italo Calvino’s metaphysical novel, interweaving cultural perspectives with a dynamic group of dance artists—Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy (Bharatanatyam), Berit Ahlgren (Gaga), Alanna Morris (Modern), Joseph Tran (Breaking)—and visual artist, Kevork Mourad, who creates Invisible Cities’ interactive, immersive projections in real time. For in-person and livestream tickets go here.

Alanna is a proud graduate of The Juilliard School with academic honors and of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (NY). She is an Artistic Advisor to Springboard Danse Montréal and was recently co-curator of the Walker Art Center’s 50th Anniversary of Choreographer’s Evening alongside Judith Howard in November 2022.

iamartss.com

Touring information

Darrius Strong

2021 CHOREOGRAPHER FELLOW

photo by Canaan Mattson

Darrius Strong is a Twin Cities-based choreographer, instructor, and dancer. As the founder and Artistic Director of STRONGmovement, he uses the universal language of dance while blending styles such as Hip hop, Ballet, Modern, and West African to tell stories related to society and humanity. His passion for the youth has led him to the position of hip hop director at Eleve Performing Arts Center where he focuses on teaching young dancers how to connect their identity to movement.

Strong’s creative work is supported by the Walker Art Center’s Choreographers Evening, Rhythmically Speaking, and The New Griots Festival. He was also featured on an American Standard Billboard advertisement in NYC Time Square in 2016. Strong has created works for Threads Dance Project, Flying Foot Forum, Alternative Motion Projects, TU Dance, and James Sewell Ballet.

Strong is a 2019 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, a 2021 McKnight Choreographer Fellow, and a recipient of the 2017 Momentum New Works Award.

www.strong-movement.com

Touring Information