Circle of Sisterhood
Circle of Sisterhood grew directly out of and with the students who participated in the GIRL Project. The seed of inspiration for the piece is the wisdom of women elders and their process of sharing their thoughts and ideas with the next generation of leaders.
July 15–16, 2017
Premiered at EastSide Cultural Center
Circle of Sisterhood was commissioned by the East Bay Fund for Artists at the East Bay Community Foundation, individual donors, and our “fairy godmother”.
Artistic Team
Dancers
Yael Berrol, Lydia Clinton, Jhia Louise Jackson, Ellie Kerwin, Sema Lew, Leila Massoudi, Alex Ajose-Nixon, Shaunnah Ray, Sylvie Rodgers, Cathy Quides and GIRL Project participants
Claudine Naganuma: Choreographer
Joel Davel: Composer
Dale MacDonald: Lighting designer
Steve Sanchez: Videographer
Alexandra Ajose-Nixon’s love of dance began at the age of 4 when she first saw the Nutcracker and boldly declared her intention to dance in it. She’s been studying ballet at Danspace ever since, and proudly debuted onstage as the scene-stealing Tiny Polichinelle in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker at the age of 8. Since then she’s been cast as a Drummer Mouse and a Candy Cook in The Nutcracker, and has twice performed in Ronn Guidi’s The Secret Nutcracker as a Gingersnap. Her love of performance extends to the theatre where she’s been on stage in the Bay Area Children’s Theater’s productions of Aladdin and Peter Pan. In December 2016 she enthusiastically appeared in Winter Journeys at Diablo Valley College. She’s excited to dance with dNaga.
Yael Berrol has danced since she was 7, beginning with jazz and moving onto ballet, modern, composition and hip-hop. She has performed in Ronn Guidi’s Secret Nutcracker as a Chinese tea, gingersnap, and licorice. Over the past three years, Yael has also performed in Lovely Gibberish, Shaking and Shocking, the GIRL Project, and Proteinology with dNaga.
Lydia Clinton was born and raised in Milpitas, CA. She started dancing at 7 years old taking ballet, jazz, and lyrical at Soaring Spirit Dance Studios and then adding modern while training at Grace Dance Academy under the tutelage of Jen Daugavietis until graduating from high school. She also participated in the LINES Ballet Summer Program performing works by Alonzo King and Kara Davis. She then went to Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA to pursue a BA in dance with a concentration in modern dance under the direction of Susan Stowe and Rubén Graciani. At Point Park, she had the opportunity to learn from Judith Leifer-Bentz, Rubén Graciani, Dana Arey, Kwan Suk Choi, Garfield Lemonius, and Jason McDole as well as perform works by Ron Hutson, Keisha Lalama, Shana Simmons, and Kellie Hodges. During college, Lydia also studied at San Francisco Conservatory of Dance learning from Summer Lee Rhatigan, Christian Burns, Doug Letheren, and Bobbi Jene Smith in addition to performing pieces by Ohad Naharin (Echad Mi Yodea and Decadance), Alex Ketley, and Robert Moses (Lucifer’s Prance). Additionally, she participated at the American Dance Festival where she studied with Jennifer Nugent, Pamela Pietro, Teena Marie Custer, and Jack Fervor. Since moving back to the Bay Area last fall, Lydia Clinton is currently working in projects with Axis Dance Company, Claudine Naganuma with dNaga Dance, Joe Landini, and Sarah Berges Dance.
Ellie Kerwin has been dancing at Danspace since she was 3 years old, mainly taking ballet and modern classes. She began dancing with dNaga in 2015 and is inspired by talking about social justice issues and creating dances in response to these topics. In addition, Ellie loves being able to dance with people of all ages.
Sema Lew has been dancing at Danspace since the age of 3, taking ballet and modern dance classes. She has performed with the Oakland Ballet Company in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker since 2010, and has appeared in Ronn Guidi’s Secret Nutcracker as a Chinese Tea and an Angel. She joined dNaga in Fall 2016 and enjoys using dance to explore current issues in the world.
Leila Massoudi has been dancing since age four, dancing Persian style from her father’s native country of Iran. Throughout her elementary school years at Walden Center and School, Leila danced hip hop, jazz, and ballet with her dance teacher, Russell Wright. Leila joined Danspace in fifth grade, taking a Modern dance class. She has subsequently joined choreography which she loves and is dancing her third year of ballet. This year Leila is loving taking a full class load of ballet, dNaga company class, choreography, and modern dance. “I have had an amazing experience at Danspace!” says Leila. Leila is thankful to her family, “for getting me to all my classes and supporting me!”
Cathy Quides recently retired after spending the last twenty-one years working as a pediatric nurse practitioner for patients with developmental disabilities. The courage and dignity with which her patients and their families and caregivers faced the challenges they encountered inspire her as she begins her journey as a person with Parkinson’s. Also inspirational to her are those in her Dance for PD class guided by the wonderfully talented and enthusiastic Claudine Naganuma. Growing up, Cathy wanted to study dance but the opportunity escaped her. Since joining the Dance for PD class she feels she is finally fulfilling her childhood dancing dream. The privilege of performing with dNaga is icing on the cake and she is very grateful for the opportunity.
Shaunnah Ray is an Oakland native who is committed to applying her passion for the performing arts and expression to perpetuate effective activism. Shaunnah is a graduate of KPFA Radio’s Frist Voice Apprenticeship Program which lead her to become a radio producer for KPFA’s Full Circle, Evening News, and Free Speech Radio News as well as National Radio Project’s Making Contact. Shaunnah gets her inspiration from working with the youth of Oakland and in particular with organizations that focus on the wellbeing of girls, specifically Girls Rock Camp and Mamacitas Café. A cornerstone of Shaunnah’s life has been the sisterhood she has found through dance, she is honored to participate in a program which fosters that crucial safe space amongst the city’s most promising and its most valuable demographic.
Sylvie Rodgers has been dancing since she was 3, but began with dNaga in 2013. She has performed in multiple dNaga pieces and traveled to Portland, Oregon for the World Parkinson Congress. She enjoys taking ballet and choreography at Danspace. Her favorite part of dancing with dNaga is being able to dance with people of all ages and discuss current social issues.
