PAST COLLABORATORS
SOLOMON BOWSER
Ensemble Member 2019-2020
Solomon Bowser began his dance training in Atlanta, GA while studying at the Dekalb School of the Arts under the directorship of Zandra Taylor and later Dean Williams. In 2013 Bowser completed his undergraduate studies at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. Bowser has worked with J'Sun Howard, Winifred Haun & Dancers, Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, Kalapriya Center for Indian Performing Arts, Momenta Dance Company and a multitude of emerging artists and been involved in many collaborative processes. He is the Marketing Manager for See Chicago Dance.
TIMOTHY DAISY
Percussion / Composition
Tim Daisy is a Chicago-based drummer and composer working in the fields of improvised and composed music. He has performed and recorded original music for modern dance, sound installations, film, and improvised music ensembles of various configurations since 1997 and has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Tim also owns and operates Relay Recordings, documenting much of the creative work he has been involved with in Chicago and abroad since 2011. Along with his performance and composing work, Tim has curated for Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. timdaisy.wordpress.com
PHILIP ELSON
Ensemble Member 2008-2020
Philip Elson has engaged with various arenas of dance including performance, education, and experimental collaboration involving sound design, video documentation/editing, and web development. He served as Assistant Director for The Seldoms from 2019-2020, and delivered extraordinary, memorable performances in TS works including Power Goes, RockCitizen, and Floe. He has also worked with companies and artists such as Joanna Rosenthal/Same Planet Performance Project, tEEth, Colleen Halloran, Margi Cole/The Dance COLEctive, Jonathan Meyer/Khecari Dance Theater, Paige Caldarella, Liz Burritt, Matthew Hollis, Jyl Fehrenkamp, Laboratory Dancers, and Muscle Memory Dance Theatre. He holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance from The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.
STUART FLACK
Playwright
Stuart Flack’s work as playwright had been produced at many of the leading theatres in the U.S. including: Southcoast Rep (Costa Mesa, CA), Culture Project (New York), Interact (Philadelphia), Victory Gardens (Chicago), and The Contemporary American Theatre Festival (Washington, D.C.). His plays include, “Sydney Bechet Killed a Man”, “Jonathan Wild”, “Homeland Security”, “For Eddie” and “Floaters”. He is the former Executive Director of the Chicago Humanities Festival, the largest festival of arts and ideas in the U.S. and the former Editor and Publisher of the McKinsey Quarterly, a journal of business, economics and policy. He is also a guitarist with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra.
SARAH GONSIOROWSKI
Performer 2016-2022
Sarah is a dance artist, movement coach, and writer. She received her early training from the Milwaukee Ballet School and continued her education at the University of Iowa, receiving a BFA in Dance and a BA in English. During her time with The Seldoms, she collaborated in the creation of four new works and the Toolbox project. She has also worked with artists and companies including Harrison McEldowney, Carl Flink, The Moving Architects, Same Planet Performance Project, and Kristina Isabelle Dance Company. She is a strength coach at Defined Training, co-founder of The Lunge Ladies, LLC, and a fitness columnist for Uplevyl.
AMANDA MCALISTER HOWARD
Performer 2006-2017
Amanda is originally from Nashville and returned there in 2017, where she is the owner of Native Pilates and mother to three. Over a period of 11 years, Amanda danced in TS productions including company favorites, Marchland (2010) and Power Goes (2015). Amanda's natural comedic talent delighted audiences in works such as Stupormarket. Amanda lived in NYC from 2006-2007 where she performed works by David Parsons, Labor Force Dances, and worked with the Dance Films Association. She received a BA in Dance from Columbia College in 2006.
JACKIE KAZARIAN
Painting / Animation
Jackie Kazarian is a Chicago painter, video and installation artist whose intense colors and complex surfaces explore utopian impulses in the face of emotional and physical upheaval. Her visually challenging and kinetic landscapes integrate different languages of painting and drawing with screen-printing, stamping, flocking and collage. Ms. Kazarian’s work has been exhibited in Chicago, New York, Miami, California, Armenia, Syria and Japan. Ms. Kazarian has been a frequent instructor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and created public works for The U.S. Embassy and the City of Chicago. She received her graduate degree in painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1989 and bachelor’s of science degree from Duke University in 1981. jackiekazarian.net
MICHAEL KRAMER
Dramaturgy
Michael J. Kramer works at the intersection of historical scholarship, cultural criticism, the arts, and digital technology. He is an assistant professor in the Department of History at SUNY Brockport, specializing in modern US cultural and intellectual history, transnational history, and public and digital history. Kramer is the author of The Republic of Rock: Music and Citizenship in the Sixties Counterculture (Oxford University Press, 2013; paperback, 2017). He has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Salon, First of the Month, The National Memo, The Point, Theater, and Newsday, blogs at Culture Rover, and has served as dramaturg and historian-in-residence for The Seldoms. michaeljkramer.net
ANNA KUNZ
Installation / Visual Design
Anna Kunz is an artist who makes works on paper, paintings, sculptures, installations and projects that seep out of the rectangle, often using materials that function to capture and manipulate light and color. These experiential works are often combined with objects or surfaces that add conceptual complexity and invite viewers to structure the space in time. Anna’s work has been included in numerous national and international exhibitions in NYC, Los Angeles, Houston, Brooklyn, San Antonio and the UK and Poland. Anna has also worked collaboratively with dancers and musicians to create Décor for theatrical and dance productions, namely for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 2009. annakunz.net
JEFFREY LEVIN
Composition/Sound Design
Jeffrey Levin is a composer, sound designer, and musician based in Chicago IL. Jeffrey has contributed original music and sound designs for over 150 productions for theatre, immersive experiences, film and video, virtual productions, and more. Awards and recognitions include two Joseph Jefferson Award wins and twelve nominations for Sound Design and Original Music, Edes Award for Emerging Artists, the Michael Philippi prize, Kleinman Composition Competition winner, two Broadway World nominations, and a Wilde Award Nomination. Jeffrey received his Masters of Music in Composition at DePaul University and Bachelors of Music in Composition at Columbia College Chicago. www.jeffreylevinmusic.com
MATTHEW KESSLER MCMUNN
Performer 2015-2019
Matthew's skills in theater and his uninhibited sense of play made him an extraordinary contributor in our creative process. While in Chicago, in addition to his work with The Seldoms, he also performed for choreographers Kristina Isabelle, Philip Elson, Peter Carpenter, and Chicago companies The Humans, The Dance COLEctive, Synapse, and Lucky Plush Productions, and his choreography was presented by Dance Chance Redux, Links Hall, Core Project, Blunt Objects Theatre, Red Tape Theatre, and The Leopold Group. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Cultural Studies from Columbia College Chicago.
JAVIER MARCHAN RAMOS
Performer 2010-2015
Javier Marchan Ramos is a dancer, performer, and bodyworker, currently specializing in therapeutic Thai massage and somatic education. He contributed to key repertory works of The Seldoms, including Stupormarket (2011) and Power Goes (2015). Javier was an exciting performer onstage, always delivering something a little unexpected. Javier earned a BFA in Dance with Dean's Honors from UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts in 2010. He is based in Philadelphia, where he maintains an active yoga practice.
FAHEEM MAJEED
Visual Designer / Installation
Faheem Majeed (American, b. 1976) is a builder—literally and metaphorically. A resident of the South Shore neighborhood in Chicago, Majeed often looks to the material makeup of his neighborhood and surrounding areas as an entry point into larger questions around civic-mindedness, community activism, and institutional racism. As part of his studio practice, the artist transforms materials such as particle board, scrap metal and wood, and discarded signs and billboard remnants, breathing new life into these often overlooked and devalued materials. Majeed received his BFA from Howard University and his MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). From 2005-2011, Majeed served as Executive Director and Curator for the South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC). Majeed was selected as the inaugural artist in residence for University of Chicago’s Arts in Public Life Initiative (2012), MANA Contemporary Chicago (2014), and Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (2015). From 2013 – 2015 he served as the associate director and faculty of UIC’s School of Art and Art History. faheemmajeed.com
LARA MILLER
Costume Design
Lara Miller has 20 years of experience in Fashion, Textiles and Fiber Arts, and earned her BFA at the School of the Art Institute Chicago. She designed her own line of sustainable women's clothing from 2002-2014. While still an undergraduate at SAIC, Lara’s garments electrified local audiences and her costume work for a number of the city’s dance companies was widely acclaimed. In addition to designing her label, Lara served as the Executive Director of the Chicago Fashion Incubator (CFI) at Macy’s on State Street. Her line was carried in over 50 stores throughout the world including the UK, Australia, and Japan. Lara created costumes for many TS projects, including Ode (2002),GIANT FIX (2005), and Marchland (2010).
CARA SABIN
Performer 2005-2018
An athlete all her life, Cara discovered dance while in her senior year of high school. She received a BFA from The Dance Center of Columbia College under Bonnie Brooks. Cara helped to create and perform (at least) 12 major projects of The Seldoms, a key voice in our collaborative process. Cara is now a full-time Strength & Conditioning Coach and General Manager at CrossFit Defined where she combines her love of movement and teaching, and the co-founder of Lunge Ladies, an all-female strength training collective, with TS member, Sarah Gonsiorowski. Cara serves on TS Board.
BRIAN SHAW
Guest Performer, 2016
Brian’s work as a performer and director spans theater, dance, film and voice over/commercial work. He was a founding member of the physical theater company Plasticene, with whom he created and performed original work for 17 years. Brian has performed with numerous theaters in Chicago including playing Clov in Endgame with The Hypocrites, and appeared off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre in The Strangerer by Mickle Maher. He directed the short film Four Monologues about Russian poets in the Stalinist period, written by Aram Saroyan. He has appeared in Chicago Fire, Boss and Detroit 1-8-7, as well as numerous independent films, commercials—and spots for The Onion. Brian is a Professor in the Theatre Department at Columbia College and runs international exchange programs in the UK and Ireland.
DOUG STAPLETON
Founding Member / Visual Art & Dramaturg
Doug Stapleton is an artist, curator and educator. He is an Associate Curator of Art with the Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery. Stapleton’s work has been the subject of two solo exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center and Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago in 2012. A former Artistic Associate of The Seldoms, he worked on eleven evening length dance performances in the capacity of dramaturg and as a performer. In the 90s-00s, Doug performed in over forty solo and collaborative performances. He received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1989, and a BA in Anthropology from University of Delaware with a minor concentration in Art History and Ceramics.
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FRASER TAYLOR
Video / Installation
Born in the UK in 1960, Fraser Taylor is an interdisciplinary visual artist who works with a range of media including, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking and animation. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in printed textiles from Glasgow School of Art, Taylor continued his studies at the Royal College of Art in London where he earned a Master of Arts. Taylor co-founded The Cloth, a creative studio which lasted from 1983 to 1988. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, including in Glasgow, London, Paris, Madrid, Sydney, Tokyo, Chicago, New York, Boston, Detroit, and San Francisco. He has collaborated with choreographer Rashaun Mitchell for Interface. His projects with TS include Marchland (2010) and The Making (2017). In 2017, Taylor and AD Carrie Hanson initiated Toolbox, an exchange between visual artists and dancemakers to share and translate tactics for making. frasertaylor.com
RICHARD WOODBURY
Sound Design / Composition
Richard Woodbury is a composer and sound designer working in theater, dance and media arts. His career has spanned a wide variety of musical endeavors including, in his early teens, a rock band in Pakistan; jazz bands, new music ensembles, and forays into electronic music while in college in Minnesota; over a decade as an accompanist for dance and, over thirty years as a Chicago-based composer and sound designer for theatre and dance. From 1985 to 2014 Richard served as Music Director and Associate Chair at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago where he was an Associate Professor and “Distinguished Faculty Artist”. Since 2014, he has worked extensively with theater companies including the Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf, and Writers Theater in Chicago, and Second Stage Theater in New York. richardwoodbury.com
CHIHSUAN YANG
Performance and Composition
Born and raised in Taiwan, Chihsuan moved to the United States at age 15. As an eclectic and versatile violinist, erhu player, pianist, and composer actively engaged in the music scene around the globe, Chihsuan’s body of work spans a multitude of genres and reaches beyond borders. Chihsuan is a winner of the 3Arts Award in 2015 and the 2016 Carmargo Foundation Fellow in France. She has performed with artists ranging from Yo-Yo Ma and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, to Kings of Leon, Lana Del Rey, and Regina Spektor, and has even played for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She is a member of the legendary, Chicago-based Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, and of the flamenco ensemble, Las Guitarras de España. In 2016, she started the electronic/world duo ESCP with Bob Garrett, and is currently recording her next studio album. chihsuanyang.com
