LIVING LANDSCAPES

LIVING LANDSCAPES
COMING FALL 2022

LIVING LANDSCAPES is an environmental dance film installation created by Shana Simmons. Displaying earth’s landscapes through site-specific choreography, the experience aims to bring awareness to environmental concerns. Editor Julie Rooney and Simmons are working collaboratively to develop a creative vision exploring how human action on micro levels affects environments on macro levels which will weave through the audience's progression. Simmons will create dance vignettes by blending choreographed site-specific pieces to visually represent issues in Western Pennsylvania such as air and water pollution.

Shana Simmons Dance is collaborating and connecting with local Pittsburgh non-profit groups such as Allegheny Cleanways and Grounded. The collaborations will tap into each organization's missions, highlighting how they positively impact Pittsburgh, and how people can get involved in their local communities to initiate change. The final film will be released during live public events, hosted at sites related to each of the environmental organizations in Spring/Early Summer 2022, bringing art to environmentally charged and renovated spaces. A fall online release will also be scheduled.

Living Landscapes is supported by:
The Pittsburgh Foundation
The Heinz Small Arts Initiative
Slippery Rock University
Generous Donors

Living Landscapes photo credit: Kitoko Chargois, Photo By Kitoko

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MEET THE CAST:

Choreographer/Director: Shana Simmons

Shana Simmons graduated from Point Park University with a BA in Dance in 2003. Simmons lived in New York City for four and a half years and performed with choreographers such as Noemie Lafrance "Agora", Alexandra Beller, Tomé Cousin, bigGRITS dance co, Debra Wanner/ Amy Larimer, Amanda Drozer, and was a company member of white road dance media. Simmons holds an MA in Choreography from LABAN in London, England. She performed and choreographed with companies and choreographers such as Flat Feet Dance Company, Stacy Abalogun and Nadine Doran-Holder and independently presented work at the Reverie Dance Festival in Ghent, Belgium. Simmons has performed her own works in New York City, Belgium, London, Chicago, Boston, and Pittsburgh.

Filmographer/Collaborator: Arvid Tomayko

Arvid Tomayko is an experimental musician and multimedia artist exploring the intersection of expressive electronic sound performance, process driven composition and interactive installation. His pieces are realized as unique auditory and visual performance systems that alternately focus or expand the capabilities of the performer. Tomayko's performance work questions how time is experienced what “now” means on timescales from milliseconds to millions of years. Tomayko holds a BA in Computer Music/Multimedia and Geology from Brown University. He is also head of research and development at Your Heaven Audio where he designs, builds and codes for audio electronics that make acoustic instruments sound really, really good when amplified or recorded.

Dancer/Rehearsal Director: Brady Sanders

Brady Sanders resides in Pittsburgh, PA and has performed with Dansz Loop Chicago, Inaside Chicago Dance, Thodos Dance Chicago, Attack Theatre in the Pittsburgh Opera, the Murphy/Smith Dance Collective, Jamie Erin Murphy and Shana Simmons Dance. As founder and Artistic Director of the Pride of Cincinnati Dance Ensemble, Brady is passionate about offering students professional level performance experiences. Brady’s choreography was most recently seen at the 2016 newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival in Pittsburgh, PA and the 2017 APAP conference in New York, NY. He is currently teaching, performing and choreographing extensively throughout the Pittsburgh area and across the Midwest.

Dancer: Auset T Fullard

Auset T Fullard is a graduating senior, receiving her BFA in Dance Performance, at The University of the Arts! She is a dancer interested in developing her artistry through all mediums. This accumulation of skill and resources will help her to orchestrate an affordable dance school based in Pittsburgh PA; dedicated to offering students multimedia art instruction for them to use as tools to develop who they are, not just within dance, but as people and artists! Auset’s certifications in Pilates Mat and Franklin Method: Art of the Plie Workshop is only the beginning to her thirst for knowledge. Through experience she will help to make a mark within the feedback loop of dance.

Dancer/Intern: Adrienne Elion

Adrienne Elion is a Pittsburgh Native, and glad to partake in the city's arts once again. She graduated from Shenandoah University in December of 2019, and is home completing her Master's Degree in Performing Arts Leadership and Management, and finishing her certification in Pilates. Adrienne is thrilled to build new relationships within her city, like with Shana Simmons Dance, and can't wait to expand her network to further artistic relationships in both sides, performance and administration.

Dancer: Allegra Golembiewski

Allegra Golembiewski is originally from southern California where she trained in both classical and neoclassical forms of dance. Allegra moved to Pittsburgh at the age of 16 to train under the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater school and received training in modern, ballet, and jazz techniques for four years. Allegra uses her creativity and dynamic movement almost as a second language and she strives to share that experience with others. Allegra was recently a part of the online dance for film series Constructed Sight (2020/2021) and performed a solo work for SSD at the PA Governor's Women's History Month Event.

Dancer/Apprentice: Lexi Jordan

Lexi Jordan is 20 years old and from Merritt Island Florida. Lexi is trained in ballet, jazz, and modern and is now continuing her dance training at Point Park University. Other than dance, Lexi loves 2D art and fashion, experimenting with line work, patterns, and color. Lexi believes fashion is another way to express herself and have fun. "When it comes to my art, it is important to stay authentic to myself and be present in what I am creating while having fun in the process."

Costume Designer: Jamie Erin Murphy

Jamie Erin Murphy is a Pittsburgh based choreographer, dancer and educator who is passionate about exploring the human body through movement. She graduated from Point Park University in 2007 and broke into the Pittsburgh dance scene soon after. Jamie has worked with Attack Theatre, Staycee Pearl Dance Project, Texture Contemporary Ballet, Xpressions Contemporary Dance Company, The Pillow Project, Knot Dance, Zany Umbrella Circus, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and was co-director of Murphy/Smith Dance Collective. Her choreography has been presented throughout Pittsburgh, as well as Ohio and New York. Jamie has an extensive teaching career and is currently a proud faculty member of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School where she teaches Modern, Jazz, Choreography, Dance for Parkinson’s, Adaptive Dance and Creative Movement through elementary school residencies.

Composer: Andrew Griffin

Currently the viola chair for the Broadway musical Ain't Too Proud, Andrew Griffin is an award winning violist, composer, and orchestrator. As an active copyist and editor, his credits include: Kidding (Showtime, feat. Jim Carrey); Ride the Cyclone (Off-Broadway); Planet Earth 2 (BBC); Lempicka (Williamstown Theater); Witness Uganda/Invisible Thread (Off-Broadway) and many more. His arrangements, orchestrations, and original compositions have also been performed by notable groups such as Simply Three, Sphinx Virtuosi, the Queens College Orchestra, and Alkali. Andrew received his bachelor’s degree with honors as a double major from Carnegie Mellon University under Toby Appel (viola BFA) and Nancy Galbraith (composition BFA), and a master’s degree (viola MFA) from Rice University under Ivo-jan van der Werff.