2003 Festival Choreographers:

Please click on a choreographers name below to read their biography.

Holly Tyrell Rothschild
Erica Rebollar
Maria Gillespie
Sarandon Cassidy
Geordie Wright
Maggie Lee
Elizabeth Hoefner

Holly Tyrell Rothschild

Holly Tyrrell Rothschild has worked with many dance and theater companies throughout her career. Highlights include Nana Shineflug and the Chicago Moving Company and XSIGHT! Performance Group. She has performed as a guest artist with Bob Eisen, Mordine & Company, the Itinerant Theater Guild, Trinity Irish Dancers and most recently Maria Gillespie. Her work has been presented at the Athenaeum Theater, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Winter Garden in New York, the Blue Rider, Links Hall, Cal State University, Northwestern University, University of Anchorage, University of Fairbanks and at many other venues throughout the US. Recent endeavors include her dance theater company Lucky Plush Productions which she created with long time collaborator Julia Rhoads. Lucky Plush has received critical acclaim for their work with startling imagery and movement from such publications as Performing Arts Journal. Her work has been referred to as "excruciatingly funny... showing plenty of theatrical savvy" by Laura Molzahn of the Chicago Reader. She adds, "It's such a pleasure to come across feminist artists with a sense of humor and a gift for iconoclastic thinking." Holly also creates original long string installation performances with String Theory. She has created performance installations for galleries and fashion shows. Holly is an artist-in-residence at Columbia College in the Theater Department. Holly has taught many residencies and performance workshops throughout the US to a variety of individuals including those with disabilities. She has worked with senior citizens for a San Francisco performance at the Theater Artaud, at Chicago's Second City - teaching movement for actors, and at a correctional facility in Alaska. She has also worked with teachers on integrating movement and art into their curriculums. Holly wrote and taught a credited course at the University of Anchorage entitled "Integrating Intellectual and Physical Creativity Across the Curriculum."
Please visit www.stringtheoryproductions.com for more information.

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Erica Rebollar

Erica Rebollar was born in Madrid, Spain and began studying diverse dance forms, culminating with four years of intensive training in classical ballet and modern at the Washington School of Ballet. She attained a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, and studied at SUNY Purchase College, New York. On scholarship, she completed her MFA degree in choreography at UCLA in 2003. Rebollar has lived in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles where she has performed her own works, collaborated with local choreographers, and appeared in several performances. She produced “First Journey: East Meets West in Traditional and Modern Work”, a showcase of international dance collaboration in which she premiered her works in Seattle’s downtown Chamber Dance Theater. She has performed in choreographic showcases at On The Boards Theatre, Broadway Performance Hall, and Skinner Theatre in Seattle. In Los Angeles, she has performed the works of Eko Supriyanto, Carol McDowell, Viji Prakash, and performed in Dance Moving Forward Festival at Highways Performance Space, Scherr Forum Theater, and Japan-American Theater, Los Angeles. Erica recently produced her evening length concert of choreography and dance “Ajar”, at Highways Performance Space. Rebollar toured Indonesia twice with a company of dancers. She performed in Java, Bali, Sumatra, and Sulwesi at numerous festivals and performances. There she performed her solo works and created group pieces for the dancers of Indonesia. “Dance Magazine” awarded Erica the prestigious Choreographer of the Year award in the 2000 National American College Dance Festival for her work “Place of No Tears.” Brigham Young University’s Dance Department recently commissioned her choreography for their Spring Concert as well as a tour throughout India. Rebollar taught ballet technique and choreography at UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures department and DC Dance Collective, Washington, DC. She now dances in Namah Ensemble, a contemporary Persian dance company, and contributes to the choreography of Trip Dance Company, soon to be presented at Highways Performance Space in May 2003. Her work can be seen in Mark Eby’s upcoming film, ‘The Moment of Falling’. Her next performances are at Summerfest Dance Festival and Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in San Francisco, LA Dance Invitational and Dance Moving Forward Festival in Los Angeles, as well as an upcoming concert in August 2003.

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Maria Gillespie

Maria Gillespie, choreographer, performer, and teacher is a principle
dancer of Helios Dance Theater. She is originally from Nashville, TN
where she studied at the School of Nashville Ballet and performed with
the company. She received her BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase in 1993. While residing in New York City she studied dance at the Limon
Institute, The Martha Graham School of Dance, Klein Technique with Neil Greenberg, as well as studying with Kevin Wynn, Sarah Stackhouse, and JoAnna Mendle-Shaw. As a member of the Purchase Dance Corps, Ms. Gillespie performed choreography by Charles Weidman and Lin Hwai-min of Cloud Gate Dance Theater. Upon graduating in 1993, she formed 86 NYLON, a collaborative trio whose choreography was presented (93-95) by Dixon Place, Movement Research, Gowanus Arts Exchange, and Next Stage Company. Since moving to LA in 1996, Ms. Gillespie has presented her choreography at Highways Performance Space, The Electric Lodge, Cal State Long Beach, The Fountain Theater, LA Dance Invitational, and the SOLA Dance Festival in Torrance. Locally, she has worked and performed with David Rousseve, Victoria Marks, and John Pennington. Noted as a “charismatic, mighty performer with a distinct vision” (Victoria Looseleaf, LA Times) she is a Lester Horton Award nominee for best individual performer for her performance with Victoria Marks. In December 2002, Ms. Gillespie was awarded the Artist Completion Grant from The Durfee Foundation. Most recently she has been commissioned by Scripps College to restage her work „Chronic‰ on the dance department for the Scripps Spring Concert and The American College Dance Festival. Ms. Gillespie produced and choreographed sold-out weekends of her dances at The Electric Lodge in August 2001 and at Highways Performance Space in February 2003. She is on faculty at UCLA‚s department of World Arts & Cultures where she teaches modern dance as well as offering weekly modern classes in Venice and Santa Monica.

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Photo: Diana Mehoudar

Sarandon Cassidy

Sarandon Cassidy began her movement training as a rhythmic gymnast with The Los Angeles School of Gymnastics. After six years as a competitor and a three-year hiatus, she first became interested in dance as a college freshman. As a student at Cal State University, Long Beach, Sarandon trained under Jeff Slayton, Susan Mclain, Keith Johnson, Douglas Nielsen, Tryntje Shapli, Michelle Simmons, Della Davidson, and Sharon Kinney. As an undergraduate, she also studied with the Lewitzky Summer Workshop for two, consecutive summers in Los Angeles, spent two months with the Alvin Ailey Summer Workshop in 1997, and recently returned from the Pro Danza Summer Workshop in Italy, 2001. After gaining five years of performance experience, Sarandon tried her hand at choreography in 2001, when her piece “Desired End” debuted at ACDFA in New Mexico. In 2002, her second choreographic endeavor received the same honor of representing CSULB at ACDFA in Maryland. Aside from her choreography, Sarandon has made contributions as a dancer in works by Susan Mclain, Keith Johnson, Douglas Nielsen, and Tryntje Shapli. Sarandon has also freelanced outside the college dance setting, dancing in small projects with Ione Dance, and joining Notoriety Dance in 2001. With her double major in Creative Writing and Dance completed in 2002, Sarandon also acted as Associate Director of Notoriety Dance of Irvine for their 2002 dance season. Sarandon would like to thank her family and friends who have shown so much love and support through her many attempts at “dancing.”

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Photo: Patrick Von Osta

Geordie Wright

Geordie Wright is a native of California, and began her study of ballet, jazz, and tap at the age of five. Her professional dance experience began at the age of 8, when she was selected to perform three consecutive years with the Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet Companies, during their San Francisco engagements.
Ms. Wright received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California Institute of the Arts, studying with Bella Lewitzky, Donald McKayle, and Mia Slavenska. She did post-graduate work in Dance at U.C.L.A. and Cal State Long Beach, where she was a member of the Gloria Newman Modern Dance Company. She continued her professional dance career while still in college, touring and performing locally and nationally with several modern dance, jazz, and folk ballet companies. Ms. Wright has danced professionally on television, film, and Broadway, working with directors, choreographers, and stars such as Gower Champion, Robert Preston, Bernadette Peters, Ron Howard, Ben Vereen, Sonny and Cher, Donald McKayle, and Jaime Rogers. As an advocate for arts in education, Ms. Wright spent two years with the Los Angeles Unified School District's Visual and Performing Arts Program, writing and implementing curriculum for the pilot arts and literacy program, teaching dance and creative movement to elementary school children, and providing professional development training and workshops for district teachers. Ms. Wright has been teaching at Los Angeles Valley College for more than 14 years, offering classes in ballet, modern, jazz, choreography, and dance production.

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Maggie Lee

Maggie Lee is enjoying life these days choreographing and collaborating with other artists. She is also working towards a Pilates Teacher Certification under the direction of Marie-José Blom Lawrence. In December 2002, she received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Previous to that, Maggie was working, traveling, and dancing in Asia for five years. She studied Korean traditional folk and court dances as well as danced with Laughing Stone Dance Theater (artistic director: Sin Cha Hong). This past April, her solo, Beneath, was chosen for newsteps, a choreographers’ series at the Mulberry Street Theater in New York. Maggie also continues to study Balinese and Javanese dance under Nanik Wenten. This fall, she will be re-staging her MFA thesis concert at the Madrid Theater with the generous support of the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.

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Photo: Scott Groeller

Elizabeth Hoefner

Elizabeth Hoefner is a dancer and choreographer who has been making and performing original dance pieces for the past ten years. Liz earned a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Dance from California Institute of the Arts as well as a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the State University of New York at Brockport. In 1996 she was the recipient of the Thayer Award for Choreography and received the Friar’s Foundation Award for Performance in dance. She was a soloist for the Krista Tucker Dance Company in Rochester, NY and spent one year studying and performing with The Garth Fagan Dance Company. In New York City, Liz presented her own contemporary modern dance works with a company of six dancers at such venues as: Dance Theater Workshop, Contact Studios, The Gowanus Arts Exchange, Mulberry Street Theater, Queens College and Soundance Studio. Since living in Los Angeles, Liz has presented works at Rio Hondo College, Pomona University, The Electric Lodge, Highways performance Space, Rocco’s and The Ivar Theater. Currently she dances with Cid Pearlman’s Nesting Dolls Dance Company and Arianne MacBean’s The Big Show Co. as well as independent choreographers Ruth Barnes and Nina Kaufman. Liz was recently nominated for a Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for her solo work entitled, Grace Lives Here. She has been commissioned to choreograph a new solo work for a New York City venue in May 2003.

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