On Thursday and Friday (Oct. 4-5), The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts presents the Sixth Annual Commuter Dance Festival.
Developed to provide a creative exchange between CalArts dance students and professional dance artists in Southern California, this year’s festival brings several alumni back to the Institute’s campus, featuring the choreography of Liz Hoefner (Dance MFA 01), Jessica Gaynor (Dance MFA 03), Samantha Giron (Dance MFA 09), Pam Gonzales (Dance MFA 09), Travis Reinfried (Dance BFA 06), and Erik Speth (Dance BFA 05).
The talented alums bring an arsenal stocked with diverse backgrounds and professional experiences:
- Horton Award nominee Hoefner embraces a myriad of forms and has been recognized for her success in the fields of art, dance, design and music;
- Gaynor boasts performance credits from some of the nation’s leading cultural institutions, including The Skirball Center and Jacob’s Pillow;
- Director, educator and dance activist Giron creates work informed by her years in the underground electronic music community, performing at several festivals including Burning Man and the San Francisco and Los Angeles Decompression festivals;
- Pam Gonzales Dance is known for its signature style of thoughtful, contemporary dance that employs sudden rhythmic interruptions of time;
- Reinfried’s hybrid style draws upon both his ballet and modern dance experience; and
- Speth, a founding member of Ledges and Bones Dance Project, fuses his two passions: Pilates and choreography.
The video posted below is a recent performance of Samantha Giron’s Shatter.