Dance Omi International Dance Collective

2010 Residents' Biographies

Muriel Bourdeau (France)
As a choreographer, performer and teacher, she likes to explore every variation of dance research. She started creating her own projects in 2003 with the duet distense, in collaboration with musicians. Then, in 2005, the solo BOX was released in which she discovered using autodidact education videos, a tool that became one of her principal pillars of experimentation. In 2006, she had been part of the Essais Programme in the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers within a group of young artists from different fields (choreography, fine arts, visual arts, music). She also created her own dance company. She kept her artistic work through choreographic projects, performances and video installations. Today, she is involved with a work in progress called autoportrait exploring the question of body representation and the link between visibility and identity.

Esteban Cárdenas (Argentina)
Esteban Cárdenas is an improviser and choreographer from Rosario, Argentina. He started theater and dance in 1990, attending the public Theater and Dance School. Soon after, he started dancing with companies in Rosario and Buenos Aires. In 1994 he moved to New York to study at different dance studios and then he began travel to other places to study and later perform. He has been teaching and performing in Unites States, Guatemala, Denmark, El Salvador, Brasil, Bolivia, Perú, Paraguay and Argentina. Last year, he was awarded with the Darmasiswa scholarship to study traditional dance for a year in Indonesia. As an independent artist he collaborated with others dancers around the world. He continues creating work around America, combining structure improvisations as well as choreography. His goal is to make contemporary dance more accessible to people, beyond the dance/theater community. Actually, he teaches contact improvisation and contemporary dance.

Martin Inthamoussu (Uruguay)
Martin Inthamoussu is a dancer and choreographer from Uruguay. He studied at the National Ballet School and Montevideo Ballet Studio in Uruguay and as a guest student at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) in The Netherlands. He has studied with teachers such as Julyen Hamilton, David Zambrano, Deborah Hay, Iñaki Azpillaga, Mathilde Monnier, Alito Alessi, Nita Little, Wendy Houstoun, Mark Tompkins, Nigel Charnock, Juan Kruz Díaz and Benoit Lachambre among others. As a choreographer he has got prizes and scholarships in his home country and abroad. He has been awarded the danceWEB Europe scholarship twice in Vienna and the siwic programme in Zürich. He has been awarded the prize as Best Director 2005 in Uruguay. He has been artist in residence in Djerassi Arts Centre in San Francisco (USA) and in Theater im Ballsaal (Germany). He has been selected for DANCEOMI in New York (2010). He has performed in Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Spain, Holland, Germany, Italy, Austria, Uruguay, USA, Canada and the UK. He has choreographed for the National Ballet in Uruguay, Agente Libre in Venezuela and Cia Nómada in Tenerife. As a teacher he has worked in universities in Venezuela, Mexico Spain and Germany as well as in private institutes in Latin America and Europe. He has published articles on dance theory in Uruguay, Venezuela and Spain. He has been invited as dramaturgy advisor for the Ballet at the Opera House in Bonn. Currently he is artistic director of Montevideo Sitiada, a dance festival in Montevideo and works as a freelance choreographer and performer with different companies in Europe and South America. He is part of the Performance Studies at the University of Manchester, UK.


Suhaili Micheline Ahmad Kamil (Malaysia) Has trained in classical ballet, modern theatre, contemporary and jazz. Suhaili holds a Bachelor Degree in Dance (Hons) from The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Melbourne. She is also a certified dance practitioner from the ISTD and RAD Ballet Organizations in London. Her work and determination at the VCA college earned her numerous awards such as ‘Most Outstanding Dancer of VCA graduate 2005’. She returned to Malaysia in 2007 and entered in the TV Reality Dance Show ‘ So You Think You Can Dance’(SYTYCD) Season 1 and was known as the Top 4 Finalist. Then, she was invited back to SYTYCD Season 2 as one of the choreographers. Suhaili currently teaches dance at Malaysia’s renown arts university ASWARA, Aurora School of Dance and SKILLS Academy for Autistic Children. She is also a member of Red Span Dance and Rogue dance companies, both based in Melbourne, Australia. Suhaili was awarded 7th Boh Cameronian Arts Awards as Best Featured Performer in 2009 for her new work ‘2=1’. She was also awarded Most Promising Artist of the Year. In 2009, Suhaili’s new work ‘Nerds Gone Nuts’ was premiered in KLPAC’s Short and Sweet Festival and won Best Choreographer and Overall Production. Her other new work ‘Sepatuku’ premiered in October 09’ at KL’s Fringe Festival was recently restaged as a solo performance at KOBE’s Asia Contemporary Dance Festival under the Dance Box Organization’s Dance Circus Asia: Solo Collective in Japan 2010. In March, Suhaili choreographed and performed in ‘Salvage’ at Aswara’s ‘New Wave’ Festival for young choreographers. Salvage was an experimental piece worked around 2 dancers and a multimedia artist, based on a human and a tree in conjunction with the Earth Hour 2010. Currently, she is preparing her trip to Melbourne in May; a tour with Rogue performing previous works at MODAFE Korean Modern Dance Festival in Seoul, Korea.

Mafa Makhubalo (South Africa/Canada)
Mafa Makhubalo started dancing at the age of five and continued his training with Toni Campbell, founder and director of ZAPAC (Zamdela Performing Arts Centre). Mafa completed a three year program in dance at the Tshwane University of Technology and apprenticed with the Tshwane Dance Theatre. He is the recipient of numerous awards which include: the FNB Vita Dance Umbrella Award in the “Stepping Stone Category” and “The Best Community Builder of the Year” by the Premiere Youth League Awards. Mafa has collaborated with the Alvin Alley Dance Company in South Africa, toured in Amsterdam with Vuyane Dance Theater and performed at events such as the FIFA Soccer World Cup Conference in Morocco and Grahams-town Arts Festival. After moving to Toronto, he completed a two year training program at Ballet Creole and regularly performed with the company during his apprenticeship. He was recently invited for the 2008 Choreographers Lab program at the school of Jacob’s Pillow, 2009 apprenticeship program in stagecraft and six weeks dance program. Mafa is also a member of OMO Dance Company. Mafa is actively involved in community outreach programs that help youth realize their potential through the arts and is presently teaching at the Dance Immersion YAP Program and the Children’s Dance Theatre. Mafa is currently a member of COBA (collective of black artists) dance company.

William Schneider (USA)
William Schneider is a second year graduate candidate for the Master of Fine Arts in Performance and Choreography at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. His Dance studies began in Iowa with Mary Joyce Lind and Janice Baker. He studied theater in Iowa with Denis Hildreth and then at University of Louisville. Will received his BA, with a theater/dance emphasis from Iowa State University. ??In Louisville, Will founded and was Co-Artistic Director for Coffee Cup Theatre a group that produced original and contemporary plays. Will’s theater performances include Macbeth as Malcolm, Hamlet as Laertes, and Rats as Bobby. As a founding member of Chamber Dancers, Will danced in concerts from 1995 till 1998. Will then moved to New York where he worked for National Theater of Performing Arts as a Stage and Production Manager. ??In Iowa, Will performed with The Drama Workshop, and Hurley and Dancers. In 2006 Will began working with TW dance, which premiered it’s first evening length piece in the summer of 2007. At University of Illinois Will performed in: site specific work by both Laura Chiaramonte and Kimber Andrews, "Forever Young" by Chun Chen Chang, and "Ham and Ball" a duet choreographed by Renay Aumiller and Will Schneider.

Jose Ruiz Subauste (Peru)
Jose Ruiz Subauste started his studies in the Asociación de Investigación Actoral Cuatrotablas in 1993 up to 1999. During his formation, he was exposed to a multidisciplinary experience from several masters, national as well as international, combining different body and text proposals as well as acting with Cuatrotablas in various national and international encounters. Pedagogically, he directed several workshops in the same institution becoming a faculty member of the Academia del Arte del Espectáculo de Cuatrotablas, in the branch of actor training. In 1996 he started a process of movement research with different actors and dancers interested in the creation of theatrical actions, performance and urban intervention, exchanging experiences with both actors and dancers. In 2001, he was invited to an interchange workshop in France organized by Drama Makina Productions. In 2002 and 2003, he studied in the Amsterdamse Hoogeschool voor de Kunsten in the School for New Dance Development (Amsterdam-The Netherlands). In 2005, he was invited to Costa Rica to study contemporary dance at Danza Universitaria directed by Rogelio Lopez. In 2008 and 2009, he directed two dance pieces working with dancers, actors, musicians and video performers. Also, he was awarded with the Kennedy Center Scholarship for dancers. The tendencies of his work are eclectic.

Anna Ventura (Spain/France)
Anna Ventura is a choreographer, dancer, plastic artist, and handywoman.
Coming from the post-Franco period and the Spanish post-movida after training as dancer and stage designer at the School of the Barcelona Theatre Institute. Then at the London Place Dance School, the Catalan artist moved to Normandy, France from where she rages. Advocating the non-division of arts by a diverse and interdisciplinary practice of contemporary creation ways, Ventura questions our worldview through themes as the place of the individual in society, feminine question or handicap. Based on the particular form of solo dance, she develops a repertoire of choral works and collaborations that take their place in a scenographic set mixing media, cinema and multimedia techniques with a choreographic gesture at the crossroads of modern dance, flamenco and butoh. Formally demanding, her creations are shown in France and many foreign events. She is actually working on the development of « King Kong Effect » project from the « Bill aimed at forbidding women to read » by Sylvain Maréchal (1801), dealing with the feminine question. Built on principles of BJ-ing (art of body-jockey) and DJ-ing (she gradually creates her own sound environment), the set will be completed by a graphic proposition and visual animation.



Rebecca Walter (USA) is currently an MFA candidate (2012) and Graduate Teaching Assistant at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. From 1998 – 2008, Rebecca was based in Dublin, Ireland. During that time, she produced 15 site-specific and/or theatre based works under the name Catapult Dance. Her work has received the support of the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, Dance Ireland, IDEE (an initiative of the Culture 2000 programme of the EU), Cork City Council (Ireland), Roscommon County Council (Ireland) and Project Arts Centre (Ireland). Rebecca’s choreographic research is currently focused on a few simple concepts: performative layering, distinguishing between systems and structures within her work, and an investment her belief that the pursuit of tangents is a viable choreographic approach (more viable, she is beginning to think, than staying “on message”). After many years of self-producing, she is delighted to be a student again. She is looking forward to working collaboratively at Dance Omi.

Stephanie Yezek (USA)
One of the most valuable things Stephanie Yezek has learned being a performer with Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company, DeviatedTheatre, Gesel Mason Performance Projects and the award-winning BosmaDance over the past seven years and studying and performing as a guest dancer with David Dorfman in 2003 and 2008 is the importance of creating together. As a performer, both in set works and improvisation, both on the ground and in the air, she has learned to be open and experience every performance as a kind of “choose-your-own-adventure”, realizing that it is in those split second decisions that the movement and the body fuse into one expressive dialogue with the dancers, musicians and audience. As a burgeoning choreographer and co-founder of BARE, a contemporary dance collaboration created in 2008, Stephanie seeks to incorporate diverse creative visions to produce not a single voice, but a harmony of voices atop a physical, expressive movement vocabulary. Stephanie is truly honored to be a part of the 2010 Dance Omi International Dance Collective, and she particularly wishes to delve deeper into improvisational movement work in collaboration with improvised music and site-specific spaces. A graduate in English literature both from Bucknell University and Oxford University, Stephanie believes in the power of words both written and spoken from and on the body, and she further wishes to explore how this tool can enhance the process of creating dance.