Butoh: Rewild the Body

Meshi Chavez is a Visiting Professor of Dance at Middlebury College, teaches Butoh and somatic practices that cultivate curiosity, presence, and full embodiment. His work guides participants to inhabit the body fully, awaken relational awareness, and explore movement as a path toward creativity and the unknown.

Funny Business: Dance, Props and Comedic Timing 

Sonia Plumb is a choreographer, performer, dance educator and Teaching Artist. Sonia grew up in rural Vermont, migrating to Hartford, CT, where she received a B.A. in Theater and Dance from Trinity College. She has choreographed over fifty dancers during her career, has thrice received the CT Office of the Arts Fellowship for Artistic Excellence and was one of nine artists nationwide to receive a National Artist Community Legacy Award. Many of her works are evening length performances with theatrical elements that often include a sense of humor infused within the sublime. Curious by nature, Sonia has found that dancing is the best way to get out of her head and into the present moment. Her work has been showcased in festivals throughout the Northeast including Wax Works, NYC; Shared Space at Mark Morris, Dixon Place, NYC, The Performance Garage, Philadelphia, to name a few. Sonia returned to Vermont in 2023.

Reggaeton

Originally from Lima, Peru, Isa Paredes is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher specializing in urban genres, particularly Reggaeton and K-pop. She is part of Stellaris, K-pop dance team based in Vermont. Coming from a vibrant urban dance scene in Latin America, Isa started dancing to urban Latin genres in her early teens. Now, she is bringing that flavor to Vermont. 

Improvisation as Composition

Hanna Satterlee creates performance experiences and conceptual artworks for stage, site and film. Hanna holds degrees and certifications in dance therapy, psychology, performance, choreography, vinyassa/yin/restorative yoga, non-profit management and arts integration. Hanna shares these passions as an intergenerational educator, interdisciplinary performer + collaborator, experimental curator and event producer. 

Hanna holds a double BA in Dance/Psychology with a concentration in Dance Therapy from Goucher College, and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. Since 2006 Hanna has been a dancer in many US companies and collaborative performance groups, has worked internationally as an independent artist, choreographer, and movement and mindfulness teacher, and has received many grants and awards to support her performance, dance film and curatorial work. From 2010-15 Hanna served as the Director of Professional Programming & Director of Teen Jazz at the Contemporary Dance & Fitness Studio in Montpelier Vermont, and has been a guest lecturer at Johnson State College and Middlebury College, and adjunct faculty at Vermont Law School, the University of Vermont, Northern Vermont University and currently at Saint Michael's College. In May ’17 Hanna founded the Vermont Dance Alliance, and served as the Executive Director through June 2021. Hanna launched ANIMAL Dance in 2022, a performance and production company based in Burlington Vermont. ANIMAL Dance is the producer of the INSTINCT Experimental Dance Festival. In continuous conversation as a curator, an educator, a choreographer and a performer, Hanna is as passionate for the form of dance as she is in connecting people to it.  HannaSatterlee.com

Contemporary Aerial

Nicole Dagesse is a Vermont native whose rural upbringing in the forests and fields is a direct inspiration for her movement style and choreographic desires.  Combining her training in Modern Dance, Contact Improvisation, and Aerial Dance, Nicole approaches each new site with inquisitive play and rigorous movement research.  Nicole earned her BFA in Dance and BS in Environmental Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she was immersed in the creativity of the local dance scene.  Nicole cites Wire Monkey Dance as a major influence in her work.  It was while playing on the scaffolding that her 3-dimensional movement patterns began to develop, and her love of partnering work took flight.  After several years dancing in the Boston area, Nicole felt it was time to continue her dance education as an artist and teacher, and moved to Boulder, Co. to pursue an MFA in Site Dance and Somatic Practices.  The rugged terrain and the endless blue skies provided the perfect opportunity to hone her voice as a site artist.  The grounding and balancing study of the Alexander Technique was a necessary complement to her physically demanding work, and Nicole was increasingly interested in the parallels between body and earth.  After earning her Masters of Fine Arts, Nicole moved to North Carolina where she was the director of the dance department at Longleaf School of the Arts. It is also in NC where Nicole began Murmurations Dance with the first work, Birthing Bodies. Now Nicole lives in Vermont once again with her incredible husband, son, and daughter.  Murmurations continues in Vermont with a vibrant group of dancers and collaborators. Nicole is also a Yoga Teacher specializing in Vinyasa Flow, Aerial Yoga and Pre/Postnatal Yoga. Nicole’s aerial dance program has grown into a thriving network of passionate students of all ages, learn more about her teaching at worldtreeyoga.org.