Rashaan Carter

(he/him)

Rashaan Carter grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. Through the nurturing of his father, a saxophonist, and his mother, a jazz radio programmer, Carter forged an interest in music. After stints with various instruments, the bass became the voice for his musical expression. He worked and gained experience in Washington’s local music scene, and after high school, moved to New York City to attend The New School University. At the New School, he studied with Buster Williams and began to work with many of the university’s faculty, including Joe Chambers and Jimmy Owens. Since moving to New York, Carter has worked with Wallace Roney, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Ravi Coltrane, Geri Allen, Nicole Mitchell, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Louis Hayes, Marc Cary, Cindy Blackman, Doug and Jean Carn, Antoine Roney, Sonny Simmons and more. He has also studied with Ron Carter. Rashaan regularly performs with a myriad of artists around the world and can be found on various recordings as well.

Elba Emicente sanchez

(she/her)

Elba Emicente Sanchez is a Mexican lighting artist and designer based in Austin, Texas. She has focused her career on dance, theater, music, opera, and live productions worldwide, principally as a lighting designer and lighting director. Elba's talents have earned her prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Incentive Program for Creation and Artistic Development of Puebla, Mexico (2022), and the Community Connections Fellowship (2021) from UC San Diego, where she recently graduated from the M.F.A. Design Program. Currently, Elba is the lighting director of Contra-Tiempo, an activist theater dance company led by Ana Maria Alvarez; and she is the resident lighting designer of Camino 23 (San Diego) and Georgetown Palace Theatre (Austin). 

Portfolio: https://www.emicentelighting.com/

Izzy Miller

(she/they)

Izzy Miller is a Los Angeles theater artist and production manager.

Izzy's current artistic practice focuses on social-emotional education and theater. They are developing an after-school program that provides an emotionally validating rehearsal space for kids that do not want to go on stage. Their theater pieces draw on the same interest, orchestrating experiential installation/ plays that move the audience through a whimsical representation of emotional processing. It is also very essential to them that their art exists in their community, for their community.

Izzy currently works with CONTRA-TIEMPO as a tour manager and production manager. In the past, they have worked with Faye Driscoll, Los Angeles Performance Practice, and Los Angeles Dance Project.

Meena Murugesan

(they/them)

Meena Murugesan (they/them) is a Bessie Award winning video artist and movement artist living on Tongva-Kizh land. Meena creates experimental non-linear narratives at the intersection of live performance, video art installation, and social issues. Grappling with the practices of improvisation, somatic bodywork, dominant caste bharatanatyam, collage, projection mapping, and contemplative documentary, Meena centers an anti-racist, anti-caste, feminist, queer, melanin-rich creative liberatory practice. They are directing a multimedia series entitled Dravidian Futurities about African-Dravidian connections, casteism, colorism, and trance/possession movement rituals. Meena is a current founding member of two collectives: SAEDA (South Asian Experimental Dance Artists, Mellon awardee 2021-2022) and SiriusShapeShifters (with d. Sabela grimes). Meena's dance, video art, or collaborative video projection design work has been presented at Getty Museum, Getty Villa, Underground Museum, Broad Museum, MOCA LA, The Ford Amphitheater, Pieter, LACE, UCLA, ODC, YBCA, Dance Mission, Abrons Arts Center, Gibney, NYLA, 651 Arts, EMPAC, Jacob's Pillow, SOPHIENSALE, Pearlstein Gallery, Black Star Film Festival, ICA Philadelphia, Opera Omaha, Tangente, MAI, Le Gesu, Monument National.

Daniel penilla

(he/him/el)

Daniel is driven to find ways of bringing joy, love, healing, and liberation to our communities. Daniel moves through spaces as a creative, an actor, a coach, producer, facilitator, enthusiast of community collaborations, and a lover of stories. 

As an actor, he was most recently in the award winning short film, La Serenata, by Ernesto Martinez and produced by Adelina Anthony and AdeRisa Productions, currently playing on HBO. He played “Bernardo” in The Play You Want by Bernardo Cubría, produced by The Road Theatre Company. 

Daniel was Associate Artistic Director and an Ensemble member with Cornerstone Theater Company. Along with directing, he led projects that were part of the Creative Seeds programming: events that bring together artists, activists, thought leaders, and community members. He was the Assistant Director for Cornerstone’s California: The Tempest, a yearlong tour across California, and the Associate Director on Cornerstone’s production Urban Rez, an immersive experience with Native and Indigenous peoples of Los Angeles. 

Daniel most recently produced the experiential event Rio Reveals and Rio Records with 13Exp. Bringing together over 60 leading artists from across entertainment in partnership with the nonprofit organization, River LA. 

He trained at Circle In The Square Theatre School in NYC and was a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company’s first Intensive Ensemble and is a member of the artEquity 2016 cohort. Daniel completed the Coaching for Healing Justice and Liberation’s, Liberatory Coaching Certification Program. He is the founder of (presente) coaching and working as a Liberatory Coach.

His work is fueled by the current state of our every day and he believes that sharing our stories is essential in our movement toward healing and social justice. He is constantly in search of ways to create space where creativity can be expressed and shared with joy and gratitude- especially with BIPOC, othered, and marginalized peoples and communities.

IG: @daniel.presente

Peter volk

(he/him)

Peter Volk creates set designs that shift static scenery into dynamically modular spaces and surfaces. He has worked with TONGUE Contemporary Dance, LEDGES AND BONES, Chadwick School Dance Program, and most recently with CONTRA-TIEMPO as a set designer and fabricator for ¡Azucar!. Peter is a collaborative artist and self-taught musician playing a wide range of instruments and can be found playing bass and singing with local bands in Los Angeles. He lives in Long Beach, CA with his family and works as a master carpenter, musician, and custom construction specialist.

robert “bobby” wilmore

(he/him)

Bobby Wilmore has been performing and teaching music sense grade school. In 2001 he moved to Los Angeles to study at USC and quickly became a prominent drummer in the Afro-Cuban scene. He works regularly with legendary singer/drummer Lazaro Galarraga creating shows, recordings and educational material.  He enjoys playing all styles of music and has had the honor of recording with many greats such as Herbie Hancock and Justin Timberlake. Currently Bobby is most often found playing with his Cuban group SitaraSon or spreading his love for music teaching classes at schools and universities.