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Creative Seeds Teachers Creative Seeds Classes |
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While Melissa is not a native of sunny California, she moved to Los Angeles at the age of thirteen to pursue her dream of becoming a performing artist. She graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Performing Arts as a vocal major and went on to obtain her baccalaureate degree in Political Science from Syracuse University. It was here in Upstate New York that she began to develop a second passion to the arts – helping young people realize their potential. She has been working with youth for the past ten years and continues to express herself creatively while singing, acting, dancing and directing youth performance projects in and around the Los Angeles area. |
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Dance brings people to their feet as does Nzingha Camara, dancer, educator, artist and choreographer whose illustrious career spans across the globe and over three decades. Her spirit has inspired motivated and instilled a sense of grace and pride in individuals from the villages of West Africa to the far shores of the Caribbean over to Europe and of course the United States. Branded with the name of a magnificent African queen, Camara’s sacred feet and poise live up to her legacy, having converted challenging dance moves into articulate expressions and fluid movements of art. |
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Bio will be added soon. |
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Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Raelle began her training under the Royal Academy of Dance ballet program. She then continued to study other forms of dance, such as; Jazz, tap, flamenco, modern, African, pilates and musical theater. In 2004, Raelle graduated from the UCLA World Arts and Cultures Dance Department, with a BA degree. Raelle has been awarded Artsbridge Scholarships, where she taught dance at various schools in Los Angeles, and currently teaches at various dance studios in Beverly Hills and Torrance. Raelle also works for a booking/consulting agency specializing in dance companies and World Music/Jazz artists. |
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Bio will be added soon. |
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Bio will be added soon. |
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Cesar Garfiaz, founding member of Contra-Tiempo, was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. He has been hyperactive since early childhood, and has always enjoyed moving. Being partly raised by his aunt, Garfiaz was influenced by her affinity for Salsa. He began dancing Salsa at the young age of seven, going on Sundays to Steven’s Steakhouse with his Tia Raquel. he has studied many styles including modern, hip hop, house, tai chi, Ghanaian, Mexican Folklorico & Afro-Cuban. As a part of UCLA’s Repertory Tour Ensemble, Garfiaz toured, performed and inspired young people in various LAUSD high schools. Through his work with Rep Tour, Garfiaz became passionate about youth arts education, and is continuing this important work with his involvement in contra-tiempo. |
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Born in Copenhagen, Denmark Ben started playing drums at the age of nine. Through out his teens, he studied with a vast range of teachers, learning many different musical styles and techniques. In 1997 he moved to New York and enrolled in Drummers Collective, where he studied with Michael Lauren, Jim Chapin, Ian Froman, Kim Plainfield, Bobby Sanabria, Adam Nussbaum etc. Ben returned to Denmark and started studying at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory. While attending school, he performed nightly with big bands, latin, funk and fusion bands. In 2002 he moved to Los Angeles. He has recorded and performed with names like Grammy winner Robert Reynolds (The Mavericks), Studio Altantis, Matrix Music Works (producers Greg Bartok/Harlan Lansky), Guitarists Andy Walo (Junior Wells) and Mitch Perry (Edgar Winther), Singer/songwriter Chad Gendason, Matt Salazar (Depswa), Neil Turbin (Anthrax) etc. Ben is currently working in a variety of projects with people like; Tom Regis (Gilberto Gil, Ofra Haza, Eddie Gomez), Rachel Armenta (Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Smokey Robinson), American Music Award winner Bobby Naverette (Tierra). |
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Bio will be added soon. |
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Tatiana Johnson is a dance choreographer, performer, and arts educator. She is a graduate of UCLA?s World Arts and Cultures Department, where she studied various dance forms such as Hip Hop, West African, Ballet, Modern, Salsa and Step dance. She is currently a dancer-choreographer with the One World dance company, which travels around the world to promote positive messages of peace and unity through the performing arts. Tatiana also teaches dance and loves working with everyone - from children to adults - because she believes that the arts are an important part of learning, healing, and expressing ones creative possibilities. |
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Nicole La Cour began dancing at the young age of 3 and has kept going ever since. She has trained in the areas of ballet, jazz, hip-hop, modern (Graham and Horton), West African, yoga and pilates. She participated in the Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive Program in 1997 and later received her BFA in dance from UCLA in 1998. Nicole has danced with numerous choreographers/instructors including Ka Ron Brown, Jimmy Locust, Robert Gilliam, Rebecca Wright, Ronald E. Brown, Janice Garrett, David Rousseve, Victoria Marks, Dorcas Roman, Frit and Frat Fuller, Scott Putman, Paula Present, Ralph Glenmore, Tamica Washington-Miller, and Lula Washington. Nicole’s dance career has taken her around the world to places such as Taiwan, South Africa, Mexico, and across the US. Besides performing, Nicole teaches dance at local YMCA’s and various dance studios in the Los Angeles community. She enjoys spending her off time by visiting with her family, reading, cooking and traveling. |
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Bio will be added soon. |
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Bio will be added soon. |
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Khefri Riley's foray into the world of babies and families has it's inspiration from her paternal great-grandmother, a renowned Cherokee midwife. In addition to being a mother to 4 year old son Zen, Khefri has her Pre-Natal Yoga Certification from Golden Bridge Yoga, is a Certified Itsy Bitsy Yoga Facilitator, Certified Yoga Ed. Instructor, trained miniyogis teacher, and is a trained Birth Doula. Her yoga classes have been featured in People Magazine and on Fox Ch. 11 News. Khefri lived in London, England for 10 years where she was a Founder and Executive Producer of Mannafest, a multi-media arts company with a focus on multi-cultural woman's issues and urban youth. Her poetry has been published in various anthologies, notably the Woman's Press and Blackwater Review. She has also appeared on MTV, BBC, and FOX networks as an entertainer. Khefri has over 10 years experience as an international fashion model and spoken word artist. She has now founded Urban Goddess Lifestyle providing holistic women's |
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Rosanna was born and raised in Ontario Canada and is very proud of her Italian Canadian heritage. Born to perform, she was an active child dancing at wedding's, family parties, and even in the mall where security guards would ask her to stop doing cartwheels. Her parents then enrolled her at Nancy's School of Dance at the early age of 3. Training in various styles such as jazz, tap, ballet, hip hop, Latin, and currently belly dance, Rosanna has also added acting into the mix. Rosanna has performed and competed all over Canada and the U.S winning various awards such as "Female Dancer of the Year" at the American Dance Awards in New York, and has performed along side star celebrities such as Christina Aguilera, Usher, Kathy Smith, Leeza Gibbons, and Hilary and Hailey Duff on the hit series "American Dreams". She is the co-founder of the Middle Eastern dance company Bohemia and is currently directing and performing her own show weekly. |
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Bio will be added soon. |
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Bio will be added soon. |
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TOLTECAYOTL (the work of artists) is dedicated to the preservation of culture through the arts. We utilize new and old techniques or approaches to art in an effort to continue culture and create visual and utilitarian art in the spirit of cultura and resistance: Artesenia Chicana. We design and create all our own work: from murals, to sculpture, to paintings. Toltecayotl is a partnership between Marisol Torres (ChUSMA, In Lak Ech) and Joe Galarza(Aztlan Underground). For the last 10+ years our groups have been dedicated to the betterment, and healing of community through music, comedy, poetry, and performance. We utilize performance and visual arts for dialogue, self-empowerment, and awareness among our community and have performed and/or organized at countless grassroots events, fundraisers, conferences throughout Los Angeles, California, and throughout the U.S. We are also teachers(facilitators) in multi-media arts and teach throughout Los Angeles from South Central and South Gate to East LA to the East San Fer Valley working with children, youth, and adults at schools, community centers, youth detention centers to universities. |
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Alesia Young has worked professionally in dance for over a decade, training in the studios of NYC and Europe with a brief stay at Amsterdam’s School for New Dance Development. She received a BA in Dance and American Studies from The George Washington University and completed her MFA in Dance at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures. She has performed in such venues as Lincoln Center and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and was nominated for a Lester Horton Dance Award. Young has pursued a fruitful career in dance education – ranging from youth and adult classes in studios and community centers to lecture and technique courses in private secondary schools and universities. She presently serves as Dance Faculty and Diversity Coordinator at the Windward School in West LA and previously in UCLA’s dance program. Simultaneously, she has developed a thriving career as a performer working in both commercial dance and staged performance. She has worked as a principal dancer for new LA-based contemporary modern dance companies such as Maria Gillespie’s OniDance and Holly Rothschild’s Strange and Elegant Productions, as well as longstanding companies like Collage Dance Theatre (LA), Trip Dance Theatre (LA), Sakoba Dance Theatre (London/LA), which she joined during their U.S. national tour, and most recently, Contra-Tiempo, an activist performance ensemble utilizing salsa as its core movement. Choreography is returning to the forefront of Young’s creative and professional life, with a new evening length piece in the works. |
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Maya Zellman, a recent graduate of UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures, grew up with extensive training in Modern, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Ballet, and West-African dance. She discovered Salsa, or rather it discovered her, in late Spring 2005 when she was approached by Ana Maria Alvarez, choreographer of contra-tiempo, to perform in their upcoming tour. Since then Maya has been dancing Salsa non-stop including two state-wide tours of New York, and numerous stages and clubs in Los Angeles. |
| Creative Seeds 5443 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90019 North side of Pico, just west of Hauser– map/directions |
phone: 323.936.0336 email: |
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