Rooted in Motion

NOVEMBER 13 AT 7:30 P.M. (PREVIEW) NOVEMBER 14, 15, 19-21 AT 7:30 P.M. NOVEMBER 16 AT 2:00 P.M.

OSCAR G. BROCKETT THEATRE F. LOREN WINSHIP DRAMA BUILDING

Theatredance.utexas.edu DANCE

CHOREOGRAPHER

Mé Duniya VOID / ing Ohr Wild Hearts and Other Ecologies

Sinclair Emoghene EG Gionfriddo Makaila Natividad Vanessa Anspaugh in collaboration with the dancers

Stage Manager: Rebecca Couch Assistant Stage Managers: Nicole Chacko, Laura Soares Archival Team: Laura Baker, Grace Falconer, Merrin Foley, Cassidy Perry, Megan Ramos, Zoë Van Osten There will be one 10-minute intermission.

THE VIDEOTAPING, PHOTOGRAPHING OR AUDIO RECORDING OF THIS PRODUCTION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

NOTE FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Dear Friend, I have always believed the work of dance to be the same as the work of being human. We are artists, yes, but we are also laborers—our work measured not in data points, but in sweat, breath and the aching vulnerability of being seen in process. The dances you are about to witness are born of this unyielding physical commitment, a stubborn act of creation in a moment that feels increasingly defined by fracture and collapse.

We cannot ignore the tenor of our time. When the scaffolds of society seem to sway, what is the role of our bodies in motion? It is to show the grit required not just to execute a difficult movement, but to keep showing up—to put one foot in front of the other, literally and metaphorically, even when the ground beneath seems unstable.

The artistic brilliance on this stage is not just spectacle; it is a testament to perseverance.

In this space, the dancer’s body becomes a living archive of resistance. Every sustained hold, every sharp turn, every breath taken in unison is a small, defiant affirmation that value can still be forged through the effort of connection.

If we let it, the labor of dance transforms into a profound act of hope and truth-telling. It strips away the superficial, leaving only the essential: the relationship between effort and outcome, the power of collective movement and the enduring capacity of our humanity to create its own foundation amidst chaos, to keep us rooted in motion.

We invite you to feel the weight of this labor, and to recognize in it a mirror for your own enduring struggle and strength. Dance has always been, and will remain, a quiet insistence to be radically human.

May we stay radically human, and rooted in motion, together.

EG Gionfriddo Producing Artistic Director

LEARN ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DANCE

WHAT’S ON STAGE

LOCATION, DIRECTIONS, PARKING

Mé Duniya Choreography: Sinclair Emoghene Costume Designer: Allison Normin Johnson Lighting Designer: KP Pierce Sound/Projection Designer: Desne Wharton Music Collaboratio: Jacob Daniels Scenic Designer:Alik Clay Assistant Scenic Designers: Valeria Nuñez Estrada, Gustavo Hernandez Pinzon Rehearsal Assistant: Natalia DePaula CAST Natalia DePaula, Audrey Friloux, Sydney Gladden, Jesus Gutierrez, Riza Hernandez, Marcel MARS Johnson, Giovanni Ledezma, Valentina Reyes Rubio, Natalie Vargas, Maxima Velasquez, Bailey Whiteman, Wynter Winston FROM THE CHOREOGRAPHER Mé Duniya (Hausa for “what is life?”) investigates the futility of existence and the complexities of telling history. Choreographed through theatricality, unconventional movement, sonicscapes and imagined embodied transmissions, the work envisions a cold, drained planet where events never align—an exploration of reverse-dystopianism. Set 450 years in the future, it attempts to reconstruct fragmented pasts, asking how intelligent beings without clear recollections can situate origins to make sense of their world.

VOID / ing Choreography: EG Gionfriddo Choreography Assistants: Leo Briggs, Celeste Camfield, Aída Hernandez-Reyes Music: Jolly Roger Studio, Eliot Gray Fisher, Math Judson Costume Designer: Aaron Torres Lighting Designer: Kay Currier-Graves Sound Designer: Celine Lowe Chang Projection Designer: Luna Jones Scenic Designer: Alik Clay Assistant Scenic Designers: Valeria Nuñez Estrada, Gustavo Hernandez Pinzon Rehearsal Assistant: Audrey Friloux CAST Daniela Mendes Albert, Natalia Depaula, Grace Falconer, Emma Flores, Audrey Friloux, Annasofiha Garcia, Katie Jones, Cassidy Perry, Drew Phipps, Kendall Wenmohs FROM THE CHOREOGRAPHER The Void is the place where we do the gritty work of growing older. We relentlessly confront and comfort all versions of ourselves: the past, the hoped-for and the present. We can’t bypass the labor in the Void, and we must be willing to leave parts of ourselves behind.

The Void is currently being developed in three distinct configurations: staged here in the Brockett with Dance Repertory Theatre; a proscenium premiere at Texas State University in March 2026 and an experimental, in-the-round, evening-length production with EG’s company ARCOS, running November 21–29, 2025 at Crashbox.

INTERMISSION

Ohr Choreography: Makaila Natividad Music: Descend by Christophe Fillipi, The Bottom Line - Sunrise Session II by Ólafur Arnalds Costume Designer: Aaron Torres Lighting Designer: Patrick Schoen Sound Designer: Celine Lowe Chang Scenic Designer: Alik Clay Assistant Scenic Designers: Valeria Nuñez Estrada, Gustavo Hernandez Pinzon Rehearsal Assistant: Kate Mooney CAST Caroline Buchhorn, Olivia Bursnall, Paulina Cuenca, Gillian Gordon, Jesus Gutierrez, Julia Leitner, Kate Mooney, Zoë Van Osten, Wynter Winston FROM THE CHOREOGRAPHER Ohr (pronounced or) — light. What happens when light meets darkness? Shadows recede, edges soften and what once was hidden is revealed. Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. This piece comes from a place of finding freedom in the uncomfortable, fractured process of unveiling—of what is revealed, reshaped and made whole in the light. Thank you to my dancers, collaborators, family, friends and the Lord for dancing with me in this creation process, in the light.

Wild Hearts and Other Ecologies Choreography: Vanessa Anspaugh in collaboration with the dancers Music: For Strings by Sarah Davachi, Think Of Me Once In A While,Take Care

by Liam McCay, Five Hundred Miles by Mamman Sani Costume Designer: Aaron Torres Lighting Designer: Patrick Schoen Sound Designer: Celine Lowe Chang Scenic Designer: Alik Clay Assistant Scenic Designers: Valeria Nuñez Estrada, Gustavo Hernandez Pinzon Rehearsal Assistant: Leili Givens CAST Jermey Benavides, Andrea Bernal, Leili Givens, Bryli Lee Jameson, Cassidy Perry, Hailey Potter, Julia Vickers, Jalissa Vitalis FROM THE CHOREOGRAPHER I began by asking the dancers where they were right now and what they wanted to do in performance. Every day, I asked them things related to trying to get to know who they were and what they cared about. In the end, I see what we made as a document of the present moment, expressive of this collection of people, each of whom grapples with the many facets of their own aliveness, with the losses and joys of being human. Many thanks to each of them for their generosity and presence throughout the process.

Vanessa Anspaugh is the Haruka Weiser Memorial Commissioned artist and the recipient of the 2025-2026 College of Fine Arts Visting Artist Endowment Grant.

Meet the cast and creative team behind Rooted In Motion.

Scan the QR code to view actor and creative team bios.

theatredance.utexas.edu/cabaret-cast-and-creative-team CREW TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS FABRICATION STUDIO ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR KAREN MANESS PROJECT MANAGER DAVID TOLIN FABRICATION TECHNICAL MANAGER JASON LEE HUERTA PROPERTIES MANAGER ASHTON MURPHY LEAD FABRICATOR HANK SCHWEMMER SENIOR TECHNICAL DIRECTOR SCOTT BUSSEY SCENIC CHARGE ARTIST BRIDGETTE CLIFFORD EMERGING ARTS PROFESSIONALS LEAH AUSTIN JULIA YELVINGTON GRADUATE PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS BRITTNEY BARTON GALA DEMARIN GUSTAVO ADOLFO HERNANDEZ PINZON

DYLAN LEBENSFELD CODIE LIGHTFOOT JOSE SALCIDO ZOE SALDANA JADEN WEST 324P FABRICATION PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS HAYLEY JAN CARBAJAL KEENAN DAVID DAILEY AVA DEVINEY JORDYN ECKERS STELLA GILL ISAIAH JONES DAIJHA MAINOR NATHAN RAMOS MADDEN SHOEBOTHAM PROP STOCK MANAGER JACUELINE MAI LAURA SOARES COSTUME PRODUCTION AND FABRICATION STUDIO COSTUME PRODUCTION DIRECTOR NANETTE ACOSTA PRODUCTION ASSOCIATES DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES JONATHAN WATERS

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS GABI HERNANDEZ MADISON JACKSON

STAFF DRAPERS SARAH BARBOUR POUA YANG

PRODUCTION LEADS JUNO ADAIR VALERIA NUÑEZ ESTRADA

STAFF FIRST HANDS JENNIFER BALL EMILY EOFF

FABRICATION PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS NAHLA BELTRAN JULIANA BRANDAO SARAH EWING ERIN GLASSCOCK ALISA IRVIN

STUDENT FIRST HANDS ALLISON NORMIN JOHNSON RILEY O’SULLIVAN

STUDENT STITCHERS JACOB BENAIL ALEX SECORD COSTUME CRAFTS ARTISAN TANYA OLALDE COSTUME CRAFTS ASSISTANTS LAYLA CREAR AVA SETTOON STUDIO ASSISTANTS AMANDA ROSE GEYER LAYLA ISAAC

ASSISTANT AUDIO VIDEO SUPERVISOR K. ELIOT HAYNES TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS AUDIO CREW SARAH APPLE KALEB AZIZ MEDIA GRADUATE ASSISTANTS ARASH BAQIPUR LUNA JONES NITSAN SCHARF DESNE WHARTON PRODUCTION ADVISORS

WIG HAIR AND MAKEUP SPECIALIST STEPHANIE WILLIAMS

STAGE MANAGEMENT RUSTY CLOYES

STUDIO CREW SUPERVISOR CALIFORNIA THORSON

DIRECTING KJ SANCHEZ ALEXANDRA BASSIAKOU SHAW

WARDROBE SUPERVISOR TANIA HERNANDEZ WARDROBE RUNNING CREW CHIEF HANNAH COTTEN COSTUME STOCK SUPERVISOR DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES COSTUME STOCK ASSISTANTS DEE FITZGERALD YHENG KITTY JIANG LIGHTING/SOUND/MEDIA ACADEMIC PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY MANAGER EARNEST MAZIQUE ASSISTANT LIGHTING SUPERVISOR MICHAEL SHANKS ASSISTANT SUPERVISING ELECTRICANS AMANI EDMOND VALERIA MORALES SENIOR LIGHTING TECHNICIAN PATRICK SCHOEN

COSTUME DESIGN RAQUEL BARRETO ELYSE GRIMALDI COSTUME TECHNOLOGY DAVID AREVALO LIGHTING DESIGN MICHELLE HABECK INTEGRATED MEDIA FOR LIVE PERFORMANCE KATE FREER SCENIC DESIGN JOSAFATH REYNOSO SOUND DESIGN PHILLIP OWEN DRAMATURGY MADGE DARLINGTON RESIDENT INTIMACY DIRECTOR ANDY GRAPKO CREW SUPERVISOR AUSTIN SHIRLEY

324P LIGHTING FACULTY SUPERVISOR SEB BOONE 324P THEATRE AND DANCE LIGHTING CREW ABELARDO AGUILAR EDUARDO BENAVIDES HADDON BRITT AMANI EDMOND ELICIA HARTZELL PRESTON MARK DYLAN MARTINEZ FIGUERO VALERIA MORALES AKANSHA RANBHISE AARON SULLIVAN TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS LIGHTING CREW JOSE CALVILLO PJ JETTON RILEY KNECHT MICHAEL OKOOTI BLAKE PERSYN ETHAN SEBREE RAIN SNYDER AARON SULLIVAN

DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION RUSTY CLOYES TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS DIRECTOR OF FABRICATION AND ACADEMIC PRODUCTION JEFF GRAPKO FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGEMENT AND TICKETING DANA MCLAUGHLIN PR/MARKETING SYDNEY PATTILLO KATY WIGGINS PHOTOGRAPHER SARAH A. NAVARRETE GRAPHIC DESIGNER MONICA GRIFFIN MARZENA KRUPA

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