WENDY REIN Co-Artistic Director
A native New Yorker, Wendy has been dancing and breaking furniture since age 3. With a BA from Brown University, she brings over 20 years of professional experience in the field to her work as a performer, choreographer producer, curator, and teacher. She worked with Misnomer Dance Theater before moving to San Francisco, where Wendy co-founded RAWdance with Ryan Smith and had the privilege of performing with artists such as Amy Seiwert, Deborah Slater, Alma Esperanza Cunningham, Nancy Karp, Mary Carbonara, and Todd Eckert, among others. She also worked for many years both in front of the camera and behind the scenes on a series of dance film projects with RJ Muna. Wendy moved to NY’s Hudson Valley in 2019 as the company expanded to two locations.
RYAN T. SMITH Co-Artistic Director
Ryan is a queer dance-maker, performer, curator, and connector. A Co-Founder of RAWdance, he has served as Co-Artistic Director since 2004, creating dozens of works for stage, alternative locations, and film with creative partner Wendy Rein. As a dancer, he has performed for artists such as Amy Seiwert, Alma Esperanza Cunningham, and Stephen Pelton. He was a member of the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company from 2005-2016, touring nationally and internationally, and participating in several collaborations with artists and organizations in Kochin, Kolkata, Guangzhou, and Jerusalem. Originally from outside of Boston, MA, Ryan received his B.A. in Theatre Arts and French Literature from Brown University before moving to San Francisco. In 2019, after 16 years in the Bay, he moved his primary residence to High Falls, a small hamlet in New York’s Hudson Valley.
KATERINA WONG Co-Artistic Director (on leave)
Katerina (Katie) is a dancer, choreographer, arts administrator, and the Co-Artistic Director of RAWdance. Since graduating from Princeton University and moving west, she’s performed with over 15 Bay Area dance companies including Printz Dance Project, PUSH Dance Company, LEVYdance, Concept o4, and the San Francisco Symphony. Katie’s choreography has been commissioned by PUSH Dance Company, FACT/SF, Cutting Ball Theater, California Academy of Sciences, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, and ACLU of Northern California. In 2017 she was the first dance artist to tour nationally with Pop-Up Magazine, which culminated in a performance at Lincoln Center. She was a 2019 Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training mentee, and a member of APAP’s Emerging Leadership Institute Class of 2020.
Staff
AIYANA D’ARCANGELO Program Manager (on leave)
Before moving to back to the U.S. in 2019, Aiyana was living in the U.K. and working for Scottish Dance Theatre, Scotland’s national contemporary dance company, under the direction of Fleur Darkin. As Senior Producer, she led the company’s touring activity to venues around the world, including India, China, Brazil, Mexico, many European countries, and across the U.K. Additionally, she supported the creation of new works by Botis Seva, Sharon Eyal, Colette Sadler, Emanuel Gat, and Fleur Darkin. Previous production work in the U.S. includes: New York University (Tisch School of the Arts, New York and Villa La Pietra, Florence, Italy), Robert Wilson (Watermill Center for the Arts/Byrd Hoffman Foundation), Lincoln Center Festival, Cynthia Hopkins (Must Don’t Whip ‘Um – National U.S. Tour), and St. Ann’s Warehouse. Aiyana studied Theatre at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (B.A., 2004) and Managing in the Creative Industries at the University of St Andrews (M.A., 2012).
MEGAN KURASHIGE CONCEPT series Coordinator & Co-Curator
Megan is a San Francisco based dancer and choreographer. She works with her sister, Shannon Kurashige, on wild collaborative projects as the co-directors and co-choreographers of Sharp & Fine. She also performs with Liss Fain Dance, where she has been a company member since 2010. She previously worked with choreographers Christian Burns (burnsWORK), Alex Ketley (The Foundry), and Amy Seiwert, and performed with Ballet Pacifica and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal. She studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Summer Lee Rhatigan and the Academy of Ballet under the direction of Richard Gibson. She is also a writer. Her fiction has appeared in various magazines and anthologies and she is a graduate of the 2008 Clarion Writers’ Workshop at UCSD.
KATHERINE DISENHOF Interim Digital Marketing Manager
Katherine Disenhof is a dancer, graphic designer, and arts administrator. She graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Human Biology and received the Louis Sudler Prize in the Performing and Creative Arts. While at Stanford, Katherine was an Artist Fellow at the Institute for Diversity in the Arts, interned at the Stanford Arts Institute, and received a Community Arts Fellowship to work with Destiny Arts Center in Oakland. She worked with Alonzo King LINES Ballet for many years, serving as the BFA Program Coordinator, Graphic Designer, and Marketing Manager. As a freelance graphic designer, she has collaborated with various Bay Area arts organizations including Brava Theater Center, Robert Moses’ Kin, Youth in Arts, and SMUIN Ballet, among others. Most recently, in response to COVID-19, Katherine founded and single-handedly ran Dancing Alone Together, a central resource for the rapidly-growing digital dance world during the early stages of the pandemic.
TWYLA MALCHOW-HAY Interim Program Manager
Twyla is a queer, San Francisco based dance artist, writer, and arts administrator. Originally from Portland, OR, she has lived in the Bay for four years after graduating from Chapman University with a BFA in Dance Performance. While in the Bay, she’s been actively evolving a multi-media creative practice. She previously worked with Ishan (Armineh Astanbous & Rachael Sharkland), Byb Chanel Bibene, Michael D. Lee, and has danced on film with Ky Woodward, Amelia Nommensen and for musical artist, Madeline Kenney. Beyond performing, Twyla is training as a Responsive Body practitioner under the guidance of Holly Johnston and assists local Bay Area dance companies with administrative support.
Photo by Hillary Goidell