Left to Right: Cristina Ramos, Erin Pellecchia, Jessica Ames, Tomomi Imai, Jessica Ruddock
Costume fitting at Battery Dance, 2/11/2016.
Costumes by Sarah Thea: http://sarahtheacostume.wix.com/html_1
Jessica Ames has been dancing with Vencl Dance for more than two years. She has also danced with Jen Abrams, Liz Keen (with Parents Who Dance), Risa Jaroslow and Dancers, Kriota Willberg’s Dura Mater (for over 9 years), and others. [She has a BA In Dance from Oberlin College.] She also works as a free-lance American Sign Language interpreter. She is thrilled to be dancing to the music of Arlene Sierra.
Tomomi Imai is from Tokyo, Japan where she trained and gainedprofessional experience as a member of Yoshiki Homma Dance Ballet Theater subsequently winning awards at the Asia National Modern Dance competition. She started to choreograph with Dance Collective Sho and created work presented at the Haiyuza Theater in Tokyo. In 2001 Ms. Imai moved to New York and worked with pianist Bob Sardo on her own composition, “Transformation.” This collaboration revealed another dimension of dance that she subsequently explored in “Night Tide”, “Medusa” (solo performance with a long rope) and “Medusa Abyss” (with a penlight). Her rendition of Oscar Wilde’s play “Salome” finely distills the paradox of Salome’s purity. Miss Imai studied Butoh with Yukio Waguri. She has danced with Toni Taylor, Above and Beyond, Maxine Steinman, Mary Seidman as well as many others. Recently she received a significant award for the newest piece “Undertow” in Japan, which recalls dreams of the tsunami in Japan in 2011. tomomiimai.com!
Erin Pellecchia holds a BFA in Dance from Emerson College, Boston and a postgraduate degree in Cultural Management from City University, London. She currently dances with Tina Croll + Company and has recently worked with Mosaic Dance Theater, Beth Soll, Josie Bray, the Animus Ensemble, Audra Carabetta, and Linden Tree Dance Company, among others. As a manager, Erin worked at the UK Foundation for Dance and The Place Artist Development in London, and at Green Street Studios in Boston. She was Administrator, Creative Movement teacher, and frequent Guest Artist with the Peanut Butter & Jelly Dance Company in Brookline, MA for many years. Erin is currently Studio Operations Supervisor at DANY Studios and makes custom-order quilts at DanzaGatto Designs.
Cristina Ramos, born and raised in Miami, FL, has been dancing since the age of 5. She has trained at Patricia Peñeñori Dance Center, New World School of the Arts, and Florida State University where she earned her BFA in Dance, magna cum laude. Working closely with influential professors and dance artists such as Bambi Anderson, Tom Welsh, Gerri Houlihan, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, and Dan Wagner has impacted Ms. Ramos to be the dance artist she is presently. Now based in New York City, Ms. Ramos joined Vencldance in July 2015. Ms. Ramos not only thoroughly enjoys dance, but also teaching Pilates, cooking new recipes, and baking vegan indulgences.
Jessica Ruddock holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. After graduating, Jessica planted her dance roots in the south working with Florida companies such as Moving Ethos in Sarasora and HEMISPHEREdance in Gainesville before she went back to the University of Florida to earn an MS in Tourism and Hospitality Management. Jessica has worked with various choreographers including, Neta Pulvermacher, Jennifer Archibald, and Alberto Alonzo. She has had the privilege of performing the repertoire of Jose Limon, Shapiro and Smith, and Elizabeth Streb. After moving to New York in 2013, Jessica performed in Beth Soll’s company during her last winter season. More recently in New York, she holds a position as a personal pilates instructor trained and certified by the world renowned Lawson Harris, a 2nd generation Pilates trainer. Jessica has also performed in various projects around the city with Megan Kendzior, acrobatic extraordinaire Eric Eliacin, and is now thrilled to perform with her second company since moving to NYC, Vencl Dance!