Musician
Nicole McKenzie
NICOLE MCKENZIE has performed widely as soloist and chamber musician. The Santa Barbara Independent declared, "McKenzie made a splash in the luscious and exciting music - she performed with gorgeous musicality." Winner of the Sutton Chamber Music Award, she graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, earned a BM Degree from Oberlin Conservatory, an MM Degree from Florida State University, and studied with Gary Kosloski at the Music Academy of the West. Ms. McKenzie maintains a private violin studio, co-directs and teaches for Sandcastle Music Together, directs and teaches for Allegro Violin Camp, is a founding member of the Nicole McKenzie Improv Group (an improvising group of dancers and musicians), was a long time member of the group, Kalinka, and regularly concertizes with renown pianist, Betty Oberacker. She performs on a violin created for her by Michel Eggimann of Rome, Italy.
Dancers
Ruth Alpert
Ruth Alpert has an extensive background of professional training in New York City in classical ballet, beginning with George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet in 1960; modern dance, starting in 1956, including early training at Juilliard and eight years of Merce Cunningham technique. Ruth graduated from Bard College with a BA in dance in 1973 and has done graduate work at the California Institute of the Arts. She was certified as a practitioner of The Trager ® Approach in 1987, certified in Pilates in 1993, certified in GYROTONIC® in 2002, and graduated as an Alexander Technique teacher in 2007.
Ruth has performed with modern and post-modern choreographers. She was an original member of Douglas Dunn & Dancers Company in New York City and while in Austin was a guest with the Deborah Hay Dance Company. Ruth has been Appalachian flatfoot dancing for 36 years. She has taught workshops, danced with Old-Timey string bands, busked (street performed) in various cities in at least 6 states. She currently does foot percussion with The Honeysuckle Possums, a local Santa Barbara, all female, Americana band.
In 1977, Ruth began to look for a solution to the chronic pain and injury that seemed to be part of a dancer’s life. She began to work with Susan Klein, and studied Release Work (Lulu Sweigard lineage) and the work of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen of The School for Body-Mind Centering. She was a student of Emilie Conrad’s “Continuum” work for over 8 years. Ruth was trained in pilates by Michele Larsson in 1992, was an Associate of Michele’s Core Dynamics Teacher Training Program for 11+ years, and has specialized in teaching clients with injuries and chronic illnesses.
Susan Shaberman has been hooked on modern dance since she was cast as the matador in “Ferdinand the Bull” at 8 years old. Her other passion as a child was horses. After raising her own children, she continued her dance training at the University of California, and went on to earn a Master’s Degree from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. Trying to satiate her cravings for more dance, she has studied extensively in the techniques of Graham, Cunningham, Limon, and Hawkins. In 1995 she formed an interdisciplinary company, Interplay, and became known for her trigger pieces, using electronic drum triggers to create instantaneous sound accompaniments, including musical tones, poetry, and percussion instrument sounds, for her movement. Ms Shaberman’s work has been seen on both local, national, and international (Avignon, Mexico, and Edinburgh) stages. She is currently performing with The Nicole McKenzie Improv Group, an exciting and most fulfilling experience. She has yet to fulfill her other dream of owning a horse.
Misa Kelly is an award winning multi-disciplinary artist and producer with eclectic studies in dance, music, choreography, and the visual arts. She holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and graduated with highest honors earning a degree in dance and business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1996 she founded SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre which evolved into ArtBark International in 2012. She also co-founded it’s affiliated non-profit, The Future Traditions Foundation. As a choreographer, performer her work has been shown extensively on the West Coast, in New York, Connecticut, France, Austria and Turkey. She has completed over 150 projects including co-founding and co-producing the ADaPT Festival series with her husband Stephen Kelly, the Affinity Project, and Project Minty. As a visual artist and performance artist her work has been been installed guerrilla style in the Belvedere Lourve, the, MOMA, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Norton Simon Museum. In addition to her own creative work she has performed in the choreography of New York artists Brian Brooks, Keigwin + Co. & Doug Elkins as a part of the DANCEWorks project. In addition to her present work with ArtBark International she is a core member of the Nicole McKenzie Improv group and is in creative collaboration with Los Angeles based artist Nancy Evans of Nancy Evans Dance Theater, New York based artist Barbara Mahler, and will soon begin work on a project with a French film maker based in Los Angeles - Craig Oty. Misa's present area of interest is deepening collaborative and co-creative processes, stone carving, clay sculpture. writing rap/spoken word for performance.
Mindy Horowitz
Coming soon!