COLLABORATORS

Emily Hansen  is a dancer and dance instructor based in the Bay Area. She believes that dance and the arts provide much needed avenues for engaging in healing journeys, telling stories, and building community. She holds a BA in Dance and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley, and an MS in Dance/Movement Therapy from Sarah Lawrence College. Her dance experience included being a youth company member with the Merced Civic Ballet, and training under many artists at UC Berkeley, such as Lisa Wymore, Amara Tabor-Smith, Joe Goode, and Katie Faulkner. Emily currently teaches modern dance and ballet with the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. Beyond her choreographic work, Andi also works as a faculty member at the Bay Area Ballet Conservatory, Shawl Anderson Dance Center and as a Teaching Artist for the Community programs.  

Francesca Cipponeri is a dancer and choreographer in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. She currently holds an MFA in Choreography from Mills College in Oakland, CA and currently works as a performing artist with A Pulso Dance Project. As a dancer and choreographer, Francesca is consistently inspired by the beauty and struggle of humanity. She is passionate about telling the human story and capturing seemingly insignificant moments of life and revealing their artistry. She has been involved in human trafficking-relief work since 2016, and seeks to merge the intersection of art and advocacy through dance, collaboration, and mixed media. Francesca hopes to impact contemporary society by being an artistic voice with those who have been silenced. Most recently, Francesca has had the pleasure of dancing for Joe Landini in 2021, has co-produced the Hermana Anti-Trafficking Art Show in Oakland, CA, has danced for the SF MOMA under the direction of Nick Cave, and continually performs as an actor in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, CA.

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Ronja Ver is a dancer, dance maker, teacher, parent, and organizer. A perpetual student of performance as a way of participating in community and a tool for social change, they are deeply inspired by physical, social and mass movement, and its capacity to create meaningful impact on a personal and global scale. A native of Finland, Ver has worked and performed throughout Europe and in the United States, including with Nancy Stark Smith and Mike Vargas in Seattle and New York City; NAKA Dance Theater, Avy K Productions, Sara Shelton Mann, Piñata Dance Collective, Scott Wells and Dancers and Risa Jaroslow & Dancers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Previous posts include the National Theater of Finland and Riitta Vainio Dance Company, and Ver is proud to be featured spinning underwater in Steve Paxton’s DVD Material For The Spine. Ronja is continually inspired by the art and practice of Contact Improvisation, which provides a place for play and magic in their life. They are faculty at Moving On Center School for Participatory Arts and Somatic Practices, and adjunct faculty at St Mary’s College LEAP program. Ver is a graduate of Moving On Center, and holds an MFA in dance from Hollins University.