facilitators

Elizabeth Sugawara (they/she) is an interdisciplinary performance artist, intermedia experimenter, fun seeker, and dance improviser. They hold an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University highlighting intergenerational processes, community dance-making, and K-12 adaptive curriculum. Through her creative practice with people, Elizabeth is deeply invested in organizing, facilitating, and developing experiences for multiple populations. As an artistic practice, she focuses on cultivating dance making in partnership with community spaces that support meeting people where they

are on their learning journey. There is space for everyone in the creative learning zone. Elizabeth began teaching in early childcare classrooms in Seattle in collaboration with Creative Dance Center (Founder: Anne Green Gilbert). At Creative Dance Center, they deepened teaching practices with early childhood education and Adaptive Dance practices for all ages and abilities. Elizabeth also developed as a maker and performer inside of spaces such as On The Boards, Velocity Dance Center, The Seattle International Dance Festival, Studio Current, BASE Theater, and The Northwest Film Festival in collaborative work alongside creatives such as Alicia Mullikin, Veronica Lee-Baik, Corina Dalzell and SOTO+TOWER. She is currently a teaching artist in Columbus, Ohio in spaces with Perennial Movement Group, the Delaware County Jail, and Columbus Dance for Parkinson’s while also bringing artistic collaboration to middle school drama clubs and high school dancers with disabilities through Art Possible. She has created and presented work at the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, National Dance Education Organization, Inhale/Exhale Performance Series, and Pedagogy and Theater of the Oppressed Conference. Additionally, Elizabeth is an instructor at Ohio University for the School of Dance collaborating with undergraduate and graduate students through Dance Composition courses and Community Dance courses.

Laura Patterson earned her BFA in Dance from The Ohio State University with a focus on community engagement, choreography, and pedagogy. Laura currently works in Columbus, Ohio as a freelance performer, teaching artist, and choreographer. She has been a movement instructor for Columbus State Community College, BalletMet’s Trainee and Education programs, Dublin Dance Center & Gymnastics, Momentum- Excellence, Art Possible Ohio, and Perennial Movement Group. In addition to her teaching, Laura is a performer with STILGO Dance + Tech and Perennial Movement Group. She creates her own choreography under the company name Lp & dancers. Lp & dancers has presented work at the Wexner Center of the Arts, Columbus Performing Arts Center, Ohio History Center, McConnell Arts Center, Ohio Poetry Association, City Dance Showcase, Clintonville Farmer’s Market, and Whirlwind Dance. Her most recent work, alongside dance artists Emily Kilroy and Elyse Kassa, was a part of the 2023 Columbus City Dance Showcase and the 2024 Synergy Dance showing in Cincinnati.

Katherine G. Moore is a movement and teaching artist whose work spans theaters, outdoor environments, galleries, and community spaces. Katherine earned a BA from Hope College and an MFA from The Ohio State University. Active professionally as a performer and choreographer across the US for over a decade, she has recently held creative residencies at The Croft (MI, 2021), Akron Soul Train (OH, 2023), Keshet Center for the Arts (NM, 2023), and Wildacres Retreat (NC, 2023). In addition to holding extensive teaching experience in studio and community settings, she was also a faculty member at the University of Southern Mississippi from 2019-2022. She currently lives in Columbus, OH, where she is grateful to be a recipient of grant funding from the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council, and where she works as an adjunct lecturer and guest artist for area schools such as the Ohio State University, Ohio University, and Ohio Wesleyan University.

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Alicia is a dance educator, performer, and choreographer based out of Columbus, OH. Alicia began her dance training in early childhood focusing heavily on the study of ballet. She later pursued a study of Modern Dance at Ohio University where she received a BFA in Modern Dance Performance and Choreography in 2013. Alicia fell in love with Modern/Contemporary dance and its’ endless possibilities for creative physical expression. Alicia is a Dancing Mindfulness Facilitator, certified through The Institute for Creative Mindfulness. Alicia has had the opportunity to facilitate these trauma-informed Dancing Mindfulness experiences in therapeutic, classroom, and community settings. She also has over a decade of dance education experience and continues to teach Modern, Contemporary, and Ballet technique classes to students ranging in age from 3 to 83yrs old in various studio and community settings throughout Columbus. Alicia is currently performing with Hixon Dance Company and serving as their rehearsal director under company director, Sarah Hixon in Columbus, Ohio. She has also freelanced her own choreographic projects throughout the Midwest. Alicia has had the privilege of working with and performing for various choreographers from around the country. Notably, Miki Orihari, principal dancer from the Martha Graham Company in a reconstruction of Graham’s early works ‘Heretic’. She has also worked with Kelsey Bartman of Texture Contemporary Ballet in Pittsburgh, Hannah Williamson of Mutual Dance Theater in Cincinnati, MADCO based out of St. Louis, Alexandra Bodnarchuk of Doma Dance Theater currently creating work in Minneapolis, Columbus Modern Dance Company with director Laura Puscas, Perennial Movement Group under the directorship of Sarah Ramey and Chloe Napoletano, and Lexi Clark-Stilianos of STILGO dance + tech in Columbus, Ohio. Alicia’s hope is to pass along the ability to tap into an inherent joy of moving the body and self-discovery. She hopes to be able to foster an appreciation of dance as a physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual pursuit.