What’s Fresh?

Artist Biographies:

Gwendolyn Hope Gussman is a director, choreographer, creative producer, performer, movement teacher, and generative artist based between Denver and New York City. Gussman is the Founder and Artistic Director of interdisciplinary performance company, HOLDTIGHT (HT). In addition to her work with HT, Gussman regularly collaborates with a myriad of multidisciplinary artists. She has worked on both live and film projects with musical artists Daniel Weidlein, Lisel (Eliza Bagg), Johnny Butler, The Warp Trio, Jett Kwong, Trevor New, and Hallie Spoor. She has collaborated on projects with visual artists Maki Teshima, Kalliopi Monoyois, Kristina Davies, etc. Currently, Gussman is choreographing From The Ashes, a 90-min Contemporary Concert Dance meets Chamber-Jazz piece following the life-cycle of a forest fire, conceived by composer Daniel Weidlein set to premiere in 2027. As an independent choreographer, Gussman’s work has been presented by institutions & organizations including National Sawdust in NYC, The Gallery Players in NYC, The Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, James Madison University, Seaside Dance Festival, Nimbus DanceWorks Offline Series, The Wadsworth Museum, Denver School of the Arts, and more. In 2021, was named a Toulmin Creator through the support of National Sawdust, Center for Ballet and the Arts, and The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Gussman holds a BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. As a performing artist, Gussman has extensive experience working in concert dance, music, film/tv, site-specific/installation, and experimental theater including her work with Shen Wei Dance Arts, Sean Curran Company, Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, Vanessa Walters ‘Ripening’, Heidi Latsky, Control Group Productions, Cleo Parker Robinson, Amy Sedaris, Daniel Fish, Ashley Tata, among others. Her career has included performing at prestigious venues and festivals such as The Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, MASS MoCa, Stanislavsky Theater (Moscow), Teatro Arcimboldi (Milan), Shanghai Cultural Square Theater, Teatro Comunale Modena, American Dance Festival, Spoleto Festival, Theater Olympics Festival (Beijing), Off The Grid Festival, and many others. Gussman has been teaching movement since 2012. She has developed and teaches movement & writing workshops called Process + Express through HOLDTIGHT that have recently been presented by Denver Arts & Venues, Rino Arts District (CO), Youth on Record (CO), and St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY. As an independent guest teacher, Gussman has taught improvisation, composition, modern, and contemporary dance workshops for a range of dance and theater students at institutions such as Yale University, New York University, James Madison University, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (CO), Denver School of the Arts, Opening Act (NYC), Steps Ahead (NYC), BOUNCE Festival (NYC), MOVE! (Denver), and others. In addition to her dance & interdisciplinary art teaching experience, Gussman is a certified Pilates and Yoga instructor who has additional experiences studying extensively in Hanna Somatics, Exercise Science, Anatomy, and Functional Fitness. She has developed and maintained a thriving Private Practice since 2015 which focuses on blending her movement knowledge and specializes in rehab-based movement for clients navigating chronic pain, acute injury, body-part replacements, athletes, and more. Gussman and her mom, a master psychotherapist, are currently leading mind-body retreats.

ANALUNA is a French-Colombian artist who seamlessly blends her skills as a violinist, DJ, multi-instrumentalist and composer to create captivating and innovative experiences for all audiences. With a deep passion for pushing the boundaries of traditional violin playing, she utilizes mediums such as melodic loops, electronic music and ambient soundscapes to introduce modern audiences to the enchanting world of string playing and showcase the violin in a different light. Ana has performed on major stages with artists such as Kygo, Yandel, Ms. Lauryn Hill and the Fugees, Disturbed, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Johan Lenox. She has worked extensively with companies such as Netflix, Shondaland, Fever, Quixotic, HOLDTIGHT and Meow Wolf Denver to bring beautiful immersive shows to life.

Krista Brown (she/her) is originally from Chicago, IL and relocated to Denver in 2020. She holds a B.S. in Contemporary Dance from Indiana University and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Israel as well as an M.A. in Social and Cultural Foundations in Education from DePaul University, Chicago. From 2015-2020, she worked as a freelance dancer and choreographer in Chicago, performing with Joel Hall Dancers and co-founding Concept Dances, a collaborative project presenting evening-length and gallery-based works. During this time, she trained on scholarship with Visceral Dance Chicago and with The Cambrians. Since relocating to Denver in 2020, Krista has performed with Wonderbound, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Control Group Productions, and HOLDTIGHT, and has collaborated on interdisciplinary and site-responsive performance projects. She currently teaches in the Denver community with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Academy and Colorado Ballet Education & Community Engagement. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology. Find out more on her website: https://www.kz-brown.com/

Nicholas Caputo is a musician, multi-disciplinary artist, audio engineer, and sound designer from Stuart, Florida. A lifelong musician, he has spent time touring in numerous bands, recording records, producing, street performing, and composing for theater and dance. After arriving in Denver during the summer of 2017 after leaving Gainesville, Florida, he started working with the Immersive Theater world by working with Control Group Productions as sound designer, composer, and associate director along with immersive production company Invisible City creating immersive activations, curating spaces, and working as a performer, divisor, and sound designer. He has also worked as sound designer and composer alongside Denver companies ODDKNOCK PRODUCTIONS, THE EXPOSURE PROJECT, and HOLDTIGHT. Most recently Nicholas has been working as sound engineer for local group Itchy-O as well as Conjure Productions.

Artist Statement for Endemic//Estate: Endemic//Estate is a meditation on the slow disappearance of the Florida scrub ecosystem through the lens of memory, development, and loss. Inspired by the scrubland behind the house I grew up in on the east coast of South Florida, the piece reflects on a landscape that once felt endless, wild, and alive — a place of sand pine, palmetto, heat, insects, silence, and hidden movement. At the center of the work is the Florida scrub-jay, one of the only bird species found exclusively in Florida. As commercial and residential development continues to fragment and erase the scrub, the ecosystems that support these species grow increasingly fragile. Through layered loops, ambient textures, and shifting instrumental voices, Endemic//Estate explores the tension between what naturally belongs to a place and what is ultimately built over it.

Erika Curry-Elrod began her training at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance before earning a BA in Dance and Physics from Beloit College, where she worked with Kirby Reed, Aiko Kinoshita, and Heidi Latsky. While in college, she received a full scholarship to the American Dance Festival and performed works by Keith Thompson and Ming Yung Lang. After graduating she lived in Telluride, CO where she was a founding member of the Telluride Dance Collective, working as a performer, choreographer, and teacher. She was also a company member of Telluride Theatre and was a dancer and model in several Telluride AIDS Benefit fashion shows. Over the years she has had the privilege of performing with 3rd Law Dance Theater, Evolving Doors Dance, Edgar L. Page’s Feel the Movement, Nosilla Dance Project, Kim Robards Dance, and currently dances with Moraporvida Contemporary Dance Company. Outside of dance, she works as a software developer at the National Laboratory of the Rockies in Golden, Colorado, and enjoys pottery as another creative outlet. 

Bailey Harper is an artist, dancer, and massage therapist, with a curious and unconventional approach to art. She holds a BA from the University of Alabama with a minor in Kinesiology. Her professional career began with Montgomery Ballet, within four seasons she went from apprentice to soloist. In 2013 she moved to Colorado and danced with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Hannah Kahn Dance Company, and Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet. She then shifted her focus from proscenium dance to Immersive Theater. Working with Control Group Productions she found a new niche and became the Associate Director of the company for many years, performing and helping to produce several shows. Also during that time, she was the Wolf in ‘Zabiti’ and was working with Invisible City to introduce immersive elements into different events. Currently, she is building her private practice as a massage therapist and works alongside her partner in their multi media production and dance company, Other Rooms, creating intimate immersive scenes and art installations. Bailey has been working with HOLDTIGHT since 2024 on numerous projects and shows. 

Xochitl Portillo is a poet, screenwriter, arts educator and performing artist from Denver, Colorado. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU and a BFA in Theatre with an emphasis in playwriting and directing from Cornish College of the Arts. She teaches at Denver School of the Arts and regularly hosts youth writing workshops both online and in person with local non-profits such as Youth on Record. She has had the honor and delight in collaborating on several productions with HOLDTIGHT including together: un-tethered (2024) and nourishment: what feeds you? (2025). Her most recent published poems can be found at Poetry Northwest.

Chelsea Marie Retzloff is originally from Eureka, CA. She holds degrees in dance and chemistry from UC Santa Barbara, where she received the Daniel G. Aldrich Outstanding Senior Award for the Class of 2007. Chelsea danced with Shen Wei Dance Arts from 2010-2025. She’s performed all of Shen Wei's seminal works in over 17 countries, 65 cities and at every major venue in the United States, China, Europe and South America. Chelsea became the company manager, a rehearsal assistant and the education director in 2016 and continues as the company controller and advisor today. Outside of her work with SWDA she's performed and collaborated in projects with Anthony Roth Costanzo (Opera), Santa Barbara Dance Theater, David Dorfman Dance, MacArthur Dance Project, Christopher Williams, The Anata Project, Tonia Shimin and Glitter Kitty Productions. Chelsea is a founding member of the Round Table, a collaborative group of women artists and producer of the musical Gunfighter Meets His Match. In addition to her dance work, she tutors math and chemistry for public and private school students throughout the world. She is excited to join the HOLDTIGHT family as a part of mother / untethered film and What’s Fresh?. 

Maki Teshima is a botanical dye textile artist from Japan, now based in Denver, Colorado. She explores the beauty of natural colors through her art works and workshops, inspiring communities to connect with nature.She has shared her expertise through lectures and workshops in diverse settings from offices, flower shops, compost sites, schools, and nonprofit organizations to established museums, spreading the world of natural colors. With a background in textile surface design in Osaka and New York City, Maki has worked on everything from socks and baby onesies to men’s and women’s clothing. Throughout her career, she has been fascinated by how colors, patterns, and designs in textiles can quickly transform human emotions. Notable projects include public art installation, Musubi // Connections (2023), supported by The INSITE Fund at Redline Contemporary Art Center; collaborations with the interdisciplinary dance company HOLDTIGHT (2024); and her solo exhibition Botanical Stories at Understudy (2024).

Artist Statement: I use natural materials to create art through the process of natural dyeing. This allows me to capture and preserve the fleeting beauty of nature. Many plants and natural elements only exist for a short time or under specific conditions, but by dyeing fibers with them, I can extend their life and color. Using hand-dyed fabrics and yarns, I create mobiles, soft sculptures installation, and wall pieces. My work explores the balance between the beauty of nature and its temporary, ever-changing life. My main goal as an artist is to bring comfort and healing to people. In our fast-paced digital world, and during times of political and social tension, I believe that spending time with natural colors and materials can help ease difficult emotions and create a sense of calm and connection. Through my work, I hope to invite viewers to reflect on the passage of time, the impermanence of life, and the lasting beauty found in nature.