Meet our community

Photo by Stephanie Crousillat

Gwendolyn Hope Gussman

Founder, Artistic Director, Choreographer, Performer

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).

Gussman holds a BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

As an independent choreographer outside of HOLDTIGHT, 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.

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 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. 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 moreGussman and her mom, a master psychotherapist, are currently leading mind-body retreats.

Current Collaborators

  • Musical Director, Sound Designer, & Performer for What Keeps You Going? and Bites, Composer & Performer for What Distracts You?

    Johnny Butler is a Brooklyn-based, Grammy-award winning saxophonist, recording artist, arranger, composer, dancer, and technologist. Over the years, he has performed, written, and recorded with many of his musical heroes, including Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder, Donald Fagen (Steely Dan), Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule) Wynton Marsalis, The Levon Helm Band, Tune-Yards, Joe Lally (Fugazi), Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds, and Escaper, among others. Johnny recently released his latest album, Thirteen Dances.

    Using only a saxophone and a handful of electronic devices, Butler recorded all of the Thirteen Dances in real-time without the aid of samples, loopers, overdubs, or prerecorded materials. Unlike most musicians who work with dance, Butler uses a wireless microphone to move with the dancers onstage, blending the music, the dancer, and the daydream. You can listen and learn more by visiting www.johnnybutler.com

  • Composer, Sound Design and Musical Collaborator for: alone : un/tethered, Wild Oscillation, Nourishment::What Feeds You? , & At The Line.

    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.

  • Collaborator & Performer for HT’s current work-in-process, un/tethered, & Collaborator/Performer for What Keeps You Going?

    Dervla Carey-Jones is originally from San Francisco, CA, where she trained with the San Francisco Ballet School and with the ODC dance school. Dervla received a BFA from NYU’s Tisch dance program in 2018. Dervla is currently based in NYC and dances with Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, Rocha Dance Theater, Jordan Lloyd, and HOLDTIGHT. Dervla has performed in Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ premiere of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones”, in an original work by Pam Pietro, and in multiple works by Maddie Schimmel.

  • Collaborator & Performer for Wild Oscillation

    Kristina Davies (b. Denver, Colorado) is a visual artist and educator who believes that creative expression is a form of self-discovery, transformation, and community-building. She uses paint, mixed media, fabric, collage, movement, gesture and music to express themes centered around identity, human connection and community. Primarily a painter, her large works are often non-objective, where her visual vocabulary is pure abstraction. At times, her paintings become figurative, and a narrative unfolds in a powerful way.

     A key component to her artistic mission is community-based art, knowing the transformative, healing power of expression through creative experiences. In 2023, Kristina was awarded the Sharon Prize Grant, where she was able to lead art workshops with critically ill children and their families at Brent’s Place. The work created together and in response to this shared experience was exhibited at Children’s Hospital in the Hamilton Gallery in 2024. 

    In 2022, she won the Denis Diderot Award, enabling her to attend the Artist Residency at Chateau Orquevaux in France. 

    She has exhibited her work in galleries throughout Colorado, including Artworks Center for Contemporary Art, Curtis Center for the Arts, Arvada Center for the Arts, RedLine, SeeSaw, BRDG Project, Bell Projects, and Bitfactory. 

    Her works are in private and public collections in France, California, New York, Kentucky and Colorado. She currently works in her studio at SeeSaw studios in Englewood.

  • Scenographer for when the blossom passes, what remains?, What Keeps You Going?, Why Believe? (NYC), what does it feel like to grow up? (Denver), and what does it feel like to grow up? (NYC), Co-editor for Bites

    Anna Driftmier is an award-winning scenographer, production designer, and artist whose work extends across the US and Europe. Anna actively collaborates with a wide range of artists to produce visually powerful, genre-breaking pieces of work in unique and dynamic spaces. Anna has worked alongside many esteemed arts organizations and venues including LAIKA Animation, the Barbican Centre, Columbia University, The Juilliard School, Central Saint Martins, and Dash Arts as well as Off-West End and Off-Broadway stages. Anna is currently a Creative Director with Fever where she works alongside their Originals team to spearhead and develop new immersive performances and installations.In NYC Anna is the scenography mentor and designer for The Juilliard School’s Center for Innovation in the Arts.Previously, Anna was a guest lecturer at Mount Holyoke College in Site-Specific Design and Performance Making.Anna completed the MA in Performance Design and Practice at Central Saint Martins. She received a Diploma in Technical Theatre at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mount Holyoke College with a BA in Classics and Theatre. Anna has been working with HOLDTIGHT since 2017.

    Further information: annadriftmier.com

  • Collaborator & Performer: un/tethered, Wild Oscillation, Nourishment :: What Feeds You? , At The Line

    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. bsomatica.com

  • Administrative Assistant & Web Designer

    Corinne Hart began her dance training in Mundelein, Illinois. Ms. Hart attended summer study programs including North Carolina Dance Theater (Charlotte Ballet), Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, The Rock School for Dance Education, Ruth Page Center for the Arts, and Dance HUB (Toscana Dance HUB). She received her BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she performed works by Stefanie Batten Bland, Ori Flomin, and Cherylyn Lavagnino. Upon graduating, she joined Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance full time, as well as DiLorenzo & Co., WADEensemble, and the RIOULT Dance NY Repertoire Group. Ms. Hart continues to have a diverse performance career including performing in the Florence Dance Festival in Italy and at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, among various venues around NYC and upstate NY.

    She is presently a faculty member at 5678 Dance, Pure Movement Dance Center, and a guest artist at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Department of Dance. She has previously taught at Southern Methodist University, University of Utah, Gibney Dance, Peridance Center, Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance, RIOULT Dance Center, Toscana Dance HUB, and Dancenter North.

    She utilizes her talents for administration and organization by working extensively in the non-profit dance world. In addition to her performance career, Ms. Hart has worked as Executive Administrator with Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance for five years. In that time, she has assisted in acquiring multiple sizable grants for the company (NYU Dean’s Faculty Grant, Harkness Grant, O’Donnell-Green Foundation, among others). In 2018, she joined the administrative team at WADE (formerly Toscana Dance HUB) under Giada Matteini. She joined as Administrative Assistant for Gwendolyn Gussman’s HOLDTIGHT Company in 2021. Corinne finds that elevating the work of these three incredible women is the most important and rewarding work she has ever had the pleasure of doing.

    www.corinnehart.com

  • Lighting Designer for What Keeps You Going?, Lighting Designer, Stage Manager, Project Coordinator, and Performer for Why Believe? (NYC), Why Believe? (Denver), what does it feel like to grow up? (NYC), what does it feel like to grow up? (Denver), and what does it feel like to fall in love? (Denver)

    Boston-based lighting designer. Recent regional credits include Hear Word! (American Repertory Theatre and Under The Radar Festival at the Public Theater NYC), Black Odyssey Boston (Central Square Theatre), Ragtime (Wheelock Family Theatre), We Are Proud to Present...(Brandeis University), Nat Turner in Jerusalem (Actor's Shakespeare Project), Straight White Men and Nixon's Nixon (New Rep), Leftovers (Company One – Strand Theatre), The Last Wife (WAM Theatre), and Wit (Calderwood Pavilion – Boston Center of Performing Arts). Other credits include the Midwest tour of What the Wind Taught Me and The Biomorphic Dance Festival in NYC. Aja is a Resident Lighting Designer and core collaborator for interdisciplinary, site-specific movement company, Nourishment. Previously she worked as a stage manager with the Denver Center Theatre Company and in Production Management at The Santa Fe Opera. Aja holds an M.F.A. in Lighting Design from Boston University, a B.F.A. in Lighting Design from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, and a B.A. in Dance Performance from the School of Music. Aja is a Mentor in Residence with Brighter Boston, an outreach organization aimed at giving urban teens practical training in event and theatre productions

    Aja has also been able to keep dance at the front of her passions, performing in pieces by Kendra Portier, Jenna Regal, Axis Dance Company, and with Alvin Ailey's Extension Program. She has also been a company member with Erin Prayer Dance Theatre in NYC and Contemporarily Out of Order (CooCo) in Boston. Aja has collaborated on all of the Nourishment Productions.

  • Musical Director, Composer, & Performer for when the blossom passes, what remains?, Why Believe? (NYC), Why Believe (Denver), what does it feel like to grow up? (NYC), and what does it feel like to grow up? (Denver)

    Jett Kwong's signature and unusual combination of the Chinese guzheng, strong vocal melodies, and electronic production has Culture Collide proclaiming "Jett Kwong is shifting the landscape." She was the recipient of the 2019 Kollaboration Kollabstar award and NPR calls her latest release a “balm to the spirit”. Originally from Denver and currently based in Los Angeles, Jett is also an actor and composer, and has music available on all streaming services. She graduated in 2014 from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) with a BFA in Music and a minor in Humanities. Jett has been working with HOLDTIGHT since 2017.

  • Musician, Collaborator, & Performer for Nourishment :: What Feeds You?

    Ana Luna is a multi-talented artist who seamlessly blends her skills as a violinist, singer, immersive performer, and movement artist 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 circus and theatrical performances to introduce modern audiences to the enchanting world of string playing.

    Combining her virtuosity as a violinist with immersive storytelling and expressive movement, she transports her audiences on mesmerizing journeys that engage the senses and stir the imagination. Her performances are not only auditory experiences but also visual spectacles, as she weaves her music into intricate narratives brought to life through movement and theatricality.

    ​Ana has performed on major stages with artists such as Kygo, Ms. Lauryn Hill and the Fugees, Disturbed, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Johan Lenox. In 2022, Ana performed as the violinist for the Queen's Ball: A Bridgerton Immersive Experience in Denver, produced by Netflix, Shondaland and Fever. She was most recently the lead in Yuri K Productions' newest show "Cirque Frost" during the 2024 holiday season, performing in 59 shows. She is a part of local legend Denver band, Izcalli Rock and performs regularly with Denver royalty, Kayla Marque.

    One of Ana's main focuses lies in interdisciplinary performances. She is passionate about collaborating with a diverse range of artists and specializes in immerse events and creative, imaginative performances. Ana also teaches pole dancing and movement workshops around the Denver area and has experience performing with fire and fire eating. 

    She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance from the Florida State University’s College of Music where she studied with Corinne Stillwell as well as a Master's degree in Violin Performance from the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music where she served as a graduate teaching assistant to Linda Wang and Igor Pikayzen.​

    ​Ana is an active member of the Colorado Symphony's Education Committee and the Levitt Pavilion's Bodies of Culture Board. She is also an official artist for NS Design Electric Violins and Walrus Audio.

  • Collaborator & Performer for un/tethered, when the blossom passes, what remains?, What Keeps You Going?, Bites, Why Believe? (NYC), Why Believe? (Denver), and what does it feel like to grow up? (Denver),

    Xenia (she/her) is a dancer, mover, and performer based in New York City and Chicago. Mansour holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. While there, she had the opportunity to perform works by Giada Ferrone, James Martin, and Netta Yerushalmy, as well as José Limón’s Mazurkas at The Joyce Theater in New York City. She is currently a member of Katherine Maxwell’s HIVEWILD and experimental dance theater HOLDTIGHT, specifically its site-specific and immersive show, Nourishment, in both Denver and New York City. A former company member of BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, she has also worked with Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Gabrielle Johnson + Artists, Javier Padilla & The Movement Playground, and Angie Moon Dance Theatre. She has performed in a range of stage, site-specific, immersive, film, and fashion work including as a guest dancer and model for Mexican fashion designer Carla Fernández, with choreography by Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, and as a feature dancer for CXN’s Fashion Commercial Come With Us, choreographed by Katherine Maxwell.Mansour has had additional training at LINES Ballet, The Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, NW Dance Project’s LAUNCH: 11, New Dialect, and the Merce Cunningham Trust where she has performed works by Gregory Dawson, Bret Easterling, Alex Ketley, Ohad Naharin, Anton Rudakov, Luca Signoretti, and Merce Cunningham. Xenia has been working with HOLDTIGHT since 2018.

  • Collaborator & Performer for What Distracts You?, Why Believe? (NYC), Why Believe? (Denver), and what does it feel like to grow up? (Denver)

    I am an actor, educator and producer. I have worked in primary roles as a veteran performer and producer with the Black Actors Guild and recent work with DCPA Ed and The Wit. This summer's intention is to "do dope things with dope people". I believe participating in the creation of Nourishment and the production we get to share is like, divine dopeness. I have collaborated on one Nourishment Production.

  • 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 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, 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 HT as a part of Mother: Untethered film. 

  • Collaborator & Performer for un/tethered

    Divya Maus is an award-winning musician whose work spans the spectrum of theatrical, contemporary, and choral music. Her pieces have been performed by recognized vocalists including Shoshana Bean, Carrie Manolakos, and Kirstin Maldonado. The lead single ‘Salty Water’ from her debut album BIGGER earned her a finalist placement in the Great American Song Contest and led to her opening for the Beach Boys in Los Angeles in 2014. As a vocalist, Divya has backed up Rozzi Crane, Scott Hoying (PENTATONIX), and Axel Mansoor, and was an original cast member of Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things off-Broadway. Divya’s works as a composer include the new musical THE MOLLYHOUSE (book & lyrics by Richard Hanson), the choral suites RAIN CYCLE and ASCENT, and the dance fantasia THE SHADOW by Mixed eMotion Theatrix set to premier in Los Angeles in 2024. Divya holds a BA in Music from the USC Thornton School of Music, and an MFA from the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. www.divyamaus.com @divyamaus

  • Composer, Sound Designer, & Performer for when the blossom passes, what remains?

    Odinn is an Icelandic composer and sound-designer based in London. Working predominantly in theatre, podcasts and as a music producer, he uses a combination of organic and digital sources and processing to create uniquely textured sounds and catchily evocative music. Recently Odinn has worked on Two Stars Short (Swet Doh), Belvedere (Over Here Theatre), Let the Right One In (All In Actors), What the Doll’s Saw (House of Macabre), The Trick (written by Eve Leigh), the immersive show Reflected (The Milo Wladek Co.), the Eastenders Podcast (BBC Sounds), The Zoe Ball Book Club (ITV and Cactus TV). Odinn has worked with HOLDTIGHT since 2022.

  • Creative Collaborator & Performance for un/tethered, Nourishment :: What Feeds You?

    Xochitl Portillo (she/her/ella) 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.

  • Lighting Designer & Production Manager for un/tethered, Wild Oscillation, Nourishment :: What Feeds You? , when the blossom passes, what remains?, Lighting Supervisor, Video Designer, & Production Manager for What Keeps You Going?, Co-editor for Bites, Lighting Designer & Production Manager for What Distracts You?, Production Manager for It’s Not What You Think

    Alex Taylor has worked in the New York theater scene for the past twelve years. His career includes four years as Assistant Lighting Supervisor for The Public Theater followed by the past six years as the Lighting Supervisor at St. Ann’s Warehouse. These include: Nice Fish (ART), A Streetcar Named Desire (Young Vic), A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (Taylor Mac), People, Places & Things (National Theatre), The Jungle (Good Chance/National Theatre/Young Vic), and Oklahoma!.

    He has had the pleasure of working as Lighting Supervisor and Production Electrician on a variety of amazing productions at The Public. These include: Into The Woods, Giant, Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Library, Hamilton, and Grounded.

    Additionally, he has worked for The Today Show (Electrician), Shen Wei Dance Arts (Lighting Supervisor), Noche Flamenca (Production Electrician), and Control Group Productions (Lighting Designer & Videographer).

    He is currently pursuing his MFA in Lighting Design at the University of Washington.

    His videography has been presented at National Sawdust (Lisel/Gwendolyn Gussman/Booker Stardrum), Next Gallery Denver (Control Group Productions), and The Cell Theatre (HOLDTIGHT). alexbtaylor.com

  • Creative Collaborator & Designer, un/tethered

    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).

  • Collaborator & Performer for HT’s current work-in-process, un/tethered

    Amanda Wallace is a Brooklyn-based performer and artist who uses voice and movement as a medium to explore connection. Wallace has appeared in works at The Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA Ps1, Pioneer Works, Center for Performance Research and the New York International Fringe Festival. She was in the cast of the immersive New York Times Critic’s Pick “Bottom Of The Ocean,” and directed intimate sensory experiences in the live ASMR performance, “Whisperlodge.” Recent work includes Monica Mirabile's "All things under dog, where two things are always true" presented at at HAU2 in Berlin and Performance Space New York.

  • Photographer

    Jade is an artist and photographer. She graduated cum laude with a BFA in photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 2017, and currently resides in the mile high city. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, her disability acts as a metaphorical backdrop, which influences how she physically and mentally participates in society. Because her disability is mostly invisible to the outside world, art has become a means to visualize and communicate the aspects of invisible illness that cannot be seen. Recently, Jade was one out of fifteen individuals named as part of The Kennedy Center’s Emerging Young Artists of 2018; the exhibition then went on to tour the country. Additionally, her work has been featured in: Photographer’s Forum Magazine, Cause Art, Google, Italian Vogue (PhotoVogue) as well as other publications.

  • Musical Director, Sound Designer, Collaborator, & Performer, un/tethered

    Daniel Weidlein is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer hailing from Boulder, Colorado and based in Los Angeles, California. His music has been performed by Grammy-Winning artists, Broadway performers, and ensembles from Los Angeles to Budapest. His debut albums, Fire In The Sky and A Winter's Lullaby, were his first experiments with chamber jazz, and that music has been performed at venues across the country including a sold out release show at the esteemed Blue Whale in Los Angeles. Daniel owns and operates BioSoul Music, a recording studio and production company in Los Angeles, where has written and crafted songs that have been streamed tens of millions of times for artists such as Blake McGrath, Sam Hirsh, Lumi Jin, Divya Maus, Ryan Amador, Kenton Chen, Mary Akpa, and the band PERTA. As an instrumentalist, Daniel has performed and toured with jazz luminaries such as Bob Mintzer, Joshua Redman, and Ambrose Akinmusire, legendary drag artist Peppermint, and the Budapest Recording Orchestra. @danielweidlein

  • Collaborator & Performer for HT’s current work-in-process, un/tethered

    Claire Westby is originally from Minnesota and now resides in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a BFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts NYU and also studied at Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD). Mrs. Westby has been a part of the Liz Gerring Dance Company for ten years where she is also a Rehearsal Assistant. She played the role of Red Queen in Third Rail’s production of Then She Fell. Additionally, Claire has performed in, and helped create original roles in works by John Jasperse, Brandon Collwes, Gwen Welliver, Benjamin Kimitch, Gerald Casel, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Helen Simoneau, and RoseAnne Spradlin. Claire Westby is an adjunct instructor in both Ballet and Contemporary at Tisch School of the Arts NYU. She has also had the pleasure of teaching at Columbia College Chicago, Gibney Dance, Mark Morris Dance Center, St. Paul Ballet, Steps on Broadway, Western Washington University and Jacob's Pillow.

Past Collaborators

  • Collaborator & Performer for What Keeps You Going?, Bites, and It’s Not What You Think

    Emily Haughton started dancing at an early age and has trained in multiple styles: ballet, jazz, contemporary, and contemporary ballet. In her high school years, she was fortunate to attend summer intensives with Gelsey Kirkland, Alvin Ailey, American Ballet Theatre (NY), School of American Ballet, Suzanne Farrell, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and LINES.

    She completed the Alonzo King LINES 2-year Training Program in the Spring of 2019, and had the privilege of working with and performing works by Christian Burns, Kai Davis, Arturo Fernandez, Maurya Kerr, Erik Wagner, Carmen Rozenstraten, Gregory Dolbashian, Sidra Bell, Tony Rizzi, Gregory Dawson, Alex Ketley and Alonzo King. After completing the LINES Training program, Emily moved to New York to pursue her dance career, where she's had the pleasure of working with Heidi Latsky, Susie McHugh + Dancers, and Gwendolyn Gussman’s HOLDTIGHT Company.

  • Sound Designer & Performer

    Trevor New, a Brooklyn Based musician, has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist. He has appeared as a soloist performing the Elgar Cello Concerto transcribed for Viola, and premiering the Henderson Viola Concerto with the Chelsea Symphony of New York January 2014. As a chamber musician he has played with the Balkan Chamber Orchestra on a multi-city tour of Japan, Chris McNulty on her latest Jazz album “Eternal”, Joe Daley’s “Portraits and Virtues”, David Chesky's “Joy and Sorrow”, Feist's “Metals”, Hip-hop Violinist and Emmy award winner Damien Escobar, and in the TV Orchestra of television's first drama about life in a Symphony, “Mozart in the Jungle”.

    Trevor, interested in the effect that music has in describing and effecting social issues and human experiences, premiered the Quartet titled “Offer” by Ernest Casutto a Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivor, which was written in 1944 while he was in a concentration camp, and performed at Carnegie Hall for the "Black Stars of the Great White Way" Broadway Reunion. He also performed as a part of a series called “Broadway Sings” for The Trevor Project, to raise money for suicide prevention efforts among LBGTQ youth.

    His work as a sound designer, engineer/producer, and performer can be found in a variety of media, including film scores, arranging, electronic music, TV, and in his newly release album “New Flow” music for yoga and meditation. In a Timeout New York review of a recent January production of the play "Your Hair Looked Great" his music was described as "Smartly Scored". Trevor plays solo performances, playing his viola and singing, and using Ableton Live for looping and effects. He currently plays Yoga workshops around Brooklyn and the Northeast, and will be releasing a vocal album later this year. Trevor has collaborated on two Nourishment Productions. Find more of his music at www.trevornew.com

  • Collaborator & Performer

    Patrick McGrath Needham is an LA native. He is currently working with Trisha Brown Dance Company and Company Stefanie Batten Bland. McGrath graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2016. In the past, McGrath has worked with Cherylyn Lavagnino, Kendra Portier and the Aswara Dance Company in Malaysia. He also choreographs and performs his own work. Patrick collaborated on one Nourishment Production.

  • Collaborator & Performer

    Carly Krulee was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois and began her dance training at Dance Center of Evanston under the direction of Beá Rashid. She was involved in a non-profit dance company called Evanston Dance Ensemble for 6 years. Her dance experiences continued with summer intensives at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Point Park University, and Toscana Dance HUB. Krulee received her Bachelor’s degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2016. She has performed pieces by Netta Yerushalmy, Vita Osojnik, Seán Curran, and a Jose Limón piece reconstructed by Kristen Foote. Upon graduation, she has joined Angie Moon Dance Theatre. Carly collaborated on one Nourishment Production.

  • Percussionist & Composer

    Breana received her Masters of Music in Percussion Performance from Central Michigan University and her Bachelors of Music in Percussion Performance from University of Northern Colorado. She is currently in pursuit of obtaining her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at the University of Northern Colorado. For the past three years Breana has been teaching at CMU and UNCO as a graduate student. She currently teaches private lessons to undergraduate students in the music program and is the instructor of UNCO’s Percussion Ensemble III.

    Ms. Meyers has experience playing solo and ensemble literature for marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, timpani, snare, set-up pieces and a variety of other percussive instruments. She has studied many genres of music including: Afro-Cuban, jazz, classical, and contemporary. She is active and supports the development of New Music. Ms. Meyers has premiered works by Frank Nawrot and recently premiered the marimba and saxophone duet Journal Entries of an Introvert by Evan Boegehold at the North American Saxophone Alliance conference in 2016. Ms. Meyers has been commissioned to perform new works by composers Bryce Craig, Ryan Elvert, and Tyler Dever. Currently Breana is collaborating with New York based composer Monte Weber on creating a work for vibraphone and electronics. Ms. Meyers is passionate about playing percussion and experimenting with any and all possible sounds.

  • Choreography & Performer

    Mariah is a Brooklyn based movement artist originally from Denver, Colorado. She achieved a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts where she began her investigation of movement, studying improvisation and composition under Alia Swersky and Tonya Lockyer. She has also been heavily influenced by her time at Impulstanz 2013, taking workshops from Keith Hennessy, Marie Chouinard, Anouk Llaurens and Ko Murobishi.

    Her choreographic work continues to develop through play, curiosity and an intense fascination with skin and naked flesh, and has been presented at Velocity Dance Center (Seattle), On the Boards (Seattle) and with the CURRENT SESSIONS at the Wild Project. Beyond appearing in her own works, as performer Mariah has had the pleasure of dancing for The 3 Yells, AJnC Dance and Alexandra Maricich. She has also danced the works of nationally renowned artists such as Zoe Scofield, Camille A. Brown, Ohad Naharin and Larry Keigwin.

  • Violin & Composer

    Violinist Angela Lamb is a fierce and passionate musician equally at home playing Bach on the concert stage to improvising in a bar. She plays in forty/sixty - an intrepid, fresh string trio dedicated to new music and founded out of a desire to perform new works, bring improvisation to the concert stage, and use music as a vehicle for social commentary and change. Angela has performed with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, the Fort Collins Symphony, the Steamboat Symphony Orchestra, the Cheyenne Symphony, the Wyoming Symphony, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra, the Opera in the Ozarks Orchestra, and the Green Bay Symphony. She is concertmaster of the Denver Pops Orchestra and soloed with her sister, Kathleen, on the Bach Double Violin Concerto with the St. Croix Valley Orchestra.

    Angela recently completed a Certificate in Orchestral Studies at the Lamont School of Music where she studied with Yumi Hwang-Williams. She received her masters at The Hartt School and her bachelors from Lawrence University. Angela is a teaching artist at El Sistema Colorado in Denver where she teaches violin to kindergartners. She has fiddled since she was six and enjoys impromptu fiddling sessions at home, around a campfire, or in a pub.

  • Visuals & Art Direction

  • musical director & performer for what does it feel like to fall in love?, performer for Why Believe? (NYC)

    "If you’re a fan of confessional lyrics and a strong, powerful voice — then Spoor is your girl." (303 Magazine) Folk/ Rock singer-songwriter Hallie Spoor is often described as an "old soul". With a voice reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, and songs like Brandi Carlile she is forging her own musical identity in the 21st century. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, she most recently appeared at Rockwood Music Hall and Bowery Electric. She released EP “New Ground” in Fall 2019.

    Mezzo-soprano Hallie Spoor from Denver, Colorado graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with her Bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance. At LMU, she appeared as Singer 1 in John Cage’s Europera 5, Ruth (Pirates of Penzance), and has sung in numerous opera scenes as Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Mistress Quickly (Falstaff), Carmen (Carmen), and the Third Lady (The Magic Flute). Other engagements have included Armelinde in Viardot’s Cendrillon, and most recently Ms. Spoor joined the chorus at Opera Colorado for their fall production of Aida, and their spring world premier of Lori Laitman’s The Scarlet Letter. She has participated in summer programs including Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and University of Miami Frost School of Music at Salzburg. Most recently, she was seen as Kaylee in the Emerald City Opera production of Speed Dating Tonight.

    In addition to her operatic engagements, Hallie is a singer-songwriter in the Denver area, and enjoys composing as well as performing.

  • Collaborator & Performer for It’s Not What You Think, what does it feel like to grow up? (NYC), and what does it feel like to grow up? (Denver)

    Originally from Boulder, Colorado, Mara Driscoll trained at the Boulder Ballet School and the North Carolina School of the Arts. She began her career at the Richmond Ballet and then moved to New York to attend New York University. Mara has worked with numerous NYC-based ensemble companies, including FJK Dance, Dardo Galletto Dance, Armitage Gone! Dance, Terra Firma Dance Theatre and Ian Spencer Bell Dance. Most recently, she joined the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in Robert Carsen's new production of Der Rosenkavalier. Mara also holds a degree in Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts from NYU's Gallatin School for Individualized Study. Mara has collaborated on two Nourishment Productions.

  • Visuals & Art Direction

    Fletcher Graham is a visual artist currently living and working between Brooklyn, New York & Denver, Colorado. With training in traditional media and years of experience working in the field of computer aided design, Fletcher seeks to bring a classical appreciation of human anatomy to the world of new-media art. Professionally, he has been integral in the interior design of retail stores around the US, and his 3D computer models have been downloaded by hundreds of thousands of people. Though he credits his various skills to an innate desire to learn, he has refrained from obtaining any degrees, preferring to learn through real-world experience.

    Fletcher's work represents both an appreciation for human anatomy, and a recognition of the absurdity of its form. His process involves traditional observational sculpture, but he uses contemporary tools such as modeling software to realize his work. The fact that many of his sculptures never make it off of a hard drive, into physical existence, brings up the question of what makes an artwork real. Fletcher aims to use these themes to remind humans of their own absurdity and the arbitrary nature of their existence.


Board Members

Jonathan Bost — Joseph Giordano — Ariel Kiley

HOLDTIGHT’s Board is a small community of people who are experts in their respective fields, passionate about the mission of HOLDTIGHT, and eager to contribute to the organization’s growth. This group is inspired to lend their time, expertise, and networks to garner interest in our work in an effort to expand the organization's impact on our audiences and community. The members are interested in individually and collectively moving the company from ideation to action.