Andrew Simonet (Artist U Founder and Director) is a choreographer and co-director of Philadelphia's Headlong Dance Theater, along with his collaborators Amy Smith and David Brick. Since 1993, Headlong has created collaborative dance theater in Philadelphia, and toured nationally. Recent projects include CELL, a performance journey for one audience member at a time guided by you cell phone, Hotel Pool, a dance theater piece performed in and around a hotel swimming pool, and Hippie Elegy, a duet mourning the decline of hippie values set to music by Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. Andrew is in charge of fundraising and development for the company, securing grants from funders such as the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, The Creative Capital Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, The Japan Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Arts. Headlong's work has been produced by The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Dance Theater Workshop (NYC), P.S. 122 (NYC), Central Park Summerstage, The Jade Festival (Tokyo), The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Headlong's work in the Philadelphia arts community includes hosting Dance Theater Camp, a month of workshops and collaboration for professional artists that is entirely artist-run and free for all participants. Andrew created and ran the Dance Program at the Lawrenceville School, a private high school in New Jersey, from 1995 to 2005. Andrew lives in West Philadelphia with his wife Elizabeth and their sons Jesse Tiger and Nico Wolf.
Michele Byrd-McPhee (Facilitator), a Philadelphia native, moved to New Jersey at the age of four. It was in New Jersey that Michele began her “dance training,” consisting of careful attention to episodes of the 1980’s television series “Fame,” mixed with occasional classes here and there. Although she had no formal training to speak of, Michele continued to dance throughout her childhood and by her high school years was part of every high school dance performance possible. After high school she began training with local “club” and “house” dancers in area nightclubs. Later, Michele attended Temple University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health Studies. After making a permanent move back to Philadelphia, Michele began training at American Academy of Gymnastics, The Broadway Dance Center of NYC and with hip-hop and house choreographers Rennie Harris, Terry Wright and Moncell Durden. In 1998 Michele started Montazh Performing Arts Company. Montäzh is a Philadelphia-based, all female hip-hop dance company whose mission is to expand Hip-Hop dance culture beyond its traditional roots as a male dominated art form in the Black and Hispanic communities. Montäzh PAC exists to develop and provide women with positive roles that are present and represented within the Hip-Hop dance community. Montäzh PAC is dedicated to preserving and redefining women’s roles in the Hip-Hop culture. Michele is the Executive Director of Montäzh, as well as the company’s Artistic Director. Michele teaches Intro to Hip-Hop at Bryn Mawr College and is currently earning her Master's Degree at Drexel University.
Anna Drozdowski (Facilitator) works in production and planning, strategizing and finding efficiency for artists who make honest, ambitious work. She writes critically about movement and occasionally instigates performance that moves. Her creative work has been supported by: the Chicago Seminar on Dance and Performance, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Dance Advance, and the National Endowment for the Arts Journalism Fellowship at the American Dance Festival. She is a Fulbright Fellow to Denmark and the Royal Danish Ballet and a PA Commonwealth Speaker. Upcoming projects include dramaturging for Meredith Rainey and guest-curating the PDP 2010 season. She is a member of the Hemispheric Institute of Politics and Performance, and the Nordisk forum för Dansforsking, and has contributed to The Philadelphia Weekly, The Bournonville Daily, The Boston Globe and the Dance Advance Archive. She sits on the advisory boards of Dance/USA/Philadelphia, The Mural & The Mint. Recent management history includes Team Office, Headlong Dance Theater, NCDC, Emmanuelle Delpech Ramey, anonymous bodies and the School of American Ballet; as well as serving as a Union Organizer at the United Auto Workers and lecturer on dance at OSEA/Mexico and DIS/Denmark. Anna enjoys learning, cross-stitching obscenities, and grocery shopping slowly. She holds an MA in Performance Studies from New York University.
Kate Watson-Wallace (Facilitator, Artists U graduate) is a choreographer and performer based in Philadelphia. She is director of anonymous bodies, an interdisciplinary performance company that creates site-based installation. Projects include, CAR, a performance for 4 audience members who sit in the back seat of a moving car, HOUSE, a show inside a row home, and the upcoming STORE, a performance piece about American greed. She has been presented throughout the US at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, ODC Dance (San Francisco), Velocity Dance (Seattle), Joyce SoHo (NYC), and DanceBoom at the Wilma Theater. Her work has been funded by the Rockefeller Map Fund, Dance Advance, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Independence Foundation. She is a 2007 Pew Fellow in the Arts in Choreography. When she's not crawling around in dirty spaces making art, she dances with Headlong Dance Theater.
Makoto Hirano (Facilitator, Artists U graduate) is a choreographer, director, performer, collaborator, writer, and aspiring carpenter. His performance ensemble OMNiBUS has been presented in numerous venues and festivals, including Yale University, The National Asian American Theater Festival, and Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. Performer/collaborator credits include: LOVE UNPUNISHED and PAY UP (Obie Award-winning Pig Iron Theatre Company); Still Unknown (Subcircle); The Happiness Lecture (Tony Award-winning Bill Irwin and Philadelphia Theatre Company); and most recently in Wandering Alice (Nichole Canuso Dance Company) and Car (Kate Watson-Wallace/anonymous bodies). In addition to performing, his writing has been commissioned for projects including: Tar (Charles Anderson/dance theatre X); Selective Sight and dance film Here (Subcircle). Makoto is a recipient of an Independence Foundation Fellowship and an APIA Residency at the Asian Arts Initiative. Makoto is a former-U.S. Marine, and studied dance at Columbia College Chicago before earning his BFA at Temple.
