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.
Kate Watson-Wallace (facilitator, Artists U graduate) is a choreographer and performer based in Philadelphia. She is director of anonymous bodies, a 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. www.katewawa.com
