Current Collaborators
Sarah Gottfried (she/her)
Dancer
Sarah Gottfried holds a BFA in dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts as well as a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Studies. She is originally from Michigan where she studied under Betsy Carr as part of Company Dance Traverse. Her choreography has been selected to perform at the 2014 Michigan Youth Arts Festival, and she was an artist-in-residence at The Sable Arts Project in 2018 as both a dancer and visual artist. She’s had the privilege of performing works by Bobbi Jene Smith, Jack Gray, Elizabeth Coker, Crystal Pite, and Trisha Brown. Currently she is a company member of One Day Dance which focuses on creating dance films - so far she has been involved in films choreographed by Kelly Todd, Corinne Shearer, Peter Cheng, Kelly Ireland, Alexis Robbins, and Mari Meade.
Qianna McDonald (she/her)
Dancer
Qianna McDonald is a New York/ New Jersey native. She began dancing in her church when she was a child. This passion would eventually lead her to studying at the Plainfield Academy for the Arts and Advanced Studies where she concentrated in dance. Qianna went on to study and hone her skills at the University of the Arts, receiving a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in Dance with a minor in Business. During college she had the opportunity to study abroad in Paris, Brussels, Lille, & Roubaix in the winter of 2019. She also studied at the American Dance Festival during the summer of 2019. While there, she worked alongside many artists including Camille Brown, Sidra Bell, Kim Bears- Bailey, Boris Charmatz, dancers of the Shen Wei Dance Company, among many others. Through these experiences, Qianna has learned a valuable wealth of knowledge about her artistry as well as its place in the world.
Yu Fujiwara (she/her)
Dancer
Originally from Kanagawa, Japan, Yu Fujiwara has performed with Drye/Marinaro Dance Company since 2018. She trained as a dancer in Japan Women’s College of Physical Education and Ailey School. Her previous experience includes performing for Balasole Dance Company, Brooklyn Royals Dance team, Belly Trans Entertainment, and Fish Leong’s 2016 U.S. tour. In addition to performing, her original choreography has been performed at KoDaFe, Queens Dance Festival, MODArts Dance Company’s Collective Thread, Camden's Festival of Dance, and Fertile Ground. Outside of performance work, she also enjoys teaching dance and sports at Japanese Children's Academy, assisting children's classes at Mark Morris Dance Center and binbin Factory Kids Ballet.
Kelsee Booker-Jordan (she/her)
Dancer
Kelsee Booker-Jordan is a native to Columbus, OH where she has been given the opportunity to present her own work in the area. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography, and minor in Military Science as she is a Lieutenant in the Army National Guard. At Ohio University, she received the Betty Mihendler and Hazel/Carr Liggett Dance Scholarship. She has had the opportunity to work with and present works by artists such as David Dorfman, Kendra Porter, Jazmine Hern, SpaceJunk Dance, films with Vanessa Long, and Jere Hunt, and now EBD! Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Divinity and creating her own work throughout New York City.
Emily Sanchez (she/her)
Dancer
Emily J. Sanchez was born and raised in Texas. She received her formal training at the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas. Emily has a Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). During her time at UNCSA, she has performed works of Doug Varone, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Douglas Dunn. Emily’s time at UNCSA allowed her to realize a natural interest for teaching and choreographing, which she is branching into and trying to garner more professional experience in. In addition to movement, her other creative outlets manifest through writing, singing, and storytelling. Emily is currently residing in New York City, continuing to grow as a dancer and artist, and sharing the artform that she loves in an environment that encourages authenticity.
Nadia Khayrallah (they/she/he)
Dancer
Nadia Khayrallah is a dance artist, writer, and general menace. A graduate of Columbia University with a B.A. in Dance and Psychology, she currently works with Jonah Bokaer Choreography, Gotham Dance Theater, eSKay Arts Collective, and Artists by Any Other Name, as well as EBDance. She has co-directed music videos for the artists Zahed Sultan and Alethea and has presented work for the stage and screen through Dixon Place, Queens College Arts Festival, Chez Bushwick, Queensboro Dance Festival, YallaPunk, Dancers Unlimited, and the ModArts Move to Change Festival. She has written for The Dance Enthusiast, The Huffington Post, Sukoon Magazine, and Reductress. As a member of the Dance/NYC Junior Committee, she has co-hosted discussions on racial and economic justice in the dance field at the Dance/NYC Symposium and the Arts Administrators of Color Network Convening. www.NadiaKhayrallah.com
Cameron Glyndon Surh (he/them)
Multimedia Designer/Dancer
Cameron Glyndon Surh (he/they) is a dancer, digital artist and musician. They grew up guest dancing ballets around the Bay Area, California. Cameron graduated from New York University for Dance and the Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology. It was at Tisch School of the Arts that choreographers such as Shamel Pitts and UNA Productions set work on him. He is continuing to pursue real-time design code at NYU through a Masters in Interactive Media Arts.
Ledah Finck (she/her)
Musician/Composer
Ledah Finck is a violinist, violist, improviser, and composer who currently resides in NYC. A passionate creator, performer, and curator of contemporary classical music, she is a member of the string quartet Bergamot Quartet, currently the Graduate Quartet in Residence at the Mannes School of Music, and the NC-based Earspace Ensemble. She released her first solo album, Mayfly, in 2020 and is at work on her second.
She has completed studies at the Banff Centre, the Lucerne Festival, Ensemble Moderne’s Klangspuren Academy in Austria, the Aspen Music Festival, and Bang on a Can among others. She holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in violin performance and composition from the Peabody Conservatory.
Nick Saia (he/him)
Musician/Composer
Nicholas Saia is a New York based guitarist, composer and teacher. An active performer throughout the United States, he has led and participated in a multitude of varied and genre- defying ensembles. His main project is UHHM, an improvising trio with Christopher Frick on keyboards as well as Jack Naden on drums. UHHM has released two albums described as “a dizzying, heavily improvisational mix of satisfying songs… a worthwhile listen for fans of free jazz and progressive rock.” (All About Jazz©), and have just recorded their third. He also performs a set of solo guitar material that includes original compositions, improvisation, and contemporary compositions by artists including Füting, Finck and Berio. Nick released a solo album entitled "Bog Songs I" that includes his own writing as well as improvisation highlighting concepts of prepared guitar and his search for unexplored sonic territory on the instrument.