Advisory Board
Juan José Escalante worked with MCB early in his career when the organization was operating at store front on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. For the past twenty years, he has served as Executive Director for Ballet Florida, Orlando Ballet, and the José Limón Dance Foundation. In each of these roles, Juan José partnered with artistic and community leaders in management of daily operations including fundraising, financial, and marketing oversight. Juan José holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management from the Herbert H. Lehman College City University of New York and a Master of Business Administration from the … Continued
Stuff
LEIMAY Team
Was born in USSR. She studied Social Realism Painting in Kiev, Ukraine, obtained a BFA in Computer Graphics and Interactive Multimedia at Pratt and a Master of Interactive Telecommunications – NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, ITP. Irena has worked as artist in a diverse array of fields, starting from Archaeology, Theater, Children’s books illustrations, Animation, Video, Interactive Multimedia, Game Design, and Creative Code. She has co-designed and fabricated costumes for LEIMAY’s projects for the past nine years and performed in several LEIMAY projects. She has been a LEIMAY Fellow with her own work as a visual artist collaborating with … Continued
Masanori Asahara, a native of Japan, has been living and dancing in New York since 2004. He studied at DANCE NEW AMSTERDAM. He creates his own works and has performed with Janis Brenner & Dancers, Butoh Rockettes, Company So-GoNo, da:zain, Duhon Dance, Isabel Gotzkowsky and Friends, Ko-Ryo Dance Theater,Wendy Osserman Dance Company, Purring Tigers, Sasha Soreff Dance Company, Sticky Mango Movement, Nathan Trice – Rituals,Vissi Dance Theater,Yukio Waguri and Kota Yamazaki / Fluid hug-hug.Masanori Asahara, a native of Japan, has been living and dancing in New York since 2004. He studied at DANCE NEW AMSTERDAM. He creates his own works … Continued
Megan Kendzior (Development Consultant) is a dance maker and arts advocate who works as a Strategic Development Consultant with a variety of artists and organizations in the dance landscape. She worked for Movement Research as the Development Manager for almost 10 years and her experience translates to helping LEIMAY build its funding and operational infrastructure.
Art explorer, cultural manager, producer, director, and workshop facilitator since 2021 with Contraindustria Corporación Cultural (Colombia) and since 2023 with the organization Leimay (New York/Colombia). He has experience as a music producer, DJ (Selector), and performer of string and percussion instruments. Dancer in Latin rhythms (Salsa-Bachata) in Street Dance genres (Lockin, Whacking, House, Hip-Hop), the heritage of Afro-diasporic dances, and Tap Dance in Dromós Project.
Dancer, actor, videographer, and anthropologist with training in interdisciplinary research methods, business management, forum theater methodologies, documentary cinematography, scriptwriting, collective creation in theater and literature, contemporary dance, classical ballet, and acting techniques. Experience as a dance and theater performer in different works and projects with the following groups: Elfo Azul Teatro (San Gil), Monte Brujas Teatro (San Gil), Pájara Pinta Danza (Medellín), Compañía “Sin Nombre” Teatro (Mexico), Cámara de Danza Comunidad (Bogotá-Medellín), Coopdanza, Inc (Bogotá-Medellín), LEIMAY (Bogotá-New York), and Contraindustria Colectivo Itinerante (Medellín-Bogotá-Mexico). He worked as a dancer-creator in the play “Invocación” (Artistic Residence of Orbitante Plataforma Danza Bogotá 2022). … Continued
Shige Moriya (Officer/Founder/Artistic Director) is an installation and video artist, and the founder and Artistic Director of the CAVE, a multimedia performance space, gallery and artist in residence space in Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY. Shige mixes live feed video with pre-edited materials and projects the images into sculpture constructed of layers of thin translucent screens. Shige invites audience and performer to enter the sculpture and discover further abstractions of a stretched two dimensional space. Video-installation artist and curator, Shige Moriya (born in Kyoto, Japan) has been in New York since 1993. He first worked as an exhibition curator in Soho, but … Continued
Ximena Garnica (Officer/Founder/Artistic Director), director and curator of the New York Butoh Festival and Artist in Residence at the CAVE gallery. “Once it touches, it enters. As it travels within it stirs my guts. It breaks off skin, and I soon find myself in pieces scattered in the void. With pieces still cracking, I now celebrate”. Ximena Garnica Gomez, born in Bogota, Colombia, is an actress, dancer and emerging theater director. She is Associate Director of CAVE Co-Director of CAVE ensemble and Artistic Director of LEIMAY Productions. She has trained with several butoh masters including Ko Murobushi, Yukio Waguri, Akira … Continued