LEIMAY Ensemble is a group of national and international dancers, performers, musicians and artists who create body-centered works around the principle of LUDUS, a practice that explores methods to physically condition the body of the performers and develop a sensitivity to the “in-between space.” Founded in 2012 by Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya, the group took form through the creation of the Becoming Series pentalogy, of which three parts have been created: Becoming Corpus, borders, and Frantic Beauty (Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2013-2017). Core members of the group hold a regular practice at their studio in Brooklyn, where they engage in the creation of new work in addition to teaching, training, research, and distillation of years of direct transmission of embodied knowledge by Japanese Butoh pioneers, Noguchi Taiso practitioners, and Experimental Theater innovators. Other members join as guest artists for specific projects. Additionally, some Ensemble members support LEIMAY via scenic and costume creation and through administrative and technical roles. The LEIMAY Ensemble and LEIMAY artistic collaborators have formed a constellation of creatives who develop deep connections with each other and with Ximena and Shige’s work.
Ensemble Members
Akane Little is a Brooklyn-based contemporary dance artist exploring performance as an interdimensional portal into the personal and collective unconscious. They began their dance training as a competition dancer in Starkville, MS, and continued on to study contemporary dance under Alysia Ramos at Oberlin College. During their time freelancing in Brooklyn, they have performed with artists including Kinesis Project, Hivewild, Boy Friday│Evik Abbott-Main, Hard/Femme Dances, God Complex x Aeon Andreas, and more. They are a featured performer in music videos for Tom Petty (dir. Adria Petty) and Bridget Kearney (Lake Street Dive). This is their second year in the LEIMAY … Continued
Maestro en Arte Danzario con énfasis en Danza Teatro de la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. Con experiencia en el campo de las artes desde la interpretación, la dirección, la investigación creación y la formación, alimentando su búsqueda por la expansión de los límites del arte en relación al ser.Con experiencia escénica en danza contemporánea, teatro físico, teatro posdramático y performance, centrando también sus inquietudes personales alrededor de lo ritual y el arte como encuentro sensible, generando así preguntas investigativas sobre la interdisciplinariedad y el lugar de las artes en la construcción de comunidad.
Andrea Jones (she/her) is a dancer, healthcare chaplain, and yoga instructor. Since 2012, she has been a member of LEIMAY, a multidisciplinary performance ensemble based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Additionally, she is a teacher and active contributor to the development of LEIMAY’s underlying methodology, LUDUS. Andrea is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary where she received a Masters of Divinity with a concentration in Buddhism and Interreligious Engagement. She works as a spiritual care provider at Mount Sinai Downtown within the disciplines of oncology and palliative care. A student of yoga for over 20 years, Andrea is also a certified yoga … Continued
(He/him/they) is 25 years old and originally from Baltimore, MD. He recently graduated from the California Institute of the Arts, majoring in dance (2020). Now residing full time in New York City. Damontae is a choreographer, dancer, director, and model looking to create and explore the boundaries of Black art; dealing with the physicality of bodies, intimacy, shape, and the overall development of the human consciousness over “time” through cinema, choreography, photography, and voice work. Damontae has been involved in a wide range of work. Ballet, contemporary, hip hop, site-specific work, etc… Including work by artists Garret Ammon, Marissa Brown, … Continued
Movement artist, creator, researcher, teacher, manager, and founder of the Multipurpose Project TerSer Cuerpo. As an independent creator and researcher, he has stood out since 2011. His teaching career spans around 14 years of experience. His contribution to the local context has been significant in terms of training processes, laboratories, research-creation proposals and for his insistence on consolidating an independent project. He has shared his work in various regions of the country and in Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and Ecuador.
Georgia b. Smith is an interdisciplinary artist who primarily creates sculptural and dance/performance art work. Georgia b. was a member of the LEIMAY ensemble as they premiered “Borders” at BAM Fisher in 2016. She has a MFA from the University of Michigan where she launched her series Plastic Abodes and Cavernous Bodies. Georgia b. was the artistic director of NOT for reTALE which showed work at CAVE. Georgia’s work in NOT for reTALE exemplifies how her work incorporates sculpture as an extension of the bodies on stage.
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
Krystel Copper (Former Marketing Associate and LEIMAY Ensemble member) is a NYC based artist who has been a member of the LEIMAY Ensemble since 2016. She has been LEIMAY’s Marketing Associate since 2018, where she oversees content creation for the bi-weeky newsletter and interacts with all daily social media platforms. She holds a B.A. in Dance from the University of Maryland, where she graduated Cum Laude in 2010. Krystel has dramatically increased LEIMAY’s visibility over the past 5 years.
Maitlin Jordan is a New York City based dancer, choreographer, and teacher. A graduate of the University of South Florida and rigorous Limon Professional Studies program in New York City. Maitlin was hand-picked by the artistic director, Colin Connor, of the Limon Dance Company to perform during their 2019 season. Maitlin has since worked as a contemporary dance artist and performed/worked at venues such as: The Joyce Theatre, Aaron Davis Hall, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Stanford University among many others. Her improv and choreographic works have been performed in numerous countries including in the United States, Italy, and Spain.
Mar Galeano is a visual and performance artist from Paraguay. They instill elements of photography, dance, and theater to create visual koans. For 8 years, Mar’s been part of Teatro Studio Sur Repertoire, where they studied acting and performed numerous plays. Mar performed in the LEIMAY’s garden series In Illo Tempore Vignettes. They’ve danced in Lucy Kerr’s while you were away, The World of Wrestling, and I Feel The Earth Move, presented at The Brooklyn Museum, LEIMAY’s Cave, IDIO Gallery, The MATCH (Houston), and MILK+Cereal (Austin). Recently, Mar acted in the original productions of Fairy/Tale and a man ought to … 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
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
Yusuke Mori was born in Kagawa Prefecture in 1982, and moved to Tokyo in 2001, where he majored in Performance in Broadcasting at the Tokyo Announce Performing Arts College. Upon graduating, he joined the butoh group KAIZA, led by Hideyuki Okaniwa. Currently, he is a member of Theatre Company shelf, and has performed in numerous productions by the experimental theater company Banyu Inryoku, led by J.A. Seazer. Major stage productions, written by Shuji Terayama, include: Lemmings (2017), Shintokumaru (Poinson Boy, 2017), Inugami (The Dog God, 2016), Nuhi-Kun (Directions to Servants, 2015), Jashumon (Hersey, 2013), and The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu … Continued
Ensemble Guests & Former Ensemble Members
Carolina Oliveros is a singer and musician born in Barranquilla, Colombia, and now based in New York City. She performed the traditional music of the Colombian Caribbean coast with “Las Cantadoras del Rio,” investigating and researching the multitude of rhythms in the bailes cantados (sung dances) of the region, including bullerengue, tambora, gaita, and millo. In NYC she records, performs, and tours with groups she formed, including: “Carolina Oliveros y la Nacíon,” “Bulla en el Barrio” and “Combo Chimbita,” She is currently working on several new musical projects underlined by her indigenous and Afro-descendant musical roots.
Is a performer and choreographer; a 2023 Baryshnikov Arts Center Artist-in-Residence, a 2019 New Dance Alliance LiftOff Resident Artist, and a recipient of the 2022 Watermill Center Alumni Mini-Retreat, having performed at the Watermill Gala in 2019. Her newest work, POOL, was commissioned and presented at the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival and the Voices International Theater Festival in June 2023. She has also presented works at The Tank, Dixon Place, La MaMa, NY Butoh Festival, 92nd Street Y, LATEA Theater, Next@Graham, Czech Center NY, Triskelion Arts, SOAK Festival, Venuše ve Švehlovce Theater, and Theater Akropolis Prague. As a performer, … Continued
Derek DiMartini hails from Oakland, California. He likes to view dance as an extension of his passion as a creator and a performer. He has been an ensemble member in since January 2015, and has been teaching The Leimay Ludus Community Class since Summer 2016. In New York, his work has been performed with Mare Nostrum Elements, as well as at LEIMAY SOAK, WAXworks and Marie-Christine Giordano Salon. He has also worked with SumBones Collective and has had the opportunity to perform the works of Merce Cunningham, Ohad Naharin, Akram Khan, Reggie Wilson, and Trisha Brown. Derek graduated from Yale … Continued
Drew is a multidisciplinary theatre and sound artist, serving as one of three composers for A MEAL. His work often involves the integration of electroacoustic sound with music and live performance to create a heightened sensory experience for audiences. Drew co-created and directed SYNTHESIS, performed as part of LEIMAY’S SOAK 2017; he also produced LEIMAY’s FRANTIC BEAUTY (BAM) and KALAVINKA, LEIMAY’s gala event honoring Meredith Monk. As a designer and composer, Drew’s work has been experienced in New York at HERE, The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, and Abrons Arts Center and in DC at Anacostia Arts Center (DC), … Continued
Georgia b. Smith is an interdisciplinary artist who primarily creates sculptural and dance/performance art work. Georgia b. was a member of the LEIMAY ensemble as they premiered “Borders” at BAM Fisher in 2016. She has a MFA from the University of Michigan where she launched her series Plastic Abodes and Cavernous Bodies. Georgia b. was the artistic director of NOT for reTALE which showed work at CAVE. Georgia’s work in NOT for reTALE exemplifies how her work incorporates sculpture as an extension of the bodies on stage.
Jeremy Slater is an artist born in Wallingford, England who now lives in Williamsburg Brooklyn. He is a sound artist essentially, but also works with video and sound in performance and installation settings doing interactive and ambient-reactive installations. Otherwise known as ( ) Jeremy Slater uses his laptop computer to create a variety of sound, image, and interactive work. He was one of the 1999 recipients of the Computer Art Fellowship from New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) and has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally. www.jeremyslater.net.
Other Collaborators
NYC-based dancer, choreographer, collaborator, movement educator and writer. BFA & MFA Degrees in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts; teacher of Alexander Technique certified by Aileen Crow; Dance Faculty at Sarah Lawrence College (1999-present); Assistant to renowned functional anatomist and dance educator Irene Dowd; has worked with artists including Sondra Loring, Patricia Hoffbauer, Tiffany Osedra Miller, Cathy Weis, Sara Rudner, Joyce S. Lim, Bryan Fox, and created eleven original interdisciplinary works (1996-2018); Fulbright Specialist in Dance/U.S. Studies (2019) in Cuenca, Guayaquil and Quito, Ecuador; Leimay guest artist (2023-present).