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 (they/them) 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 Cleveland OH, and Brooklyn, NY, they have performed with artists including Catherine Meredith, Megan Young, Pam Tanowitz, Terre Dance Collective, Kinesis Project, Hivewild, Boy Friday│Evik Abbott-Main, and more. They are a featured performer in music videos for Tom Petty (direction by Adria Petty) and Bridget Kearney (Lake Street Dive). … Continued
Master in dance art with emphasis on dance theatre from the University Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. With more than ten years of experience in the field of the arts from performing, directing, creating research and training. Through a continuous process in theatre, dance and music and personal concerns around art as a sensitive encounter, the project DOCÁBTAVI, DÓNDE CABE TANTA VIDA, is born, with which creative processes and research have been developed around interdisciplinarity and the place of the arts in the construction of being. Circulating in festivals and meetings about the body and movement at national and international … Continued
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.
Irena Romendik 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.
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.
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.
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
Peggy Gould: Dancer, choreographer, collaborator, movement educator, and writer. Earned BFA & MFA Degrees in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and teacher of Alexander Technique certified by Aileen Crow. Longtime member of the Dance Faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, and also serves as assistant to mentor in functional anatomy Irene Dowd. Has worked with artists including Sondra Loring, Patricia Hoffbauer, Tiffany Osedra Miller, Cathy Weis, Sara Rudner, Joyce S. Lim, Bryan Fox, and has created eleven original interdisciplinary works (1996-2018). Served as a Fulbright Specialist in Dance/U.S. Studies (summer 2019), working with dancers and educators in Cuenca, … Continued