Mission & Values
LEIMAY (CAVE Organization Inc.) is a grassroots POC artist-run organization and performing arts ensemble that exists out of a converted garage space called CAVE in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Initiated by Shige Moriya of Japan in 1996 and joined by Ximena Garnica of Colombia in 2001, LEIMAY is led by immigrant artists and holds a regular NYC home season, offers classes to the public, brings in guest artists for workshops, and collaborates with presenting and educational partners across NYC and in upstate NY. LEIMAY was incorporated in 2003 by Ximena and Shige who were passionate about creating a space for art to exist amongst the barriers and challenges in NYC. We believe in the circulation of energies, resources, and imagination.Â
Our collaborative multidisciplinary works include sculptural, video, mixed-media, and light installations as well as photography, training projects, stage performances, and publications. Our work exists in different domains, from large-scale productions for the theater or gallery space to art installations or performances in public places, to artifacts for someone’s home, to advocacy projects and creative protests, to a multi-year festival or educational program. Check out Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya’s portfolio here.
LEIMAY supports butoh practitioners, dancers, musicians, theater artists, visual artists, puppeteers, performance artists, and beyond. Our vision is to effect positive change in our community, sustain a professional Ensemble of performers, and make interdisciplinary artwork accessible to people with limited resources, opportunities, or exposure to art. Under Ximena and Shige’s leadership, LEIMAY has spearheaded a plethora of programs and initiatives that support artistic exploration, resource sharing, community, and professional development. Read more about LEIMAY community programs here.
LEIMAY Board
President Fusako Ohta (President) is philanthropist, haiku writer, tap dancer, real estate investor and former gallerist (Cast Iron Gallery/SoHo). She has been a longtime supporter of LEIMAY as Shige worked at her SoHo gallery when he first arrived from Japan. Fusako joined the Board in 2022 as the President and contributes her deep cultural alignment with the leadership and vision of the organization. She has a comprehensive awareness of the non-profit and gallery landscape, and makes social and capital contributions to the development of LEIMAY.
José Rivera, Jr. is a Puerto Rican – American multimedia performing artist, direc- tor & choreographer based in Brooklyn, NY, merging techniques in performance, fashion, technology, visual art, and theater techniques. NYC: OF CAKE & VANITY (NYU,The PIT), Mad Forest (Radu), ACTING: the first 6 Lessons (Creature Cho- rus), Spring Awakening (Dr.VonBrausepulver), the displacement Project & Qual- ia-Gardens (LEIMAY), Emily Dickinson OUTERSPACE! (Bushwick Starr). Choreo & Direction: Bohemian Lights (LiveSource/HERE), Miami is Sinking (Dixon Place), In the Heights, Passing Strange,The Girl Who Was Plugged In, Songs for a New World. José works admin at CAVE home of LEIMAY. BFA, NYU … Continued
Polina Porras Sivolobova (Secretary) is a visual/performing artist of Mexican and Russian descent who has worked as a promoter, fundraiser and public relations official. She has a business management degree from Univ. of Texas at El Paso and received an Entrepreneurial Certification from Queens Economic Development Corporation in 2017. Polina started on staff in 2016 and joined the Board as Secretary in 2022. As a former bookkeeper and financial associate at LEIMAY, Polina understands the organization’s ethos and structure, and is able to contribute this knowledge to the growth and future of LEIMAY.
Treasurer Raul Zbengheci (Treasurer) is the Associate Director of Operations & Public Programs at NEW INC/New Museum, and he has worked with the Whitney Museum of American Art, PERFORMA, Times Square Arts, LMCC, and more. He is a Romanian-American cultural organizer, producer, and administrator who specializes in ambitious large scale art projects and supporting community groups fighting for social justice. Raul joined as staff in 2013, the Board in 2017, and became Treasurer in 2019. We are grateful for Raul’s understanding of institutional programming coupled with his deep appreciation of LEIMAY’s works and his budget management skills. Raul Zbengheci is … Continued
Shige Moriya 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 in 1996 … Continued
Thea Little, born and raised in NYC, graduated with an MFA in Dance at Hollins University/ADF and a BA in Dance from the School of General Studies at Co- lumbia University.Thea has presented her own choreographic works all around Brooklyn and lower Manhattan as well as in Vienna, Brussels, and France.Thea is also a self-taught composer who works mostly on the piano, Loop machine, and computer, and she makes music for her own and other artists’ creations.Thea has been creating and performing group and solo dance works motivated by ideas of Control since August 2014 and is continuing to do … Continued
Ximena Garnica, 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 Kasai YumikoY … Continued
Operations Team
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 (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
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.
Shige Moriya 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 in 1996 … Continued
Ximena Garnica, 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 Kasai YumikoY … Continued
Ensemble
Andrea Jones, a native of northern Virginia, began her professional dance training at the Russell School of Ballet, under the direction of Thomas and Ilona Russell.Andrea has also studied at theVirginia School of theArts,American Ballet Theatre, the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, Boston Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. She graduated from George Mason University in 2008 with two Bachelor of Arts degrees: one in dance and the other in English with a concentration in comparative literature.Andrea has choreographed works for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School,Wilson College, George Mason University, and the Fairfax Ballet.As a dancer, she has worked with … Continued
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 (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
Shige Moriya 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 in 1996 … Continued
Ximena Garnica, 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 Kasai YumikoY … Continued
Guests & Former Members
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.
Thea Little, born and raised in NYC, graduated with an MFA in Dance at Hollins University/ADF and a BA in Dance from the School of General Studies at Co- lumbia University.Thea has presented her own choreographic works all around Brooklyn and lower Manhattan as well as in Vienna, Brussels, and France.Thea is also a self-taught composer who works mostly on the piano, Loop machine, and computer, and she makes music for her own and other artists’ creations.Thea has been creating and performing group and solo dance works motivated by ideas of Control since August 2014 and is continuing to do … Continued