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.
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
Catalina Santamaría (Vice President) is a film artist and producer at CUNY TV, where she creates overall network strategy, plans content, and collaborates with award-winning directors such as Alan Berliner in New York and Caridad Sorondo in Puerto Rico since 2015. Her work as a director, producer, photographer, and editor has garnered awards world-wide. Select films and awards include: UMBRELLA HOUSE, LUMINESCENCE, EXCEPT MY SOUL…, “El Espejo”, DERAIL, and SQUATTERS/OKUPAS.
José Rivera, Jr. (President) 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, … Continued
Polina Porras Sivolobova (Treasurer) 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.
Thea Little (Secretary), 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 … Continued
Advisory Board
Emeritus Board
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.
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
Former Team
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.
Izya Baird (they/them) is an interdisciplinary movement artist and student. Their work comes from a practice of imporvisation rooted in their experiences in ballet, contemporary, capoeira angola, international folk dances, and vogue. Their work shifts and evolves as it finds a focus but primarily engages with questions relating to queerness, gender, ecology, and healing. Izya was an intern with LEIMAY in the fall/winter of 2023 and worked to help activate the archive.