Creative Team
Janet Koike
Janet is the Founder of Rhythmix and Artistic Director of Maze Daiko. Island City Waterways is Janet’s vision to create art for and about the community of Alameda, utilizing a cast of incredible Bay Area artists who all share their “art” as gift to the audience. Presenting ICW 2018 in partnership with the East Bay Regional Park District at Crab Cove is an opportunity for audiences and artists to spend time in a beautiful park to experience both the joy and concerns for our waterways.
Janet Koike
Creative/ Music Director
Jeff Raz
Jeff Raz has starred in many plays and circuses, from Comedy of Errors on Broadway to Corteo with Cirque du Soleil. He is a graduate of Dell’Arte International, has written 17 plays, and directed dozens of circus and theater productions. His first book, "The Secret Life of Clowns: A backstage tour of Cirque du Soleil and The Clown Conservatory" (secretlifeofclowns.com) was launched nationally at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on July 4, 2017.
Jeff Raz
Director
Kim Epifano
Kim Epifano is a choreographer, director, performer, vocalist and the Artistic-Executive Director of Epiphany Dance Theater (founded 1997), with whom she has presented work locally/internationally, including a recent YBCA commission and was co-envisioner/creator with ODC Theater on Mission Street Dances Festival, Brava! Theater on Baile en la Calle/The Mural Dances, and Rhythmix Cultural Works on the first Island City Waterways. Receiving multiple IZZIE awards/nominations, Gerbode’s Choreographer Commissioning Award, a CHIME mentorship, among others, Epifano curates/produces SF Trolley Dances, celebrating 15 years October 20–21. epiphanydance.org
Kim Epifano
Site Specific Choreographer
Ed Holmes
Ed has been a performer and teacher of physical comedy in the bay area for 45 years. He has worked with the SF opera, Oakland Symphony, Antenna Theater, the San Francisco Mime Troupe as well as performing his solo show “Subhuman-Tales Beneath the Sea.” He is the instigator of the annual Saint Stupid’s Day Parade on April first. Ed has worked with local historians to craft the story for Island City Waterways 2018.
Ed Holmes
Writer/Actor
Bob Ernst
I was born on a pig farm; then the following happened—I went on staff at The University of Iowa as a co-founder of The Iowa Theatre Lab/American Growtowski,--next I became co-founder of The Blake St. Hawkeyes in Berkeley, CA., then I directed TOKENS, a 65 person musical at Theatre Artaud, then comes Endgame & The Late Henry Moss at The Magic Theatre, Time Of Your Life at Seattle Rep. & ACT, Road at The Eureka, Glenn Garry, Glenn Ross at Arizona Theatre Co., then a solo marathon in 1987 for 24 hours and 12 minutes, The Band Smooth Toad, Red State & The Soledad Prison Project at The S.F. Mime Troupe, People’s Temple at Berkeley Rep, Towards/Away at The S.F. International Arts Festival, The Blue Couch at YBCA—Original Works include 12 solo pieces, 3 pocket operas, 2 plays, a theatrical musical episodic(The Buck & Bill Show) in development—and, of course, many awards too numerous to mention.
Bob Ernst
Actor
Maze Daiko
In Japanese, the word mazeru means “to mix,” daiko the word for drum. Maze Daiko is a world music ensemble that creates original music with a unique cultural style. Seiichi Tanka, the father of North American taiko, has described Maze as pioneers of the art form. Ensemble members Janet Koike, Kathryn Cabunoc, Tina Blaine, Carolyn West, Elaine Fong and Jeannie Mckenzie, combine their musical voices to create the site-specific music for Island City Waterways 2018.
Maze Daiko
Music Ensemble
Gamelan Sekar Jaya
Gamelan Sekar Jaya is a sixty-five member company of musicians and dancers based in the San Francisco Bay Area specializing in the performing arts of Bali. Formed in 1979, the company has performed in hundreds of venues around the world ranging from village squares in Bali to the famed Hollywood Bowl. GSJ is renowned for its exploration of traditional and contemporary forms through long-term residencies with Bali's finest artists, and is the first foreign group to receive the Dharma Kusuma, Bali's highest award for artistic achievement. GSJ also hosts an extensive educational program, offering valuable opportunities for the Bay Area community to engage in the study of Balinese arts.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya
Music and Dance Ensemble
First Voice
Brenda Wong Aoki, writer/performer, creates work for symphony, dance, theater, multi-media and art installation. Her work has been awarded Hollywood Drama-logue Awards, Critic Circle Awards and is included in the Library of Congress. Aoki is America’s first Asian storyteller.
Mark Izu composes for film, live music concerts and theater. Izu won an Emmy® Award for his score in Bolinao 52. His film scores include Steven Okazaki’s Academy® award-winning Days of Waiting; Emmy-winning documentary, Return to the Valley. He received a Hollywood Drama-logue Award for The Queen’s Garden.
First Voice
Special Guest Artists
Maria Chenut
A visual artist by training, she loves the work process: the collective brainstorming and research, the gathering and use of unusual materials in surprising ways, and the 3D thinking, all leading to a very hands-on approach to costuming. She collaborates in diverse mediums with visual and performing artists worldwide. At The Sewing Room here in Alameda she helps others get creative, as well as teaching and engaging in creative play with the Upcycle Alameda collective.
http://mariachenut.wordpress.com
Maria Chenut
Costume Designer
Ginny Parsons
Ginny Parsons is an Alameda environmental artist who paints with leftovers, everything from laundry detergent to peanut butter. Recent projects have included trash balls salvaged from the bay and paintings using cyanotypes of local seaweed. Parsons is a self-taught artist who has been painting for 40 years and runs an Art Camp for kids out of her studio. She shows at Rhythmix K Gallery and Gray Loft.
Ginny Parsons
Visual Artist
Dancers
Nuria Bowart
Nuria Bowart is a movement artist. A teacher of improvisation both partner and solo. She is a Contramestra of Capoeira and a teacher of dynamic movement through the lens of the Axis Syllabus. Nuria teaches regularly in Berkeley on Mondays and Wednesdays. She also sees private clients for Rolfing and movement assistance.
For more info visit, nuriabowart.com
Nuria Bowart
Colin Epstein
Colin Epstein is a dancer and acrobat who calls Oakland home, and teaches parkour and acrobatics at Athletic Playground and Kinetic Arts Center. The rest of his time is divided between dancing on the ground & in the air for Bay Area companies including 13th Floor, Lizz Roman & Dancers, Tara Pilbrow Dance, and Deborah Slater Dance Theater; directing Twisted Oak Dance Theater; and producing a yearly event (Constants & Variables) showcasing the amazing talent in the Bay Area dance and circus communities.
Colin Epstein
Lynda Gutierrez
Lynda Zepeta Gutierrez received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Dance at UC Santa Barbara. She has trained and performed with Bay Area choreographers in modern dance, as well as Colombian Folklore. With seven years of working in fitness and health, Lynda created and runs LG FIT - Dance | Fitness | Joy - dance fitness / body conditioning classes, and online fitness coaching where fitness goes from being a simple workout to becoming a journey of SELF LOVE, SELF EMPOWERMENT, with the SUPPORT of each other, and CELEBRATION of each others' achievements. The amazing journey of being a performer, instructor, wife, and mother has been possible to the teachings and practice of love, empathy, respect.
Lynda Gutierrez
Zahna Simon
A San Francisco native and Deaf from birth, Ms Zahna is a professional dancer, chemist, avid health nutritionist, researcher, ASL performance consultant, Deaf advocate and Deaf interpreter. She is a former chemist by day at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and dancer by night at various Dance companies in San Diego including being featured in KPBS TV and Radio special "Deaf Dancer Performs in Trolley Dances. Ms Zahna is now the Assistant Director for both Urban Jazz Dance Company and the Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival under Antoine Hunter, Founder and Director and a full time office manager at a small Fiduciary Office in San Francisco.
Zahna Simon
Priscilla Park
Priscilla Park is a dancer, who holds a MFA in Dance from University of California Irvine, and has performed both nationally and internationally. She has worked with Kim Epifano for several years, and previously have worked with Daiane Lopes/Kinetech, Sue Li-Jue/FEDM, Labayan Dance/SF, Keith Hennessey/Guerrilla performances, Krissy Keifer/Dance Brigade, Popcorn Anti-Theatre, Stephanie Nelson/NYC, Nancy Meehan/NYC, Amanda Selwyn Dance/NYC, Desert Dance Theatre/AZ, Rita Vilhena/Rotterdam, Lara Kugelmann/Berlin, Christoph Winkler/Berlin, and Ambra Pittoni/Berlin.
Priscilla Park
Antoine Hunter
A Bay Area native, Antoine Hunter is an award-winning Internationally known African-American Deaf choreographer, dancer, instructor, speaker and Deaf advocate who has taught/performed throughout the world including Harvard University, Europe, Africa and South America. Crowned King of SF Carnaval 2017 and keynote speaker for Kennedy Center’s VSA 2017 Intersection conference on Arts and Special Education, Hunter has been featured on the front cover of Deaf Life, in Dance Spirit, Dance Magazine and in Oakland North, 48Hills, CNN's Great Big Story and KQED Arts. He is former president of Bay Area Black Deaf Advocates. He is the founder and Artistic Director of Urban Jazz Dance Company and produces the Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival since 2013.
Antoine Hunter
Hien Huynh
Hien Huynh was born in Da Nang, Vietnam. He navigates as a movement explorer with influences from breakdance, popping, parkour, Laban, contemporary, and somatics. From UC Davis he has double B.A. degrees in Dance and Communication. Hien has performed professionally with Kim Epifano, Robert Moses’ Kin, Raissa Simpson, Lenora Lee, Kinetech Arts and theMoveMessenger(s). Through kinetic frequency, Hien is in search of the human to human, heart to heart connection.
Hien Huynh
Marria Grace
Marria Grace started her journey into movement with an interest in hula hooping in 2005 and she moved to Oakland, California in July of 2010 and re-established herself with her partner, Zach and their project, Ninja Hoops. They are a martial-arts, acrobatic, juggling, hula hoop duo. Ninja Hoops have performed and taught in 12 countries over the last 6 years. When local, Marria teaches Acrobatics, Parkour and Movement Games classes at the Athletic Playground.
Marria Grace
Zach Fish
Zach Fish comes from a versatile movement background that includes martial arts, acrobatics, parkour, and street dance. He dances with movement theater company 13th Floor, and teaches classes at Athletic Playground in acrobatics and parkour. Since 2013 he has taught over 1,000 classes, and performed in more than a dozen countries. He is best known for his work as ½ of Ninja Hoops, an acrobatic comedy martial arts hula hoop duo. He is excited to explore a new collaboration with ICW.
Zach Fish
Jenny McAllister
Jenny McAllister is a movement artist, actor, and writer. She is the Artistic Director of 13th Floor, and also performs with Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Twisted Oak, and Lizz Roman and Dancers. In the past she’s had the pleasure of performing with local luminaries Keith Hennessey, detour dance, emspace dance, and Chris Black among others. She’s thrilled to be working with Epiphany Productions for the first time.
Jenny McAllister
Brianna Anthony
Brianna holds a degree in dance from CSU, Long Beach. She is a long-time member of SF-based requitedance and this is her second time working with Kim Epifano and Rhythmix Cultural Works. She currently teaches dance in both San Francisco and Pacifica, and is pursuing a Master’s degree in English Literature at San Francisco State University.
Brianna Anthony
Guest Taiko Musicians
PJ Hirabayashi
PJ Hirabayashi is the Artistic Director Emeritus/founding member of San Jose Taiko. She has made taiko her principal musical instrument to explore and unfold artistic possibilities. “TaikoPeace” is her current initiative to amplify positive social change and personal transformation, spark new connections, and heal the human spirit through the dynamic energy of taiko. She received the 2011 National Heritage Fellowship for Traditional and Folk Arts from NEA.
PJ Hirabayashi
Meri Mitsuyoshi
Meri Mitsuyoshi began studying taiko over 30 years ago while still a Silicon Valley engineer. As a member of San Jose Taiko, she toured in Japan and performed at The Geary Theater, Carnegie Hall and Candlestick Park. She also drummed in productions by TheatreWorks and Theatre of Yugen. Meri is grateful for the ongoing presence of taiko’s connective role in her life, most recently in her training as a psychotherapist and, with ICW 2018, integrating her journeys to Ubud and Sado Island.
Meri Mitsuyoshi
Prescott Circus
Prescott Circus