Dimitri Elder is a native of Oakland California. Dimitri began exploring his love for Hip-Hop, which birthed his excellence in choreography, break dancing, and turfing. This allowed him to gain professional craftsmanship over his dance language and become the originator of his unique dance technique called “Toon style". As he combined turfing and breakdancing to execute performances, this extended new opportunities to help teach over 26,000 youth in an non-profit organization called Hip-Hop for Change. Dimitri uses expression and structure to orchestrate multiple workshops with organizations such as TPC (The People Conservatory) and Performing Arts Workshop. Dimitri Elder’s mission is to rhythmically teach body discipline and storytelling, using “Toon style" as a blueprint to be a personal visual diary for self expression.

Dominique is a powerhouse. A divine vibrant being. She is a storyteller; revisiting and reimagining all aspects of herself,allowing her experiences to shape her reality. Diving into realms of love and collaboration, she is exploring empathetic and compassionate ways of listening and learning from her ancestors, family, and friends on how to cultivate and sustain a thriving community. She is creating a blueprint that explores healing through integration of spirit, mind, body, and emotions. She is inviting the process of self reflection in her teaching and encouraging her students to swim in the pools of their inner truth. She is opening up again and is so excited to be back in the sacred space of the studio;diving into the ritual form that is movement medicine. asé. amen. and so it is.

Yari Cervas (all pronouns) is a theatre director, teaching artist, and somatic worker exploring artistic expression through music, intuitive movement, poetry, illustration, and meditation. They are inspired by yet untold stories steeped in restorative justice, cultural memory, queerness, and trauma recovery. As a developer of new plays they can be found nurturing young playwrights, devising site specific theatre, and creating docuplays in collaboration with local community. Inspired by a lack of Filipino voices in San Diego theatre they founded MaArte Theatre Collective, and as the Artistic Director produced and directed nearly two dozen plays, short and long, by emerging Pilipinx playwrights. MaArte’s work established Yari as a many awarded director for the original docuplay The Fire in Me (Award of Recognition from the State Legislature of California) and the original one-woman show Your Best American Girl (Best of the Fest, Critics’ Pick, and Cultural Exchange awards.) Previously, they were also honored by the first ever Double Indy Award for performance as Dido in Dido Queen of Carthage and Direction of the World Premiere of Tar and Feather. Yari has had the pleasure of collaborating with organizations such as Amigos Del Rep, Asian Story Theatre, Blindspot Collective, Cygnet Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, the La Jolla Playhouse, People of Interest, the San Diego Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory Theatre, TuYo Theatre, The Old Globe, MOXIE Theatre, and Westmont Festival Theatre. They are most proud of their November 2019 docudrama, You’re Safe Here, produced in partnership with Allain Francisco M.D. with support from the UCSD School of Medicine to foster empathy for the experience of patients navigating their relationships with mental health care providers. As the creator of Practical Somatics, Yari teaches body-based meditations, especially for QTBIPOC, to empower them to overcome trauma in their daily lives. Yari believes that by practicing breathing, intuitive movement, and compassionate self awareness individuals are better positioned to heal the relationships with themselves and their wider communities. yaricervas.com

Daniela Garcia is a latina educator, makeup artist, artivist, and performer who spotlights afro-latino traditions and experiences through authentic dance practice, intergenerational community engagement and performance. Garcia’s influence stemmed from current social oppression in the Latinx community in the Bay Area and focuses on showcasing future youth leaders. Dance is much more than just movement, it's about telling the story of oppressed voices through art. She has trained with Rising Rhythm, Hijos Del Maiz, San Francisco Ballet, University of San Francisco, Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, and Loco Bloco. Pronouns: she/her/ella | digarcia4@dons.usfca.edu

Hometown: Oakland, CA | Genre: Hip-Hop, Pop, R&B, Afro beat, Igbo music, Nigerian Gospel, Igbo Rap | Styles of dance: Bboy, Turf, Pop, lock, house, Rock Dance, Waack, and Vogue | Gideon Mekwunye JR, is a song writer/dancer/Djay who goes by the stage names of Gid-Nasty, Giddy, and 95. The Founder of a Dance crew called Ace Mob (Artistic creative energetic men of brilliance) and Co-founder of Dance crew called The Oakland Originalz. The Oakland Originalz now cover all aspects regarding the dance. This crew was envisioned to better the community, as each member is currently building skills to later give back to it. As far as song writing his goal is to convey his life story being born and surviving in America as an 1st generation African American and Djays at events to set a positive vibe those in need of services. Gideon has performed for Alicia Keys at a pre super bowl event in Sf 2016, The Art of Rap festival at Fremont’s amphitheater 2014, Worldwide performances through street theater, Has commercial appearances for both Panasonic, Jan sport backpacks, and much more. Aside this Gideon has worked with multiple artists across California, Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, Miami, Thailand, Las Vegas, Nigeria, Taiwan, London and Ghana. | Pronouns: He/Him/His.

Ebtihal Shedid is a self-taught Egyptian photographer based in San Francisco, she has an MFA from California College of the Arts. Her work explores the intersections of photography, sculpture, collage, and installation. Shedid comes from a background of linguistics, translation, and intercultural communication, and is interested in topics surrounding how language shapes the way we see and interprets ideas such as storytelling, belonging, and attachment. Pronouns: She/Her/Hers | Website: www.ebtihalshedid.com | Instagram: @ebti_shedid

Samuel Melecio-Zambrano was first exposed to dance in the womb, as his mother and father salsa-ed their way about the living room. In 2018, he received a BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida (USF), where he performed works by Robert Moses, Kara Davis, Xiao Xiangrong of Beijing Normal University, Michael Foley, Christian Denice, and others. After graduating, Samuel was a member and collaborator for Tampa City Ballet’s debut season. He then moved to Melbourne, Australia to study Countertechnique  with founder Anouk van Dijk and other certified teachers. Following a fruitful stint as an avocado picker in Queensland, Australia, Samuel moved back to the United States with a farmer's tan and a bit of perspective. Now a freelance dancer in San Francisco, he has worked with FACT/SF, Robert Moses' Kin, Kinetech Arts, Kristin Damrow & Company, and Mark Foehringer Dance Projects. | Pronouns: He/Him/His

Nico Ortiz Maimon came to the US from Mexico City with her family in 1997, and currently finds herself on unseeded Ohlone Land (San Francisco.) She loves using movement to foster community, heal, and solidify her relationship with pleasure. She aims to occupy horizontal collaborations and uplift qtbipoc artists. Most recently, her solo and collaborative film and live works has been supported by QTBIPOC HIVE TV, HIVE x PLATAFORMA, Joe Goode’s GUSH Open House, and Shawl-Anderson’s Queering Dance Festival (with Zoe Huey.) Nico is currently working with Estrellx Supernova and David Herrera Performance Company. She is on a forever quest to decolonize her body and configure systems beyond capitalism. Pronouns: she/they

Dionte has been dancing for 10+ years. Gaining experience in performing, teaching, and winning competitions. Dionte has worked with non-profit organizations including Mighty 4 Arts and All The Way Live Foundation that work with youth and educates them through Hip-Hop culture. Dionte is a Graduate of Cal State East Bay with a Bachelors in Business and dance and hopes to continue teaching and working with the community through Hip-Hop. Pronouns: He/Him/His

Darius Simpson is a writer, educator, performer, and skilled living room dancer from Akron, Ohio. His work has appeared in New Ohio Review, American Poetry Review, Crab Creek Review, and others. Darius believes in the dissolution of empire and the total liberation of all Africans by any means available. Pronouns: He/Him/His

Pierr Padilla currently lives in the city of Oakland, California in the United States where he works as a music and dance teacher for children, youth and adults, and as a musician collaborating with groups and artists from the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. He has made artistic tours of America, Asia and Europe. He has also participated in international events as a speaker at conferences, book presentations, and interviews on Afro-Peruvian music. He leads the musical group "Huarango", directs the festival "Afro-Peruvian Fest" and has recently created the international educational platform, "Seminario de Música Afroperuana (Afro-Peruvian Music Seminar)", which was created with the aim of promoting and disseminating Afro-Peruvian cultural traditions and for this it brings together to the most relevant practitioners, artists and researchers of Afro-Peruvian culture today. Pronouns: He/Him/His

Kristiana Chan is a first generation Malaysian-Chinese artist, writer, and educator whose work explores the intersection of ancestry, healing, and mythology.  She has been teaching for the last 5-6 years, including art classes at a school in San Francisco, thematic study abroad trips, and surf lessons for girls and women of color in the Bay Area.  She combines traditional storytelling and art making techniques of embroidery, paper cut, and shadow puppetry with projections, alternative photo processes, and other new media. She helped curate this year’s visual arts showcase at Kearny Street Workshop's APAture festival and is a 2019 resident at the Growlery in San Francisco. This year, she was selected to be an artist mentee in the NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. Her writing and photography has been published by Art Practical, Surfer Magazine, Patagonia, The Bold Italic, and Misadventures Magazine.  Pronouns: she/her/hers

Born and raised in San Diego, California, Imani Cezanne is a highly acclaimed writer, performer, and poetry slam coach. Imani joined the Performing Arts Workshop team as a Teaching Artist in August of 2018 and has been teaching both creative writing and spoken word for 5 years. As a nationally touring spoken word artist, Cezanne has been invited to travel all over the country to share her work with poetry venues, colleges, universities, conferences, festivals and more. She is a six time National Poetry Slam finalist and was featured on Seasons 3 and 5 of TV One’s Verses and Flow, a cable television show dedicated to showcasing the best performance poetry in the country. In 2014 Cezanne placed 2nd at the Women of the World Poetry Slam and in 2016 returned from Brooklyn as the 2016 Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion. She has a bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies and a minor in Communication from San Francisco State University. Pronouns: she/her/hers