ROUNDANTENNAE – choreographic mentorship
RoundAntennae started with an accidental conversation: KT Nelson wanted to know what was driving the current generation of art makers; Liz Heenan wanted to build something that supports people. In response to COVID-19 and the social and cultural shifts that ensued, we found new ways of serving our artists. With her hands full with two young kids and the directorship of the Berkeley Ballet School, Liz stepped down from RoundAntennae. KT then invited other experienced art makers to help facilitate.
If you are interested in knowing more about RoundAntennae, please introduce yourself to KT by emailing nelsonkt55@gmail.com.
RoundAntennae (RA) is a free choreographic mentorship that is built on a relationship between experienced choreographers (facilitators) and emerging choreographers (artists). RA engages artists through the following programs:
ZOOM DISCOURSE – Zoom meetings with artists, facilitators and guests. Anyone can propose and lead a discussion. Most topics arise through what’s happening in artists’ lives like how to gather feedback from each other as well as audience members.
IN THE STUDIO – Ongoing rehearsal mentorship and conversations with the artists. Facilitators are available 24/7 to observe rehearsal and discuss issues with artists.
RESIDENCY– Once or twice a year artists are invited into a two-week rehearsal period with 40 hours of subsidized studio space and regular feedback that culminates in a showing.
SHOWINGS– An informal showing of works-in-progress which includes interactive engagement with the audience, facilitator-led discussion circles, and a reception. Each artist receives direct feedback from the audience, their peers and the RA facilitators.
RoundAntennae is a fiscally sponsored project of Dancers’ Group.
KT NELSON – co-founder & mentor-facilitator
KT Nelson is an urban farmer, choreographer, and dedicated advocate for emerging artists and the environment. She was a dancer, choreographer, and co-artistic director of ODC/Dance from 1976 to 2020. Nelson has been awarded the Isadora Duncan Award four times: in 1987 for Outstanding Performance, in 1996 and 2012 for Outstanding Choreography, and in 2001 for Sustained Achievement. Her collaborators have included Berkeley Symphony, Bobby McFerrin, Geoff Hoyle, Shinichi Iova-Koga, Zap Mana, and Joan Jeanrenaud. Her most recent work, Path of Miracles, with ODC and Volti Vocal Ensemble received a NEFA National Dance Production touring grant. Nelson’s Dead Reckoning was presented in 2018 at Jacob’s Pillow and in the 2020 American Dance Platform at the Joyce Theater (see Fighting Climate Change with Dance | KQED Arts). Her collaboration with Brenda Way, boulders and bones, was presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2017 Next Wave Festival. In 2012, she created new work for the Western Michigan University as part of their Great Works Dance Project. In 2008, her work RingRoundRozi, in collaboration with French-Canadian Composer Linda Bouchard, was selected to be performed at the 2008 Tansmesse International Dance Festival and her collaboration One Long Breath with Korean based artist Na-Hoon Park was presented at the 2018 MODAFE Festival. In 1986, Nelson choreographed and directed ODC’s family production, The Velveteen Rabbit, which has been part of the San Francisco holiday tradition for the past 36 years. In addition to her work as a choreographer, Nelson served on the Zellerbach Community Arts Panel, ran the summer dance department for the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University 2003-2006, founded the ODC Dance Jam in 1997 and played a major role defining and implementing ODC’s outreach projects. She has mentored with Margaret Jenkin’s Chime Project and is a co-founder and mentor at RoundAntennae.
JOANNA HAIGOOD – guest mentor-facilitator
Joanna Haigood relocated to San Francisco from New York in 1979 and co-founded Zaccho Dance Theatre (ZDT) in 1980. ZDT creates and presents performance work that investigates dance as it relates to place. Artistic Director Joanna Haigood’s creative work focuses on making dances that use natural, architectural and cultural environments as points of departure for movement exploration and narrative. Haigood’s innovative work involves in-depth research into the history and the character of sites, often involving local communities in the creative process, and typically integrates aerial flight and suspension as ways of expanding performers’ spatial and dynamic range. In addition, Zaccho provides performances in San Francisco, nationally and internationally as well as an arts education program for the local community. Haigood’s work has been commissioned by leading arts presenters both nationally and internationally. Among them are the National Black Arts Festival, Festival d’Avignon and Festival d’Arles in France, the Exploratorium, Capp Street Project, Dancing in the Streets, the Walker Art Center, Jacob’s Pillow, the San Francisco Art Commission, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Montalvo Arts Center and the McColl Center for Visual Art. Her choreography has been commissioned by Alonzo King’s Lines Contemporary Ballet, Robert Moses’ Kin and Axis Dance Company and is in the repertory of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Haigood has mentored internationally at the National Ecole des Arts du Cirque in France, the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in England, Spelman College, and locally at the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University, the San Francisco Circus Center and at Zaccho’s home. 2021 is her first year working with RA.
SID CHEN – guest mentor-facilitator
Sidney Chen, vocalist and performance artist, photographed at Alameda Point by photo by Lenny Gonzalez
Bass-baritone Sidney Chen is passionate about using his “expressive and richly mellifluous” voice (San Francisco Chronicle) to support the creation of new work in collaboration with artists of all disciplines. Recent projects include touring with ODC/Dance as a guest performer in KT Nelson’s Path of Miracles; premiering Ryan Brown’s theatricalized “medical oratorio” Mortal Lessons; and creating roles in Anne Hege’s The Furies: A Laptopera with SLOrk (Stanford Laptop Orchestra) and Lisa Mezzacappa’s serial podcast opera The Electronic Lover. As a member of composer/choreographer Meredith Monk’s Vocal Ensemble, he has performed in Monk’s music-theater work On Behalf of Nature, which toured internationally and was recorded for ECM Records. With the San Francisco Symphony he traveled to Carnegie Hall to premiere Monk’s chamber work Realm Variations. In San Francisco, he performs with and is the Artistic Advisor for the new-music chorus Volti, and is a member of the nine-man vocal ensemble Clerestory. His own creative projects tend toward quietness and detail, and often include his DIY music boxes, which have been featured in a cover story in the SF Chronicle Datebook. For two decades Sidney worked for the Kronos Quartet, much of that time as the ensemble’s Artistic Administrator. He began his career working for Nonesuch Records, and has continued that relationship to the present: he was the Editorial Director for John Adams Collected Works, a 40-disc career retrospective of the composer’s catalog, released in 2022. He is a graduate of Harvard University. sidneychenarts.com
ELIZABETH FAROTTE HEENAN (LIZ) – co-founder
Elizabeth Farotte Heenan is a mother of two and served as RoundAntennae’s Co-founder and Facilitator from 2015-2020. Better known as “Ms. Liz” she is Berkeley Ballet Theater’s School Director. A native of Gilroy, CA, Heenan started her training in the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus and was awarded marks of Honors or Distinction on eight RAD examinations, with scholarship to study at their New York program. She furthered her training on scholarship with Ballet San Jose and the Cleveland Ballet. As recipient of the Donald McKayle Medal Scholarship, a member of McKayle’s Etude Ensemble, and a two-time UC UROP Grant recipient, she graduated from UC Irvine (UCI) with a B.A. in Dance. She was chosen by UCI to perform principal roles in works by David Allan, George Balanchine, and William Forsythe while on exchange at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. Heenan has danced professionally with BalletMet and ODC/Dance. With ODC, she taught and performed in Southeast Asia via a U.S. Department of State cultural diplomacy tour, and engaged in numerous outreach programs with public schools, universities, and 7 Tepees. She has taught for the Oakland Ballet and Solad Dance Center, choreographed for the South Valley Civic Theater and Limelight Actors Theatre, and has taught Pilates to clients ranging from aspiring professional dancers, athletes, and musicians to those recovering from injuries. In 2010, Liz worked with ODC Theater to coordinate a celebration of dance-for-camera and volunteered with Spark, a non-profit youth empowerment organization. In addition, she has volunteered for the San Francisco Dance Film Festival and Ballet Austin on advertising, sponsorship, and fundraising initiatives.