Lauren Curtis - Photographer (USA)

Lauren Curtis was graduated with a BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, in 1988. She enjoys working in a variety of media, including oils, acrylics, pen & ink, watercolor and photography. The artist is happiest when creating pieces that represent her love of nature, wildlife, travel and spiritual subject matter. The symbology and mythology of ancient cultures such as Egyptian, Greco-Roman and Celtic are fused with the symbols of modern -day , natural spiritual practices, to form a unique and eclectic style. These images are often portrayed through the woman’s perspective, showing the importance of “The Feminine” , which is sometimes over-looked. Lauren wants to convey the beauty in diversity, as well as the similarities, that run through various cultural belief-systems.

Lauren has had artwork and poetry published by greeting card and crafter companies, magazines and historical organizations, including the Middlesex County Cultural & Heritage Commission. One of her pieces was selected for the

permanent collection of the Joyce Kilmer Library. Her work is displayed in private collections, healthcare centers and galleries. She was selected for a solo exhibit at Johnson &Johnson World Headquarters, July-August, 2009. Lauren has participated in over 90 solo, group & juried exhibitions and is also a member of several NJ Arts organizations. Her artwork has been sold throughout the US and abroad, and can be seen in venues in NJ, NY, MA and PA.

http://sacredcowmusic.com/LaurenCurtisArt/index/index.html

http://laurencurtis.wordpress.com

http://www.laurencurtisart.mosaicglobe.com

http://www.imagekind.com/MemberProfile.aspx?MID=e191dd7c-9467-4a2f-9be4-b6eb58ec4944

Yuhua Hamasaki -Performer/Drag (USA)

New York City's youngest drag queen, Yuhua Hamasaki sings live, acts, lip syncs, and dances. Yuhua has also emceed for numerous contests, dance-offs and the like. This "fierce" queen's performances has been described as flirtatious, witty, funny, loud, wild, and "a rollicking good time". Always expanding her already sizable wardrobe, Yuhua is known for her various looks, ranging from 'real and simple' to over-the-top theatrical campy drag.
Despite her youth, Yuhua has already worked in establishments such as HK Lounge, Boots and Saddles, Lucky Cheng’s, Club Rush, Club Amnesia, Vlada Bar, Evolve Bar, and many more. Yuhua has also promoted and hosted various parties across the city including top venues like Vig 27, Marquee, Star Lounge, and Citrine.

Yuhua is the first runner up in the Gay Socialites Drag Queen of The Year 2009 Awards, and Miss Congeniality of Miss B&S 2010. Yuhua was seen internationally in "The Volta Show" in 2010. Her look was also featured in the Tribeca Citizen Paper, in collaboration with photographer, Chris Zedano. Yuhua has been invited to various schools including Rutgers, NYU, and New Paltz to introduce the art of drag to new audiences. Due to her expertise in drag costume, make-up and performance, The Gay Carribean Pageant invited Yuhua in 2010 to help train amateur drag queens. Yuhua currently resides in NYC and is recording original songs with the internationally-known music producer, Kazuhiko Gomi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK9z5o0kcLk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mAB3GOxfKI&feature=related

Carl Bromell -Sound designer (Sweden)

I create music and sonic art for dance performance act´s, fashion shows and installations. I try, in everything sonically i do, to explore the nature of he sound and if possible open up a discussion of where the thin line between noise and sound goes.

http://www.grevecarl.se/

Loresa Lanceta -Actress/Singer (USA)

Hailing originally from Louisville, KY, Loresa has been involved in theatre, modeling, music, and dance since the age of five. She attended the Youth Performing Arts School in her native Louisville, and moved to New York City after having graduated from the University of Louisville with a degree in Anthropology. Since then, she has been working steadily in theatre, film, and television. Credits Include: Off-Broadway/NYC: IMELDA: A New Musical(Pan Asian Repertory Theatre), NAATCO's'The House of Bernarda Alba' (Chay Yew, 'Rocky Horror' with Neil Patrick Harris, and 'The Awakening' at the Workshop Theatre Company. Favorite Regional productions include: Miss Saigon (Mimi/Kim cover), My Fair Lady (Actors Theatre of Lousiville, Virginia Stage Company, and TheCleveland Play House), Aida (Nehebka) at Count Basie Regional Theatre, Joseph(Narrator), Evita, and Big River. Film/TV: Salt,Nurse Jackie, and Gossip Girl. She has also worked on various recordings with the Children's Theater Company of New York, is a founding company member of the newly assembled Levianthan Theatre Lab, as well as part of a conglomerate of Filipino artists within the theatre world in NYC called Broadway Barkada, who lend their talents as performers to various charitable foundations. Loresa will next be seen in the New York International Fringe Festival in The Lost Theatre Company's (UN)Natural Disaster. You can visit her website at: www.loresalanceta.com

http://www.wix.com/elledelys/LoresaLanceta

John C. Hume - Performer (USA)

John C. Hume is most well know to NY audiences as the “darling of the downtown cabaret scene” thanks to his sold out one man show JOHN HUME LIVE WITH DANNY KATZ ON PIANO at The Duplex. Other NYC cabaret performances include the ever-popular JOHN HUME…AND FRIENDS series (also at The Duplex) and 7STAGES which played The Metropolitan Room in Fall 2009. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, John has been treading the boards for almost a decade with a diverse resume that runs the gamut from Shakespeare (Orlando in AS YOU LIKE IT) to Rudnick (Adam in THE MOST FABULOUS STORY EVER TOLD) to Stoppard (Valentine in ARCADIA.) John is thrilled to be making his NY Fringe Festival debut this summer in in GROUP, a new play by Daniel McCoy, playing the role of Alan Schwartz. He is currently working on a new one man show entitled THE BLOND IN THE BOX about his adventures in box officing, which will debut this fall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewu96ZM5OS8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMI6kaq-4cw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LehhtkiY-I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tceGyjkCH8k

Francesco La Macchia - Dancer (USA/Italy)

Francesco was born in Catania, Italy, in 1988. He began his dance training at the age of 10 at "Nuova Accademia Arte Danza" under the direction of Fia Distefano. He started his training in jazz and he continued with ballet, contemporary and Hip-hop. He started to perform at the age of 15 at Teatro Metropolitan, Massimo Bellini and Palasport. Francesco appeared in many dance festivals and fashion runways throughout Sicily, he appeared in "INSIEME", a local TV Channel and performed for the singer Massimo Di Cataldo. He attended numerous workshops and mastersclasses throughout Italy and the US with choreographers such as Michelle Assaf, Clarissa Mucci, Wes Veldink, Jason Parsons, Mandy Moore, and Brice Mousset to name a few. During his years of training he received several scholarships from Fia Distefano, Naike Negretti, Michelle Assaf, Brice Mousset and Wes Veldink. In 2008, he moved to New York City to work with Axis Danz and HaitiDansCo.He is currently a member of Michiyo Tanaka, Ballet Hispanico Ensemble and Steps on Broadway Repertory Ensemble.

http://francesco.moonfruit.com/#

Carole Alexis - Singer/ Songwriter (USA)

Born in Martinique Carole grew up traveling, studying and working between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. In consequence, her composition of different cultures manifest itself continuously through her art sharing with the audience the sense of an attachment to universal values. After receiving an artistic formation at the SERMAC, created by Aimé Césaire and directed by Jean-Paul Césaire, with consciousness of her heritage, she studied in Africa in the school of Maurice Bejart (MUDRA), created by Leopold Sedar Senghor and the UNESCO . Due to these choices, today her musical and choreographic creativity is imprinted of a particular resonance. She has worked on different continents with international companies and artists. Among the performances of Carole Alexis we can mention a few concerts in New York:.River to River Festival, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, with guest such as; Harry BELAFONTE, Danny GLOVER,Kathy ENGEL, Michael RATNER, THE MIGHTY SPARROW, Susan SARANDON and The Harlem Gospel Choir. With her group Osmoses, highlight of the FESTIVAL des FRANCOPHONIE DE NEW YORK, organized by different Embassy, and received a very warm ovation. Osmoses is appreciated in great clubs such as: Big Apple Jazz, Shrine, S.O.Bs, Joes Pub, Satalla, Sugar Bar, etc. Her philosophy and her artistic performances are firmly grounded in the assurance that culture is a vehicle for the affirmation of our identity, a value that she takes from the teaching and the legacy of the three founders of the Negritude movement, Aimé CESAIRE, Leopold SESAR SENGHOR, and Leon GONTRAN DAMAS, Fathers of the Negritude. She believes that art is a tool to express, propose, and communicate the infinite possibility of humanity. She also believes that the artist must be a citizen living in the state of consciousness and should be a platform for cultural action leading to a reflection on the possibility of social change.

http://www.osmosescultures.com/home.html

Tri Huu Luu -Photographer (Vietnam)

I was born in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam in 1972 to a family of seven and a devoted Buddhist Mother. When I was three years old, South Vietnam was overtaken by the North. At that point, my father decided to leave and live in the countryside where he is to this day. My Mother single-handedly took care of seven children and worked as a seamstress to make ends meet.

In 1987, my Mother had stroke and died. Three months later, I escaped Vietnam and arrived in Thailand. I stayed in a refugee camp for about a year and then settled in Minnesota, United States.

In 1994, I entered Minneapolis College of Art and Design and graduated with a BFA degree in 1997. Two months later, I moved to New York City.

In 1998, I was accepted into New York University for a masters degree in Buddhism and photography. Halfway through the program, I decided to stop attending NYU and began studying on my own, traveling to different Buddhist temples throughout Asia where I continue to photograph and study.

Currently, I'm traveling around Asia. Focusing on my new photo series "No Past - No Future"

http://www.trihuuluu.com/

Jose Bertolero -Performer/ Stilt dancer (PERU/SPAIN)

Im 36 years old, I'm peruvian but I live in Barcelona since 2001. Before I discovered the stilt world I studied theater in Lima in three different schools, all related with the composition of the body, corporal expression and physical theater.

I became an actor and started acting in differents plays in Lima from 1996 to 2000.In 1995 I had my first contact with stilts and start trainning with them, but not too much, only the necesary to walk and move. Later, I decided to leave the scene as an actor and began trainning seriously with stilts, and in the year 2000 I started working with the peruvian heater company Yuyachkani as a stilt performer.

In 2001 I moved to Barcelona and continued my trainning, combining dance, acrobacies and a particular way to move on stilts. I started working in streets, dancing a coreography with live
music, and then performing in many events around Europe. Later, In 2008, I had the great opportunity to work with Cirque Du Soleil in two different shows:
"The Awakening of the Snake", show created for the EXPO Zaragoza 2008, and "Il
Sogno Di Volare", show created for the White Night in Italy.At present, Im still
trainning and investigating in this fascinating world that are the stilts.

www.myspace.com/josebertolero