Wanjiru Kamuyu (Choreographer & Dancer), founder of dance company WKcollective; associate artist at the National Choreographic Center, Nantes; a 2023 Villa Albertine artist in residence, Live Feed Artist with New York Live Arts (2023-2025), and associate artist at Onde Théâtre Centre d’Art, Scène Conventionnée Création pour la Danse (2020-24, Vélizy, France), was born in Nairobi/Kenya. She obtained a Master of Fine Arts at Temple University (Philadelphia, USA). Based in Paris since 2007, she started her career in New York with such notable dance companies as Urban Bush Women and Molissa Fenley and Company. As a dancer, she developed a rich and diverse background that fostered her choreographic development and teaching. Between New York and Paris, on international stages, she has worked with contemporary choreographers including Bill T. Jones (Broadway show FELA!), Irène Tassembedo, Robyn Orlin, Nathalie Pubellier, Stefanie Batten Bland, Bartabas, Dean Moss, Anne Collod, Emmanuel Eggermont and more. Kamuyu also collaborated with film director Christian Faure (Fais danser la poussière); visual artist Jean-Paul Goude and director Julie Taymor’s Broadway show, The Lion King. Since 2017, Kamuyu has created three major works plus adaptations for alternative spaces and young audiences. Additionally, in 2020 she created her first dance film, La visite, directed by Tommy Pascal. Her works have been internationally acclaimed in the USA, Europe, Africa and Asia. Kamuyu has been commissioned by France based directors Jérôme Savary, Hassane Kassi Kouyaté, Jean-François Auguste; several esteemed US based universities; dance company InkBoat (USA) and has developed projects for refugees with New World Theatre (USA) and Euroculture (France). Additionally, she has served as artistic consultant for choreographer Bintou Dembele’s (France) work, Z.H. Kamuyu teaches workshops in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.
Elodie Paul (Dancer) is a native of Guadeloupe with training from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and L’Ecole-Atelier Rudra Béjart, Lausanne (Switzerland). Her performance career began with dance companies Trilogie Léna Blou (Guadeloupe) and Ayiokodans JeanGuy Saintus (Haïti). After several years in the world of dance, with a strong interest in the intersectionality between dance and multi-media arts, Paul graduated with a concentration in documentary cinema from L’Université Paris X- Arts du Spectacle (France). In the roles of performer, artistic consultant and videographer, Paul collaborates with France based artists such as Wanjiru Kamuyu, Alice Martins, Dorothée Munyaneza, Baloji, amongst others. She is sought after for her ability to navigate seamlessly between mediums – dance and image, exploring blended cultural colors and the sensitive imprint of an environment on the body.
Sherwood Chen (Dancer) has worked internationally as a performer for artists including Grisha Coleman, Xavier Le Roy, Anna Halprin, Min Tanaka, Amara Tabor Smith, Wanjiru Kamuyu, inkBoat / Ko Murobushi, Sara Shelton Mann, Oguri, Anne Collod, Jess Curtis / Gravity, Jérôme Bel, etc. He leads trainings, workshops and movement research laboratories worldwide both in studios and site-specifically in natural and urban landscapes. As a cultural worker, he has worked in arts education, community arts, research on the needs of immigrant and refugee artists, festival production, cultural transmission / traditional arts, and arts philanthropy, having worked for or served a broad range of United States-based national, regional and municipal organizations and agencies. Chen is an audio describer for people with visual impairments, focusing on dance performance and film through Gravity Access Services.
Cyril Mulon (Lighting Designer & Technical Director) Based in Paris, France, Mulon’s eclectic experience includes creating for theater, opera and film. A graduate from Louis Lumière film school (Paris), passionately fond of images, he started his career in the movie industry and served as assistant to French director of photography and theater lighting designer Martial Barrault. Mulon designed video projection for French theater director Jérôme Savary and served as DOP for concert films. In 1998, Mulon joined the technical team of director Peter Brook for over a decade with numerous international tours. Since 2003, as a lighting designer, he closely collaborates with French Burkina Faso director Hassane Kassi Kouyaté. Mulon has also designed lights for French playwrights and theater directors Hubert Koundé, Françoise Dô, Daniely Francisque and opera director Stephan Groegler. Discovering the world of contemporary dance with US choreographer Stephanie Batten Bland, Mulon has since collaborated with France based choreographers Sébastien Ramirez and Honji Wang, Bintou Dembélé, Jann Gallois, Johanna Faye, Saido Lehlouh, Nach and Wanjiru Kamuyu.
Jean-Philippe Barrios a.k.a. LACRYMOBOY (Composer) is a French composer, musician, and performer with over 30 years of groundbreaking work, creating more than 80 original soundscores—mainly for contemporary dance. Renowned for his rich, immersive soundscapes, he collaborates with acclaimed French dance companies such as Wang/Ramirez, Warren/RIFT, WKcollective and internationally with Brodas Bros, In-Motus, Ezdanza, Cedar Lake and Hubbard Street. His music has resonated through prestigious venues such as Théâtre de la Ville, Théâtre Chaillot, Sadler’s Wells, and the Gerald Lynch Theater. In recent years, LACRYMOBOY has expanded into acclaimed documentary soundtracks, including César, Sculpteur compressé (TV Arte/Centre Pompidou) and Charlotte Perriand (TV Arte/Louis Vuitton Foundation), which was part of the Official Selection 2020 of the 38th FIFA and won the 2021 Archi Awards – FIFAAC. His work for the digital series Beard Club was the most awarded independent French web series of 2016. In 2019, LACRYMOBOY won Best Music at the Berlin Underground Festival. His digital discography captures this rich, eclectic journey.
Birgit Neppl (Costume and Set Designer) holds a diploma for Visual Communication from Fachhochschule Würzburg (Germany) with further studies in fashion design from Hackney Community College (England). Based in Berlin, Germany, in 1997 Neppl founded “NEPPL – SURGERY TO WEAR”, with a distinctive specialization in costumes for dance, sports, body manipulation and shibari inspired works. Alongside her longstanding collaboration of over 20 years with choreographer Robyn Orlin, Neppl also works with artists Sabina-Maria van der Linden, George Pfründer, Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley with the Ballet de Lorraine (France) and Wanjiru Kamuyu. Her work is featured internationally across Europe and Africa.
David Gaulein-Stef (Artistic Assistant & Company Manager) is a native of French Guyana, trained in Paris (France) at the Institut de formation professionnelle Rick Odums and obtained a teaching certification in jazz dance from the Centre National de la Danse. As a performer, Gaulein-Stef has worked internationally with choreographers Asha Thomas, Vincent Mantsoe, Georges Momboye, Stefanie Batten-Bland amongst others. Musical theater productions include Julie Taymor’s Broadway show The Lion King (Paris); À la recherche de Joséphine, director Jérôme Savary (Paris); Soweto, director Serge Bilé (France, Martinique and Guadeloupe) and Love Jazz & Henderson, director Christoffer Berdal (Denmark). France theatre productions include Love is in the Hair, director Jean-Francois Auguste and Ma chaise de paille, playwright Jacques Lazzari. As a movement coach and dramaturge, he has worked with France based choreographers Wanjiru Kamuyu, Philippe Physs Almeïda and company Wang-Ramirez. Gaulein-Stef is a certified Pilates teacher.
David Thomson (Moderator) is an interdisciplinary artist who has worked extensively across the fields of dance, music, performance, and theater for over 40 years, working and collaborating with a wide range of artists including Bebe Miller, Trisha Brown (1987-1993), Ralph Lemon, Sekou Sundiata, Marina Abramović, Yvonne Rainer, Maria Hassabi, and Matthew Barney among many others. Thomson’s work has been recognized with awards and fellowships from United States Artists[Ford], New York Foundation for the Arts, Yaddo, MacDowell, Rauschenberg, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Alpert Award. He was honored with a Bessie for Sustained Achievement (2001) and for Outstanding Production for he his own mythical beast (2018). Thomson initiated the Artist Sustainability Project with Kate Watson-Wallace in 2017, as an ongoing platform that seeks to expand the discourse and ideas of financial, artistic, and personal empowerment in the arts community. In 2024, he and Emily Waters developed YoungArts’ Artist Resource Collective (ARC) , a financial wellness and professional development program.