KATE JEWETT is a dancer, dance-maker, director, and educator who graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (2001). She danced for the legendary Merce Cunningham as an understudy (2001-2005) joined Shen Wei Dance Arts (2005) and served as Education Director (2008) and Rehearsal Director (2009-2018). Kate has performed original roles in MAP, Re-I, Connect Transfer II, Undivided Divided, Limited States, Collective Measures, In Black White & Gray, Neither, and assisted Shen Wei in China Shanghai International Arts Festival (2022/2023) for the creation and re-staging of Integrate as well as the creation of Summary at the American Dance Festival (2022). She recently staged Shen Wei’s MAP at The Juilliard School, Spring Dances (2024). She has staged works at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan, and the University of the Arts. Kate has graced numerous stages and conducted master classes and workshops throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Other choreographers include Sean Curran, June Finch, Mimi Garrard, Helen Simineou, Rashaun Mitchell, and Silas Reiner. She founded Moving Minds (2017) a workshop conducted in Japan, China, and the U.S., that combines dance with critical thinking skills to understand how we collaborate, communicate, and make decisions. Kate is a gardener, forager, yoga teacher, and social and emotional learning facilitator. She is thrilled to be a part of Shen Wei’s 25th anniversary tour in China!
CHELSEA RETZLOFF joined Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2011 and has toured Shen Wei's seminal works in over 17 countries, 60 cities and at every major venue in the United States, China, Europe and South America. Originally from Eureka, CA, Retzloff holds degrees in dance and chemistry from UC Santa Barbara, where she received the Daniel G. Aldrich Outstanding Senior Award for the Class of 2007. In addition to her work with Shen Wei Dance Arts, she tutors math and chemistry for public and private school students throughout the world. Chelsea became the company manager, a rehearsal assistant and the education director in 2016 and developed and ran the Company’s NYC master class series from 2017-2022. In 2021 she helped Shen Wei create Integrate in Shanghai for the Shanghai International Arts Festival and loved working with the dancers from all over China. She has performed in projects with Anthony Roth Costanzo, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, David Dorfman Dance, MacArthur Dance Project, Christopher Williams, the Anata Project and Glitter Kitty Productions. Chelsea is a founding member of the Round Table, a collaborative group of women artists and producer of the musical Gunfighter Meets His Match.
EVAN COPELAND began his tenure with Shen Wei in 2008. He was with the company until 2014 and returned for tours in 2016-2018. He has also worked closely with Sean Curran since 2006. He performed in Bobbi Jene Smith's Lost Mountain and Martha Clarke’s Gods’ Fool at The LaMaMa Experimental Theater Club. He also participated in Punchdrunk's Sleep No More NYC(2015-2016). In film he was in Boaz Yakin's AVIVA, Jean Claude Billmaier's NULLA and Rebecca Miller's film She Came To Me. He has collaborated with legend Mimi Garrard on various shorts. In opera, he has engaged with the Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Teatro di San Carlo, Opera Lafayette and most recently the Metropolitan Opera. He performed the role of ‘the doppelganger’ in Claus Guth’s Doppelganger at the Park Avenue Armory. Copeland teaches nationally and internationally and has staged works at UW Madison, Vassar, Roger Williams, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, The Juilliard School and will be staging work at SUNY Purchase this fall.
MÉLEN CAZENAVE studied ballet for three years at the Bordeaux Conservatory and briefly learned the basics of jazz dance at the James Carless Center. She then joined the modern dance department of the National Conservatory of Lyon. In addition to becoming an excellent dancer through hard training, she began to explore choreography and graduated in 2018. Working professionally with multiple companies in Paris and Lyon, in 2024 she joined Shen Wei for his most recent project the 25th Anniversary Tour of Shen Wei’s Internationally Acclaimed Signature Works through China. **
ADAM FONTAINE graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique et de Danse in Paris with a bachelor’s degree in contemporary dance and is currently pursuing a masters degree in contemporary dance. Adam participates in various art activities outside of school, such as the 2022 Paris Fashion Week, 2023 Hermès opening show, and the Avignon Art Festival. In 2024 Adam joined Shen Wei for his most recent project, The 25th Anniversary Tour of Shen Wei’s Internationally Acclaimed Signature Works through China. He hopes to explore more styles and express his understanding and love for art through dance. **
LI NA HAN (NANA) has collaborated with many artists and directors at home in China and abroad, including Zhang Yimou’s new concept performance Dialogue Meaning 2047, Israeli young artist Eyal Dadon’s Symbiosis, Slovak choreographer Milankozonek’s Within, Macedonian artist Risima Risimkin’s R.E.M. and Zhao Liangdongfang’s trilogy Alarm Hallucination. In 2024 Nana joined Shen Wei for his most recent project, the 25th Anniversary Tour of Shen Wei’s Internationally Acclaimed Signature Works through China. *
ANNELISE PIZOT studied classical and contemporary dance at the Grenoble Regional Conservatory and continued her studies in Lausanne. In addition to dance, she studied nursing part-time while working. She hopes to learn more about the human body and humans and explore alternative care methods. Annelise is sensitive to her surroundings and advocates an art that is sustainable, respectful and committed to live performance and ecological transformation. **
ALEC SPEEDIE is a native of Austin, CO, and received his BFA from North Carolina School of the Arts in 2011. Alec began working with Shen Wei Dance Arts later that year. In that time he has played a major role as a core dancer and soloist in many of Shen Wei's seminal works. Since 2013, he’s been a key teaching artist for the SWDA Arts in Education Outreach program. Working with 3rd grade through 7th grade students Alec excels at helping students with special needs. As a dance teacher he works with students of all ages and has helped develop the Shen Wei Dance Arts Community Class for professional dancers. He serves as a rehearsal assistant for Shen Wei and constructs unique costume elements and creations that help make Shen Wei’s artistic vision possible. Alec is also the star of Shen Wei’s film Inner Shadow of Movement (2016). He has danced for Mark Dendy and Oliver Steele and has performed works by Lar Lubovitch, Merce Cunningham, and Larry Keigwin. He studies capoeira and enjoys participating in downhill racing sports.
MARIA VOLPE joined Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2015. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in Dance from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. In 2013 she studied in London at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Maria has toured with SWDA throughout the US, Europe and China performing at venues including Lincoln Center, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Power Station of Art in Shanghai. She currently resides in Brooklyn working as a dance artist and pilates practitioner.
* Dancers contracted in China via producers
** Dancers contracted by MaiOui Dance Arts in Paris, France
SARAH LISETTE CHIESA is an interdisciplinary performance artist who has lived and worked in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and Venezuela. She attended the North Carolina School of the Arts for High School, received her BFA from SUNY Purchase College in 2204, a Postgraduate in Choreography from SEAD in 2014, and received her MFA from the University of Washington in 2020. She studied body casting and sculpture at the Canossa Scuola di Scultura in Reggio Emilia, Italy in 2016. Sarah has been working with Shen Wei Dance Arts since 2008. She has also performed works by Noemie Lafrance, Tania-Perez Salas, Stefan Dreher, Hubert Lepka, Yang Liang, Franca Ferarri, Brian Brooks, Daniel Charon, Susan Marshall and Sidra Bell. As an interdisciplinary artist, Sarah has collaborated artists such as Dom Bouffard, John Mattuizzi, Jacopo Foggini, Yuval Avital, Pier Giorgio Casotti, Mario Vighi, Frabrizio Orsi, Kitka Ensemble, Dorien Silec with Robert Wilson, Karmina Silec, and Ana Baigorri. She has presented her performance art in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Montreal, Italy, Austria, Venezuela, Chile, Spain, and India. She is assistant director to Karmina Silec and Paola Prestini on the Opera, which is currently touring in the US, based on Hemingway’s, The Old Man and the Sea. As an educator, Sarah has taught in institutions such as Aterballetto, Balletto Toscana, and CIMD Milano (Italy), and School of Performing Arts Bangalore (India), The University of Washington, The Dominican University at Lines Ballet. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Arizona.
PIERRE CHAUVIN-BRUNET in 2014 Pierre obtained a diploma in dance choreography studies from the Paris Regional Conservatory of Music. In 2018 he obtained a national advanced professional diploma from the Lyon National Conservatory of Music and Dance. In 2021 Pierre obtained the National Dance Teacher Diploma from the Lyon Dance Center. He mainly performs as a modern dancer with many companies throughout France but also works in classical, street dance and jazz dance styles. He studied Vietnamese martial arts and brings this into his dance career as well. Pierre joined Shen Wei Dance Arts for the most recent project, 25th Anniversary Tour of Shen Wei’s Internationally Acclaimed Signature Works for a seven week adventure through China.**
LU FAN graduated from Minsu University of China with a masters degree. She later joined the Beijing Leidongtianxia Modern Dance Company and is currently a freelance dancer and choreographer. She briefly worked with Shen Wei on DongPo: Life in Poems and is thrilled to join him for the 25th Anniversary Tour. LuLu has performed in great works with many of China’s emerging choreographers . She participated in the opening ceremony of the 4th National Ethnic Literature and Art Festival, the dance drama, Hot Blood Singing, won the Dance Drama “Lotus Award” and Choreographed the dance drama “Washing the Star Sea”. *
THEO PENDLE graduated from the Montpellier Conservatory of Music with a degree in Dance Choreography. He then studied at the London Contemporary Dance School until 2015 and graduated with Honors. He has participated in dance festivals throughout Europe and China. Theo embraces many forms of artistic expression. **
ZAK RYAN SCHLEGEL is a performer with Shen Wei, creative director of CONGRESS, curator and producer at Ryan Heffington's residency DESERTRADE, and educator at The Joffrey Ballet School. Zak’s choreographic work has been presented from The Juilliard School in NYC to Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. He is the official recipient of the New Century Dance Project Choreography Award Grand Prize Honor, and selected by The Athens International Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and Miami Film Festival. The New York Times calls him “a star” & Wall Street Journal “eye-catching & effortless”. Zak recently won an Emmy for his choreographic work on the HBO show The Idol. Zak has performed and toured globally as company member and soloist in Shen Wei Dance Arts, Italy’s Spellbound Contemporary Ballet led by Mauro Astolfi, Yin Yue Dance Company and Backhausdance on iconic stages from BAM, Art Basel Miami and Hong Kong to The Guggenheim, Asia Society in NY and Hong Kong, Arcosanti’s FORM Festival, and LA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in collaboration with the LA Philharmonic. He has created an evening length soundbath “Liminal” with Sigur Ros, and danced the works of Jean-Guilliame Weiss, Ryan Heffington, Mandy Moore, Michael Rooney, Nina McNeely, Jennifer Backhaus, Denna Thomsen, JA, Lisa Eaton and Josie Walsh. He received formative training from Rafael Bonachela at Sydney Dance Company, Danielle Agami, Lucas Crandall, has participated in Gaga research with Ohad Naharin in Tel Aviv, Israel and holds a BFA from Chapman University.
TIAN KAI (KAI KAI) is a modern dancer and former resident dancer of the Beijing Modern Dance Company. Kai Kai dance video work Corner won multiple dance video festival awards and competitions. The Dream of the Butterfly won the third prize in the Italian International Competition. The Winter Cicada was shortlisted in the finals of the Seoul International Dance Competition. He has stared in and choreographed many dance dramas and participated in many art festivals and tours in China and abroad. *
QI XIN XIAO is currently starring in Yang Liping’s Peacock Contemporary Dance Company. Qi Xin has held major roles in Sanxingdui’s Chronicles, Spring Rite and Peacock. She also participated in Shen Wei’s Integrate 2023 and DongPo:Life in Poems 2022-2024. Qi Xin has won many awards including the Silver medal of Lingnan Dance Competition and Taoli Cup Dance Competition Outstanding Performance Award among others. She has collaborated with many famous artists and participated in over 400 international arts festivals, domestic (China) and foreign tours. *