APPEX 2006 Fellows

Mohd. Kamrulbahri Hussin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kamrul Hussin is a native of Kelantan in Northeast Malaysia, an area renowned for its rich traditions of Malay performing arts and ritual healing. Hussin is an exceptionally talented artist who performs Wayang Kulit (Shadow Puppetry), Malay and Western percussion and is also a vocalist. He was nurtured artistically from an early age by his father who is an exponent of Main Peteri (the art of ritual healing). He completed formal training at the National Arts Academy of Malaysia (Akademi Seni Kebangsaan) where he received his Diploma in Malay and Western Percussion. His professional works include being Musical Director for modern theater productions such as Normah Nordin’s Penyerahan Puteri, as well as working with traditional Malaysian theater/performing arts such as The National Arts Academy’s Mak Yong Anak Raja Bongsu Sakti. As a musician Hussin is tremendously active and has performed as percussionist for a range of performances including the Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra, RTM Orchestra and traditional gamelan concerts. Hussin is a music lecturer at the National Arts Academy of Malaysia (Akademi Seni Kebangsaan) and University of Technology Mara and a Wayang Kulit instructor at the University of Malaysia.

 
Joseph Gonzales, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Joseph Gonzales is one of Malaysia’s leading dance educators and choreographers and is Head of Dance at the Akademi Seni Kebangsaan (National Arts Academy), Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism. Gonzales began his career as a dancer with KESUMA, St. Moritz Gold Band Dancers and Kuala Lumpur Dance Theatre before leaving for Bush D

Sanjeev Bhattacharya, Haryana, India

Sanjeev Bhattacharya is a classically trained traditional Manipuri dancer, choreographer and teacher from Haryana, India. A disciple

Sri Somnath Roy, West Bengal, India

Somnath Roy, endowed with masterful musical skills, is a rising star of India’s rich and diverse musical culture. He has mastered the intricacies of South Indian percussion and has found a way to perfectly blend it in a North-South music that has created a new aesthetic. He began his tutelage in 1989 under Sri Nepal Sarkar with Hindustani Flute. He studied Western percussion from Sri Amal Roy and the art of playing Dolak from Sri Bablu Biswas and is now specializing in Gatham with Pr. S. Sekhar and Vidwan Sri V. Suresh. He has played with some of India’s finest musicians including Pt. Tarun Battacharjee, Sangeet & Kalnidihi, Dr. T.K. Moorty, Academy Award Professor T.V. Gopalkrishnan and world-class tabla player Abhijit Banerjee. As recognition of his artistic accomplishments, Roy received the ATN best percussionist award in 2003. He is a prolific musician, highly regarded in India and

Rodel Mayor Fronda, Bulacan, Philippines

Dancer and choreographer from Bulacan, Philippines, Rodel Fronda is a performer who carries a broad knowledge of the richness of the Philippines artistic heritage. He began performing at a young age and has danced for well-known companies such as the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company and Kaisahan ng Lahi. He had choreographed for Indak ng Bulacan, Lahing Kayumanggi, Phil Ensemblia, PNU Chorale, CSU Chorale, BSU Saring Himig, OCNHS Dance Troupe, Barasoian Kalinangan, Teatro Historico, and DBP Dance & Theater Ensemble. He is currently the Artistic Director and Choreographer for Lahing Batangan Dance Troup and Sining Bulakenyo. As a performer, he and the companies he has performed with have won numerous awards, most recently in 2004 receiving the Young Professional Award for Arts and Culture given by Asia Pacific Awards and the Gintong Kabataan Award for Arts and Culture (2003). Under his direction Lahing Batangan Dance Troupe has been recognized for its artistic accomplishments through awards and honors for six consecutive years and Sining Bulakenyo was awarded one of the 2005 Ten Accomplished Organization in the Philippines.

He has choreographed extensively for numerous artists and organizations and has toured abroad to France, Taipei, China, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, England, Canada and USA. Productions include Republika, Sa Dakong Sikatan, Ang Awit Ni Francis B. Florante At Laura, Nang Mabasag Ang Banga, Ibong Adarna, Orosman At Zafira, Serena, Batop Sa Buhangin, Pista Sa Nayon and Lola Kikay – the official delegate to the 2002 Asian Children’s Arts Festival: Anak Anak Asia.

Grace Nono, Manila, Philippines

Grace Nono is a renowned Filipina music artist, cultural activist, and teacher, originally from Agusan, northeastern Mindanao, southern Philippines. This unique and vital artist is known for her contemporary interpretations of Philippine traditional music and for singing about living identity, women's issues, environmentalism, and inter-faith spirituality. She has released five acclaimed solo recordings and has been featured in world-music festivals, performances and conferences in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, India, Taiwan, China, Korea, and Japan.

Photo Taken from the official website of Tao Music

Antonius Wahyudi Sutrisno, Central Java, Indonesia
Antonius Wahyudi Sutrisno (stage name: Dedek Wahyudi), one of Central Java’s finest and leading creative composer and musician who is trained in the rigorous classical traditions of Central Javanese gamelan and is a Lecturer in the Music Department at Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia (STSI), Surakarta. Raised in Klaten, known throughout Java as being the birthplace of some of the finest musicians, Dedek Wahyudi was immersed in the local traditional arts from childhood. He continued his arts education in the formal institutions of SMKI, the High School for the Arts in Surakarta and then at STSI, the Indonesian College of Arts where he graduated and is now part of the core teaching staff. Known for his fine musicianship, Dedek Wahyudi is a composer whose creativity is rooted in traditional music. He works across cultures and disciplines and is known for his fine work with dancers . His works have been featured in major international arts festivals and tours in Germany, Korea, the United States, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Sriyani Kurotu Ainil Fitri, West Java, Indonesia
Sriyani Fitri is not only a highly accomplished traditional dancer, but also a dedicated teacher of the younger generation and creative choreographer whose work is inspired by the richness of traditional dance and yet revels in the exploration and freedom of contemporary forms. Born in Sumedang, West Java, Fitri was trained in the traditional Sundanese (West Javanese) style of dance from a very young age and has since been highly involved in the artistic life of her community as a performer and educator. As a performer, Fitri has been extremely active the areas of both dance and theater, having been featured in numerous performances in Indonesia and Singapore. Fitri’s choreographic work has also been presented in various performances throughout Indonesia. A graduate of Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia, Bandung (West Java), Fitri studied under the illustrious Ibu Irawati Durban, one of West Java’s most highly acclaimed performers. Having shown her exceptional talent, skill and dedication, Fitri has been entrusted with the responsibilities of being an assistant to Ibu Irawati Durban. Her energetic work with both traditional and contemporary forms in both performance and teaching prove her to be one of Bandung’s finest and most promising young artists. 

Waewdao Sirisook, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Waewdao Sirisook is one of Thailand’s most talented young dancer/chorographers to have graduated from the Chiang Mai University of Performing Arts. Sirisook has trained in the traditional Lanna dance of Nothern Thailand. She has performed extensively in Asia and USA under the auspicies of the Authority Tourism of Thailand. She is also trained in Balinese dance and served as a special lecturer in South East Asian Theater and Dance at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University. Sirisook is currently pursuing an MFA in choreography UCLA Department of World Arts and Culture (WAC). Sirisook is very interested in the development of her dance and culture both in USA and in Thailand. Her “Lanna Performing Arts” project is inspired from her belief in the value of her traditional arts and cultures and its struggle for survival against the dynamic forces of globalization.
Photo Credit: Jorge Vismara

Gregory John Acker, Louisville, KY, USA
Gregory Acker is a musician, instrument-builder, and arts educator from Louisville, Kentucky. He has worked with VSA Arts Indiana and Kentucky (arts for students with disabilities), the Kentucky Arts Council, the Kentucky Center for the Arts, and numerous churches, community groups, and juvenile detention centers.

Acker specializes in music-cultures of Indonesia, West Africa, and South India. As a performer and composer he works with Ut Gret—a pan-idiomatic world music and free improvisation ensemble—as well as Kyene, a West African drum ensemble. He has also recorded with diverse performers in the genres of Russian folk music, acid jazz, punkabilly, midwest creole, and hip-hop. Acker holds an MA in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, is a former Peace Corps volunteer in two countries in Africa, and has studied extensively in India and Indonesia. He has taught music education and world music courses for the University of Louisville, Indiana University Southeast, and Jefferson Community College.

Acker was selected by the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation as “one of America’s most skilled and experienced community artists” in 1999. He provides community-building world music workshops and related arts activities (drama, shadow-puppetry, visual arts, movement), for groups of all ages and abilities. He also designs and builds sets of musical instruments for use by participating groups, utilizing inexpensive, locally available materials. Acker has also designed musical instruments specifically for use by people with disabilities, and designs and presents teacher in-service training on integrating world music into classroom curricula. He has received grants for community-based projects from the NEA, Southern Arts Federation, Greater Louisville Fund for the Arts, and the City of Louisville.

Leonard Arvisu Cruz, USA
Leonard Cruz was born in Pampanga, the Philippines and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. He started dancing at the age of 4 learning Filipino and Hawaiian Folk Dances. In 1983 he was a Finalist in the Arts Recognition Talent Search Competition in Miami, Florida and was later named Presidential Scholar in the Arts where he performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at UCLA in Dance and later finished the Master´s Program just short of writing his Thesis.

He has danced and performed with Robert Wilson, Kei Takei´s Moving Earth, Shapiro and Smith Dance, Sally Silvers, and for 5 years with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Co. In 1993 he was given a guest contract to dance with Pina Bausch in Wuppertal and was a member of the Folkwang Tanz Studio in Essen - Werden Germany. From 1994-2001 he danced in the Bremen StadtTheater under the Directorship of Susanne Linke and Urs Dietrich. It was also there where he started choreographing solo dance work as well as chamber work. Since 2001 Cruz has been freelancing in Essen, Germany receiving financial support from the Stiftung Kunst NRW in Duesseldorf as well as the Kulturbuero in Essen. Last year he was a guest teacher at the University of Cologne where he choreographed for 24 students to music from John Adams. He was also selected as a Bessie Schoenberg Choreographer in Residence at the Yard in Massachusetts last year. In Germany he was named remarkable young choreographer from the critics in Ballet International/Tanz Aktuell Magazine 2005. Currently, Leonard teaches creative movement for underprivileged schools under the Yehudi Menuhin Stifungs program "Mus-e". This year Cruz is choreographing a new solo evening titled “Yes Yes/ No No”. It will premiere on March 3, 2006 in Krefeld, Germany. The piece is inspired by the poem “Un coup de des” written by Stephane´Mallarme.´

David John Cutler, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
David Cultler is a pianist, arranger, conductor, writer, and educator. He trained in music at the University of Miami (BM, jazz piano), Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, Austria (composition), Eastman School of Music (MM, jazz composition), and Indiana University (DM, composition). In 2005, he won the Sammy Nestico Award and the Millennium Arts Society's International Competition for Composers. Cutler's compositions have been commissioned and performed by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Classical Orchestra of Milan, Repertory Symphony Orchestra, LAVIE Singers, Korean Chamber Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Airmen of Note Air Force Big Band, Eastman Studio Orchestra, singer Nancy Wilson, harpist Jung, and saxophonists Benny Golson and Jim Houlik, and many others. His music has often interfaced with dance, film, actors, costumes, stage design, and visual artists.

In 2002, he became a contributing author to Jazz Styles, eighth edition, the top selling jazz history textbook in the country, published by Prentice-Hall, and he is presently working on an orchestration text for the same publisher. He was chair of the composition program at the Brevard Summer Music Festival (2000-2004), and has served on the faculty of Duquesne University since 2000. In 2006, he will serve composition residencies at the Visby International Centre for Composition in Gotland, Sweden, and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, in Bogota Colombia.

Kayhan Irani, New York, NY, USA
Kayhan Irani is an "artivist" dedicated to unleashing beauty and truth from unconventional and irregular platforms. After receiving traditional theater training from the High School of Performing Arts in New York City (a.k.a FAME), Kayhan went on to expand her repertoire doing traditional and non-traditional theater at various venues such as Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, Chashama Theater, The Lower East Side Tenement Museum and on city streets. Her most recent work, a one-woman show entitled "We've Come Undone", highlighting the lives of immigrant women post 9/11, is an experiment in how contemporary performance can be combined with participatory theater to engage audiences in political and social change. It has been presented across North America at college and university campuses, theater festivals, fundraisers, and even at Burning Man! Most recently, "We've Come Undone" has been performed in Lahore, Pakistan as part of the Rafi Peer Theater International Performing Arts Festival. Excerpts of the show have aired on Pacifica Radio in New York (WBAI) and Voice of America (an international multimedia broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government in over 55 countries). Irani is practitioner of Theater of the Oppressed, which is a participatory form of theater for social change, and facilitates workshops for organizations and institutions such as The Riverside Church, International Rescue Committee, The Brecht Forum, Barnard College, and The New School University Graduate Program in International Affairs. In early 2004 she was given the opportunity to lead workshops in occupied Iraq, with Childhood's Voices and Happy Families, two organizations teaching and healing children through the arts. In 2005, she was awarded a two-year Community Engagement Fellowship, through City College, allowing her to partner with a community organization in the Bronx and use theater techniques to engage parents and teachers around public education issues. www.artivista.org

Shoji Kameda, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Shoji Kameda is one of North America's most gifted young taiko performers. His musical training began at the age of 8 when he joined Shasta Taiko one of the first children's taiko groups. In his 21 years of experience he has performed and recorded with groups throughout the United States and Japan. Beginning in 2000, Kameda spent two years in Tokyo studying traditional Japanese drumming with masters in edo bayashi, hogaku hayashi and kumidaiko.

In 2002 Kameda co-founded the On Ensemble with fellow taiko artists Kristofer Bergstrom, Michelle Fujii and Masato Baba. That year On Ensemble was awarded the Duane Ebata Memorial Award "in support and recognition of emerging artists of promise who are furthering the development of Asian Pacific American Performing Arts." In 2005 the ensemble's first CD "Dust and Sand" was met with critical acclaim and was nominated for "Best World Music Album" by NAR's Lifestyle Music Awards. In addition to his work with On Ensemble, Kameda performs and records with pioneering Asian American jazz fusion band Hiroshima and is sought after as a workshop leader and composer.

Anusha Lakshmi Kedhar, Irvine, CA, USA
Anusha Kedhar is from California, where she has trained in Bharatanatyam since 1982 under the direction of Ramya Harishankar. She has also learnt under Leela Samson and Mavin Khoo (Bharatanatyam), Kalanidhi Narayanan (Abhinaya), Pandit Birju Maharaj (Kathak) and Isabel Fernandez (Flamenco).

Since 1990, Kedhar has been a Bharatanatyam teacher at the Southern California based Arpana Dance School and toured the US, Europe and India as a principal dancer with the company. She is also currently a choreographer and dancer for Angika, a contemporary Bharatanatyam dance company based in London, UK. Angika is known as one of the UK’s most dynamic and imaginative British Indian dance companies known for their diverse collaborations and high quality productions. In addition to her extensive work as a choreographer, dancer and teacher, Kedhar is a dance curator for the 2006 Artwallah Festival in Los Angeles, an annual multi-disciplinary arts festival for the South Asian diaspora.

Cynthia Ling Lee, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Dancer, writer, and musician, Cynthia Lee creates choreography that dialogues between postmodern dance and Kathak (north Indian classical dance). Her work is created through collaboration and embodies an acute interest in translations across cultural difference.
Contact improvisation and Simone Forti's text-movement improvisation inform Lee's approach to western dance. She has studied Kathak under Kumudini Lakhia, Bandana Sen, and Anjani and Amrapali Ambegaokar. Lee's musical knowledge draws upon thirteen years of piano training and current studies in tabla (north Indian percussion) with Abhiman Kaushal.
In 2002, Lee was awarded a year-long Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study religious dance in Thailand, Brazil, and India. She has performed contemporary and traditional work in Taiwan, India, Brazil, Thailand, and the United States and is a member of Courtyard Dancers, a contemporary Kathak company directed by Pallabi Chakravorty. In addition, she has performed for international choreographers Syed Mustapha Syed (Malaysia), Rosangela Silvestre (Brazil/New York), and Jacek Luminski (Poland) and Los Angeles choreographers Cid Pearlman and Rebecca Alson-Milkman. Currently, Lee is pursuing an MFA in choreography at UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures, Most recently, Lee's solo, fish hook tongue, was presented at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. Her collaboration with cellist Carter Dewberry, choreographed to Frank Bridge's Sonata for Cello and Piano, was performed at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall.

Robert Edward Levit, Annapolis, MD, USA
Rob Levit, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts Artist-In-Residence, is an award-winning musician, artist, and speaker actively engaged in the creative process. A graduate of the University of Virginia and New England Conservatory of Music, he has given workshops and/or concerts for Leadership Anne Arundel, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, The Summit School, Entrepreneurs Exchange, American Women in Communication and other organizations. In his Creative Outreach Program through Maryland Hall, he has worked to bring the joy of creativity and the arts to numerous schools and underserved populations including: DC Village Homeless Shelter, Boys and Girls Club, Anne Arundel County Social Services, and Anne Arundel County Schools.

Levit has produced over a dozen concerts at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts as Founder and Artistic Director of The Lew Cronin Memorial Concert Series and The Emerging Artist Concert Series. These concerts have included: Jazz, Persian classical music, Indian classical music, Bluegrass, Folk, Experimental Improvisation, Silent Film with Live Music and Ugandan music.

As a leader and composer, he has recorded and released 17 CD's of original music. He has received major grants from the Doris Duke Foundation/Chamber Music America New Works and The Jazz Composers Alliance and is a five-time consecutive recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award for Artistic Excellence. Performances include the mainstage of the Montreal Jazz Festival, Ottawa National Arts Center, The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, and First Night Annapolis. Levit also paints all the artwork for his compact discs and recently finished 24 original diagrams and illustrations for his forthcoming book on creativity. www.roblevit.com
Photo Credit: Cindy Kunst
 

Andrew Clay McGraw, Boston, MA, USA
Andrew McGraw is a musician, composer, improvisor and ethnomusicologist originally from Kansas City who currently teaches and performs in Boston and New York City. In 2005 McGraw completed his doctoral dissertation at Wesleyan University on Indonesian avant-garde music. His doctoral research was supported by a Fulbright-Hays fellowship and an Indonesian Dharmasiswa award for study at the national conservatory in Bali. In 2004, McGraw collaborated with several leading American and Indonesian composers in Java and Bali with funding from the Arts International Foundation. As a percussionist he performs regularly in several experimental, pop and jazz groups in New York and Boston. As an educator, he has taught at Simon’s Rock, Bard, Holy Cross, University of Massachusetts, UMKC Conservatory of Music and Chiang Mai University (Thailand) and Emerson College. Currently the Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Richmond, he has published on traditional and new Asian music in several publications and has presented lectures at several universities and conferences in America, Europe and Asia. As a student of traditional Southeast Asian music Mr. McGraw specializes in Balinese shadow puppet accompaniment, Javanese court music, and Northern Thai heart-lute.

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