Move-Ments Artist: Emily Arden

Dancer, Organizer, Creative Spirit: Emily Arden is the founder and director of Complementary Noise. What began as a wish, a hope, a thought to use her varied talents to begin to promote urban artists (including herself) in the DC area turned into a reality with assistance from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. After being awarded a Hip Hop Community Arts Initiative Grant in the summer of 2007, Emily made the decision to bring Comp Noise to fruition. Nine months later... Emily is so proud to be bringing Move-Ments to Washington, DC. The collection of artists and talent is extraordinary. It is so exciting to see her work coming together in such exciting and creative ways.
Through her work as a performer, artist, and leader, Emily continues to share the positive impacts that the performing arts can have on empowering youth and communities. She looks forward to sharing Move-Ments with you!

Move-Ments Artist: Tianna Cohen-Paul.

Tianna Cohen-Paul

Move-Ments Artist: Ayodamola Okunseinde.

As a creative director and visual artist working in the multimedia field, ayo has worked with notable artists like Donald Odita and Ike Ude. He has made significant contributions to the Washington D.C. arts scene with his such projects as "Smacktv: a contemporary arts show" and "Budapest Calling". Collaborating with local artists, ayo has helped to foster interdisciplinary arts projects including "Arabesque Rising", "New Music Compositions" and the "Fresh Produce Film Festival". Heavily influenced by mass media and popular culture, he weaves these elements into his works. His skill and experience places him at a junction that allows him to speak of the vibrancy and interconnectivity of the arts and contemporary society. Okunseinde owns and operates Dissident Display Studios and Gallery on H St NE. Ayodamola Okunseinde lives and works in Washington DC

Move-Ments Artist: Tim Slayton.

Tim Slayton is a local visual street artist who dabbles in many mediums, including but not limited to graffiti, wheat paste, digital art, silk screened canvas and clothing. Founder and primary artist for Truth Among Liars... , an art , clothing and design collective developed with the idea of informing the masses of the balance between opposites in all aspects of life particularly fact and fiction. Simple but gritty thought provoking images and edgy designs dominate the Truth Among Liars style.

Truth Among Liars... is everything!

Move-Ments Artist: DJ 2-Tone Jones.

Since touching down in the nation’s capitol in 2001 via Atlanta, GA, DJ 2-Tone Jones has slowly and steadily been carving out his own niche in the D.C. area hip-hop scene. A true fundamentals DJ, 2-Tone speaks with his hands as in the tradition of a Pete Rock or E-Swift, and through his bottomless crates has rocked parties from LA to NY on down to the A-Town and even out in Europe. But 2-Tone is not your one dimensional party and bullsh*t DJ. His list of current gigs and artists with whom he has spun with is as diverse as the musical genres within his crates (and crates) of records, which is a sonic collage of dusty groove Funk, Soul, Afro-Beat, Jazz, Roots Reggae/Dancehall, mainstream Rap/R&B, Go-Go (can’t forget that), Hip-Hop, Lounge/Deep House and 70’s & 80’s Rock.

On the performance side 2-Tone has spun with, and alongside, the likes of Biz Markie, Kool Herc, Melle Mel, Floetry, J Period, Goapele, Mista Sinista, Raheem DeVaughn, Mr. Lif, Ras Kass, Grand Wizard Theodore, Sugarhill Gang, Sy Smith, and even Dick Gregory just to name a few. He was also the DJ-in-residence for Shaman Work Recordings, an independent Hip-Hop music label whose roster included CL Smooth, Wale Oyejide, John Robinson, Scienz of Life, and others.

Currently 2-Tone can be found most nights of the week at a number of venues around the D.C. area and on the airwaves. On Monday nights from 11pm to midnight 2-Tone is the resident DJ, engineer, and co-host for a progressive hip-hop radio show, Ill Street Grooves, part of the Decipher hip-hop strip on DC’s own WPFW 89.3 FM/Pacifica Radio. Once a month at Mayorga Lounge in Columbia Heights, 2-Tone and crew host Artz$Craftz, an intimate arts exhibition where artists exhibit and create work while the music spins. Also, every Thursday night at the Historic Bohemian Caverns 2-Tone performs as a member of Sound of the City (SOTC).

As his notoriety grows, 2-Tone is not one to just sit back and watch. Along with a handful of D.C.’s most talented visual artists, Mr. Jones is a member of a cutting-edge art troupe/marketing group known as AM Radio: Artwork Mbilashaka. During the day he serves as Assistant Director of the Urban Arts Academy for Words.Beats.Life, Inc.; a hip-hop, non-profit organization that uses hip-hop culture as a means to transform individuals and their communities. Some of his responsibilities as Assistant Director include teaching kids how to DJ and play chess. So be on the listen-out for 2-Tone Jones thru a speaker near you.

Move-Ments Artist: Holly Bass.

Holly Bass is a writer, choreographer and performer. She has presented her solo work at respected regional theaters and performance spaces such as the Kennedy Center (DC), the Whitney Museum (NY) and the Experience Music Project (Seattle). Critics have praised her one-woman-show, Diary of a Baby Diva, as “mesmerizing” (Village Voice) and “indisputably funny” (Washington Post). Her poems have been published in Callaloo, nocturnes (re)view, Role Call (Third World Press, 2002) and The Ringing Ear and she has worked as a teaching artist through DC WritersCorps and other programs. She curated the NYC Hip Hop Theater Festival for three years and was the first journalist to put the term “hip hop theater” into print in a 1999 article for American Theatre. Her essay on women and hip hop theater appears in the contemporary feminist anthology The Fire This Time: Young Activists and the New Feminism. She has been awarded two Artist Fellowship grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. In addition to her solo work, she has performed with Gesel Mason Performance Projects, ClancyWorks Dance Company and was a member of Carla Perlo’s Carla & Co. Her dance-based short films have been screened at Ladyfest and other festivals. She studied modern dance (under Viola Farber) and creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College before earning a Master’s in Journalism from Columbia University.

Move-Ments Artist: Meggan Rees Eckert.

Meggan Rees is living, working and painting in D.C.
after graduating with a BFA from the George Washington
University. Inspired by the processes of creativity,
she observes the subtleties of form and relates them
as metaphors to human experiences. In "Move-ments,"
the dancer symbolizes freedom of expression contrasted
to the walls of limitations. The dancer's creativity
and voice are unconstrained by the limits of
language or the need of an instrument or canvas.
Painting the movements of the transient expression of
a dancer is meant to capture and reflect what we often
fail to notice - creativity in daily surroundings and
the positive essence of the ability to convey one's
voice.

Move-Ments Artist: DJ El Ninyo

Ramon Siewert AKA DJ EL NINYO- Originally from Portland OR- 28 years young, Graduated from AU with Bachellors degrees in International Studies and Latin American Studies. Currently working as a chef by day at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and DJ by night. Favorite hobbies are cooking, eating, breakin', poppin', lockin', DJing, and playing with my 2 dogs! Also soon to be hitched to my lovely fiance and talented hair-stylist Jennie.

Move-Ments Artist: Aysha Upchurch.

Aysha Upchurch is a Washington, DC-based dancer, choreographer and poet. The Washington Post calls her poetry “smart” and her movement ranges from Hip Hop to tap, having studied with legends in both genres, from Buster Brown and Diane Walker to Rennie Harris and Mr. Wiggles. She has choreographed, taught and performed throughout the country in Philadelphia, New York, Texas and North Dakota, as well as internationally in the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. In the Washington, DC area, Aysha is in demand as a dancer, instructor and choreographer. She has been on faculty at Joy of Motion Dance Center since 2000 and has worked with CityDance Ensemble since 2003. Her work has been seen at Dance Place, the Carter Barron Amphitheatre, DARS Constitution Hall, Atlas Performing Arts Center, the Verizon Center and on promotional commercials for the Washington Nationals. She has choreographed for Georgetown Dance Company, DCypher Dance Company, Namyanka Dance Ministry and Joy of Motion’s Youth Dance Ensemble Senior Company. In 2007, she received the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage Local Dance Commissioning Project, and was nominated for a Metro DC Dance Award for Emerging Choreographer. Aysha is a St. Louis, MO native who motive to DC to attend American University where she earned a BA in International Studies and an MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Move-Ments Artist: Steve Connell.

Steve Connell
As a poet, playwright, and actor, his work has continually garnered attention and praise. Poet: he is the 2002 Hollywood Champion, the 2003 LA Champion and the 2003 National Poetry Champion (team LA). His work has been featured on a wide variety of media outlets, including ABC World News, Good Morning America, MSNBC’s Hardball, HBO’s Def Poetry(twice), MTV’s World AIDS Festival, BET’s Lyric Café, Oprah Winfrey’s celebration of Maya Angelou’s 75th birthday and P-Diddy’s Annual White Party. Actor/playwright: His work in, “Downsizing”, won him the “Best Actor” award in the 48 Hour Film Festival and URB magazine declared him one of the “100 Faces To Watch.” His hit one man show, 40 Days, received rave reviews from the LA Weekly (Pick of the Week) and Backstage West (Critic’s Pick) and was declared Best Solo Performance of 2005 by Entertainment Today. His theatrical acting/writing highlights include: no easy choice, at the 12th Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO; The Word Begins, (dir. Robert Egan), just completed its’ first national run in 2007 at the Signature Theater where it was hailed as “explosively funny”, and “…a stunning show on the cutting edge of modern theater.” Other favorite roles include: Tom (Glass Menagerie), Macbeth (Macbeth), and Danny (Danny and the Deep Blue Sea). Film/TV: appeared in independent films, Another Day in Paradise, Shanghai Kiss, and on television in Dirty Sexy Money and The List (both on ABC). His first leading role was in the film, “the Beat”, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His second lead role is in Blues, which should be in theatres in 2008.

Move-Ments Artist: Alana Hill.

Self professed "jack of all trades", Alana Hill naturally took to photography when she enrolled in a photojournalism class at University of Maryland, University College less than a year ago. Although her main task was to complete the class with an "A", Alana received so much more. She has fallen head over heels with photography and has since been shooting more than she could have ever imagined. She has had the opportunity to photograph a wide range of subjects, including, youth and adult portraiture, concerts, theatrical productions, and several dance performances. However, out of everything she has photographed, her favorite is working with people that she loves. "Most people don't consider themselves gorgeous, so it's really difficult for people to appreciate a picture of themselves. However, I find a rewarding challenge in capturing more than outer beauty. I try to capture emotion and sincerity in shots, in addition to the splendor that we all see when we look at them. Most of the times I'm successful!"

Move-Ments Artist: DK aka Wayne Watts.

DK aka Wayne Watts is a national recording hip hop artist on the independent label, Evergreen Music (an associate member of NACA).

DK aka Wayne Watts honed his MC skills in his native city of Baltimore, Maryland and at the age of 15 astonished and entertained music executives and fellow hip hop/r&b artists while interning for the 2002 Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Awards and Conference in South Beach Miami, Florida.

Over the past four years, while completing requirements for a BA Degree in Communications, DK aka Wayne Watts has performed at various events in the Maryland & DC areas, appearing with
Slum Village, The Clipse, Cee-Lo, Raheem DeVaughn, Fertile Ground, Ty Tribbett. DK most recently opened for The All American Rejects at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Maryland. DK also has appeared as a panelist and performer at various hip hop symposiums.

The Spring and Fall of 2008 will find DK aka Wayne Watts embarking on a regional and national tour of festivals, colleges and clubs to promote his latest cd project.

Move-Ments Artist: Boogie Bots Crew.

Boogie Bots Crew:
A collaboration rooted in Culture Shock Washington D.C.'s own Freestyle and Commercial teams bring you a mix of improvisation and choreography. Boogie Bots Crew represents different styles, backgrounds, and concepts being able to move, create, and train as ONE. REPRESENTING THE NJ/MD/DC/VA areas Boogie Bots Crew is MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE.

Move-Ments Artist: Carla "Jupiter" Byrd.

Artist Carla “Jupiter” Byrd’s paintings are often described as her “Urban Haikus on Canvas”. The self taught fine artist comes from a long line of artists and started showing artistic capabilities by the early age of two. But, it wasn’t until the early 2000's that the universe began calling her back to what she always was. Following her natural path, this talented sister started making a name for herself as an artist. She is inspired by the rhythm of life and its eclectic mixes, music, memories, books, friendship, roots, learning, anything that moves her. “I see art in everything” she says.

Using a variety of mediums, her art is beautiful, bold, fun and optimistic, yet hip and clever giving it that urban edge. She speaks through her art, and each piece of art does indeed carry a story, a moment, a thought, an emotion, or just a bit of knowledge. She’s still, growing, and constantly honing her skills. She started signing all of her paintings with the name “Jupiter”, drawn from her zodiac sign. It represents luck abundance, and expansion, all the things she strives to reciprocate through her art.

She resides in Washington, DC.

Move-Ments Artist: Contradiction Dance.

Contradiction Dance is a place where theatre meets dance meets pop-culture. The company's vision is to make dances that report on, reflect, and question the world in which we live. Nurtured on the belief that artists and audience members communicate in a dialogue through the chosen medium, Contradiction Dance fosters discussion, reflection, and change through live performance and dance education.

Founded in 2006 by Artistic Director, Kelly Mayfield, Contradiction Dance blends several dance forms (modern, hip-hop, tap, and jazz elements) with aspects of storytelling, and theatre. This eclectic mix, fused by the direct purpose of theme, allows the company to create an exchange between art and life for audiences, performers, and collaborators. The company members are not simply dancers, they are artists; each contributes greatly to the process and the final product. Each has invested in their message, the desire to share it, and the study, practice and performance of the craft they bring to Contradiction Dance.

For more information or to book a performance, workshop, or master class, please contact: Kelly Mayfield at ContradictionDance@mac.com.

Move-Ments Artist: Comedian Damo.

Damo, is a Maryland native and is a rising star in the world of comedy. His mother says she knew he would be a comic from birth, especially when his first words were “Did you hear the one about...?”. As an only child Damo used humor and the plight of others to occupy his ever-wondering mind. From that point on he has been making folks laugh.
In college at Bowie State University, Damo worked in the Wiseman Student Union building. There he made that atmosphere one of humor and ease. After hearing from his friends and family “You should do comedy” over and over again he did just that.
2003 was the year Damo attended his first comedy workshop class with the Fabulous Fat Doctor, who made a huge impact on such comics as Martin Lawrence , T-Rexx , Dave Chappelle , and many more. With the tutelage of “Doc”, Damo went from being just the funny guy people knew to a comedy phenomenon. Damo's average Joe abrasive comedy style is setting him apart from the masses.