Company Bios Archive

Melissa Riker is Artistic Director and Choreographer of Kinesis Project dance theatre. She is a New York City dancer and choreographer who emerged as a strong performance and creative voice as the NYC dance and circus worlds combined during the 90’s. Riker’s dances and aesthetic layer her training as a classical dancer, martial artist, theatre choreographer and aerial performer. She creates dances on site - and in context. Riker invents large-scale out-door performances and spontaneous moments of dance for individuals and corporate clients. Audiences and critics have called Riker’s work “a Marx Brothers’ routine with soul,” “A movable feast.” And from The New York Times, her choreography is: “comically acrobatic, gracefully classical, visually arresting.” Her work has been seen and supported nationally, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Vermont, Florida and in New York City at such venerable venues as Danspace Project, Judson Church, Joyce Soho, The Minskoff Theatre, The Cunningham Studio, West End Theatre and Dixon Place.  The company dances outside in sculpture gardens, universities, and annually since 2006 in Battery Park’s Bosque Gardens and The Cloisters Lawn as well as hosting over 30 surprise performances all over New York City and the tri-state area as an element of the company’s earned income and outreach programming with volunteer populated flashmobs. Residencies include: Earthdance 2006, Omi International Arts Center 2008, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center 2011, TheaterLab 2014, Adelphi University 2014. Ms. Riker is a 2016 and 2017 CDI Residency Fellow, 2015 LMCC Community Arts Fund grantee and was commissioned by The Brooklyn Botanic Garden for a surprise large-scale work. Performances of the Company’s work Secrets and Seawalls were seen at Omi International Arts Center, LongHouse Reserve, Gateway National Park in partnership with Rockaways Artist Alliance and The South Street Seaport Museum. Ms. Riker has received commissions from Carson Fox and the Ephemeral Festival in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for large-scale outdoor events, NYU in 1998, for an outdoor work long before “flashmob” was coined, 2006 and 2008 grants from the Puffin Foundation for her work Community Movements, a dance work with community volunteers, Fellowships from the Dodge Foundation, Space Grant Residencies from 92nd St Y, The New 42nd St Studio, Gibney Dance Center, and The Joyce Theatre Foundation, and grants from The Bowick Family Trust and John C. Robinson to support the continued work of Kinesis Project dance theatre. Kinesis Project’s home studio is part of the Nord Anglia International School NY 5th Floor Artist in Residence program on Second Street in the East Village.

Sumaya Mulla-Carrillo (Dancer/Collaborator) is a dancer, writer, and arts advocate. She graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in 2018 with her BFA in Dance, and is currently based in NYC. Her training includes summer studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Company, Vim Vigor Dance Company, and Velocity Dance Center’s Strictly Seattle. She has danced with Seattle based artists Alice Gosti, Petra Zanki, Beth Terwilleger, and as a company member in The Three Yells. Sumaya currently works as the Executive and Development Associate at Gibney and is thrilled to be dancing outside with Kinesis Project.

Claudia-Lynn Rightmire (Dancer/Collaborator/Company Manager) Claudia-Lynn Rightmire (Dancer/Collaborator/Company Manager) a Florida native, holds a summa cum laude and Alpha Chi Honors BA degree in dance and performance studies from Roger Williams University. There, she performed works by Helen Simoneau, Sean Curran, Tiffany Mills, and many others. She studied in London and subsequently found herself in Florida, dancing with Sarasota Contemporary Dance and Moving Ethos Dance Company. In 2017, she lived in Australia, teaching throughout Melbourne, dancing with Lion Heart Dance Company, and performing with artists such as Megan Beckwith and Anouk van Dijk. In 2018, she began creating work of her own and performed in works by Pamela Pietro, Gerri Houlihan, and Doug Gillespie. She was a master teacher at New College of Florida, an instructor at The Sarasota Ballet, and is a freelance writer. She is grateful to be up in New York, moving and dancing with Kinesis Project.

Therese Ronco (Dancer/Collaborator) is a Brooklyn-based dance artist. She is originally from Massachusetts where she found her passion for the art form learning from Frances Kotelly and Richard Colton. Therese graduated with a BA in dance from Goucher College where she had the privilege of performing works choreographed by renowned artists such as Doug Elkins, Doris Humphrey, Jon Lehrer, Andrea Miller, Pascal Rioult, and Gwen Welliver. She brings with her experience garnered at the Accademia dell'Arte in Italy. Therese has previously performed with 5th Digit Dance and JKing Dance in addition to freelance projects. She is thrilled to be performing with Kinesis Project.

David Lee Parker (Dancer/Collaborator) is a native from Long Island, New York. He started his dance training at Long Island High school for the Arts and continued his studies at Mason Gross School of the Arts where he graduated with honors and received his B.F.A. in dance performance. David has trained at the Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive, American Ballet Theater Summer Collegiate Program, Gibney Summer Contemporary Dance Program, and has had the privilege to study abroad for a year in Israel at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He has performed works by Antonio Brown, Camille A. Brown, Netta Yerushalmy, Ohad Naharin, Noa Zuk, Reggie Wilson, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Noa Wertheim, and Maxine Doyle. He has also had the special opportunity to perform at the Suzanne Dellal Theatre in Tel Aviv and the Joyce Theatre in New York City. David was an apprentice for Ronald K. Brown and has danced for Brian Brooks Moving Company, QBC Company, and Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More.

Nicole Truzzi (Dancer/Collaborator) NYC based, free lance artist, Nicole has had the privilege to perform at The Craft, Triskelion, and The Joyce. Additionally, she has worked with choreographers such as Yin Yue, Christina Robson, and Sean Curran during her time at NYU Tisch Dance. Over the summers, Nicole has had the pleasure to perform in the Florence Dance Festival, dancing works by Davide di Pretoro, Molissa Fenley, and Piero Leccese. Also, in her travels to Europe, Nicole has had the opportunity to learn from choreographers such as Damien Fournier and Helder Seabra of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui , Sita Ostheimer formerly of Hofesh, and Ian Robinson formerly of Batsheva. Currently, she has the pleasure to be performing with Kinesis Project Dance Theatre.

Michelle Amara Micca (Choreography Assistant/Past Dancer/Collaborator/Company Manager) is a Queens based movement artist originally from Winchester, CT. She began her dance training under her mother at Valley Ballet and later received a BFA from Elon University. As a choreographer Micca has presented work at the IRT Theatre, Queensboro Dance Festival, Greenspace Blooms, Elon University, Young Choreographers Festival, and many other venues over the past 5 years in NYC. Micca has been part of Kinesis since January 2014.

Hendri Walujo, Dancer/Collaborator, born in Jakarta with happy feet, lived in Dallas where he started the dance, and ends up in Seattle where he has had the priviliege to study, collaborate and perform with the incredible talent of Mark Haim, Lucia Neare('s Theaterical Wonders), KT Niehoff, Jessica Jobaris (& General Magic), Ellie Sandstrom, Kristin Hapke, Carla Barragan/BQdanza, Vanessa DeWolf, Stephanie Liapis, Jurg Koch, Gender Tender, and many other dance luminaries.
​He is thankful to continue performing onstage, offstage and on films; on city sidewalks, parks and beaches; in museums, galleries, and warehouses; in Ecuador, Paris, and NYC. Hendri has been working with Kinesis Project in Seattle since 2016.

Kimberly Holloway, Dancer/Collaborator A North Carolina native, Kimberly is a creative soul who likes rich depth of connection, spontaneity, and adventuring to new places. This led her to earn her BFA at Belhaven University, then on to Kansas City where she spent three seasons with Störling Dance Theater, and finally westward to beautiful Seattle.

Kimberly is passionate about conveying specific narratives abstractly enough to allow audiences to translate the work through their own experiences. She pairs emotionally visceral movement with technical articulations, her movement infused with quirkiness and virtuosity. She desires to be part of seeing people become themselves fully. Her work has shown at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, The Folly Theater (Kansas City), Out on a Limb Festival (Olympia, WA), Waterfire Arts Center (Providence, RI), and in Seattle at Velocity Dance Center, Fremont Abbey, Studio Current, and Seattle International Dance Festival. Kimberly is the recipient of grants from the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and Artist Life Guild, the Cornish Arts Incubator Residency, and is an artist in residence at the Fremont Abbey. She has been honored to perform with artists including Michelle Miller/Catapult Dance, Störling Dance Theater, Stone Dance Collective, Shannon Stewart, Alana O Rogers, Maya Soto, and Ashleigh Claire Miller/Faunix. Kimberly has been dancing and creating with Kinesis Project since 2016

Kimberly enjoys teaching and sharing movement through classes, and intensives. She teaches for workshops and intensives in NYC, Kansas City, Colorado, Bainbridge Island, and Seattle.

Robbi Moore, Dancer/Collaborator, from Hamden, CT, began dancing at New England Ballet and continued at Dee Dee’s Dance Center and New Haven Ballet. They are an alumnus of Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, Ailey Summer Intensive, Cunningham Trust Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow’s Commercial Dance Program, and the Complexions Intensive. They went to Mexico with JUNTOS Collective, and taught with Notes in Motion, Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre, and JD/dansfolk. Robbie has performed works by Fredrick Earl Mosley, Ronald K. Brown, Ray Mercer, Jessica Lang, Marcus Willis, Norbert De La Cruz III, Rena Butler, Germaul Barnes, Matthew Rushing, Jeffrey Page, Francesca Harper, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Sidra Bell, Bradley Shelver, Lar Lubovitch, William Forsythe, Donald McKayle, and Alvin Ailey. Moore graduated magna cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and has danced with Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre, The Steps Repertory Ensemble, and AATMA Performing Arts. Robbie has been dancing with Kinesis Project in Seattle since 2019.

Margaret Behm, Dancer/Collaborator is a dancer and teaching artist with an affinity for improvisation. She takes pride in her own, and guiding others’ discoveries of their dancing bodies, and wants everyone to feel empowered to take up space in the world. Since graduating in 2013 from CU Boulder with a BFA in Dance and a Minor in Women and Gender Studies, Margaret has made a life performing and teaching in Colorado, her home state, with Keshet Dance Company in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and now in Seattle, since late 2016. Margaret is a member of AJnC Dance-Theater, directed by Amy J Lambert. Other Seattle artists she has worked with include Wade Madsen, Marlo Martin, Cameo Lethem and Corina Dalzell. As an educator, Margaret is passionate about creating community empowered through movement. She has taught people of all ages and abilities in both studio and community settings. In Albuquerque, Margaret taught adaptive dance, working with dancers with disabilities. She has been an instructor at American Dance Institute since 2016, and is a 2017 graduate of TAT Lab. Margaret has been dancing with Kinesis Project in Seattle since 2019.

Madeline Morser, Dancer/Collaborator, hails originally from Vashon Island where she was trained at Vashon Center for Dance under Christine Juarez. Madeline has danced with the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company at The Egg in Albany, New York. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Skidmore College, with a BS in Dance and a minor in Exercise Science and has taught at numerous schools in New York influencing developing dancers with her positive teaching style. Returning to the Northwest to continue her dance career and is on faculty at West Seattle Performing Arts and Vashon Dance Center. Madeline has been dancing with Kinesis Project in Seattle since 2019.