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BOARD & STAFF KATE HUTTER
 MICHELLE M. MIERZ
JENNIFER L. ALEMAN Jennifer Aleman joined the board of the L.A. Contemporary Dance Company in 2009. Jen is one of LACDC's biggest fans, and has yet to leave a performance without feeling inspired by the energy and passion that the artists bring to LACDC. She graduated magna cum laude from Southern Methodist University with a BBA, where she also spent a semester at the Universidad Jose Ortega y Gassett in Madrid, Spain, studying Spanish language, history and art. She began her career at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette ("DLJ") in New York in the real estate finance division, and later became a founding member of DLJ Strategic Partners, L.P., a private equity fund created to purchase interests in leveraged buyout, mezzanine, venture capital and real estate funds in the secondary market. After three years at DLJ, Jen earned her MBA from the Harvard Business School, where she continues to be involved in alumni fundraising initiatives. In 2004, she joined General Electric for a year long stint in a sales and marketing leadership program where she was instrumental in strategizing on new business opportunities to achieve revenue growth for two business units. In 2005, Jen joined Credit Suisse where she was most recently a Vice President in the Alternative Investments division, responsible for raising capital from endowments, foundations and pension plans for private real estate managers globally. Today, she is an independent consultant advising real estate companies on capital raising alternatives in both the US and Mexico. She loves travel, yoga, adventure, photography and flying, and is an active member of the Bay Cities 99s and Women in Aviation International. Jen hopes to bring her fundraising experience and business acumen to LACDC as the company continues to flourish. MARLO BAIRD Upon graduation from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre and a Critical Studies of Film minor, Marlo Baird began her career in post production working as a producer for a boutique editorial company, Spot Welders, in Venice Beach. Since, she has collaborated with award winning directors, including Mike Mills and Craig Gillespie, on national campaigns such as VW, Nike and Milk. She continues to produce commercials, music videos and documentaries, one of which premiered at South By Southwest. Marlo also works periodically as voice over talent, most notably as the voice for AT&T during the 2008 Summer Olympics. Most recently, she spent the fall of 2008 working full time as a community organizer for the Barack Obama Campaign For Change in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is an avid supporter of the arts in Los Angeles and is excited to bring the momentum of the grassroots movement to LACDC. CASEY COWAN GALE Casey Cowan Gale's extensive experience ranges from co-designing the lighting for the world premiere of Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches to designing the architectural lighting for ABC's Nightline offices in Washington D.C. Her most recent work includes the lighting designs for The Music Man, My Fair Lady, Mame, Camelot and The Sound of Music at the Hollywood Bowl with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, all directed by Gordon Hunt. For her work she has received a Dramalogue Award, the L.A. Weekly Award, and awards from the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. She served for 6 years as a lighting designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, where she designed the lighting for various attractions at Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, and Walt Disney World. She spent an additional 5 years at Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development researching and evaluating lighting technology for any and all branches of the Walt Disney Company. Casey was the Director of Lighting Design for the University of Southern California School of Theatre for 8 years, and is currently a free lance Lighting Designer. ALI WEST Born and raised in the Midwest, Ali had dreams of palm trees and winters above freezing from a young age. A dancer since before she could walk, Ali's training led her to another passion, acting, and thus fueled her move to the place that had it all, Los Angeles. After graduating from Indiana University with a BA in communications and theater, she made the big move west to pursue her dreams. Loving to be busy, she also freelances as a reality television casting producer for such shows as 'The Bachelor' and "Trading Spaces." With a zeal for the arts from creation to production, Ali embraces all parts and loves the collaboration that this industry allows. ADVISORY BOARD Julie McDonald, Lee Wochner, Lon Haber, Lucy Lee, and Margo Apostolos COLLABORATORS MECCA VAZIE ANDREWS Mecca Vazie Andrews film and stage credits include Bedtime Stories, RENT, Grammy's with David LaChapelle, MTV Movie Awards, Hysterica Dance Company, Sony Industrials, VH1's Showgirl Bootcamp, America’s Best Dance Crew, City Opera and American Apparel. She instructs Contemporary Jazz at Edge Performing Arts Center and has taught beginning/intermediate Jazz at Loyola Marymount University and Contemporary Jazz for Broadway Dance Center. Mecca is also artistic director and founder of her performing company Movement Movement. DAVID BRIDEL David Bridel is a director, choreographer, writer, and teacher of acting, movement and clown. The Los Angeles Times writes: "Bridel is the real thing, one of the most inventive, scholarly, and vastly challenging voices on the current theatrical scene." David's productions of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, Corneille, Moliere, Ionesco, Pirandello, Dumas and others, as well as his own new plays, have been seen in Los Angeles, New York City, Tel Aviv, London, and Edinburgh. He is the co-Artistic Director of the Franklin Stage Company, in Franklin, New York which he co-founded in 1997. For Academy Award winner William Friedkin, David has choreographed four operas, two in Los Angeles and two at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, as well as The Soldier's Tale at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, in association with the L.A. Contemporary Dance Company. He has also served as Commedia dell'Arte Movement Specialist for the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. David's original plays have been performed in Edinburgh, in London, at Franklin Stage, in Los Angeles, at Shakespeare and Company, and at the Roy Hart Theatre in Malerargues, France. He is currently the Associate Director and the Head of Movement for the MFA program at the University of Southern California, and runs his own Clown School in Los Angeles. SONOS Emerging from the SoCal college a cappella scene with the singular aim of turning the genre on its head, Sonos reinvents a 21st century songbook with bold reinterpretations of vital indie artists who inspire the sextet. The result is a spellbinding fusion of ancient and contemporary sounds, as songs by the likes of Radiohead (“Everything in Its Right Place”), Sara Bareilles (“Gravity”), Fleet Foxes (“White Winter Hymnal”), Bon Iver (“Re:Stacks”), Rufus Wainwright (“Oh What a World”), Björk (“Joga”), Imogen Heap (“Come Here Boy”) and other cutting-edge creators are transformed into mesmerizing vehicles for voices only. The repertoire also extends to the iconic mainstream, hence their radical trip-hop rendition of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" and their soulful take on Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence." Sonos's imaginative approach has already won plaudits from such tastemakers as Chris Douridas of L.A. bellwether station KCRW-FM, who praised Sonos’s “innovative vocal arrangements” and “inspired repertoire, supremely delivered". PAST CHOREOGRAPHERS: Mecca Vazie Andrews, Terri Best, Shari Brookler, Michael Crotty, Bahareh Ebrahimzadeh, Devin Fulton, Jamila Glass, Kate Hutter, Ryan Heffington, Scott Hislop, Jolieba Jackson, Laura Karlin, Nichol Mason, Adam Parson, Leslie Scott, Kevin Williamson DESIGNERS & TECH: COSTUME DESIGNERS: Amy Bobeda, Suzanne Boller, Alexis de Forest, Ryan Heffington, Idalia Valero LIGHTING DESIGNERS: Trevor Burk, Phil Kong, Michael Mahlum, Erin Powell, Jim Smith, Mason Barker SET DESIGNERS: Ryan Patterson, Arad Vejdani STAGE MANAGERS: Phil Kong, Geoff Lind, Ashley Singh, Kurt Ross COLLABORATING ARTISTS: COMPOSERS / MUSICIANS: Sam Cooper, DJ Elsewhere, Toby Karlin, David Kowal, Eric Mason, Katia Moraes, Shawn Thomas Odyssey PLAYWRIGHT / DIRECTORS: Aaron Henne, L. Zane PHOTOGRAPHERS: Patrick Adams, Joe Lambie, Eric Mason, Taso Papadakis, Dave Schwep VIDEOGRAPHERS / EDITORS: Glyn Gray, Jamila Glass, Pete Monro GRAPHIC DESIGNERS / WEB DEVELOPMENT: Jamila Glass, Dane Martens, Eric Mason, Michelle Mierz |
Kate Hutter is co-founder and Artistic Director of the L.A. Contemporary Dance Company. Kate is an alumnus of the Walnut Hill School and a graduate of the University of Southern California with a BFA in Theatrical Design. Kate also holds a MFA in Dance / Choreography from Purchase College, SUNY. Kate has won awards from the USC School of Theatre for Outstanding Choreography 2001-2004 as well as the Stanley Musgrove Award and the James and Nony Doolittle Award for her unique contributions in the theatre, and received the MFA award for excellence in her program at SUNY. Kate's work has also been nominated for two Lester Horton Awards for "Best Small Ensemble." Kate continues to create new works for the L.A. Contemporary Dance Company, choreograph for theater productions, commercials and school concerts, and teach at the Brockus Project Space in downtown L.A. while developing new ways of bringing dance to the public and educating students through LACDC's outreach programming and performances. 
Michelle Michelle Mierz is co-founder and previous Executive Director of the L.A. Contemporary Dance Company. She proudly grew up in West Seattle, WA and trained as a dancer herself since the age of four through college. Michelle combined her passion for dance and her business background to create LACDC.Michelle graduated magna cum laude from the USC Marshall School of Business Honors Program/ Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies with a BS. Her professional credits outside of LACDC include work with the consulting firm, CounterIntuity, as a Project Manager, interim operations manager for the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, Associate Producer with LA Stage Alliance for the 2004 Ovation Awards, and Associate Producer for the Choreography Media Honors 2008-2009. Michelle currently attends Yale University's School of Management and will receive her MBA in 2011.
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