​​DATES

​​

July 6, 7:30 pm EST
July 7, 3:00 pm EST - with live music by FAR Trio

Writer/Choreographer: Gerry Trentham (lbs/sq” performance)
Featuring: Megan Rakeepile and Marisa Caruso 
Music by: Moya Rakeepile and Drew Azzinaro
Sculpture: Kaersten Colvin-Woodruff
Videography: Prince Brooks
Space & Event Management: Jeff Livingston
Organizational Coordination: Martina Payette

Artist Biographies

 

Gerry Trentham
Gerry Trentham's (he/they) life-long dedication to the art of performance has created their own cannon of over 40 original works for stage and screen, garnered international performance acclaim and more recently international film awards. As a performer he has originated roles in works of some of Canada’s most renowned choreographers including during a seven-year tenure with Serge Bennathan’s internationally acclaimed Dancemakers. Seven works in which he has originated roles have been nominated for and/or received Toronto Dora Awards most recently as cast/voice director in Denise Fujiwara's hit EUNOIA. Beyond his own creations Gerry, after four decades, continues to be a sought-after performer in new works by the renowned choreographers Tedd Robinson, Claudia Moore, Peter Chin, Maxine Heppner, Denise Fujiwara and Zab Magoungou. With an MFA in theatre, voice and speech they teach, mentor and coach synthesized voice/body practice and creation process internationally.

 

Megan Rakeepile
A Buffalo, NY native, Megan Rakeepile specializes in two genres of dance, Afro Caribbean and Afro fusion. They both share similar foundations influenced by the African diaspora and the survival of colonization. Megan began her dance training at Miss Barbara School of Dance, Buffalo City Ballet, and NYSSSA (NYS Summer School of the Arts) between 1991-2008 where she then graduated with a dance degree from Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts. She trained professionally in Toronto, ON with Ballet Creole from 2008-2010 where she received her dance certification in modern, classical, traditional, and folkloric dance. She then moved to Rochester NY to dance with Garth Fagan Dance Co. For a year, she trained and danced with the company as a professional member and adopted Fagan’s dance technique as one of her many core disciplines. After a year in Rochester NY, she then moved back home to Buffalo, NY and developed many nonprofit arts programs in her community starting in 2012. To the present day, she has worked with her past home church Grace UCC, Fruit Belt Coalition, Urban Christian Ministries, New Generation Ministries, Matt Urban Center, her current home church New Covenant UCC, and many more.

Within the past 26 years, Megan Rakeepile has established her own professional dance company MahataMmoho Collective (est. 2014), and in 2023 she was a recipient of NYS Choreographers Initiative Grant, a program of the NYS DanceForce through which she was able to focus solely on her development as a choreographer. She continues to work freelance for dance studios, schools, and arts programs including Studio J, Buffalo State University, Peace of the City, University at Buffalo, Shea’s Arts Engagement and Education, and so many more. Megan sees the value in sharing her creative passion and mission with her community, she feels that it is especially important to bring artists from diverse backgrounds and professions together to create works of unity and culture exchange.

 

Marisa Caruso
Marisa Caruso is a multidisciplinary theater artist whose work alternately places her in the titles of producer, performer, manager, director, teacher and writer. Her collaborations span a wide range of theater styles from classic works to abstract contemporary performance to filmed/live sketch comedy. Marisa is the Managing Director of the avant-garde theater company, Torn Space Theater and has worked with award-winning companies in residence, including 600 HIGHWAYMEN and Temporary Distortion.
Now based in the Catskills region, Marisa has developed new original theater works and project collaborations, notably with companies such as Lbs/Sq”, Neon Caviar, The Party Theater, and an original performance residency project, Kaats Cradle. She is also a member of the sketch group GIMLICK and founder of the Hill People’s Comedy Fest.

 

Moya Rakeepile
Hailing from the streets of Soweto, South Africa, Moya Rakeepile is the headmaster of Pantsula and Kwasa Kwasa dance, which are traditional styles of dance that have developed into street dance styles in South Africa. Moya has developed a new technique that takes these styles of dance to a professional theatrical performance level. He came to Toronto with the Soweto Marimba Band twice, in 2007 and in 2008. In 2008 he stayed in Toronto and took the opportunity to train, dance, and tour with Ballet Creole from 2008-2011. Moya was called back home to South Africa to continue his studies in traditional ancestral roots practices for two years. Now that he is back in North America he performs with MahatamMoho Collective and continues to strengthen his spiritual practices and to educate people about cultural and spiritual awareness.

 

Drew Azzinaro
Guitarist/ Musical Artist Drew Azzinaro recently moved to the Catskills from Buffalo where has been a staple of the Buffalo music scene for the past 15 years. He currently splits his time between being a full time performer throughout the northeast and being a musical educator. He has been awarded “Best Jazz Guitarist” in 2019 and 2016 from the Buffalo Jazz Polls. His bands have opened for many national and international acts such as Gregg Allman, Debbie Davies, Devon Allman ,The BPO, T-Pain etc… He has recorded 12 albums with his different projects over the years and has been featured on many recordings as a sideman. 
His main current project is F.A.R., an electric trio consisting of Eamon Rayhn on Bass/Vocals, Ethan Fox on Drums and himself on Guitar/Vocals, which plays much music from their 2019 album, new originals to be recorded and arrangements of everything from John Lennon to Michael Brecker. Drew graduated with a BfA in Classical Guitar Studies from SUNY Fredonia.

 

Kaersten Colvin-Woodruff
Born in 1968 in Washington DC, Kaersten Colvin-Woodruff has been exhibiting and lecturing on
her artwork in national and international settings for more than thirty years and currently lives and works in the United States.
She received her MFA from Arizona State in 1994, and her BFA from SUNY Purchase in 1991. Since 1994 she has been teaching in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at PennWest University. She is affiliated with Pounds Per-Square Inch Performance (lbs./sq”), based in Toronto. Here she served as a collaborator on two bi-national interdisciplinary creative projects, The Art of Peace II/Arrivals, and The Apology Project. Each venue was a collision of performance, visual, and media art, and was exhibited and performed at Silo City in Buffalo, New York, the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theater and at Harbourfront Center Theater in Downtown Toronto.
Kaersten creates mixed media three-dimensional artworks constructed from a combination of
organic and industrial materials. Her work is fueled by her interest in American folk medicine and folk magic. The works are not narrative interpretations of these practices; rather she combines materials such as hair, beeswax and feathers, and techniques such as casting, and fabricating base metals to suggest or echo American folkways.

​

This program is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Services Inc.​​​