Jasmine Hearn, born and raised on occupied Akokisa lands (Houston, TX), is an interdisciplinary artist, teacher, doula, performer, and organizer. Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” (2025), Jasmine is a recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award (2023), a Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize in Design with Athena Kokoronis of DPA (2023), a Jerome Foundation Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (2019), and two NY Dance and Performance Bessie Awards for Outstanding Performer (2021, 2017* with the cast of skeleton architecture).
Jasmine has collaborated with Dream the Combine, Bill T. Jones, Saul Williams, Solange Knowles, Alisha B. Wormsley, okwui okpokwasili, Marjani Forté-Saunders, Tsedaye Makonnen, Holly Bass, Bebe Miller, and with dance companies, Urban Bush Women, and David Dorfman Dance, performing choreographic works at the Metropolitan Museum, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York Live Arts, Guggenheim Museum, Getty Center, Venice Biennale, Ford Foundation, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Danspace Project, and the Hobby Center for Performing Arts.
Jasmine is currently leading an archive and performance project, Memory Fleet, which has been awarded a Creative Capital Award (2022), a Creation Fund Award from National Performance Network (2022), and a National Dance Production Grant from New England Foundation of the Arts (2023). With its premiere Houston, TX as part of DiverseWorks Spring 2024 season, Memory Fleet continues to deepen and will be presented at Kelly Strayhorn Theater in April 2026 and New York Live Arts in June 2026.
Jamaican born, Charmaine Patricia Warren performer, historian, consultant, and dance writer, is the founder/artistic director for “Black Dance Stories” and “Dance on the Lawn: Montclair’s Dance Festival,” Producer of DanceAfrica, Artistic Associate and Programming Director at BAM. She was the Director of dance at The Wassaic Project, co-curated E-Moves at Harlem Stage and danced with david roussève/REALITY. Charmaine was a former faculty member at Ailey/Fordham, Sarah Lawrence College, Hunter College and Kean University. She writes for Amsterdam News, sometimes for Dance Magazine, has written for the New York Times and has served as a panelist for various arts organizations. Charmaine holds a Ph.D. in History/Howard University, a Master’s in Dance Research/City College, and Bachelor Degrees (Dance/English)/Montclair State College. She received the 2020 Bessie “Angel” Award and a 2017 Bessie for “Outstanding Performance” as a member of Skeleton Architecture Collective.
Marýa Wethers (she, her, hers) has lived and worked on the lands of Lenapehoking (NYC) since 1997. Marýa is a Bessie Award winning performer (Outstanding Performance with Skeleton Architecture, 2017) and works as a cultural producer and independent curator, dedicated to advocating for and supporting QTBIPOC dance artists. Over the years she has collaborated and performed with Jasmine Hearn, Davalois Fearon, iele paloumpis, skeleton architecture, Deborah Hay, Tiaki Kerei (Jack Gray), visual artist Senga Nengudi, Daria Faïn, Faye Driscoll, and Yanira Castro, among others.
Her work as an independent curator includes curating the 2024 Movement Research Festival “Practices of Embodied Solidarity in Movement(s)”; conceiving and curating the three-week performance series “Gathering Place: Black Queer Land(ing)” at Gibney Dance Center (2018); guest curation for Mount Tremper Arts Watershed Lab Residency (2019 & 2018) and the Queer NY International Arts Festival (2016 & 2015); and curating the Out of Space @ BRIC Studio series for Danspace Project (2003-2007). Her writings have been published in the Configurations in Motion: Curating and Communities of Color Symposium publications, organized by Thomas DeFrantz at Duke University (2016 & 2015); and writings, profiles, and transcripts of conversations have been published in various issues of the Movement Research Performance Journal (#27/28, 47, 50, and 54), as well as “Reciprocities: Sustaining Dance Across an Ocean” edited by Noémie Solomon, published by Villa Albertine, 2025.
Marýa currently works as the Director of Artist Programs at Movement Research. She has served on numerous selection panels for presenting and funding organizations in NY and nationally. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a BA in Dance, minor in African-American Studies, 1997.
Hailing from the Lone Star state of Texas, born and raised in Houston, Coline Creuzot, a singer/songwriter fell in love with the arts at a young age and always knew she was destined for greatness. After the singer/songwriter turned boss woman completed her undergrad degree in Business Management at Hampton University, she decided to move back to Houston to pursue music full time, and was later introduced to Happy Perez, a fellow Houstonian and producer who has worked with Miguel, Mariah Carey and Frank Ocean to name a few. They collaborated on a song called, ‘Give and Take’, that went on to become an immediate hit. ‘Give and Take’ climbed all the way to number 1 on the Houston Radio Charts. The success of the song granted Coline opportunities to open for some amazing artists such as Drake, Keyshia Cole, Monica, David Banner and TI. She later attracted a publishing deal with EMI (now Sony ATV).
Named “an artist at the forefront” by Ebony Magazine, in 2016 Coline’s single ‘Truth Is’ peaked at number 24 on Billboard’s Urban A/C charts-The first 3 billboard charting songs. Coline’s music has been recognized by several blogs and magazines such as Vibe Magazine, Billboard Magazine and Earmilk, critics praised her for her writing ability and solid resume working with some of H-Towns hottest artists such as Slim Thug, Lil Keke, Z-Ro and Paul Wall.
Coline made the jump to Los Angeles to pursue her artistry full time. Known for her strong soulful pipes and lyrical storytelling, Coline pays homage to classic R&B with a relevant swagger. Coline is set to release a new single “Good things Fall Apart” in February followed by a tour.
Harrison Guy (he/him) is a nationally recognized choreographer and cultural architect whose work merges dance, memory, and social transformation. As the founder and artistic director of Houston’s Urban Souls Dance Company (est. 2004), he has spent over two decades creating bold, movement-driven works that center Black identity, cultural legacy, and liberation. He is also the founder of Black Arts Movement Houston, the African American Dance Festival, and Brave Bodies, all dynamic convening space dedicated to cultivating excellence, solidarity, and visibility for Black dancers and artists across Houston.
A 2019 Dance/USA Fellow and 2026 Dance Source Houston Artistic Honoree, Guy’s choreography has been presented on prestigious stages nationwide. His acclaimed workCan We Know the Sound of Forgiveness premiered at Rice University’s Opera Hall with dancers from Houston Ballet Academy and was later performed at Carnegie Hall with students from The Ailey School. He also co-choreographed Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson alongside Stanton Welch, Artistic Director of Houston Ballet, honoring the groundbreaking ballerina’s legacy.
Rooted in truth and radical inclusion, Guy creates space for Black dancers to thrive. His work reclaims dance as a force for cultural preservation, fearless truth telling, and transformative collective power.
Byronné J. Hearn is a nurse manager, registered nurse, community leader, organizer, and the founder of Pecan Palate Pleasures, LLC. Born and raised in Houston, TX, she has worked as a school nurse between the campuses at Southland Elementary and the Gregory Elementary School (1978 – 1980). In late 1980, Gregory Elem merged with Lincoln Junior High School and became K-8th grade Gregory-Lincoln, a fine arts magnet school. In 1988, Byronné became a Nurse Consultant with Special Education from 1988-1991. During her training, Byronné developed a love for pediatric and neonatal nursing. In her early professional years, she worked in the special care units at Texas Children’s Hospital, Hermann Hospital, Ben Taub Hospital and Jefferson Davis Hospital in Houston TX.
Born of the love and resourcefulness of her paternal Grandmother Orange Mae, Byronné learned the art of making pecan candy. Orange Mae taught her to use a few kitchen ingredients and a huge helping of love to make this legendary Louisiana favorite sweet treat! Influenced by her creative and ingenious maternal grandmother “Minnie”, Byronné expanded a home tradition into a tastefully delicious pleasantly; pleasing candy business, Pecan Palate Pleasures. Byronné’s pecan pralines can be purchased at any Frenchy’s Chicken location in Houston, TX.
Hayden Hubner is a choreographer and photographer who is a part of dog eats wind – a young collective of performing artists based in Italy and the southern United States born in the Winter of 2023.
Athena Kokoronis is an artist, chef, mother, choreographer, writer, designer, living in NYC. Domestic Performance Agency is her art brand name, a practice of caring and collaborating with/in. As an art brand that holds all the things an artist is asked to do, DPA invites collaborations. DPA’s choreographic process gives attention to aspects of performance production, curation, food, cloth, and searches for the creative economy within these realms that begins and extends out of domestic scale with hospitality. Choreographic problem-solving with time, sensitivity, and intimacy are at the core of the DPA vision. Costume design is elemental to the DPA process. Costume collaborations have been with Jasmine Hearn, Maria Bauman, Urban Bush Women, Tatyana Tennebaum, Jessie Young, Angie Pittman, David Thomson, Marion Spencer, Tyler Rai.
With Yonkers International Press (YIP) in conjunction with the Dance & Process series at the Kitchen, Athena Kokoronis published CookBook Domestic Performance Agency in 2018 and a second book in 2019 in conjunction with The New School Centennial exhibition. In experimental fashion, DPA is represented by the Lydia Rodrigues Collection.
Acquenette LeBlanc was born on December 3, 1951, in Houston, Texas. She grew up and attended schools in Acres Homes, a historic black community in North Houston. She earned degrees from Grambling University and Texas Southern University. She worked for 36 years in Aldine ISD, as a teacher, Instructional Specialist and Assistant Principal before retiring after serving 10 years as the Principal of her neighborhood school.
Acquenette seems to run on “on divine fuel”. She volunteers for her church where she helps feed the hungry and count and reconcile tithes and donations. She helps with any occasion that requires food. She is the first to serve and the last to leave the kitchen. Acquenette is a top Line Dance instructor and the choreographer for Groove 44, one of the most award-winning line dance groups in Texas. She has been invited to teach line dancing both nationally and internationally.
Myssi Robinson (she / her) is a Bessie award winning performer, multi-disciplinary maker and caregiver raised on and returned to Powhatan lands (Richmond, VA). She has interpreted many dances and dances through many interpretations. Her practice quilts together imaginative archiving and mixed-media marking beside experiments in improvisation, ritual and spatial design. Intuition and empathy play with maximalist instinct to give life to what comes. Gratitude to Carolyn, Darrin and all that is unseen for her life and abilities to create freely within it.
Ashley DeHoyos Sauder is the Curator of DiverseWorks and organizes a full range of visual, performing, and public arts programming. In addition to their role as curator at DiverseWorks, DeHoyos also manages Diverse Discourse and co-organizes The Idea Fund, a regranting program co-administered by DiverseWorks, Aurora Picture Show, and Project Row Houses, funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts. In her free time DeHoyos serves as a Steering committee member for Houston’s Bipoc Artists Network and Fund, serves as a board member for the Climate Justice Museum and as a partner advisor for the National Performance Network. DeHoyos Sauder received a BFA from Sam Houston State University (2013) and MFA in Curatorial Practice from Maryland Institute College of Art (2016). She currently lives and works in Houston with her husband and daughter.
Sandra Organ Solis was born in Omaha, Nebraska, of two native Texans, and graduated Valedictorian from Duchesne Academy. Her balletic training was under the tutelage of Valerie Roche in the Royal Academy of Dancing Syllabus, in which she completed all levels of examinations. When Sandra was accepted into Houston Ballet Academy summer programs, she lived with her cousins in the Third Ward, and continued as a scholarship student after graduating high school. It was no irony lost on her that she became Houston Ballet’s first African American ballerina, in the city where her mother couldn’t have had that opportunity. Sandra spent her career dancing there for 15 years and as a soloist under Artistic Director Ben Stevenson. Her roles spanned the classical and contemporary realms, dancing in the ballets of Stevenson and the choreographers Christopher Bruce, James Kudelka, Jiri Kylian, Sir Kenneth MacMillian, George Balanchine, Anthony Tudor, Frederic Ashton, and Paul Taylor, to name a few. Among her wide range of roles, her favorite classical roles included Myrtha in Giselle, Evil Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty, The Snow Queen in the Nutcracker, and Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother. Of the contemporary classics, Sandra enjoyed the challenge of Lescaut’s Mistress in MacMillian’s Manon, and Choleric in Balanchine’s Four Temperaments.
Ms. Organ participated in the making of a film by Houston Ballet that can be viewed on YouTube of Bruce’s Ghost Dances, performing a signature role for her, as the Woman in the Red Dress (here at 3:02). She gained valuable tools serving as an AGMA union representative, and as Rehearsal Assistant to Christopher Bruce, Resident Choreographer. Most recently she was featured in a series of panel discussions enlisted by Houston Ballet of its African American dance artists, called Breaking Boundaries, on the episode “Firsts” which can be viewed here.
After retiring from Houston Ballet, Ms. Organ founded her own contemporary ballet ensemble, Earthen Vessels, The Sandra Organ Dance Company, for which she created 100 ballets and employed more than 120 dancers over sixteen seasons of programming in theatres and sacred spaces.
SETSVN
Houston born & raised by the world. adventurers. film makers.
we are intrigued by the mystery of the earth and what lies beneath. we are willing to dive deep into our passions, and yours. not to create a narrative, but to encapsulate the moments that deliver an experience of wonder, and curiosity.
– somya & carlos
Jo Stewart (they/them) is a poet, educator, and theater maker.
jhon r. Stronks is a queer identifying gender non conforming singer, dancer choreographer. Often their dancing is a mending practice in pursuit of expansion and evolution, while their singing carries through a mourning call in search of recognition, and reconciliation. Through their voice and movement emerges a genderqueer expression that remembers lost existences and imagines new trajectories toward the home and rest they are chasing after.
jhon’s formal dance training began with Sue Sampson- Dalena at the Dance Studio of Fresno, studying Jazz, he continued his dance training and education at 2 California State Universities, Fresno and Long Beach, where he studied Modern dance techniques, improvisation and composition. As a performer jhon has worked with Winifred R. Harris’ Between Lines (Los Angeles), Keith Johnson and Dancers (Los Angeles), Duende Dance Theater (Atlanta), Coriolis Dance Project (Atlanta), Sandra Organ Dance Company (Houston), Travesty Dance Group (Houston), and Spent Five Seasons as a Member of Core Performance Company (Atlanta).
jhon served as a resident guest Artist (2001 -2006) for Spelman Dance Theater at Spelman College in Atlanta Ga., Artistic Director for Africa to A –Train a music and dance collaboration between Neighborhood Music Schools of Georgia State and Moving in The Spirit in Atlanta, GA., and Director of the Houston Met Dance’s pre- professional dance program and youth company (2006 – 2009). jhon is the Artistic Director of “there…in the sunlight” a project heading that functions as a vehicle for independent choreographic projects. Choreographic awards and achievements include 2018 Rec Room Arts HTX Residency, Houston Press’s 2014 Houston MasterMind, Houston Press Best of 2013 in the Contemporary/Modern Dance Categories, two 2008 Buff Orpington Awards for Houston Contemporary Dance Achievement, Best Choreographic Work Under 15 Minutes and Best Choreographic Work 15 to 40 Minutes. jhon was the Spring 2019 Visiting Dance Artist in Residence for the BFA Conservatory Dance program at The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and currently serves as the Director of Programming for Houston Met Dance and Production Manager for Dance Source Houston.
Ashley Teamer was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her multimedia artwork explores the complexities of black femininity through painting, collage, and animation. In her visual and curatorial work, Ashley uses the object to transform the gallery space.
