Panoramic Dance Project Spring 2024 Concert

Ana Baer Carrillo is a Mexican-American video-choreographer living in the US since 2000. The international scope of her presentations, the diversity of the forms in which she works, and her frequent practice of collaboration are evidence of her twenty-first-century, transitional, interdisciplinary contributions to the Arts. Baer Carrillo works across several discrete fields and genres, maintaining a clear dance-centric conceptual line in her research agenda.

Her dance and video work has been produced around the globe by festivals, galleries, museums, and institutions of higher education. She is a founding member of Merge Dance Company and has been the Artistic co-director of the Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema since 2004. In 2014, she co-founded WECreate Productions with Heike Salzer to explore themes of identity, the body, and site-specificity through artistic collaboration. She is currently on Faculty at Texas State University.

Brianna Forbes (MFA) is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Performing Arts & Technology. She is passionate about Restorative Justice, Community enrichment, and Street Dance. Prior to joining NC State, she taught K-12 Public School Dance, along with guest choreographing and serving as faculty within Elon University’s Department of Performing Arts.

Forbes currently serves as the National Board Advisor of Delta Chi Xi Honorary Dance Fraternity Inc. and is a proud dancer of Dance Now Cry Later. Currently, through her Restorative Justice Project, Forbes20Tour, she mentors collegiate dancers across the United States and produces/facilitates community performances and workshops for a positive change. She has performed in various Street Dance festivals such as “We Are Hip Hop” in Charlotte, NC. In addition, she has choreographed and performed various House Dance-based pieces during her Dance Project Artist Residency in Greensboro, NC.She iis an Alumna of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), where she received a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography along with her K-12 teaching licensure. She enjoys teaching and choreographing for students of all ages and hopes to continue building and restoring communities through arts activism.

Brandon McCrimmon, aka No Cents, is the local hip-hop hero in the NC B-Boy scene. As a B-Boy, he’s been leading the way for the Carolinas through battling and creating more opportunities for young dancers through performing and organizing community events. One of the pillars of the Raleigh Rockers, he’s all over the place in the best way possible. His style is like no other, and he stays showing out on any song he dances to!

Marcus L. Miller is a multi-instrumentalist based in Southern California. He is the Artistic Director of the performance art ensemble Freedom Jazz Movement and the bandleader of the percussion ensemble Project World Drum. He also serves as Musical Director and consultant for the modern dance company Lula Washington Dance Theatre.Miller is President of his record label Universe Soul Records and is also the founder & director of the Young Drummers of Los Angeles. Marcus is a member of Chamber Music America, a voting member of the Recording Academy, a member of American Federation of Musicians Local 47, a composer for Heavy Harmony Music publishing, and a SESAC affiliate artist.

Christa Oliver is an Associate Teaching Professor in the department and the Director of the Panoramic Dance Project. Prior to joining NC State, she taught for eleven years in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Texas State University. Christa is an educator, dance activist, performer, and choreographer. She holds a Master of the Arts degree in Dance Performance and a Professional Diploma in Dance Studies from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (England). She is also a Mellon Fellow in the School of Theater and Performance Research at Harvard University. Throughout her career, Christa has collaborated with renowned choreographers such as Donald McKayle, Valerie Preston-Dunlop, Rafael Bonachela, Donald Byrd, Rennie Harris, Lula Washington, Victor Quijada, Christopher Huggins, Willi Dorner, Miguel Periera, Robin Lewis, and Dominique Kelly. She has performed professionally in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Kosovo, Mexico, and Amsterdam and was the dance captain on the national tour of The Color Purple. She has also showcased her acting and dancing skills on the big screen in Hollywood films such as Avatar and Crazy on the Outside.

Anne Porterfield is an Associate Professor in the Department of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management at NC State’s Wilson College of Textiles. Her research examines the use of 3D apparel visualization software in apparel design and customization. Dr. Porterfield has a Ph.D. in Textile Technology Management from NC State and an M.F.A. in Costume Design from UT Austin. She worked extensively in costume design and production prior to coming to NC State. 

Atiba Rorie has been playing percussion instruments since he was a young child. Pursuing his passion, he earned a BA in Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In addition to UNCG, Atiba has also studied with masters such as Babatunde Olatunji, Fahali Igbo, Bradley Simmons and Chief Bey. Further studies have found him working with The National Dance Ensemble of Ghana in Accra, Ghana, and a one-month intensive study in Guinea, West Africa. Rorie is the founder of the acclaimed international multi-genre band, Africa Unplugged. Besides leading his own band, Atiba has worked with many professional ensembles, performing at countless venues, including Dance Africa in New York, Tedx Greensboro, National Black Arts Festival, Black Dance USA, and two Presidential Inauguration Celebrations. In 2005 Rorie was invited to participate in a Drums of Passion Tribute to Babatunde Olatunji at the Percussive Arts Society International Conference. He has been a guest artist at CaldCluegh Community Center, Duke University, High Point University, Agnes Scott College, Williams College, Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, Black College Dance Exchange, North Carolina School of the Arts, and Radford University.

Solteria Ross has been dancing for 16 years before joining Panoramic Dance Project in 2017. During her 5 years in PDP, she trained under past PDP director, Francine Ott. She choreographed her own piece in 2019 based on her independent dance study, and received the NC State Performing Artist Award for her work in PDP in 2020. Solteria holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from NC State and is currently a Spacecraft Systems Engineer based in Chicago, IL.

Khalid Abdul N’Faly Saleem is an internationally renowned African music specialist. He joined the faculty of Appalachian State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance this fall, where he serves as an instructor of African Drumming for Dance, and as Music Director of Diyé African Dance and Drum Ensemble with Sherone Price, Dance Director. Previously, Khalid served as musical director of Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble at the State University of New York College at Brockport. He continues on the faculty of the American Dance Festival where he also performs and is a dance musician for both African and modern dance classes each summer. He has traveled internationally to the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America with the well-known Chuck Davis Dance Company (where he was the founding music director), as well as with The Egwen Dancers, The Big Drum Dance Company of Granada, and Les Guidivoir (Côte D’ivoire). Khalid was a featured performer in the Dance Black America concert film shown nationally on PBS, and on multiple commercial recordings of African music. He has had the honor to compose, arrange, direct, or perform for presidents, bishops, ambassadors, and great choreographers such as Donald McKale, Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Tally Beaty, Molissa Fenley, Betty Jones, Lavina Williams, Cleo Parker Robinson, members of the Limon Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company, Papa Ladji Camara, Baba Djimo Kouyate, and Chief Bey to name a few. Khalid’s latest international cultural exchange travels have taken him to South Korea with the Korea American Dance Festival (KADF) program and to Brazil to work with Mestre Ramos, Mestre Toni Vargas, and Mestre Peixinho of the popular Senzala Capoiera School located in Rio De Janeiro. As part of a cultural exchange with Cuba, Khalid taught West African rhythms and studied Afro-Cuban folklore in Santiago. In 2004, Khalid accepted an invitation to perform with the Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble at their 21st anniversary gala performance and to be a part of a film documentary on the life of Dr. Chuck Davis.

Lula Washington is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Lula Washington Dance Theatre (LWDT). Lula founded the Company in 1980 with her husband, Erwin Washington, to provide a creative outlet for minority dance artists in the inner city. Today, Lula and her Company are revered across the United States and around the world. The Company has danced in over 150 cities in the United States, as well as abroad in Germany, Spain, Kosovo, Mexico, Canada, China, and Russia. 

Lula is admired as a teacher, leader, dancer, and choreographer with a very unique style and approach to dance. Stylistically, Lula fuses African and Afro-Haitian dance. She also incorporates the dance styles of gospel church, classical ballet, modern, street, theatrical, hip hop, while drawing from various ideas and issues. Her works have been praised by critics for their strong political and social commentary, as well as their avant-garde composition and their roots in African-American culture.