ARTISTIC TEAM

MEGAN KURASHIGE, co-artistic director

Megan Kurashige co-founded S&F in 2011. She also performs with Liss Fain Dance, where she has been a company member since 2010. She has previously worked with choreographers Christian Burns (burnsWORK), Alex Ketley (The Foundry), and Amy Seiwert, and performed with Ballet Pacifica and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal. She studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Summer Lee Rhatigan and the Academy of Ballet under the direction of Richard Gibson. She is also a writer. Her short fiction has appeared in various magazines and anthologies and she is a 2008 graduate of the Clarion Writers' Workshop at UCSD.

SHANNON KURASHIGE, co-artistic director

Shannon Kurashige co-founded S&F in 2011. She has also performed with Liss Fain Dance since joining the company in 2010, and previously worked with Christian Burns (burnsWORK), Alex Ketley (The Foundry), and Amy Seiwert. Shannon attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she studied under Melissa Hayden, and graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a BFA in Dance Performance and a minor in biology. She also received extensive training at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under the tutelage of Summer Lee Rhatigan. Shannon is also an artist and freelance graphic designer.

CHARMAINE BUTCHER, performer

Charmaine (they/them) is a dance artist based out of San Francisco. After graduating high school with an Associate's Degree, they continued their training at Alonzo King LINES Ballet's Training Program in San Francisco. Charmaine has worked professionally for various choreographers, including Amy J Lambert, Beth Terwilleger, Cameo Lethem, Dwight Rhoden, Petra Zanki, Robert Moses and performed with Coriolis Dance, the Seattle Opera, and Verlaine & McCann’s Burlesque Nutcracker. Charmaine currently works with Post:ballet, Sharp & Fine, and frequently collaborates with their partner Babatunji. In 2019, Charmaine completed their bachelor’s degree in Marketing & Entrepreneurship. In addition to dancing and teaching movement, Charmaine is a visual artist working in the mediums of floral, paint, and clay.

A portrait of Julie Crothers. She is wearing a flame-colored pants suite and is holding a blue balloon in one hand while smiling broadly.

JULIE CROTHERS, performer

Julie Crothers is a white, queer, disabled performer, choreographer, and community educator based in Berkeley, CA. She has danced with AXIS Dance Company, Tara Pilbrow Dance, WaxPoet(s), and Kickbal, and began working with Sharp & Fine in 2022. As a maker, Julie utilizes contemporary dance, character, and comedy to share personal stories and is passionate about increasing the accessibility of dance for all. Her solo choreographic work has been presented on stages throughout the Bay Area and beyond, including CHOPSHOP Dance Festival and International Women in Dance Leadership Conference. In 2020, Julie was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to watch". A Tennessee native, Julie studied dance and arts administration at Elon University, graduating in 2014.

SONJA DALE, performer

Sonja Dale was raised in Berkeley, California, where she began her training with Sally Streets at Berkeley Ballet Theater. Sonja has worked with companies on both sides of the US, including FACT/SF in San Francisco, and SYREN Modern Dance and KDNY Dance in New York City. She has also performed internationally with the aerial dance company, Australia Strange Fruit. Sonja is now living in the Bay Area and dancing for some truly wonderful companies, including Sharp & Fine, The Mark Foehringer Dance Project, and Liss Fain Dance. Love to JHN. Sonja has worked with S&F since 2015.

JORDAN GLENN, composer and musician

Drummer/composer/improviser Jordan Glenn spent his formative years in Oregon and in 2006 relocated to the Bay Area where he received an MFA from Mills College. Since then he has been most closely associated with Fred Frith, William Winant, Zeena Parkins, Roscoe Mitchell, Ben Goldberg, John Schott, Lisa Mezzacappa, Karl Evangelista, Motoko Honda, Michael Coleman and the bands Jack O' The Clock, Kyle Bruckmann’s Degradient, and tUnE-yArDs. He has also worked with Rhys Chatham, Secret Chiefs 3, The Rova Sax Quartet, composer/bagpiper Matthew Welch and has been commissioned to create scores for evening-length dance pieces by Sharp & Fine and Liss Fain Dance. As a leader he has composed and conducted the trio Wiener Kids, Mindless Thing (a collaboration with poet Jim Ryan) and the percussion heavy large ensemble BEAK.

CAITLIN HICKS, performer

Caitlin Hicks grew up and received her formative dance training in San Diego before completing her B.F.A. in Dance Performance at the University of California, Irvine. Since 2015, Caitlin has been working as a freelance artist in the Bay Area, appearing with companies including Post:ballet, Garrett + Moulton Productions, REYES Dance, Bellwether Dance Project, and The MoveMessenger(s). She has also collaborated with media artist John Sanborn and musical group The Residents on both film and stage productions. Caitlin began working with Sharp & Fine in 2021—dancing, attempting other skills for which she has significantly less training, and generally having a weird and wonderful time.

MAX JUDELSON, composer and musician

Max Judelson (he/him) is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music where he studied bass with Benjamin Levy. While in Boston, Max regularly performed at Massachusetts General Hospital where he developed a music program for patients, families and staff. His article, The Economics of the Street Musician, was published in The Wall Street Journal (online) and he was interviewed for NPR’s Talk of the Nation addressing the same topic. Since relocating to California, he has collaborated with numerous artists including Christian Burns, Sharp & Fine, Liv Schaffer, and Glass Eye Shadow Pictures. Additionally, he accompanies dance classes, and has had the pleasure to record and perform as a part of Jordan Glen’s BEAK and Robert Woods-LaDue’s Onkos. When he isn’t playing bass or cello, Max can be found racing bicycles for Rock Lobster Cycles throughout North America and Europe.

MOLLY LEVY, performer

Molly Levy (she/her) is a performing artist drawn to the heart and humanity of dance making. Her training has included classical and contemporary ballet, Horton, Limon, Graham, Piso Movil floorwork, Jack Cole based jazz, and improvisation. She has performed with independent artists and companies throughout the Pacific Northwest, East Coast, and Bay Area. Her collaborations include Cantankerous Creatures, Seattle Opera, Katie Scherman + Artists, Post:ballet, and Paufve Dance. Her work has also brought her into live theater, movement direction, burlesque, visual art, and teaching dance to many generations from creative movement for toddlers to classes for seniors with Parkinson’s. Molly is thrilled to be dancing and exploring mind-bending questions with Sharp & Fine.

ERIKA OBA, musician

Erika Oba is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator based in the SF Bay Area. As a composer she has written works for jazz ensembles, chamber groups, dance and theater. She is active as a performer on both piano and flute, and performs with her own groups the Oba-Bastian-Steinkoler trio, Ends Meat’ Catastrophe Jazz Ensemble, Rice Kings, and The Sl(e)ight Ensemble. She has also performed with the Hitomi Oba Ensemble, Peter Apfelbaum's Sparkler, Jason Levis and Lisa Mezzacappa’s Duo B Experimental Band, and many other jazz and experimental bands in the Bay Area. In addition to her own private teaching studio, she is a private jazz piano instructor for UC Berkeley’s Music Department. As an artist, she is interested in exploring ritual, diasporic identities, and community through performance. erikaoba.com

MEREDITH T. WEBSTER, performer

Meredith T. Webster grew up in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, studying under Jean Wolfmeyer. She worked with Sonia Dawkins's Prism and Donald Byrd's Spectrum Dance Theatre in Seattle, and earned a B.S. in Sustainable Resource Sciences from the University of Washington before moving to San Francisco to work with Alonzo King LINES Ballet. She danced with Lines for 9 seasons, served as Rehearsal Director for 6, and currently stages Alonzo’s work. Meredith has also performed with Ledoh/Salt Farm and Maureen Whiting & Co, and co-created the Ladysmith Draw and Empress Archer evening-length duets. Her work for film includes Mirrors, Evidence of it All, Miles Away, and Numenon. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Maureen Whiting & Co and lives on the unceded Ohlone land of xučyun (Huchiun), also known as Oakland, California.

ALLEN WILLNER, lighting designer

Allen Willner is a lighting designer for theater, dance, and opera. He has lived and worked in San Francisco and New York as a Lighting Designer for 20 years. Locally, he has designed for many Bay Area dance companies including Sharp & Fine, Erika Chong Shuch Performance Project, inkBoat, Garrett Moulton Productions, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Katie Faulkner’s Little Seismic Dance Company, Kristin Damrow & Company, ABD Productions, Moving Ground, and Epifany Dance Theater. Allen has designed for regional and international theaters and has received numerous awards and nominations for his work, including the Theatre Bay Area Award, Bay Area Critics’ Circle Nomination, and the Isadora Duncan Dance Award.

CORY WRIGHT, musician

Reeds player Cory Wright, educated at Oberlin College and the University of Southern California, has been involved in both the jazz and creative music worlds for the past 30 years, including time spent in New York, Los Angeles and his current home in the San Francisco bay area. His recent projects reflect his interest in blurring the distinction between composed and improvised material and in combining the harmonious with the atonal, and groove with the arrhythmic. Cory has played in ensembles lead by Anthony Braxton, Vinny Golia, Eddie Gale, Adam Rudolph and Yusef Lateef. He is currently a member of bay area groups Bristle, the Nathan Clevenger Group, Crushing Spiral Ensemble and Orchestra Nostalgico, and leads his own projects Green Mitchell and the Cory Wright Outfit.

PAST COLLABORATORS & EXTENDED FAMILY

PERFORMERS:

Marissa Brown, Christian Burns, Katie Cassady, Cora Cliburn, Josianne Fleming, Eric Garcia, Tristan Ching Hartmann, Katharine Hawthorne, Emily Jones, Rachel Laws, Shannon Leypoldt, Sarah Lyman, Moscelyne ParkeHarrison, Chelsea Reichert, Jane Selna, Carson Stein, Kelvin Vu, Sarah Woods-LaDue, Megan Wright

COMPOSERS:

Jordan Glenn, Max Judelson, Theo Padouvas, Aram Shelton, Cory Wright

MUSICIANS:

Steve Adams, Jordan Glenn, Max Judelson, Joshua Marshall, Arjun Mendiratta, Theo Padouvas, Crystal Pascucci, Teddy Rankin-Parker, John Schott, Aram Shelton, Cory Wright

VOCALIST:

Ina Rae Woods

LIGHTING DESIGNERS:

Stephanie Buchner, Delayne Medoff, Allen Willner

WRITERS:

Kat Howard, Amber Hsu, Ben Loory