The Dance Round: Nia-Amina Minor, Symone Sanz Leah James Russell, Faunix (music), Kate Burke (painter) Curated by Ashleigh Miller @ FREMONT ABBEY

The Dance Round (243) featuring dancers, musicians, & a live painter

Nia-Amina Minor (dance)

Nia-Amina Minor is a movement artist, choreographer, curator, and educator originally from Los Angeles. Her work focuses on the body and what it carries using physical and archival research to explore memory and history. She approaches her practice as an imaginative space grounded in rhythm where improvisation, Black vernacular movement, and choreography meet. Nia-Amina has received regional and national commissions for her choreographic and film work and has a working background as a performer and dramaturg. She is co-founder of Black Collectivity, a collaborative project that explores and celebrates memory and culture through embodied responses. As a performer Nia-Amina has worked with artists such as dani tirrell, Zoe Juniper, Will Rawls, Alice Gosti, Keyes Wiley, and Amy O’Neal. From 2016-2021 she was a Company Artist at Spectrum Dance Theater under the direction of Donald Byrd and in 2021 she was recognized as Dance Magazine's 25 Artists to Watch. Nia-Amina has also provided dramaturgical assistance to choreographers Jade Solomon-Curtis (Keeper of Sadness 2023) and Donald Byrd (Grief 2022). As a curator, she has developed programming at On the Boards, Wa Na Wari, Velocity, and Base. From 2014-2016, she was a co-founder and curator of Los Angeles based collective, No)one Art House. As an educator, she has taught, guest lectured, and been a visiting artist at University of Minnesota, CalArts, University of Washington, Saddleback College, Cypress College, and UC Irvine. Nia-Amina received her MFA in Dance from UC Irvine and a BA from Stanford University and is based in Seattle.

Symone Sanz (dance): symonesanz.com

Symone is a dance artist versed in performance, improvisation, and choreography from Los Angeles. She holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since living in Seattle, she has enjoyed creating work with artists Heather Kravas, The Seattle Project, Cherdonna Shinatra, and zoe|juniper, among many others.

Symone inspires euphoria in her Dance Church® classes and supports the Seattle dance community through her work in arts administration, with a focus on curation and marketing. She currently serves as Board Treasurer for Velocity Dance Center.

Faunix (music): Faunix.com

Whispers of FAUNIX have traced across time, a vision bridging original soundscapes, modern dancing, and the visual arts. Emerging from the astral world of Ash Miller, she is joined by Shayne Hayes, Nick Duba, Jonny Bischoff, and their artistic community. 

A dreampunk storm flares to life with their debut album ‘A Beacon For Chaos’, the newest sound in night terror shoegaze.  

Sail the melodic noisecore of the Pacific Northwest, a genuine journey of humanity and digital distortion. 

A voice for the voiceless, the Post-core Death Pop coven shatters the illusory barriers cast upon lost and fighting souls.

Capturing the hybrid sounds of nature and synthesized frequencies, the binding of chaos screams dystopian dishwasher jazz into the Void.

Leah James Russell

Leah Russell is a dance artist, actor, and fire spinner whose work pulses at the intersection of rigorous physicality and raw human expression. Leah creates and performs solo and collaborative works that dissolve boundaries between theater, improvisation, and contemporary dance. Their choreography is visceral, athletic, and emotionally unguarded, crafting journeys that move through tenderness, chaos, and transformation. Leah’s performances have been featured at festivals including Converge Dance Festival, 12 Minutes Max, Newport Dance Festival, and the Seattle International Dance Festival and she is a recipient of the James Ray Residency. Guided by a commitment to honest expression and curiosity, Leah’s creative process and teaching practice invite others into spaces of play, empowerment, and connection through movement. https://www.instagram.com/leahjmoves/

Kate Burke https://www.instagram.com/katetburke

Kate Burke was born in Boise, Idaho, and spent her childhood living between Idaho and Washington. She studied drawing foundations through Spokane, WA, artist Gina Freuen from 2016 to 2021. She graduated in 2024 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornish College of the Arts. Kate Burke is a multimedia artist focusing on 2D mediums, such as painting, drawing, and print.

Curated by Ashleigh Miller

@ Fremont Abbey Arts Center

7p doors, 7:30p show

All ages, PG-13 (some content may not be suitable for young audiences)

Some seating available, bar w/ID

No one turned away for lack of funds

ABBEY ARTS EVENT INFO:

• Fremont Abbey is ADA accessible on either level.

• For most events we have a mix of padded chairs and standing room.

• Seating is not guaranteed or reserved unless noted.

• To respect the performing artists and your fellow attendees, please refrain from talking during the performances

• Please limit photos during the show so as to not distract other attendees from the experience.

• Phone and video may be permitted for some shows, from the standing area only please.

• No professional cameras or cameras with shutters allowed in the venue

• We are an all ages venue. Kids 10 & under are free at Abbey Arts concerts & arts events unless noted.

• Equity & Inclusion - Entering the venue indicates agreement to adhere to the Abbey Respect Policy. www.fremontabbey.org/respect

• Service animals as defined by the ADA are allowed. Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.