About

Bios

Yulia Arakelyan (co-director, performer) is a Portland based performance artist and co-founder of Wobbly – a multidisciplinary performance project. She has trained with CandoCo Dance Company in London (’04-’05) and has a BA in Dance from the University of Washington (’07). However, some of her most influential, life/body altering moments came from outside of the institutions through rigorous training by national and international artists such as Diego Pinon, Jurg Koch, Sheri Brown, Mizu Diesierto, Miguel Gutierrez and Yukio Suzuki. Along with partner Erik Ferguson, Yulia founded Wobbly in 2006. Since then, they have created many original short works, a full length group dance theatre production, performed in Seattle, Portland, Chicago and Barcelona, were part of a 6 month residency at Studio 2@Zoomtopia, and are currently working on an art film with filmmaker Ian Lucero to be premiered in May 2015 at The Headwaters Theatre. Wobbly’s work is in part supported by grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Project. Yulia also works as an independent choreographer and has created original works for Polaris Dance Company as well as several solo works. In 2013, Yulia received an award from the Lilla Jewel Fund for Women Artist to create a new dance work for the McKenzie River Gathering Foundation’s annual social justice fundraiser. As an educator, Yulia has taught classes and workshops to people of all ages and abilities. She was a regular guest teacher at the annual Integrated Dance Summer Intensive at the University of Washington in Seattle. She has also taught at Lynch View Elementary School, Polaris Dance Center, and Beaumont College (England). In 2009, Yulia was invited to present about her work at the National Summit on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities in Washington DC.

Erik Ferguson (co-director, performer) is an anti-virtuoso movement artist living in Portland, Oregon, and co-founder of Wobbly Dance. He got his start studying improvisation with Alito Alessi in Trier, Germany in 2003 and has performed and taught DanceAbility and contact improvisation throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as the UK, Oaxaca, and British Columbia. He has most recently studied improvisation with Deborah Hay and Barbara Dilly. He is a perpetual student of Butoh who has studied with various teachers including Akira Kasai, Koichi and Hiroko Tamano, Mizu Desierto and many others. His performances range from storytelling to dance theatre exploring themes of embodiment, gender identity, and extremes of human emotion.

Grant Miller (guest artist) is a living artist in Portland, Oregon. His fires burn for butoh, mask, clown, ritual, voice, dramaturgy, art history, web design, cognitive science, and social consciousness. A native of the Willamette Valley, at the age of six Grant began to speak publicly about his experience of living a diverse body. His artistic pursuits began at Northwest Children's Theater and School just as he entered middle school. Between 2007-2011, Grant studied at Vassar College and The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's National Theatre Institute, where he developed commitment to performance practice. In 2012 Grant acted in Imago Theater's "The Black Lizard." He performs occasional administrative tasks for Water in the Desert, where he also participates in workshops, performances, and shared practice. Transformational teachers have included Giovanni Fusetti, Diego Piñon, Rachel Jett, Jeff Janisheki, Chris Grabowski, Gabrielle Cody, Sandra Stone, Emily Gottfried, Rebecca Lowe, Mizu Desierto, his family, and many unnamed here. Grant hopes that through his work he can honor his teachers and create art that teaches us to paint over our scars, rather than try to erase them.

Ian Lucero (cinematographer & editor) is a Portland-based filmmaker, cinematographer and editor who for the last 15 years has been documenting some of the Northwest's most prominent and up-and-coming artists, bringing awareness to the diversity of the region. He has captured theater performers and musicians such as Ahamefule J. Oluo (Seattle), Wobbly Dance (Portland), Meshi Chavez (Portland), Diego Piñon (Mexico), Kronos Quartet (San Francisco), and Degenerate Art Ensemble (Seattle). He has made short films for non-profits like Seattle Theatre Group (DANCE This and More Music @ the Moore youth programs), Oregon Community Foundation (Studio To School Convening), and Arts Corps (Seattle, Festa Fundraiser). Ian studied music at Cornish College of the Arts and eventually realized that behind the camera was where he was most comfortable. He recently collaborated with choreographer Haruko Nishimura on the film and theater piece “Dictator”, set to premiere in San Francisco in the fall of 2015. Additionally, a Wobbly-produced work (Ian's first film collaboration with the group) titled “Waking the Green Sound: a dance film for trees”, premieres in May of 2015. 

Beau-Caprice Vetch and Grey Francis (Sweetmeat) have been a collaborative force in the visual and audio arts since 2006.  First meeting in Olympia, Washington, the two have since produced installation art exhibits, renegade performance, video art, and a number of full length albums. With a background in classical piano and music theory, Francis has been deeply influenced by the six months he spent studying Indian classical music in northern India.  Vetch specializes in electronic music production, and creates most of Sweetmeat's sounds using samples from their surrounding environment.  Living in a remote valley west of Mount Rainier, the two are currently working on a variety of visual and audio productions. 

Kamala Kingsley (photographer) graduated from CCA in Oakland, CA, with a BFA in photography in 1997 and currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Clients include Degenerate Art Ensemble, Mandy Greer, Mizu Desierto, Diego Piñón, Pal’s Shanty, The Headwaters Theater,  Etsuko Ichikawa, Wobbly Dance, Dance for Parkinsons (Seattle Theater Group), Tracy Broyles Choreography, McKenzie River Gathering Foundation, Tiki Kon, Iron Tikitender, Cully Neighborhood Farm, Where Women Create magazine,Fences for Fido and the Oregon Community Foundation. Her fine art has been shown at Vermillion, Roq la Rue, the Crocker Museum, the AKC Museum of the Dog and The China Institute in Paris, France, and has been published in "Subculture in the World" (Shoeisha, Japan), "Spectrum - The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art" (volumes 13, 15 & 19), Emaho Magazine (India), "This is Why You're Fat"  (Harper Collins),  and Studio Visit Magazine (Open Studios Press, Boston, MA) 2009 and 2010.