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DIRECTORS

SHARLEE PEAY

Artistic Director, Performer & Choreographer

Sharlee is a performer, choreographer, and educator who began her dance training in classical ballet in SLC, Utah. She attended Brigham Young University on full tuition scholarship for both dance and academics and graduated magna cum laude with a BA in dance performance. While pursuing her college degree, Peay performed with ballet and contemporary companies, touring performances in Idaho, Colorado, India, and China. She also received several awards including Rookie of the Year, Outstanding Female Performer, and All-Around Excellence in Performance, Academics, Leadership and Choreography.

 

Sharlee began her professional career with SALT Contemporary Dance. As a performer she has studied with and performed works by Peter Chu (“Paper Cuts”, chuthis), Jermaine Spivey (Kidd Pivot), the legendary Donald McKayle, Alex Ketley (The Foundry), Loni Landon, Brendan Duggan, Joni McDonald, Ching Ching Wong, and internationally renowned choreographer, Ihsan Rustem amongst others. Peay also trained with Summer Lee Rhatigan at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance where she studied Ohad Naharin’s “gaga” technique and repertoire with Bobbi Jene Smith and Tom Weinberger (Batsheva). Sharlee has set work in ballet and contemporary for multiple schools and is currently the Contemporary Director for West Point Ballet. She was honored to be a featured choreographer for SALT Contemporary Dance “LINK” Festival in 2019. Sharlee co-founded Oquirrh West Project where she danced with, choreographed for, and acted as Associate Artistic Director for two seasons. As the current Artistic Director and resident choreographer for the project, she looks forward to continuing her research and exploration as an artist.

 

Sharlee's Artist Statement:

I am deeply invested in work that offers audience participation or a full immersive experience which performers coexist beside an audience and interact with them. I believe movement art is not about understanding what you see, but rather discovering how it makes you feel and encourage audiences to give themselves permission to go on a journey, laugh, cry, love it, hate it, let it excite. It doesn’t matter. There is no wrong answer. When we listen to the reaction our bodies have to art, we are able to truly have an impactful experience. I seek to create highly physical and visceral work that sincerely stimulates and inspires, causing audiences to think, reflect, and somehow feel connected to humanity as they partake in raw moments with performing artists. Moments that provoke vulnerability where perhaps audiences can find themselves—a moment from the past, yesterday, or an hour ago allowing whatever they discover to resonate, promote change, discovery and even healing.

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DIRECTORS: Meet the Company

FIONA KATRINE

Associate Director, Performer & Choreographer

Fiona Katrine trained at the School of Oregon Ballet Theater, after which she earned a scholarship to The Juilliard School in New York City where she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts. At the School of Oregon Ballet Theater, she performed works by Josie Moseley, George Balanchine, Christopher Stowell, Bruce Wells, Anne Muller, and Lew Christensen, and spent time there as a rehearsal assistant and substitute modern teacher. At the Juilliard School she danced pieces by Shannon Gillin, William Forsythe, Jarek Cemerek, Pam Tanowitz, Bronislava Nijinska, Reawyn Hill, Andrea Miller, Jose Limon, Bob Fosse,  Melissa Verdecia, James Lindsey Harwell, Tyler Phillips, Jenna Pollack, Julia Headley, and Garth Johnson, and began developing her own choreography. Upon graduating, Fiona performed with The Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Jessie Jeanne and Dancers in Boston, Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theater and Cache Theater Company in Logan where she also taught at Utah State University as an adjunct professor for three years. Fiona then danced with Salt Contemporary Dance and Oquirrh West Project in the greater Salt Lake area, performing works by Ihsan Rustem, Garrett Smith, Ching Ching Wong, Courtney Mazeika, Eric Handman, Jen Pendleton, Amy Gunter Lolofie, Amanda Colangelo, Sharlee Peay, Rebecca Aneloski, and Haley Stassia. Fiona currently serves as OWP’s Associate Director, as well as a choreographer and performer.

 

Fiona's Artist Statement:

I adore the invigorating and calming connections that dance makes between mind, body, spirit, and people. I am also a passionate reader, gravitating towards authors who invest immense thought into their worldbuilding, without losing the depth of their characters. My aim as a choreographer is to likewise worldbuild with each work, always seeking to collaborate specifically with everyone involved in the project to build rich collections of movement vocabulary, textures, insights, characters, and poignant stories. In the physicality I’ve accumulated over the years, I like to highlight the genuine human experience through whimsy, heartbreak, empowerment, and solace, using big momentum, intention-driven precision, lots of dynamically interrupted flow, and meaningful partnering. Sound is as important to me as movement, so I often add extra layers of texture to whatever pieces of music I use for my work. I also like to tailor my work to the space it will be presented in, especially if there is an opportunity for audience participation or creating a more immersive experience.

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