LA Pops Up Program Notes
Path
Growing up in Oak Park, Illinois, just outside the city of Chicago, to two pen-to-paper artist parents, art was somewhat inherent in Ian’s self-expression from an early age. His love for dance and film was innate. Following the launch of YouTube in 2005, Ian began uploading videos of original choreography edited by himself in 2006 at the age of 13, making him one of the first and youngest of many to later chronicle their dance careers on the platform.
https://www.youtube.com/IanEastwood
@ian_eastwood
Still Got It
A choreographic trio known for their bright comedy and striking precision. With pink, green, and blue as their visual signatures, they move as three distinct, yet inseparable entities. Their work delivers laughter, critique, and wonder.
https://www.theseaweedsisters.com
@theseaweedsisters
Arms of Gravity
Charlotte Griffin, originally from Durham, NC, is a contemporary choreographer, filmmaker, educator, and collaborator based in Southern California. As the Artistic Director of milkleaf, founded in 2020, she values interdisciplinary collaboration in the generation of works for the stage, screen, and multimedia installation, looking closely at the enduring and transitory nature of the human experience
https://www.milkleaf.org/about-charlottegriffin.html
@milkleafproductions
The Auguste
Maya Kell-Abrams is an LA-based director, choreographer, and performer from the Bay Area. After receiving her BA from UCLA in World Arts and Culture/Dance, Maya has gone on to wear many hats: HOMESCREEN Film Festival Director, Cirque du Soleil touring dancer, ACTIVATE Arts Advocacy Fellow, and Community Partner for an Archival project with the Library of Congress. She has directed, choreographed, and performed in her film installation, “As Above” displayed on the Salesforce tower screen in San Francisco (2023) and The Whirl billboard screen on the Sunset Strip in LA (2025). Maya’s work is reflective of her training in Street style dance and Tae Kwon Do and aims to provide an alternate perspective of dance through fusion-based movement and playful, vibrant imagery.
https://www.mayakellabrams.com
@maya.k.ayy
Origin
Since moving to LA in 2005, Tony Testa has been working as a choreographer and artistic director for film, TV, music videos, live stage, award shows, commercials, arena tours, & black box theater. His resume includes projects for Janet Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, JLO, Versace, SYTYCD, DWTS, The Voice UK, Disney, The Grammys, 20+ KPOP projects for SM Ent., multiple shows for Franco Dragone, multiple feature films for Kenny Ortega, & the 2021 Opening Ceremony of EXPO DUBAI.
Keean Manny Johnson, born Oct 25, 1996 by the foothills of the Colorado Rockies, is the son of a British father and an American mother. Home-schooled for most of his life with his younger brother Cade, he balances much of his time between his passions for dance, music, acting, and photography. After performing over 300 shows on Broadway, Keean moved from Manhattan to perform the same role in Chicago in 2010. He was soon seen on stage by a casting director (Claire Simon) and encouraged to move to Los Angeles with his family to further study acting and audition for TV and Film.
Keean Johnson’s first feature film performance was a leading role in the James Cameron-produced and Robert Rodriguez-directed Alita: Battle Angel. The $200 million budget film had Keean starring alongside Christoph Waltz and Jennifer Connelly, among other notable co-stars. Keean can soon be seen co-starring in Lionsgate’s MIDWAY directed by Roland Emmerich, where he appears alongside Luke Evans, Woody Harrelson, and Aaron Eckhart. Other films Keean has completed production on include Cut Throat City (directed by RZA and co-starring Wesley Snipes, Terrance Howard, and Eiza Gonzalez), A24’s Low Tide, We Summon the Darkness, and Emperor. On the small screen, Keean appeared on the hit NBC series “Nashville” as well as the popular Freeform series “The Fosters.” Prior to Keean’s on-camera success, he was in the hit Broadway musical Billy Elliott. In his free time, Keean continues to dance and focus on his passions of making music, photography, and art.
https://www.tonytestaofficial.com/biography
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5277107/bio/
@tonytestaofficial
@keeanjohnson
@popinpete
Dyad
Katherine Helen Fisher is a dancer, choreographer, curator, creative producer, and Emmy Award-nominated film director. Her work interrogates the boundaries between digital and physical worlds through performance and technology.
https://katherinehelenfisher.com
@khfdance
#ThisIsDance Envision
Infinite Flow Dance is an award-winning Los Angeles-based professional dance company and nonprofit that employs disabled and nondisabled dancers with diverse identities, with a mission to advance disability inclusion, one dance at a time.
https://www.infiniteflowdance.org/about
@infiniteflowdance
Signal
Devin has worked with many sought-after choreographers, such as Teddy Forance, Mike Tyus, Keoni and Mari Madrid, Chaz Buzan, Jermaine Spivey, Spencer Theberge, Ethan Colangelo, Michael Keef, Manny Castro, Al Blackstone, Billy Griffin, Monika Felice Smith, and Micaela Taylor. Devin teaches master classes at Dance studios nationwide.
https://devin-waxman.my.canva.site
@devin.waxman
True Love Will Find You in the End
Bret Easterling is a dance artist, creator, educator, and producer based in Los Angeles, California, who received his BFA and the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreography from The Juilliard School. He was a formative member of Gallim Dance and a recognizable contributor to Ohad Naharin’s internationally acclaimed Batsheva Dance Company before investing in his own work through the inaugural Jacob’s Pillow Choreographic Fellowship and an Artist in Residence position at LA Dance Project.
Bret is a certified Gaga teacher and stages Ohad Naharin’s works at dance programs and companies around the world, a USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance faculty member, an Ilan Lev method practitioner, and the co-founder of Ghost Light Residency.
https://www.bemoving.org/artists
@bwesterling
@julia.eichten