SOLE Defined LIVE
I. Let’s Take That Ride | Ensemble
II. Libation | Ensemble
III. The Galaxy | Reina Williams
IV. Woman’s World | Quynn, Ana, Jodeci
V. RawSoundz | Ryan
VI. Kou Kou on Tap | Ensemble

SOLE Defined (@soledefinedlive) is the Washington Metro area’s leading arts organization specializing in percussive dance – using the body as an instrument to create musical expression synthesized with integrated media, technology, and storytelling. The company specializes in African Diasporic Percussive Dance methodologies, specifically Tap Dance, Body Percussion, and Sand Dance infused with original music and audience participation. In 2011, the company was established to combat the inequalities prevalent in the performing arts and academic continuums, which historically advance Western movement methodologies, othering the histories, techniques, and practitioners of African Diasporic Percussive Dance. SOLE Defined has performed at Jacob’s Pillow, The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, The Clark Theater at The Lincoln Center, Queens Theatre, Dance Place, and across the mid-Atlantic region.

About the Founders: 

Ryan Johnson, M.F.A, is a co-founder of SOLE Defined. His career includes The Beatles LOVE & Mosaic by Cirque Du Soleil, STOMP, Step Afrika!, Broadway’s After Midnight Tour, Rose Rabbit Lie at The Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino, and The Washington Ballet. Quynn Johnson, Ed.M, is a co-founder of SOLE Defined, International Arts-Based Educator and Teaching Artist, an award-winning choreographer, cast member of Ayodele Casel Chasing Magic, Broadway’s After Midnight on NCL, The Washington Ballet and Mosaic by Cirque Du Soleil.

Will is an east coast native. He earned his BFA in dance from Montclair State University (May 2017). He graduated with an MFA in dance from the University of Illinois in May 2020. He has also trained with Joffrey Ballet, EMIA Rennie Harris, Jacob’s Pillow, and Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet. 

Since graduating, Ervin has performed at the Alexander Kasser Theatre, the Joyce Theatre, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music with the Hearts of Men ensemble. As Artistic Director of his company Erv Works Dance, he has presented choreography at the University of Illinois set on 1st year Dance Majors, the Dumbo Dance Festival, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Recent works were choreographing for Kemar Jewels Dance Film project headlining 2021’s Global Black Pride event where Kemar’s work was presented after the keynote speaker President Joe Biden, Battery Dance Festival, Maria Torres’s Sol El Barrio, and the Joyce Theatre in partnership with Future Dance Festival, 92 St Y, and The Martha Graham Dance Company.

Other accomplishments include interning with American Ballet Theatre’s Major Gifts Department, previously serving as the Co. Director of Dance at Brooklyn Center for the Arts and Resident Choreographer of Judah International Dance Theater. He was recently named Dance Lab by Josh Prince’s 2022 fall cycle choreographer, Dance on the Lawn’s 2022 emerging commissioned choreographer, and just set work on Dimensions Dance Theater of Miami.

Special thanks to all interviewees who participated in the research of this project. 

Jiemin is a Chinese-American choreographer and graphic designer based in Queens. He holds a MA in Contemporary Dance from London Contemporary Dance School and a BS from Macaulay Honors College at Queens College. His dance film Wo/我 won awards from the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon ’22 and Queens World Film Festival ’22. He was a resident artist of CUNY Dance Initiative at Queens College/Kupferberg Center for the Arts from 2021-2022. He has been one of the awardees of Redtail Artist Residencies ’23 at JCAL.

Batara Gowa is a dance group and cultural arts institution established since 1967, located in Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It was founded by the artistic maestros, Andi Ummu Tunru and Basri B. Sila, with the aim of providing ample opportunities for the younger generation to hone their talents and skills at Batara Gowa, guided by the vision of “Building Cultural Diplomacy Through the Arts.” Its activities include dance and music performances, opera, rituals, workshops, and a center for cultural arts research. In most of their works Batara Gowa is inspired by the uniqueness of the local culture in South Sulawesi. Currently, Batara Gowa is under the direction of Andi Muhammad Redo as the artistic director and Nur Asma Syukur as the choreographer.

Teodora Velescu has BA in Choreographic Creation and a MA in Choreography and Dance from the National University of Theater and Cinematography in Bucharest. She specialized in classical dance at the “Floria Capsali” Choreography High School and from 2011 she has collaborated with the Bucharest National Opera, the Bucharest National Theatre, the Children’s Opera in Bucharest and the Bucharest National Dance Center. Lari Giorgescu has been an actor with the National Theater in Bucharest since 2012. In the same year, he debuted in “D`ale Noastre”, a show choreographed by Gigi Căciuleanu, for which he was nominated for the UNITER Awards, Romania’s most prestigious accolades for theatrical achievement. He studied acting at the National University of Theater and Cinematography in Bucharest and graduated in 2008 and is currently pursuing a PhD at the same university under the guidance of Professor Liviu Lucaci.

FANIKE! African Dance Troupe is from Queens, NY. FANIKE! projects traditions of West African cultural arts; dance & drum rhythms, songs, and ancestral memories. We marry the beauty of African culture, live music with historical context. FANIKE’s choreography brings traditional polyrhythmic movement to the present with excitement and freedom capturing the essence of Africa. FANIKE means uplift which drives our mission to ensure that African dance and percussion are passed to the next generation through research, cultural immersion and performance.