Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA) is putting on dancing shoes for our latest showcase! These past 20 months have been wild and heavy - I mean, how is it already almost 2022?? It's time for a collective breath and a collective stretch with some of our favorite dance and movement artists. Have You Heard the Moves will present a collage of styles and tones wrapped around the central question "How do we get moving again?". This limited-capacity in-person performance will be held at Asian Arts Initiative on Wednesday, November 10 at 6 PM EST. Register here! Have You Heard the Moves will feature the following PAPA members as well as some ~*mystery~* dancers: ROHAAN UNVALA is a mover, deviser, theatre artist, and painter born and raised in Mumbai, India. He is most drawn to impulse and improvisation, using them as his entries into creation of both characters and canvases. He has a deep love for all kinds of abstract, absurd, and non-realistic artwork. Recently, he collaborated and helped create an immersive evening of devised theatre at the Wyck Historic House and Garden in Germantown, Philadelphia. Rohaan currently lives in Philadelphia, where he is nearing the completion of the MFA Devised Performance Program at The Pig Iron Theatre Company / The University of the Arts. SEVON WRIGHT is a freelance dancer and choreography originally from Bakersfield, CA who moved to Philadelphia six years ago. Primarily a dance teacher to young students, she has found her love and passion to inspire the youth through movement and art. Sevon is always on the hunt to create opportunities and performances to fuse multiple disciplines of art. She is always a student and searching to learn more about her dance practice, her culture and her community. Sevon is also the artistic director for the up and coming contemporary jazz fusion dance company Burgundy Blue Dance based out of Philadelphia,PA. KC CHUN is a movement educator, somatic practitioner, dance-maker, and arts administrator. She is the artistic director of the project-based company freshblood, whose choreography has been presented locally and in New York and Boulder. Examples include the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts in collaboration with Pasión y Arte Flamenco Company, NeXus/University of Colorado at Boulder, Aspen Dance Connection, Cool New York Dance Festival, DUMBO Dance Festival, and the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She has taught on the faculties of Temple University, Pig Iron School/UArts, Drexel University, and Bryn Mawr College; and has been commissioned nine times to create new work for students at Drexel University, West Chester University, and Trinity College. Her professional performing credits include the choreography of Susan Rethorst, Guillermo Ortega Tanus, Jessica Warchal-King, kim olson/sweet edge, Maedée Duprès, Sara Hook, and Cynthia Oliver. She is thrilled to be collaborating on new work with Whit MacLaughlin/New Paradise Laboratories Theatre Co., and premiere new work in 2021. MUYU YUAN RUBA, Chinese dance artist and choreographer, received her B.F.A. in Dance from Shanghai Normal University in 2013 and M.F.A. in Dance from Temple University in 2017. She is the sole founder of Shero Dance Company and L&M Dance studio which began in 2016. In addition, she is an adjunct professor at Georgian Court University in the Dance department. Her work incorporates other media such as puppetry, installations, dance film, improvisation and fashion. ABOUT PAPA Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA) is a grassroots, membership-based collective that exists to build community among, and address the lack of economic and artistic opportunities for, people of Pan-Asian descent involved in the performing arts in the Philadelphia region. We do this through member-led programming such as community-building events, professional development programs, performance opportunities, and grassroots organizing. These programs are designed and implemented through the framework of “For Us, By Us, Beyond Us,” and fueled by our values. Check out the rest of the PAAFF 2021 lineup here!
