Lisa Berman & Joseph Trần (BRKFST)
2026 Choreography FELLOWs
Photo credit: Adam Adolphus
LISA “MONALISA” BERMAN and JOSEPH “MN JOE” TRẦN are St. Paul-based choreographers and Co-Founders / Co-Artistic Directors of BRKFST Dance Company. BRKFST combines breaking and non-codified dance vernacular to produce works that are emotionally resonant and physically rigorous. As collaborators, they have premiered original works at local venues including the Walker Art Center, Southern Theater, and Orchestra Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra; nationally and internationally with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Bates College (ME), John Michael Kohler Arts Center (WI), Dance2Connect Festival (Ireland) and Vancouver International Dance Festival (Canada). Together, they have set repertoire at the University of MN - Twin Cities, Carleton College, St. Olaf College, Winona State University, Bates College, and Dance2Connect Festival.
Berman is a respected breaker with a choreographic approach grounded in collaboration, storytelling and experimentation. She is the recipient of the 2016 McKnight Dancer Fellowship, 2008 Jerome Travel Grant and multiple Minnesota grants. She has performed as a solo artist in productions touring to Art Basel - Miami, Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC, Salon 94 in New York, NY, Amsterdam Museum in the Netherlands and D2C Festival in Ireland. Trần is a world-renowned breaker and former member of Knuckleheads Cali—a breaking crew respected for their avant-garde style of movement. He is the recipient of the 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship and 2019 McKnight Dancer Fellowship. He is known for his signature moves which have earned him multiple first-place victories in breaking competitions across the U.S., Europe, and South America.
Helen Hatch
2026 Choreography FELLOW
Photo credit: Brianne Bland
Helen Hatch is a Minneapolis-based choreographer, performer, director, and educator. Named one of Minnesota Monthly’s 10 Artists to Watch in 2012, she began her professional career with Minnesota Dance Theatre, where she performed a wide range of repertory and created her own choreographic works.
In 2018, she formed Hatch Dance to house her choreographic work. Under her direction, the company has cultivated innovative collaborative processes that have resulted in critically acclaimed performances combining dance, music, and theater.
Alongside her work with Hatch Dance, Helen has maintained an extensive freelance career, performing with The Moving Company, Minnesota Opera, and HoneyWorks, among others.
Helen holds a BFA in Dance from the Ailey/Fordham University BFA Program, graduating with Departmental Honors in 2011. Her choreography has been presented at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Festival, The Southern Theater, and The Cowles Center, as well as throughout Mexico and Guatemala through the Juntos Collective. She has been commissioned by Minnesota Dance Theatre, Saint Paul Ballet, Aveda, Mareck Dance, and MODERN REP. In 2022, Helen was selected for the Choreographic Institute Residency at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. The following year, she served as an Artist in Residence at Moulin/Belle in Mareuil-en-Périgord, France.
Since 2013, she has taught ballet throughout the Twin Cities and currently serves as a teaching artist with Saint Paul Ballet and Minnesota Dance Theatre. www.hatchdance.com
Marciano Silva dos Santos
2026 Choreography FELLOw
Photo credit: V. Paul Virtucio
Marciano Silva dos Santos is a Brazilian choreographer and the Artistic Director of Contempo Physical Dance. Since immigrating from Brazil to the Twin Cities, he has garnered acclaim for shaping a distinctive movement aesthetic that fuses Afro-Brazilian rhythm with the nuanced physicality of contemporary dance. His artistic drive to explore emotional, cultural, and spiritual forces through physicality continues to fuel his choreographic work.
Marciano was recognized by the American Folkloric Society as a “Brazilian artist of unique and exceptional ability and merit.” Upon moving to Minnesota, he developed a mission to create work that is artistically exceptional, riveting to watch, and deeply rooted in the cultural dynamics of his Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous ancestry. His work is driven by a deep interest in contemporary movement and the ways it intersects with traditional forms and diverse perspectives.
Founding Contempo Physical Dance in 2011, he has since dedicated himself to creating dynamic, highly physical work. He was named “Best Dancer” by City Pages, hailed as “one of the most graceful movers on any Twin Cities stage” by the Star Tribune, and called “one of the hottest choreographers in town” by Minnesota Monthly Magazine.
Asha Rowland
2026 DANCER FELLOW
Photo credit: Stephanie Jensen
Asha Rowland is a dancer, choreographer, storyteller, and dreamer based in Minneapolis, Mni Sota Makoce and originally from Chicago, Illinois. Her practice and research centers the questioning of environments and mentalities that perpetuates anti-blackness, environmental racism, and classist structures from an African and South Asian diasporic lens. These questions often activate dreams of future-scapes, ancestry, belonging, and moral and psychological excavation.
Driven by curiosity and cultural intersections, Asha’s research is often derivative of historical investigation and uncovering stories that are lost and forgotten.
Aesthetically, her work is narrative-driven, ethereal, world-building, and straddles dualities of chaos and meditation. She often blends visual art into performance settings. Her experimental movement methodology is based on her 20 years practice in dance specializing in Bharatanatyam, Raq Sharqi, and Black American Street Dance. Her latest evening-length production, The Alchemist’s Soul, debuted at Red Eye Theater in February 2025. Asha collaborates with Lakshmi Ramgopal’s, Lykanthea, as a dancer, choreographer, and vocalist. She has participated in numerous residencies around the United States and has performed nationally and internationally as a soloist, with Lykanthea, and as a company dancer with Natya Dance Theatre. Some residencies she has participated in include the Black Ensemble Productions' IFE Lab Fellowship, the Center for Performing Arts Residency, Unrehearsed Residency, The Chrysalis Milkweed Residency, and the MCA Chicago Performs Series with Lykanthea. She is a 2026 recipient of the MN State Arts Board Creative Individuals Grant.
DAVENTE GILREATH
2026 DANCER FELLOW
Photo credit: Kameron Herndon
Davente Gilreath was born and raised in Minneapolis. His dance training began at Perpich Center for Arts Education where he was exposed to styles of dance including modern, ballet, jazz, African, and contact improvisation. Gilreath furthered his dance training at the University of Minnesota where he worked with professors such as Ananya Chatterjea, Erin Thompson, and Toni Pierce‐Sands. During this time he was also able to perform and create work with Minnesota‐based companies such as Threads Dance Project and Contempo Physical Dance.
Gilreath Joined Garth Fagan Dance in 2014 and during his 8 years with the company performed numerous key works from the Fagan cannon around the country including new works choreographed by PJ Pennewell, the company director. He was promoted to senior company member and appointed the Director of the Garth Fagan Dance Student
Ensemble. He also taught Intermediate/Advanced Fagan Technique for the Garth Fagan Dance School and for the Garth Fagan Summer Movement Institute.
Gilreath is now a dance instructor at the University of Minnesota where he teaches Contemporary, African Diasporic Movement and Jazz. In the last 4 years, since returning to Minneapolis, he has danced for choreographers Joe Chvala, Darrius Strong, and is in his second
season with Ananya Dance Theatre. He has set choreography for senior students at TU
Dance, Perpich Center for Arts Education, Saint Paul Conservatory, PiM Arts and in his
own solo work Rumination, which premiered in Choreographers' Evening, Walker Art
Center, in November 2024.
Gemma Isaacson
2026 DANCER FELLOW
Photo credit: Bill Cameron
Gemma Isaacson is a Minneapolis-based dance artist originally from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She began her professional career at the age of 15 with Minnesota Ballet before attending the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (BFA Dance, summa cum laude).
Throughout the course of her freelance career, Gemma has originated roles in works by notable stage directors/choreographers across genres, including Patrick Acogny (Contempo Physical Dance), Berit Ahlgren (HoneyWorks), Hannah Benditt (Lakes Area Music Festival), Dimitri Chamblas, Karen L. Charles (Threads Dance Project), Non Edwards, Daniel Ellis (Minnesota Opera and Utah Opera), Eric Sean Fogel (Minnesota Opera and Portland Opera), Nildinha Fonsêca (Contempo Physical Dance), Zhauna Franks (Strange Loop Projects), Jennifer Glaws (Jagged Moves), Helen Hatch (Hatch Dance), Jennifer Ilse (Off-Leash Area), Nic Lincoln, Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies (Little Tanz Theater), Alanna Morris (I A.M. Arts), Valerie Oliveiro, Kerry Parker, Sophia Pimsler, Stuart Pimsler and Suzanne Costello (Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater), Ashwini Ramaswamy (Ragamala Dance Company), Marciano Silva dos Santos (Contempo Physical Dance), Heidi Spesard-Noble (Minnesota Opera), and Yuki Tokuda.
Since 2020, Gemma has created and performed her own work at the Off-Leash Art Box
(Minneapolis), The Shed (St. Paul), Tofte Lake Center (Ely), the Minneapolis Club (Minneapolis),
and DIY spaces around the Twin Cities. In 2021, she was a National Emerging Artist resident at
Tofte Lake Center in Ely, Minnesota.
During the 2024-25 season, Gemma was delighted to be engaged as a guest faculty member at
Minnesota Opera, devising and leading a movement workshop series for the Resident Artist
cohort. (gemmaisaacson.com)
Vladimir ''7Starr'' Laurore
2027 McKnight International Choreographer
Vladimir “7Starr” Laurore is a pioneering multidisciplinary artist, dancer, choreographer, emcee, and cultural ambassador born in Montreal, Quebec (of Haitian descent). Renowned as one of Canada's foremost figures in krump—a powerful, expressive street dance style originating in Los Angeles—he has dedicated nearly two decades to building and democratizing the krump community in Quebec and beyond, while seamlessly blending it with his roots in hip-hop, music, and stage performance.
His artistic journey began in hip-hop. At age 11, during summer visits to the United States, 7Starr discovered hip-hop culture and started writing raps, performing at school talent shows as an amateur. Previously known as Snaxx, he made his first professional studio recording at 14 with acclaimed artist and video director PeeZee. His lyrical talent and stage presence led to a spot on the PeeZee - Star Status Tour under the YFB/Universal Canada label at just 18. Alongside rapping, he honed his skills as an emcee and explored street dance forms.
A transformative moment came in 2005 when he watched the documentary RIZE, igniting a deep passion for krump. That same year, he connected with Canada's first krumper, Otis “Pez” Hopson, and in 2006, they co-founded Bzerk Squad, the country's inaugural krump crew. Committed to growing krump in Canada, 7Starr organized the nation's first krump event, Gutta Zone, in 2008. In 2014, alongside Valérie “Taminator” Chartier, he established the Montreal Krump Alliance (MKA), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing krump through workshops, sessions, events and stage performance creations. By 2018, this evolved into Gutta Zone Fest, a multi-day international krump festival that draws dancers worldwide and remains a cornerstone of the scene.
Today, 7Starr is celebrated as a Canadian krump pioneer and ambassador. Since 2005, he has taught, lectured, choreographed, and mentored at over 160 schools, community centers, and events across Canada. He has competed, judged, performed and served as a guest instructor at elite global krump gatherings, including International Illest Battle (Paris), European Buck Session (Germany), The Krumpire (Russia), Buckyard (Czech Republic), Momentum showcase, (Minnesota) Royal Rumble (Switzerland), Dance Immersion (Toronto), Osaka Expo (Japan), His versatility extends to collaborations with major companies like Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Éloize, and Moment Factory, along with TV appearances and guest teaching/lecturing roles at institutions such as Concordia University and UQAM.
His accolades reflect his impact: the 2017 Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council for the Arts for outstanding achievement; the 2018 Gloria Mitchell-Aleong Award from Black Theatre Workshop for emerging excellence in performing arts; a 2020 nomination for International Male Krumper of the Year by the FCD Krump Awards; and the Prix coup de Coeur at Gala Dunamis. His groundbreaking one-hour solo performance ”Anima/Darkroom, co-choreographed with contemporary dancer/choreographer Lucy M. May, premiered at prestigious venues including Fluid Fest (Calgary), Théâtre La Chapelle (Montreal), and Festival TransAmérique. This project earned him the Prix découverte from Les prix de la danse de Montréal. He has also been given a two-year residency at Usine C performing arts theater for the 2025-2026 season where he presented his work SKLTR choregraphed alongside Charles “Broken” Brecard and a revamped version of his solo performance Retraced, now performed by Jason ‘’Freee" Luce.
Beyond performance, 7Starr advocates for krump's accessibility and recognition through institutional roles, serving on boards such as the Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD) and Prix de la danse de Montréal, while contributing to the development of arts and culture in the City of Laval. Through relentless teaching, organizing, and innovation, he has helped build a vibrant, authentic krump ecosystem in Canada, inspiring generations while evolving the art form across dance, music, and culture.