KATHERINE MAXWELL
CHOREOGRAPHER + FOUNDING Artistic Director
Creating work for the mainstage, alternative spaces, and for film, Katherine Maxwell (she/her) is a director, choreographer, and the founding Artistic Director of Hivewild. Maxwell’s 26 choreographic projects have been presented at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, CPR- Center for Performance Research, the Ace Hotel, Dinner Gallery, Atlantic Terminal-Barclays Center, and the Actors Fund Art Center, among others. Maxwell has been featured by online platforms such as NOWNESS, VICE, and on Vimeo as a Staff Pick. her film works have screened at 14 international festivals including Dance on Camera at Lincoln Center, the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, and Edinburgh Fringe. Maxwell’s been featured in NYTimes, Dance Informa, Lomography Magazine, and ART ZEALOUS. She’s been awarded residencies including the Downtown Brooklyn Rehearsal Residency Initiative, BAC’s AccessArt, and Shawbrook Creative Space (Ireland). Maxwell received her Bachelor of Arts from Kennesaw State University while working extensively with Lauri Stallings’ Atlanta-based platform, glo. Notable performances include And all directions I come to you, Creative Time’s public art exhibition Drifting in Daylight: Art in Central Park (2015), Orfeo at the Atlanta Symphony with Robert Spano and Daniel Arsham (2017), Hinterland with Big Boi of Outkast and The Dungeon Family (2010), and roem, Stallings’ large-scale public work on the grounds of Atlanta’s High Museum of Art (2010).
MAXWELL established Hivewild IN 2016 AS A PLATFORM TO CREATE FORMAL WORKS, ENGAGE THE BROOKLYN COMMUNITY, AND PROMOTE ARTISTIC PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN Visual artists, MUSICIANS, COSTUME DESIGNERS, AND BEYOND.
MAXWELL IS ACTIVELY INTERESTED IN USING MOVEMENT AS A PLATFORM FOR MINDFULNESS AND HUMAN ACCEPTANCE, AND HER PRACTICE SEEKS TO CONTINUOUSLY BLUR THE EDGES BETWEEN PERFORMANCE, INSTALLATION, AND HUMAN ENCOUNTER.
2024 Collaborators
Robyn Ayers / DAncer LIAISON
Robyn Ayers (they/them) is a movement artist, facilitator, and writer living on occupied Lenape land (NYC). They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Fordham University & The Ailey School, which they obtained summa cum laude with majors in dance and philosophy. Since moving into the professional world, Robyn’s career has taken them through formal stage production, site-specific installation, and dance for film; wandering around the intersection between classical modern and gestural contemporary impulse. Their artistic priorities are rooted in mindfulness and accessibility, striving to move at the speed of trust and build holistic relationships between artist and audience. Robyn’s performance career spans NYC and surrounding areas in company with Hivewild, cullen+them, Cantankerous Creatures, The Dynamite Experience, and more. Prominent credits include Ben Stamper’s short film “Stay With”, Katherine Maxwell’s stage production “PRISM”, and Jacolby Satterwhite’s film installation “An Eclectic Dance to the Music of Time” at Lincoln Center. Most recently, Robyn has begun to build their skills within the world of film production, and can be found behind the scenes for Wet Hairy Women, Hivewild, and student choreographers. Beyond the stage, Robyn works in instructional design, writing and facilitation, and arts administration. They can often be found hovering over a soup pot or sitting by the ocean with their nose in a book.
Felix Bryan / DANCER
Felix Bryan (he/they) is a New York-based artist born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. He began his training in classical ballet, eventually dancing for Oregon Ballet Theatre II from 2016-2018. He received his BA in dance and mathematics from Mt. Holyoke College in 2022, graduating Magna Cum Laude. Felix’s additional training includes Springboard Danse Montreal and the Hubbard Street Professional Program. He has had the pleasure to perform works by artists including Sidra Bell, Bill T. Jones, Johannes Wieland, Robyn Mineko Williams, Jenna Riegel, Rena Butler, and Peter Chu. As a freelance artist, Felix has performed with Sidra Bell Dance New York, HIVEWILD, Owen/Cox Dance Group, and Queer the Ballet. In his creative endeavors, Felix is deeply invested in exploring play, idiosyncrasy, and the boundaries of narrative, and his choreographic work has been presented in Chicago, Massachusetts, New York, and on film.
Xenia Mansour / DAncer
Xenia Mansour (she/her) is a dancer, mover, and performer based in NYC and Chicago. She is currently a member of Katherine Maxwell’s Hivewild and BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, and has worked with Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Angie Moon Dance Theatre, Gabrielle Johnson + Artists, Javier Padilla & The Movement Playground, and experimental dance theater HOLDTIGHT’s site-specific and immersive show, Nourishment, in both Denver and NYC. Originally from Oak Park, IL, Mansour is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has performed in a range of stage, site-specific, immersive, film, and fashion work including as a guest dancer and model for Mexican fashion designer Carla Fernández with choreography by Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, and as a feature dancer for CXN’s Fashion Commercial Come With Us choreographed by Katherine Maxwell. Off the stage, she’s curating pop-up contemporary dance events with Hi Artist and Airbnb Experiences, boxing, and playing pickup softball.
Sean Rosado / Dancer
Sean Rosado (he/they) is a Texas native and a graduate of Cornish College of the Arts, Sean Rosado received his BFA in Dance in 2015. He has been privileged to perform the choreography of Alex Ketley, Andrea Miller, Crystal Pite, David Harvey, Kate Wallich, Kate Weare, Madboots Dance and William Forsythe. He has also had the opportunity to perform with Ashani Dances, Chamber Dance Company, Gallim, HIVEWILD, and Kate Wallich + The YC2.
Gabriella Sibeko / DAncer
Originating from Montreal, Canada, Gabriella Sibeko (she/her) is a freelance dance artist, performer, educator, choreographer, and a graduate of The Ailey School Scholarship and Certificate programs. Now based in New York City, Gabriella can be credited in Netflix's Making Malinche documentary and Nowness Digital’s Top Picks for her work in Still. Her artistry has been shaped profoundly by the choreographers she has worked with including Dolly Sfier, Omar Román De Jesús, Katherine Maxwell, Al Blackstone, Avihai Haham, Matthew Rushing, Ellenore Scott, and Darshan Singh Bhullar to name a few. She has danced for musical artists Phish, Alison Sudol, Sondre Lerche and ELENI, and has performed in venues like Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, The Apollo, The Joyce and Los Angeles’ The Montàlban. Combining her love for commercial, concert and theatrical work, Gabriella has also had the privilege of dancing for a wide range of New York-based dance companies including Hivewild, Bocatuya, Stewart/Owen Dance, MICHIYAYA, Abarukas, BARE Dance, TedTed Performance Group, and Jon Rua’s TheGrit, and is represented by New York’s Clear Talent Agency. As a dance educator and choreographer, Gabriella teaches and sets work throughout the Tri-State area, and Canada, and is a faculty member of Luminous Tour Dance Convention. Along with performing and educating, Gabriella is also pursuing a degree in psychology and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Ragin Smith / Dancer
Ragin Smith (she/her) is a New York-based dance artist, originally raised in Maryland. She received a BFA in dance at Marymount Manhattan College in 2020, and since has enjoyed performing works by Brendan Fernandes, Evan Ray Suzuki, Andrea Miller, Valeria Gonzalez, Morgan Bobrow-Williams, Ryan Bailey, Troy Ogilvie, La Intrusa Company, Beatriz Castro, and others. Alongside her freelance projects, Ragin is a collaborator with the Wet Hairy Women Collective, Hivewild, Verbal Animal, MORISATO, and Alison Chase Performance Group. She has presented some of her own work at The Tank, Fabled Narcissism, ESTIA Day Fest, and as an artist in residence at the Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation. She was selected to be a 2023 artist in residence at Nancy Manocherian's the cell theatre. Ragin also works with Haley Morgan Miller and Nathan Dies to direct and produce the Fabled Narcissism arts events.
MADISON WADA / Dancer
Madison Wada (she/her) is a performance artist born and raised in Lancaster California. After intense ballet training and living in New York since 2015, she has accomplished a multitude of things such as a professional contemporary career with Sidra Bell Dance New York, a project with Ate9 in Los Angeles works by Lydia Shamoun, and now receiving recognition for her own creations. She currently remains freelancing as a dancer, solo performer, and a student of many artistic mediums to fulfill her inevitability of a performance artist as a whole entity.
Liana Zhen-ai Kleinman / DAncer
Liana Zhen-ai Kleinman (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and dancer from Los Angeles, CA. She received her BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College, and subsequently danced for Hivewild, Holly Blakey for Puma’s New York Fashion Week Show, and Andrea Miller for Beautiful Destinations Panama. Liana has been commissioned to create work for Opera Notre Dame and The Angel’s Share at Green-Wood Cemetery in collaboration with The New York Philharmonic, and is a founding member of PROMPTUS Collective. Liana completed her Master’s in Contemporary Dance Performance at London Contemporary Dance School, University of Kent researching the changing landscape of narrative in the Anthropocene.
Travis Emery Hackett / Photography
Inspired by early 20th-century photographic processes, Travis Emery Hackett (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based documentary photographer. Centered on the photo as narrative, his photography brings to light the value and beauty of the shared human experience. His work has been published by The New York Times, Time Out, and Vogue Magazine.
travisemery.com
Taylor Antisdel / Cinematography
Taylor Antisdel (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based director, cinematographer, and photographer, who holds a BFA in directing from School of Visual Arts. Taylor has extensive experience collaborating with other artists, specifically dancers, and choreographers, and possesses a keen ability to anticipate and showcase the distinct aspects of those languages. With a gentle touch and an interest in new visual approaches, he excels in creating visually stunning and emotionally captivating narratives that delve into the human experience. His recent dance short film ‘apartment’ screened at POOL – INTERNATIONALES TanzFilmFestival (Berlin), as well as a collaborative film with Shamel Pitts, TOUCH OF RED: OVERTURE at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. taylorantisdel.com
