Susan Donham (Choreographer) is the co-founder and current director of Spinning Yarns Dance Collective.  Donham received her M.A. in dance from American University in 1994.  She has created dances in the Bay Area since 1995, first as an independent choreographer and then through Spinning Yarns.  In addition to her choreographic work, Donham has performed for Eclipse Dance Theater, Khadra International Dance Theater, Right Brain Performancelab, Jenice Acosta Movers, and in the work of Apryl Renee, Marisa Pugliano, Jen Minore, and Joe Landini.  She is currently a student at Starr King School for the Ministry, the Unitarian Universalist seminary in Berkeley.

Kate Joyce (Dancer) was born and raised in Mansfield, OH.  She began her formal dance training in ballet, modern and jazz as a teenager with the School of The Cleveland Ballet.  While in college at Hofstra University, Kate pursued a B.A. in Modern Dance with an emphasis on Graham and Taylor techniques.  Since moving to San Francisco in 1999, Kate has worked with such companies as Eclipse Dance Theater, Barely Human Dance Theater, Sacrosanct, and The Passionflower Project.  Kate is thrilled to be back on stage with Spinning Yarns!

Kelly Kemp (Choreographer) hails from Nashville and has been performing, creating and teaching dance for twenty years. Her professional interests in Dance and Education (B.S. Education, Dance / MFA Dance) enabled her to study and teach at studios, schools, universities and festivals throughout the States and abroad. Significant influences in dance training include East Coast’s Dance Alloy and Maureen Fleming, as well as local favorites like Joe Goode and Kim Epifano. Since relocating to the Bay Area in 2002, she has enjoyed working with artists on independent projects as well as with companies in longer-term engagements, specifically David Dorfman, Epiphany Productions, Spinning Yarns, and Flyaway Productions. She co-founded raw footage in 2002, continued to present work as an independent artist 2004-2006, started teaching release technique through ODC School in 2005, and is the artistic director for kelly kemp & company. The company has performed her work through various events and guest artist spots, including Dance Brigade’s Performance Showcases, the Vision Series, home seasons with Company Mechanique and Spinning Yarns Dance Collective, ODC’s Migrations, Pilot and Underserved programs, Doug Baird’s Performance Showcase, Summerfest, and the Los Angeles Dance Invitational.

Charlotte Mayang (Dancer) began her dance training in Florida.  She has studied at several dance schools and companies including the Jacksonville Ballet Theatre, Clay Ballet Theater, Orange Park Dance Theater, and the Marta Jackson School of Dance.  She has performed in full-length productions of the Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Firebird, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake.  Besides ballet, Charlotte has also studied modern, ballroom, and contact improvisation.  She has had the privilege to perform with SYDC in its Home Seasons at ODC Theater and in performances at the West Wave Dance Festival, Vision Series, ChoreoFest, the Goose Route Dance Festival in West Virginia, and most recently in Collaboration Dance & Music at The Cowell Theater.  In addition, Charlotte has performed in works for Lizz Roman and Dancers and Apryl Renee. This is her seventh season with SYDC.

Collaborators:

Annick Crawford (Composer) has been composing new works for various dance companies in San Francisco since 1999, including Landini Dance, Courage Group, Big Moves, and Spinning Yarns Dance Collective. She has scored films for the Don Edward’s San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge and the College of Notre Dame which brought her to the film scoring program at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Annick's music has been performed by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra led by Barbara Day Turner as well as the Laban Center for Contemporary Dance in London. (More information and sound clips can be found at www.musicannick.com.)

Perry Spinali (Composer), American Society of Composers and Performers, was born and raised in San Francisco and has been making music since age 12; studying violin, viola, percussion, piano and composition at CityCollege and privately at S.F. Community Music Center.  He performs his compositions on synthesizer and electric violin with 1000 Bastards, a Bay Area group playing cinema theme music from spaghetti westerns.  He also plays baroque music with the Telemann Society of Upper Noe Valley, a chamber music group specializing in the music of Georg Philip Telemann.  His rock-ambient CD, In the Footsteps of the Gods, was released in 2007.  Mixed media events are of special interest having played in the City with the Technomania Black Light Circus, and Million Fishes Art Collective.

James Meyer (Costume Designer), originally from Syracuse, New York, has a degree in Art History from SUNY Potsdam and a MFA in Surface Pattern Design from Syracuse University.  Trained in modern dance and ballet techniques he spent 11 years performing with various dance companies in Europe, as well as costuming for two of the companies.  After moving to the Bay Area in 1998, he has developed his costuming work with companies such as Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Spinning Yarns Dance Collective, Liss Fain and Dancers, Stacey Printz and the Printz Dance Project, Co. Chaddick, Janice Garrett and Dancers, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Robert Moses KIN,   St. Mary's College, and others.  jatka@earthlink.net

Co-producers of Sagas, Un-Stories, and Casual Conversations: