Executive & Artistic Director

Thor Steingraber

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LA Dances Graham100

Featuring Soloists From

Martha Graham Dance Company,

Lula Washington Dance Theatre,

USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance,

CSUN Dance Program,

Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Dance Department

Sat Apr 26 | 8pm

Run Time: about 1 hour and 40 minutes including a 20-minute intermission

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Program | Program Note

An Interview With Janet Eilber of the Martha Graham Dance Company

Dancers & Staff

Martha Graham Dance Company

Lula Washington Dance Theatre

USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance

CSUN Dance Program

Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Dance Department

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About The Soraya

Our Supporters | The Soraya Team

Martha Graham Dance Company

The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in the evolving art form of modern dance since its founding in 1926. It is both the oldest dance company in the United States and the oldest integrated dance company. Today, the company is embracing a new programming vision that showcases masterpieces by Graham alongside newly commissioned works by contemporary artists. During its 99-year history, the company has received acclaim from audiences and critics in more than 50 countries. “These men and women easily embody the choreographer’s sense of dancers as angelic athletes,” says Robert Greskovic of The Wall Street Journal. Marina Kennedy of Broadway World notes, “This is contemporary dance at its very best.”

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Martha Graham

Martha Graham (1894-1991) is recognized as a primal artistic force of the 20th century, alongside Picasso, James Joyce, Stravinsky, and Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1998, Time magazine named Graham “Dancer of the Century,” and People magazine named her among the female “Icons of the Century.” As a choreographer, she was as prolific as she was complex. Graham created 181 ballets and a dance technique that has been compared to ballet in its scope and magnitude. Her approach to dance and theater revolutionized the art form, and her innovative physical vocabulary has irrevocably influenced dance worldwide.

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Marzia Memoli

Marzia Memoli, born in Palermo, Italy, began her professional training at age 12 at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. She later moved to Milan to study at the Centro Studi Coreografici Teatro Carcano. Memoli graduated with high honors and continued her training at the Maurice Béjart School in Switzerland. She performed with the Béjart Ballet Lausanne and as a soloist guest artist at the Ballet Festival of the National Theater of Quebec.

In 2016, Memoli joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York City, where she performed principal roles over the past nine years and worked with renowned choreographers such as Hofesh Shechter, Lar Lubovitch, Elisa Monte, Bobbi Jene Smith, Andrea Miller, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Jamar Roberts. Memoli’s repertoire includes Graham’s soloist and principal roles in The Rite of Spring, Diversion of Angels, Chronicle, El Penitente, Deep Song, and Satyric Festival Song, to name a few.

Memoli is working with Twyla Tharp for this 2024-25 season. In 2022, Memoli performed In the Upper Room and Nine Sinatra Songs at New York City Center. Her achievements and performances have earned her recognition as a rising star in the dance world. She received a Bessie Award in 2023 as well as the Fini Italian International Dance Award Rising Star.

Memoli has been featured in numerous international publications, including Dance magazine, Vogue France, The New York Times, and Corriere della Sera.

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Lorenzo Pagano

Lorenzo Pagano joined the Martha Graham Company in 2012 becoming a guest artist and assistant rehearsal director in 2023. He danced iconic roles of repertory and originated starring roles in choreographies by Lucinda Childs, Nacho Duato, and Hofesh Shechter, to name a few. In 2024, Pagano was cast in Florence Welch’s musical Gatsby (choreography by Sonya Tayeh). He is currently performing for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in Antony and Cleopatra (Annie-B Parson), and he appeared in Ainadamar (Deborah Colker) this season. In 2023, he was assistant choreographer for a holiday event at Saks for the Martha Graham Dance Company in collaboration with Dior, and he restaged Chronicle and Panorama for the Rome Opera Ballet School.

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Lloyd Mayor

Lloyd Mayor is of Swiss and British nationality and joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 2012. He has danced a series of lead roles in the Graham repertoire, including Appalachian Spring, Errand into the Maze and Embattled Garden. He has also been featured in contemporary works by Michelle Dorrance, Larry Keigwin, Sonya Tayeh, Andonis Foniadakis, Richard Move, Kyle Abraham, Nacho Duato and Pam Tanowitz. In January 2014, Mayor won the Clive Barnes Award, which recognizes outstanding talent in dance and theater. In 2019, he was appointed co-president of the Clive & Valerie Barnes Foundation. Alastair Macaulay, former chief dance critic of The New York Times, wrote, “The attack, sweep and openness of this man’s style is remarkable.”

Lula Washington Dance Theatre

Lula Washington

Lula Washington is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Lula Washington Dance Theatre. Lula founded the company in 1980 with her husband, Erwin Washington, to provide a creative outlet for minority dance artists in the inner city. Today, Lula and her company are revered across the United States and around the world. The company has danced in over 150 cities in the United States, as well as abroad in Germany, Spain, Kosovo, Mexico, Canada, China, and Russia.

Lula grew up in the Nickerson Gardens Housing Project in Watts, California. She was inspired to dance after her junior college dance teacher took her to see the Alvin Ailey dance company. Initially rejected by the UCLA dance program for being too old, at age 22, to start dance training, Lula appealed that decision, was admitted, and went on to become one of UCLA’s most successful dance graduates. While still a student, she danced in the Academy Awards telecast and, in the films, Funny Lady with Barbra Streisand, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with the Bee Gees, and King Kong. Later, Lula provided choreography for the movie The Little Mermaid and Tim Allen’s film Crazy on the Outside. She worked with Academy Award-winning director James Cameron to provide choreography and movement for his film Avatar.

Lula was honored for her community work with the Minerva Award, given by Maria Shriver, former first lady of California. Other awards include the Spelman College National Alumnae Association’s Sisters Award, the National Education Association’s Carter G. Woodson Memorial Award, the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival’s Integrity Award, 2010 Accolades Award, and the Ann C. Rosenfield Distinguished Community Partnership Prize for bringing dance to 3,500 school children annually through UCLA’s Design for Sharing program. She has also received the 2011 Community Icon Award from the Los Angeles African American Women Political Action Committee, the 2011 National Dance Association Heritage Award, and the 2011 Artistic Vision Award from the Black Business Association. The Lula Washington Dance Theatre is a founding member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance.

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Erwin Washington

Erwin Washington is the Co-Founder of the Lula Washington Dance Theatre with his wife, Lula Washington, and he also serves as its Executive Director. Under his managerial leadership, the dance company has become one of the leading African American dance institutions in the West.

Erwin holds an Associate of Arts in journalism from Los Angeles City College, a Bachelor of Arts in English (creative writing) from UCLA, and a Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting from UCLA. He spent 20 years as a professional journalist at Time magazine, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Los Angeles Times, Herald Examiner, The Washington Post, and other publications, winning a dozen awards for news writing and reporting. While a student at UCLA, Erwin won a Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, a Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award in fiction writing, a Writers Guild Award for comedy writing, and two Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards in dramatic film writing. He also co-founded Nommo Players, a student theater group at UCLA, and later co-founded the Los Angeles Black Playwrights.

Several of Erwin’s scripts have been produced on network television, including an episode of the “The White Shadow” that won a Humanitas Prize nomination for its handling of the issue of police shootings in the Black community. He has sold stories and teleplays for “The Jeffersons,” “Baby I’m Back,” “Good Times,” and other shows. Several of Erwin’s plays have been produced, including Oh Oh Freedom, Get Down, Ben Brown, Get Down! The Dreamer, Sal, and Casualties of War. In 2000, he directed and co-wrote Cab Calloway’s Legacy of Swing, which toured to 55 cities featuring Chris Calloway.

Erwin is a graduate of Stanford University’s Executive in Nonprofit Leadership, the Developing Development Program of the Executive Service Corps, the Kennedy Center’s Capacity Building Program for Multi-cultural Arts Organizations, the Annenberg Foundation’s Executive Leadership program, and the Arts Leadership Initiative of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Erwin has secured millions of dollars in grants for the Lula Washington Dance Theatre, including the $2 million needed to purchase and renovate the company’s studio at Crenshaw Boulevard and Coliseum Street. He has served on grant panels for the Western States Arts Federation, the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Los Angeles City Department of Cultural Affairs, the California Community Foundation, and the Los Angeles County Music and Performing Arts Commission. Erwin helped write the first cultural arts master plan for the city of Los Angeles and he worked with the Master Plan Advisory Committee for the City of Inglewood. He is a frequent speaker, panelist and mentor in the arts and served on the Mayor’s Task Force for the Arts under then L.A. Mayor James Hahn. Erwin has also served on the board of directors for the Western Arts Alliance and the Dance Resource Center in Los Angeles.

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Tamica Washington-Miller

Tamica Washington-Miller is the named successor of the Lula Washington Dance Theatre. As Associate Director, she works closely with the Executive Director and supports the day-to-day business of the dance company, touring, educational, and community engagement. This includes the Lula Washington Dance School, Youth Dance Ensemble, and Company Training Ensemble. Washington-Miller currently sits on the board of directors for The International Association of Blacks in Dance. The dance company has hosted the IABD conference and festival five times over the years. Washington-Miller also sits on the board of trustees for Dance/USA and the board of directors for the Western Arts Alliance, where Tamica is Co-Chair of the Black Arts @ WAA affinity group and the Co-Chair of the host committee for the Los Angeles WAA conference in 2025.

Artistically, Washington-Miller collaborates with her husband, composer and musician Marcus L. Miller. Their work often includes spoken word, vocals, and social commentary with jazz, world, and audio-engineered music. Washington-Miller’s movement style is an organic blend of traditional modern and jazz dance, with hip-hop and vernacular flavors, and the traditional dances of the African diaspora. She was nominated for best choreography by the NAACP Theatre Awards for her work on Gilgamesh, directed by Stephen Sachs and Jessica Kubzansky at the Boston Court. Washington-Miller choreographed Hippolytos, also directed by Sachs, as the inaugural production at the Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater at the Getty Villa in Malibu, California. She assisted Lula Washington in the staging and choreography for James Cameron’s film Avatar; Washington-Miller was a stand-in and body double for CCH Pounder, and she performed stunts on the film.

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Marcus L. Miller

Marcus L. Miller is a multitalented artist and percussionist based in Southern California. He is the founder and musical director of Freedom Jazz Movement, a performance art ensemble. Miller is also the director of the percussion ensemble Project World Drum and the bandleader of the Marcus Miller Ensemble. He is a co-member of M & M ... the Afro-Persian Experience. Miller serves as the Music Director for the Lula Washington Dance Theatre.

Miller is a member of the Recording Academy, the American Federation of Musicians, and Chamber Music America. The SESAC affiliate also serves as president of Universe Soul Records. Professionally, Miller endorses Remo, Innovative Percussion, Istanbul Mehmet cymbals, Electro-Voice, and Rhythm Tech products.

Miller is an artist for the Universe Soul Records label. Since 2001, he has recorded and released 20 albums for the label. A composer and songwriter, Miller has recorded and toured with his ensembles Freedom Jazz Movement, BoujouBumBastick, Project World Drum, and the Marcus Miller Ensemble. His latest musical project, duo Afro-Persian Experience, features Mehdi Bagheri on kamancheh, and Miller on his one-of-a-kind percussion kit.

In June 2016, the Marcus Miller Ensemble accompanied the Lula Washington Dance Theatre and performed four nights at the Israeli Opera House in Tel Aviv. In November 2015, Miller and his jazz band traveled to Russia to headline the Vladivostok jazz festival. In 2011, they toured 20 cities in China with the Lula Washington Dance Theatre. Miller has also performed in Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and throughout Europe. He has played many notable venues and festivals, both internationally and nationally, including Reggae on the River, the San Jose jazz festival, the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival, the Virginia Arts Festival, the BroadStage in Santa Monica, Grand Performances California Plaza, and most recently at The Wallis in Beverly Hills, California.

As a professional drummer, Miller has recorded, toured, and performed with many artists including Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Sheila E., Vinx, Bennie Maupin, Trevor Hall, Ozomatli, Ashanti, The Watts Prophets, Bobby Bryant Jazz Poetry Collective, Leon Mobley & Da Lion, Michelle Shocked, and the Angel City Chorale. A former Disney cast member, Miller performed in the Lion King parade at Disneyland and Disney’s Eureka! parade at Disney California Adventure Park (1996-2001).

In 1998, Miller began working with youth in Southern California at St. Elmo Village. It was there he founded the percussion group Young Drummers of Los Angeles for drummers ages 10-17. From 2001 to 2017, he taught percussion at the William Grant Still Arts Center. Between 2006 and 2013, Miller and his ensemble Freedom Jazz Movement performed at local Southern California schools as roster artists for the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Over the years, he has worked extensively with various local Southern California museums, schools, libraries, art centers, and art organizations including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California African American Museum, Los Angeles Public Library, P.S. Arts, Jack and Jill L.A. chapter, Skirball Cultural Center, and the Lula Washington Dance Theatre. Miller has worked on projects in the Caribbean, Mexico, New York City, and California with New York’s GlobalArts to Go. In the summer of 2017, he launched his initial Summer Drum Camp for youth in Los Angeles. Miller works with the youth at Open Magnet Charter School in Los Angeles as their STOMP musical director.

Miller is the author of Marching to the Beat of My Drum: The Zen Art of Drumming, and he’s written many works of poetry. He also produces documentaries and is presently creating a series of new minidocs. Miller is the creator and producer of Nouveaux Afro, a black variety arts showcase. The series is currently streaming on the Nouveaux Afro channel on YouTube.com.

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Lula Washington Staff

Lula Washington | Co-Founder & Artistic Director

Erwin Washington | Co-Founder & Executive Director

Tamica Washington-Miller | Associate Director

Phelencia White | Executive Assistant

Marcus L. Miller | Musical & Video Media Director

Nelan-Ay Miller | Production Assistant

Xavier Muepo | Audio & Production Assistant

USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance

Jakevis Thomason

Jakevis Thomason, from Greenville, South Carolina, is the choreographer of the Thomason Variation. He began his dance training at Dianne’s School of Dance and graduated in 2020 from the USC Kaufman School of Dance. During his time at USC, Thomason had the opportunity to work closely with esteemed faculty across various dance forms. He has performed with notable artists, including Lil Nas X, FKA Twigs, and Kali Uchis. Thomason is passionate about choreography, both for visual media and live performances. His choreography credits include work with renowned vocal artists such as Brandy, Megan Thee Stallion, and Beyoncé. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Thomason is building his career as a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer.

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Elizabeth Auclair

Elizabeth Auclair, regisseur of Acts of Light, trained in New York City at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and the Martha Graham School. She was a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company for over 16 years, performing many of Graham’s seminal roles. Auclair also danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as well as numerous other companies and choreographers, and in films, both in New York and overseas. She served as Associate Director for Graham II, Rehearsal Director for the Martha Graham Dance Company, 360 Dance, and Pearl Lang Dance Theater. Auclair finds unique reward in staging Graham’s ballets for professional companies, universities and academies worldwide, including the Dutch National Ballet, Ballett Am Rhein (Düsseldorf), National Ballet of Portugal, Point Park University, the Boston Conservatory, University of the Arts (Philadelphia), University of Illinois, and Kobe College (Japan), where she also held a three-year post as visiting guest professor. She is currently on faculty at Marymount Manhattan College, the Martha Graham School, and Steps on Broadway Academy, and she’s a certified Gyrotonic instructor. Auclair is grateful for the chance to share in the beautiful process of awakening and growth as dancers tap into their own life force and deeper selves through the art of dance.

CSUN Dance Program

The CSUN Dance programs (Bachelor of Arts in dance, Bachelor of Science in kinesiology dance option, dance minor) enable students to realize educational goals related to achieving excellence in dance. Graduating students will be prepared to enter the professional field as performers, choreographers, educators, or in performance-related fields. The dance programs are designed to help students develop academic competencies, professional skills, critical and creative abilities, and ethical values that promote a deep and contemporary understanding of dance. Students will also be prepared to recognize and promote diversity and equity within the dance and dance-related fields.

Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Dance Department

The Dance Department at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts offers an intensive four-year, preprofessional, conservatory-style training program with a concentration on classical ballet and modern dance techniques. The department offers classes in classical and contemporary ballet, men’s ballet, pointe, Lester Horton technique, Martha Graham technique, Katherine Dunham technique, jazz, West African, hip-hop, wellness, strength and conditioning, Pilates, yoga, injury prevention, improvisation, choreography and composition, dance pedagogy, and a vast array of masterclasses with world-renowned performing artists and alumni. The program emphasizes excellence, creativity, discipline, equity and inclusion. The rigorous dance program aims to prepare students to enter directly into postcollegiate dance programs and/or professional careers in dance. The Dance Department curriculum asks students to foster a high level of commitment and responsibility. The faculty is made up of elite working professional dance artists who share their expertise, experiences, and passion for dance.

LACHSA Dance Department graduates have gone on to pursue degrees at USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, Fordham University, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Columbia University, Harvard, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, and UC San Diego; SUNY Purchase College, CalArts, Howard University, Stanford University, Point Park University, University of Southern California, the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins, NY Pace University, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and Juilliard, among many others.

The mission at LACHSA Dance is to uplift, support, and inspire young dance artists as they explore and grow throughout the various stages of their development. Through the marriage of diversity, equity, versatility, and the implementation of a conservatory-style approach to dance training, we seek to foster artistic and technical excellence in each dance artist that enters the program.