mission statement


Erica Essner Performance Co-op incorporates a physical narrative into its intense and compelling work. The co-operative process is revealed in the merging of unique and idiosyncratic movement styles. Presenting work rooted in social commentary, this New York City-based company of five has been hailed as "Exceptional...all the drama of story and character while putting movement at center stage." ---San Francisco Examiner

the company
The Erica Essner Performance Co-Op was founded in 1990 in San Francisco and enjoyed a decade of performing, teaching and touring in the San Francisco Bay Area. For over ten years Essner collaborated with award winning composer Erik Ian Walker.

Mr. Walker graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and studied principally with renowned composer John Adams. Walker has worked as a principal music and sound design contributor for the Joe Goode Performance Group and the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. Together they created over 20 works and received rave reviews as a partnership. Both the work and the artists were informed by the relationship, and the work they created exists as current repertory for the company.

In 2000 Erica Essner moved to New York City and reestablished her company. Since reforming in New York City the company has performed in Dance Theater Workshop's Fresh Tracks, was a recipient of the Union Street Dance Space grant, and most recently was presented by The Puffin Room, NYC. The company has presented an annual home season at such venues as Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out, Theater Artaud, Dancers' Group, Brady Street Theater, University Settlement, and Joyce SoHo. Essner is the recipient of the Bessie Schonberg Choreographers Residency 2005 at The Yard. Ms. Essner has been a recipient of the CASH grant for her work in collaboration with long-time composer Erik Ian Walker.

"...expresses sweeping obsessive passion in physcial terms, with a body intent on stretching itself to every extreme.."
        -Eva Yaa Asantewaa Village Voice

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The Dancers

Akiko Furukawa
AKIKO FURUKAWA is a Native of Kyoto Japan. she has worked with New York's various choreographers such as Cristian Canciani, Guido Tuveri, Jackie Miredin, Kevin Wynn, Jennifer Archbald, Sunhwa Chung/ Ko-Ryo Dance Thetre, Jenni Hong, Mark Drahozal and Erica Essner performance co-op, among others. her choreography has been shown at DanSpace Project at St. Mark's Church, Aaron Davis Hall, Japan Society, Merce Cuningham Theater, CRS Theater, Evolving Arts Theatre, One Arm Red in Brooklyn and The Play Room in Fringe Festival. she also has been commissioned by Aaron Davis Hall's fund for new work, supported by the Jerome foundation and Phillip Morris Companies, Inc.

LoMa Familar LoMa Familar has performed in NYC, along the east coast, and internationally. Originally from North Carolina, BFA graduate of East Carolina University, she has had the pleasure to work with the following artists, choreographers, directors and residencies: Li Han Zong & Ma Bo, Jane Comfort, Leonard Cruz, Camille Dieterle, Erica Essner, Jenny Rogers & Clove Galilee, James Hansen, Daman Harun, Mark Jarecke, Ashleigh Leite, Lee Breuer and Mabou Mines, Tere O'Connor, Julia Mandle of J. Mandle Performance, Dagmar Spain, Basil Twist, The Yard: 2005, Bessie Schoenberg Residency.

JENNI HONG, made in Taiwan, is a choreographer, performer and improviser. She graduated from Columbia University with an MA in psychology and is a certified Yoga teacher. Jenni has had the fortunate opportunity in the past to work with Kirstie Simson, Jana Hicks, Taipei Dance Circle, and Guido Tuveri, among others. She is currently a company member with Delirious Dances, Erica Essner Performance co-Op, and Gina Gibney Dance. Her choreography has been presented in Taiwan, Italy and the United States. In New York City, Jenni's work has been shown in venues including: dancenOw/NYC, Danspace Project's "Food for Thought" series, Joyce SoHo, Dance Space Center/Dance New Amsterdam, The Puffin Room, and Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.

Paul Singh

PAUL SINGH recently earned his BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign. He is currently dancing for Gerald Casel, Risa Jaroslow, Douglas Dunn and Erica Essner. In 2004, his solo piece "stutter"was chosen to be presented at the Kennedy Center. While in NYC, Paul hopes to continue dancing and choreographing until his feet fall off.

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Hannah Seidel
HANNAH SIEDEL is greatly enjoying her first experience with Erica and Co-op. Currently, she also works with Chris Ferris, Pi Dance Theater, and both the company and education ensemble of Notes In Motion, and she has been a guest artist with the Nee Danse Company and From the Horse's Mouth at the Duke Theater. She has taught and choreographed in New York, California, and Michigan, and this will be her fifth summer on the modern dance faculty of Interlochen Center for the Arts. Her B.A. is from Pomona College, where she directed a 5-college dance improvisation group, produced concerts of student works, and theoretically and experientially studied the spiritual aspects of dance.

the composer
The Co-Op's award winning composer Erik Ian Walker graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He studied principally with renowned composer John Adams. Walker has worked as a principal music and sound design contributor for the Joe Goode Performance Group and the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. His sound scores for the George Coates Performance Works' production of Right Mind won a critic's poll award for sound design. Other works by Walker include projects for KQED (PBS) and pieces for MTV's Liquid Television.
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