PLACE Members
Sue Roginski (she/her)
graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987 with a BA in Dance and from the University of California-Riverside in 2007 with an MFA in Dance (experimental choreography). She is a dance artist and educator who has produced her own work as well as performances to benefit Project Inform, Breast Cancer Action, and Women’s Cancer Resource Center. In the past several years, Sue has had the opportunity to share choreography locally, in San Francisco, in Los Angeles, and Pasadena. Before moving to Riverside, Sue lived in San Francisco where she had a ten year career as dancer and collaborator with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. Sue has had the opportunity to work with Dandelion Dancetheater, STEAMROLLER, Christy Funsch, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Stephanie Schaaf, Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers, and NavaretteXKajiyama.. Her recent work is influenced by her dancing and improvising with Susan Rose and Dancers in Riverside, CA. She creates choreography and teaches improvisation with local dance artists with the collaborative projects open process, counterpoint/shift, and Peer Practice. Currently she teaches dance at Riverside City College and is a teaching artist at McCallum Theatre Education. As Organization Director for P.L.A.C.E. Performance Sue has volunteered since 2011 to maintain the operations and programming. P.L.A.C.E. Performance received non-profit status after taking on Trolley Dances, a trademark of Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater. P.L.A.C.E. Performance, an artist run and all volunteer organization is dedicated to providing opportunities for local dancers and choreographers. P.L.A.C.E. Programming also includes between the tables, Leaving Fear at the Door, in addition to offering free master classes, workshops and supporting other local dance events.
Megan Fowler-Hurst (they/them)
is a Dancer, Choreographer, Director and Educator from Riverside, Ca. Megan curated between the tables (2018-present), a local event put on by P.L.A.C.E. Performance every three months at Back To The Grind coffee shop. They are the founder and Program Director of the Some Dance Screen Fest. Megan is a co-founder of the Los Angeles based dance collective, Tales Between Our Legs (TBOL). In 2017 TBOL was chosen to share their work A Dismal Glimpse at a Script We Create to Keep Us Moving Forward at REDCAT’s New Original Works Festival. TBOL has also shared work at the McCallum Choreography Festival, Breaking Ground Dance and Film Festival, between the tables, Renaissance Arts Academy, University of Redlands, DanceSTORM, Sorority, and the Satellite. In 2019 Megan directed, choreographed and danced in the music video “WEAPONRY” by art punk band OBJECT AS SUBJECT. “WEAPONRY” has been shown at Highways Performance Space, Motion Capture movement film series. In that same year they traveled to NYC where they were the creative director, choreographer and dancer for the music video “New Year” for the artist known as Bitch. They have been a featured dancer in numerous music videos for artists including UTK and Pussy Riot. Megan has taught dance throughout Southern California. They have worked as an after school dance teacher with the Arts and Minds program through the Riverside Arts Council. They were most recently on dance faculty at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga and guest faculty at Chadwick School in Palos Verdes. Megan holds a BFA in Dance and a Math/Science Minor from California Institute of the Arts.
Mya Maddox (she/her)
holds a B.A. in Theatre, Film, and Digital Production from University of California, Riverside. Mya first started training in dance her Freshman year of high school. Unfortunately, she injured her knee in her senior year and it has slowed her dancing down ever since. But she will forever have the passion, respect, and love for dance as much as she does for all of her other crafts. Along with dance, Mya likes to participate in plays and short films as a writer, actor, and/or director. Although, she identifies as a storyteller. Because in all these aspects of performance they’re all just sharing one life experience to another.
PLACE Founding and Consulting Members
April Rhodes
graduated from the University of California, Riverside, Department of Dance, and has since worked as a dance teaching artist for various art councils, museums, and presently for McCallum Theatre Education in Palm Desert, Ca. An emphasis in experimental choreography at UCR’s dance department afforded opportunities for April to examine intersections of dance and visual art and site specific choreography. It was during a collaboration on site specific dance in Idyllwild, Ca., that April reconnected with her beloved mentors at Mt. San Jacinto College and met Sue Roginski. It is with great pleasure in the meeting of dance minds that April is a member of P.L.A.C.E!
Alexis A Weisbrod
Alexis A. Weisbrod (she/her) received her BFA in Dance from University of Minnesota and her PhD in Critical Dance Studies from UC Riverside. Alexis has studied through the United States and Europe including University of Minnesota, CalArts, Alvin Ailey School, and Edge Performing Arts Center, Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway. She has performed at venues nationally and internationally, including Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles), The Southern Theater (Minneapolis), Tanzsommer (Innsbruck, Austria) and her choreography has been seen at the University of California, Riverside, Mt. San Jacinto College, and University of Minnesota. Since 2015 Alexis has worked full time as a professional fundraiser. She holds a Certificate in Fundraising Management from University of Indiana's Lilly School of Fundraising. Alexis most recently held the role of Director of Development at Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and is currently a Principal and Major Gifts Officer for Cranbrook Educational Community.
Preet Mutneja
enjoys dance. Whether it be taking a challenging dance class, attending an inspiring performance, or supporting local dance, Preet does not miss an opportunity. Preet fell in love with dance while taking his first dance class at MSJC Menifee in 2009 (Beginning Jazz, taught by Alexis Weisbrod – who remains his favorite dance teacher). Preet has performed at an MSJC dance concert (under the direction of Alexis). In 2011, Preet facilitated the establishment of Dance Theatre Collective of Southern California. He was an apprentice with the Avocado Dance Theatre for the 2011-2012 season, and performed at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater. In 2013, Preet helped to establish the Alias Movement Center, a dance and fitness studio in Murrieta that gave the local community an opportunity to dance. Through his engagements with dance, Preet has met some lovely people who educate and inspire. Preet is honored to be a part of P.L.A.C.E. and, from the looks of it, will continue to enjoy and support dance.
Irvin Gonzalez
Dr. Irvin Manuel Gonzalez (he/él/they/elle) is an artivist, scholar, community organizer, and teacher. He received his PhD in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California, Riverside in 2021. Gonzalez’s scholarship analyzes how immigrant, queer, and working-class Latin American social dancers navigate hegemonic forces through feeling and creativity while situating creative constructions of/for belonging. Gonzalez theorizes the possibility for these maneras de ser (ways of being) to inform new approaches to prison abolition work, migrant activism, and transborder belonging. As an artist, Gonzalez grounds his art approaches, strategies, and constructions in rasquachismo, a low-brow Chicanx sensibility, to generate collaborations and new potentials that upend the intended use-value of materials, connections, and being. He is a founding member of Primera Generación Dance Collective (PGDC) and a board member of Show Box Los Ángeles (SBLA).
Nohely Gomez she/elle/he
Nohely Gomez is a first generation Latinx mover, dancer, dance film & performing artist. Nohely submerges in the art of dance corporeally moving, touring, and queering what it means to be of this time. Her recent works study the connections between the internal and external, the visibility, and tangibility of materiality. Learning, unlearning, and redefining what notions and ideologies of movement and the body connote. With words and existing sounds, Nohely finds accessible ways to play, unearthing multiplicity in the art of storytelling. Ella con fuerza (she with strength) trusts to reveal and grounds to dismantle and heal.
Julie Satow Freeman (Julenda)
is a founding member of P.L.A.C.E. Performance, as well as a choreographer, mother of three, professor, and chair of the Department of Dance at Mt. San Jacinto College. She is also a mixed-race woman and member of the Cherokee Nation and the Delaware Tribe of Indians (Lenni Lenape). As a professor of dance, Julie is deeply committed to creating a welcoming space for students of all backgrounds, with special care and advocacy for those who have historically had less access to academia and those whose cultural forms have been undervalued by mainstream dance. Julie holds an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of California, Riverside, and is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellowship Award and an MFA Graduate Fellowship, and is a two-time fellow in the Gluck Fellows Program of the Arts. A former Brithinee Fellow at the Culver Center of the Arts, Julie was more recently an honoree of the CALIFA: RESToring the Source retreat sponsored by Dancing Earth. Julie has performed extensively with several modern dance companies, and performance highlights include dancing at the Japan American Theatre as part of the Olympic Arts Festival and performing solo work at the Edinburgh Arts Festival Fringe in Scotland. She has shared her choreographic work at diverse venues and events, including Highways Performance Space, the Electric Lodge, Trolley Dances Riverside, between the tables, Dance on the Edge Festival, Front and Main Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In March 2022, Julie was the inaugural artist of the Indigenous Dance Residency hosted by the Palm Springs International Dance Festival. The residency culminated in an evening of Julie’s choreography that focused on her Indigenous family and the impacts of colonization–including forced relocation and residential boarding schools–and underscored the resilience, tenacity, and persistence of indigenous peoples.
Aisha Shauntel Bardge
Aisha Shauntel Bardge is passionate about all things dance and dabbles in everything that involves performing, creating, and teaching. The Inland Empire, CA artist uses her blended technical background of contemporary, ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop, jazz, and improvisation practice to inform her voice as a mover. She states: "As an artist, my goal is to present and represent the multifaceted black female artist that I am. I want to show others and myself that dance is one of the most powerful forms of expression and that all people have the power to explore their bodies and discover their own dance. I always say, if you have a body, you can dance. Explore and Groove." Aisha is grateful for the opportunity to be part of an organization that seeks to provide resources and opportunities for artists in the Inland Empire. Before becoming an intern, Aisha was a regular participant of P.L.A.C.E. Performance’s Between the Tables – an event where artists share creative works literally between the tables at Back to the Grind coffeeshop in Riverside, CA. Aisha is excited to be part of the P.L.A.C.E. team as an Intern to assist in generating new events and programming for our community and learning the ins and outs of non-profit administrative work.
C.J. Logel
CJ Logel (he/him) attended Riverside City College and the University of California, Riverside, where he received his BA in Dance in 2011. In Southern California, he had the privilege of dancing with Intersect Dance Theatre and counterpoint/shift. Through his affiliation with P.L.A.C.E. Performance, he has had the opportunity to dance, teach, and choreograph throughout Riverside County. Since relocating to San Francisco in 2014 he has had the pleasure of dancing with CALI & CO dance, PULP, STEAMROLLER Dance Company, Chelsea Van Billiard, and Robert Moses (as a guest artist in Draft). In the Bay Area he has taught contemporary dance in the Youth and Teen program at ODC as well as instructed yoga, both at YogaWorks and CorePower. He earned his MA in Education in 2017 and is currently teaching 2nd grade at Children’s Day School.
Tracy Philipsen
Tracy is an improviser, mover, performer, graphic artist and dance maker residing in the city of Riverside California. Tracy’s choreographic creations explores the hidden details of movement and adds an expressive twist. Tracy enjoys experimenting and exploring the use of space, props and design. The fuel and force behind generating movement is the continual scope of her internal challenges affected by societal and political perspectives. Outside her creative process, Tracy has worked on the the development of PLACE Performance where she helps to redesign and support the inner workings of the organization. She is honored to have worked with counterpoint shift and Intersect Dance Theatre.
PLACE Interns
Ran Tan
graduated from UC Riverside as a double major in Dance and Anthropology with Academic Excellence Award. Ran was trained in Chinese Ethnic and Folk dances throughout her childhood. Later, she developed interests in Chinese Classical Dance and became a dedicated student of Chinese Classical dances. Ran’s movement research explores Minimalism, Feminism, and the diversity within Chinese aesthetics.
Mads Irving
is a local artist who will soon graduate from Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) with an Associates Degree in Dance, Theater Arts, and Liberal Arts. Their work has been shown in several dance concerts at MSJC and recently their dance film Remembrain was shown at the virtual dance concert in 2020. Their dance film was also shown in the between the tables virtual event put on by PLACE Performance. Mads has had the opportunity to work with artists such as: Alfonso Cervera, Megan Fowler-Hurst, Kirsten Johansen, Julie Freeman, Lindsay Blue and Irvin Gonzalez. Mads is also a writer who loves to incorporate writing into their art works. They are passionate about working with a camera and are now, as a part of PLACE Performance as part of the production team.
Evelin Dianey Parra
received her Bachelor’s Degree in Dance from the University of California, Riverside in 2017. She trained in Ballet, Improv, and Modern techniques, while also training and performing in West African and 18th Century dances. She performed in UCR is Dancing 2016 as well as choreographed and danced in Spring Forward 2016 and UCR is Dancing 2017. Evelin enjoys helping others and this is why she volunteered at the 2017 WonderCon in Anaheim, Ca, assisted other Choreographers with their performances, was a guide for Trolley Dances Riverside 2016, and is now an intern of P.L.A.C.E. Performance. Evelin hopes to continue exploring how moving bodies can be morphed into unique and weird shapes to create dances focused on the unheard voices in history and the human psyche. She hopes her pieces will allow the viewers to become more open-minded and see the world from different perspectives.