FOUNDER & MOVEMENT DIRECTOR

Giada Matteini is an Italian performer, educator, choreographer, and cultural producer based in New York City. She is the Founder and Director of WADE (Wandering Avian Dance Experience), a women-led multifaceted performing arts company working at the intersection with social justice and focused on supporting the voices and artistic expressions of women and historically underrepresented artists. Giada is also an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the Principal Investigator of an NYU funded research project investigating somatic movement rehabilitation models for perpetrators of gender-based violence. They have traveled as a guest artist to Germany, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Spain, China, The Philippines, Mexico and across the U.S. and Italy. (Photo Credit: John Eng)

MUSIC DIRECTOR

Ai Isshiki is a NYC-based, classically trained, experimental musician. Her works as a composer and pianist have been found in various media, including dances, feature and short films, and concerts cross-bordering genres. Ai has been working with Giada Matteini at the Tisch School of Art of New York University for over 10 years, where Ai works as a dance accompanist. Her main passion is to help people utilizing resources within each self through sounds and music. Ai is also in her master’s program in music therapy at Montclair State University to become a board-certified music therapist. She was born in Germany, grew up in Japan, and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, with her 5-year-old daughter, Uta.

CHOREOGRAPHER

Lou Sydel is a choreographer who draws from the study of gesture and queerness. He is the artistic director of Gesture Theater, a trans-led movement company that connects clowning, mask, puppetry, improvisation, linguistics, and more. Lou is a founding member of NYC’s first ever Physical Theater festival, PhysFest, at Stella Adler. His curatorial work can also be found at WestFest Top Floor and Dance Parade. He is the company manager for Jody Oberfelder Projects. Past performances: NYLA with Ellen Robbins, Celebration Barn Theater, Triskelion Arts, The Tank,  La MaMa Puppet Slam, Brooklyn Art Haus, The Center at West Park, Edinburgh Fringe, Bowdoin College, Sokolow Theater / Dance Ensemble, Accademia Dell’Arte, and the International Society for Gesture Studies.