TERRANG

CARINA AHLSKOG

Carina Ahlskog (b. 1973) graduated in 2015 from Novia University of Applied Sciences, Jakobstad, with a BA in Fine Arts and and in 2020 with a MA in Culture and Arts at the same university. She has a background both in modern dance and in physiotherapy, which means that in her artistic practice she is investigating the moving body and choreography in the context of contemporary art. Her main art expressions are performative art, video and sculpture.

Ahlskog's interest lies in how the moving body finds its place in the visual art context. A context that may not be best suited for dance, but which opens up for new exciting challenges. How can the body be handled as an object? How can an object be choreographing the body? By using the visual art context as a venue for choreography and dance she explores her surroundings, a search for new bodily movements where the meeting and the presence are central and the tension lies in the interaction that occurs. She is looking for a dialogue with her environment. Something she calls ”Embodied Spaces”. It is especially the everyday gestures that fascinates her. By using familiar element, minimizing and excluding other elements she want to give a different view of what it means to be human. 

Ahlskog has participated in various art projects both nationally and internationally. Her work has been shown in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Greece, Scotland, England and USA. In 2018 she made a public sculptural artwork for Purmo School in Pedersöre, Finland. Between 2013 - 2019, she was the curator for the arts and music festival, Humlefestival, in Nykarleby. carinaahlskog.com

DIANA BAUMBACH

Originally from Oak Park, IL (USA), Diana Baumbach earned her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis (2003) and her MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2007). She has had recent solo exhibitions at the University of South Carolina, Colorado State University, Arte Mare (Finland) and Naropa University. Diana has undertaken public art projects in the US and the Netherlands, mainly geared towards young audiences. She received two Visual Art Fellowships from the Wyoming Arts Council (2015, 2021) after receiving Honorable Mention three times (2011, 2013 and 2014). She recently spent a year in Finland where she was an artist in residence at Stundars Museum and Novia University. Diana was formerly an Associate Professor and Foundations Coordinator at the University of Wyoming and is currently an Assistant Professor and Director of Galleries at the University of Maine.

About the Work

Diana Baumbach’s creative work is rooted in the act of manual labor and daily practice. She explores intersections between art, craft and everyday life.

Process and materiality are central to her work. Diana employs repetitive - sometimes obsessive - actions such as piercing, punching, stitching and folding to generate patterns. Patterns appeal to the human desire to find order, yet, when made by hand they highlight the tension between repetition and error. Diana builds patterns by developing a simple gesture which becomes automatic to her body over time.

These repetitive processes allow her the ability to start and stop. As such, her studio travels home to be worked on while participating in day-to-day domestic activities, not unlike quilting or knitting. Diana considers the home a generative space in which important labor, skill and dialogue take place, but often remain unseen and undervalued. As Lucy Lippard observes “What is popularly seen as ‘repetitive,’ ‘obsessive,’ and ‘compulsive’ in women’s art is in fact a necessity for those whose time comes in small squares.” dianabaumbach.com

 ZACH BIRD

Zach Bird is currently a Chicago based performer who works with friends and dance companies throughout the city. Originally from Iowa, his love for dance and corn brought him to the University of Iowa where he graduated with a B.F.A. in Dance Studies under the mentoring of Jennifer Kayle. After losing interest in the multiple varieties of corn cuisine, he moved to Chicago and began dancing with Mordine and Company. Since his move, Zach has had the pleasure of dancing for Hedwig Dances, Kelly Anderson Dance Theater, Monica Thomas, Brady VanPatten, Earlyn Whitehead, and RE|Dance Group. Zach is excited and thankful to be dancing for Carina Ahlskog on SPRING. His next focus will hopefully include the dynamic relationship between dance and corn.

ERIKA FARKVAM

Erika Astrid Farkvam grew up dancing at the Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park, IL. where her love of dance began. She moved Tucson to attend the University of Arizona where she received her BFA in Dance. While in college Erika had the privilege of studying at the San Francisco of Conservatory of Dance and in Ghana, West Africa. Upon graduating Erika danced and choreographed with New ARTiculations Dance Theater engaging in work that was relevant to social and environmental issues within the Tucson community. Since returning to Chicago Erika has performed for Momenta, Darling Shear, Kate Corby Dance, Laboratory Dancers, The Fly Honey Show, Erin Kilmurray, Duo Tandem, Daiva Bhandari, and RE|Dance Group. In addition to working at Trader Joe's Erika currently dances for RE|Dance Group and Laboratory Dancers. Erika is delighted and thrilled to be a part of Terräng.

KATHRYN HETRICK

Kathryn Hetrick is a Chicago based performing artist. Graduating from the dance program at Western Michigan University, she had the opportunity to perform work by noted artists Alonzo King, Lori Eisenhower, John Lehrer, Michael Foely, and Ginger Thatcher. In her nine years living in Chicago, Kathryn has had the distinct pleasure of working with many artists in the area. Past collaborators include Esoteric Dance Project and Salty Lark Dance. Aside from her continued partnership with Project Bound Dance, Kathryn can also be seen performing the Same Planet Performance Project.

JESSICA KONDRATH

Jessica Kondrath (she/her), a Chicago native, holds degrees in dance from UC Santa Barbara (BFA) and California State University, Long Beach (MFA). Her choreography through her company GRAYSCALE has been presented nationally and internationally since 2004; she has had works commissioned by colleges and high schools throughout the Los Angeles area for the past thirteen years, and was a choreographer for Momenta Performing Arts Company’s 35th and 40th anniversary concerts.

She has also been a guest instructor at Loyola Marymount University, Colorado State University-Fort Collins, University of Wyoming-Laramie, CSU Fullerton, the University of Colorado-Boulder, Loyola University Chicago, and Novia University (Finland).

As a dancer, Jessica recently performed the works of Carol McDowell, Liz Hoefner Adamis/Immediate Action Dance, Sarita Smith-Childs and in her own work as part of the Hi, Solo series and at Beyond Baroque’s Poetry Series You Can Get There from Here curated by Liz Hoefner Adamis, and at The Visionary, NY as an artist in residence.

Jessica has been part of an ongoing collaboration with visual artists Yumi Janairo Roth as part of her installation Spin (After Sol LeWitt) presented by Grand Central Arts in Santa Ana, CA, and with Diana Baumbach showing their collaborative works nationally and internationally. She was a recipient of the Professional Artist Fellowship Grant from the Arts Council of Long Beach, CA for her work as the Artistic Director of GRAYSCALE.

Over the past twenty years, Jessica has also worked as a lighting designer for dance, a Pilates Instructor certified at the Kane School of Core Integration under the direction of Kelly Kane and she is currently on faculty in the Dance Departments of College of DuPage, the Academy of Movement and Music, and Loyola University Chicago. Her most recent projects include an artist residency and premier of the evening length work Invisible Landscapes at The Visionary in Mt. Vision, NY, the 1Hr Project with Project Bound Dance, and as choreographer for the dance film Hemlighet in Vassa, Finland. grayscaledance.org

XENIA MANSOUR

XENIA MANSOUR (she/her) is a movement artist, performer, director, and coach based in Chicago, IL and working regularly in NYC. Born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois, she spent her formative years studying at the Academy of Movement and Music and performing with its resident company, MOMENTA.

Mansour holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. While there, she had the opportunity to perform works by Giada Ferrone, James Martin, and Netta Yerushalmy, as well as José Limón’s Mazurkas at The Joyce Theater in New York City. 

She performs regularly with experimental dance theater HOLDTIGHT in both Denver and New York City as well as dances for Katherine Maxwell’s HIVEWILD. A former company member of BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, she has also worked with Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Sikora + Dance, Gabrielle Johnson + Artists, Javier Padilla, and Angie Moon Dance Theatre.

She has also worked with Grammy nominated musician, Nico Segal, choreographing and performing in “Welcome Home” at Steppenwolf Theatre, a production celebrating the release of his first solo album Tell The Ghost Welcome Home. She also collaborates with Greek-American Pop artist Tommy Bravos, performing in and movement directing his work.

She has performed in a range of stage, site-specific, immersive, film, and fashion work including as a guest dancer and model for Mexican fashion designer Carla Fernández, with choreography by Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, and as a feature dancer for CXN’s Fashion Commercial Come With Us, choreographed by Katherine Maxwell.

Mansour has had additional training at LINES Ballet, The Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, NW Dance Project’s LAUNCH: 11, New Dialect, and the Merce Cunningham Trust where she has performed works by Gregory Dawson, Bret Easterling, Alex Ketley, Ohad Naharin, Anton Rudakov, Luca Signoretti, and Merce Cunningham.

In October 2023, Mansour established Philoxenia Movement LLC, a nexus of dance & movement that delivers private movement instruction, choreography, performance, and consultation services based in Chicago, IL. She is the founder, principal, and sole member of Philoxenia Movement.

During her time in NYC, Mansour curated pop-up contemporary dance events through Airbnb Experiences as the Head of Artistic Operations at Hi Artist, an experiential dance platform dedicated towards making contemporary dance more approachable and accessible to non-dance audiences. She is curious and passionate about alternative, more sustainable models for the dance world, and widening its reach and audience.

Mansour is a passionate athlete, with a big love and fandom for hockey and baseball specifically. Her movement vocabulary and curiosities stem from the many sports she once played and participated in, including softball, volleyball, tennis, and boxing. She continues to box and play pickup softball today, and is fascinated and driven by the intersection between these various movement modalities.

SARAH MORIMOTO

Sarah Morimoto is a Chicago performer. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2016 with degrees in dance and chemistry. Throughout her training, Sarah has worked with and performed works by several Chicago artists including Jeff Hancock, Lizzie Leopold, Laura Wade, Maray Gutierrez, Robyn Mineko Williams, Joseph Caruana, and Riccardo Battaglia. Professionally, Sarah has had the opportunity to work with Joel Hall and Hanna Brictson and Dancers. In addition to performing, Sarah has also choreographed and performed works at The iO Theater. She also has set works on several youth companies in the city and suburbs. Sarah is currently a company member of Project Bound Dance.

SIERRA TAYLOR

Sierra Taylor (she/her), a North Carolina native, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance: Choreography and Performance in May 2021. After graduating, she was an active member of her NC dance community; one of her favorite experiences was performing at the North Carolina Dance Festival. Since moving to Chicago, Sierra has enjoyed creating, performing and watching works that are grounded in honest expression and relevant stories.