Bandelion creates collaboratively. 
Eric Kupers directs the process, and all ensemble members contribute important movement, sound, theatrical and design elements.
Sometimes individual ensemble members will take over the direction/choreography of certain sections if they have an idea they are inspired by, and/or so that Eric can spend focused time on his own performance roles. Sometimes ensemble members bring in a song they’ve written that they’d like the full ensemble to evolve into a piece.
While we have lots of plans and ideas, we are most excited by the material that arises mysteriously and spontaneously through in-depth exploration processes.
Bandelion is:
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Eric Kupers (Director) is the Director of Bandelion and the Co-Artistic Director of Dandelion Dancetheater. See his full bio here. In this photo are two of Eric’s primary directing assistants: Doodle and Abe, who accompany Eric to select rehearsals, classes and performances. Eric recently acquired a third assistant, Bubbles, who now is the security guard for all Bandelion rehearsals. 
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Bruce Bierman, Bandelion’s newest member is a grounded and playful Jewish dance specialist, interweaving theater, dance, and ritual Jewish performance for decades. Bandelion since 2015.
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Dawn Frank Holtan dances barefoot. She creates live performance pieces. She writes poems, songs, and stories: sometimes fiction, sometimes not. She loves to perform, and to imbue dance with layers and layers of meaning. Dawn began working with Eric Kupers and Kimiko Guthrie in 1994, and she has enjoyed being a Dandelion on and off ever since. Former co-director of Frank and Bryan Dance, her choreography has been described as “poignant” and “unpretentious,” with “strength, versatility, and a sense of humor.” Dawn is currently creating “Cracking Open,” an evening-length dance-theater performance piece that will premiere in 2018. A mother of three unschooled kids, she also designs and leads artistic and academic workshops for homeschooling children via the Experientialists. For more information about Dawn and her work, visit http://dawnholtan.com
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Corissa “Reese” Johnson is a 2008 graduate from California State University East Bay where she obtained a B.A in Theatre Arts-Dance. She has been teaching and studying dance for over 20 years and currently teaches in the Bay Area in Danville for Lori Buffalow’s The Next Step Dance Studio and for the City of Oakland at Studio One Arts Center as a recreation specialist, as well as runs her own dance program as part of OFASS (Oakland Fine Arts Summer School).
Reese is also a member of MEnD Dance-Theater company for going on 8 years and performs with the company throughout the bay area promoting healing and mending through dance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Reese also plays various instruments within Bandelion ranging from her voice and singing, to the drums, and Cajon and is newly learning how to play Bass Guitar. She is blessed and honored to be a part of Dandelion Dance Theater especially her “Lion” family!
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Nils Jorgensen, a regular Dandelion/Bandelion guest artist since 2008 officially joined Bandelion in 2015. He is a disability activist, athlete born with spinal cord injury, advocate for the marginalized and bass-voiced actor and singer.
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Keith Penney is a musician desperately trying to learn to dance. He has been performing with Dandelion/Bandelion since 2008. His music projects can be found here:
Karate Mountain and The World’s Finest Apples
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Frances Sedayao has worked on and off with Dandelion/Bandelion since 2001, joining Bandelion fully in 2014. She is a fluid dancer, choreographer, expert improviser, Tae Kwon Do black belt, singer, flutist, Pilipino native.
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Deborah Trudell, dancer, singer, mother of two. She’s been an active part of the CSUEB Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble since its founding in 2006. DDT since 2001, Bandelion since 2017.
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Amy Marie has made strides as a plus size dancer and plus size model, constantly challenging the dance community and the modeling industry. Amy Marie has been dancing non consecutively for 27 years and modeling for 12 years. She started studying ballet at Contra Costa Ballet Centre and trained for 10 years until she decided to take a break from dance due to bullying and body shaming. In college, she decided to explore other forms of dance and ended up making dance her major and transferred to CSUEB 
in 2008. Her connection with Eric was strong and she was always interested in his ensemble and supporting the company as often as she could. Post graduation in 2010, Amy Marie started her own dance company (A.V.I.D.) and directed and choreographed for her company and numerous bay area companies and schools. In 2016 Amy Marie officially joined Bandelion as an ensemble member. She now teaches classes and workshops promoting inclusive and safe-spaces for all bodies and abilities to dance!
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BANDELION ENSEMBLE MEMBERS TAKING A BREAK FROM REGULAR REHEARSALS, BUT SOMETIMES SHOWING UP ONSTAGE ANYWAY:
Chris Gallegos bounces back and forth between dance/theater, visual art and computer programming and is seeking a fusion of all three. He has performed with Bandelion/Dandelion since 2010 and will be graduating from CSU East Bay with a BA in Art and Computer Science in 2014.
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Chris Evans was born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, California. Her music training began in Oakland public schools and after a very long break resumed at San Francisco State while Chris was working on a Master’s in comparative literature. Her comp lit focus on the relationship between literature and music was the formalized beginning of her exploring the overlapping and blurring of lines between disciplines. This exploration moved from the theoretical to practice when Chris dropped out of Comparative Literature PhD program and moved to France to study cello, chamber music and dance. Coming back to the Bay Area enabled her to deepen and expand her interdisciplinary exploration through studies with Roscoe Mitchell, Alex Kelly, Shelly Senter, Abigail Hosein, and Randee Paufve and collaborations with choreographers Byb Chanel Bibene, Sheena Johnson, Lizz Roman, musicians from WaterSaw and Ark of Bones, and visual artists Ernest Jolly and Nick Dong. She is deeply excited to continue the exploration of all of these interests in the beautiful, expansive Bandelion/Dandelion community.
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Cristina Carrasquillo was born and raised in the caribbean and came to San Francisco in the summer of 2001. She studied jazz, folkloric and modern dance from a very young age in her native country, Puerto Rico. She has been an apprentice with AXIS Dance Company and has worked with David Dorfman, Jess Curtis/Gravity and Shinichi Iova-Koga/inkBoat. She joined Dandelion Dancetheater in January of 2011 and has a deep admiration for Eric Kupers’ experimental creativity process. She has performed in Friend, The Dislocation Express, Arthur In Underland and other works. Cristina feels extremely lucky to be working with such a diversely talented and loving group of artists.
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Dorine Hoeksema danced her way from the Netherlands to San Francisco in 2005. She enjoys many forms of dance including dance theatre, butoh — she loves moving about in general. Dorine has worked with Bandelion/Dandelion since 2006.
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Anne-Lise Reusswig started dancing in high school and went on to graduate from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Theater Arts. She then moved to New York, where she was a scholarship student at the Cunningham Studio and performed with many different choreographers. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Anne has appeared in works by Element Dance Theater, Lisa Townsend Company, Company Mecanique performing the works of Sara Shelton Mann, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Heidi Schweiker, Nancy Karp + Dancers, and Shift >>>Physical Theater. She has been teaching at California State University East Bay since 2007 and working with Bandelion/Dandelion since 2001.
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Stacz Sadowski has been dancing since 1993.. you do the math.He plans to dance many more years and from beyond the grave if possible. In addition to working with Bandelion/Dandelion he has performed with Element Dance Theater, Impact Theater and Nina Haft, and has worked as a technician at the CSU East Bay Theatre and Dance Department.
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AND…
Bandelion thrives on collaborations with a diverse array of contemporary artists, including: Kimiko Guthrie, Kristin Heavey, Trina Nahm-Mijo, Ysaye M. Barnwell, Shira Cion, Navarette x Kajiyama Dance Theater, AXIS Dance Company, Bob Webb, Paufve Dance, Patrick Cress, Karate Mountain, Tara Brandel & Croi Glan Physically Integrated Dance Company, Adam Caldwell, Mickey Kay, Heather Lukens, T-Bird Luv, Suki O’Kane, Paufve Dance, Matt Payne, Jacques Poulin-Denis, Sue Roginski, Rajendra Serber, Lucia August, David Ryther and the CSU East Bay Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble.
All of our work is informed and deepened by the invaluable contributions of previous ensemble members: Eric Andler, Rodney Bell, Julie Brown, UE Chua, Patrick Cress, Dana DeGuzman, Julia Hollas, Debby Kajiyama, Julie Kane, Edmer Lazaro, Heather Lukens, Flo Nakamura, Mantra Plonsey, David Ryther, Benjamin Wright, and Belgica Rodriguez.
Photos by (in descending order from top of page) Dana Ulman, Luiza Silva, James Wagner, Faye Chao, Luiza Silva, Ben Ailes, Ben Ailes, Dana Ulman, Ben Ailes, Faye Chao, Faye Chao, Faye Chao, Faye Chao