BIOS

KAI “KD” DEUTSCH FROST (Lighting Designer) is a non-binary, first-generation artist specializing in lighting and video for theatres around the Twin Cities. Their recent designs include Blood of the Earth with eMartin Dance, CASTLES by Kat Purcell at 825 Arts and the Avalon, and Close to Home by Sharifa Yazmeen at Pillsbury House + Theatre. They are the Video Supervisor at the Walker Art Center, as well as a programmer and stagehand around the Twin Cities. They may be found in a dark corner crocheting to pass the time.

KENDALL EDSTROM (Performer) is a dance artist and educator from and based in Minnesota. They graduated with a BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota in 2019, and have most recently danced in works by Annika Hansen, Alternative Motion Project, ARENA Dances and Taja Will, and Christopher Watson Dance Company. Kendall is a teaching artist with Young Dance and Minneapolis Parks and Recreation, and in addition to dancing, enjoys hiking, running, falling, and playing.

ANNIKA JOHANSSON (Performer) is a dance artist from Minneapolis, Mni Sota Makoce. They create dance for theaters and public spaces, produced for the Casket Arts Building, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, CANDY BOX Dance Festival, and Red Eye Theater. Their interest lies in exploring process and collaboration, creating performative worlds for reflection and levity. As a performer, Annika has had the chance to work with various Minnesota artists and danced in works by Jagged Moves, Sophia Pimsler, Taja Will, ARENA DANCES, Alternative Motion Project, Flying Foot Forum, HoneyWorks, and Hatch Dance, among others. They have a BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota. When citing their experience as an artist and body, they return to thank the trans and queer elders and friends who guided them, helped them ask profound questions, and supported them in discovering their truest self.

ZOË KOENIG (Director, Choreographer, and Costume Designer) is a Minneapolis-based choreographer, performer, and writer. Her work has been presented in the Twin Cities at the Walker Art Center, the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, the Luminary Arts Center, the Southern Theater, the Off-Leash Art Box, and other theater and gallery spaces. Her work has been supported by commissions from the Walker Art Center’s Choreographers’ Evening, Zenon Dance Zone, Alternative Motion Project, and Analog Dance Works; the Cowles Center’s Generating Room artist residency program; and funding from the Minnesota State Arts Board and Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.

MILES LATHAM (Stage Manager) is a stage manager, technician, and writer based in the Twin Cities. He has previously worked with Theater Latté Da, Theater Mu, Gremlin Theatre, Children’s Theatre Company, and Macalester College, among others. When he’s not in a theater, you can often find him in the woods in a cardboard castle, working as a Coordinator for Adventures in Cardboard Summer Adventure Camps. 

Growing up, RACHEL LIEBERMAN (Performer) trained, performed, and taught primarily with Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. She moved to the Twin Cities to attend Macalester College, graduating in 2018 with a BA in Geography. Rachel has since performed in works by Contempo Physical, Leila Awadallah, Off-Leash Area, A Cripple’s Dance, Mathew Janczewski, Javan Mngrezzo, Annika Johansson, Analog Dance Works, Xina, Black Label Movement, and Judith H Shuǐ Xiān. Her choreography has been presented by Alternative Motion Project, Franconia Sculpture Garden, Candy Box Dance Festival, Black Label Movement, Walker Art Center, Threads Dance Project, and Red Eye Theater. Off-stage, she works as a Program Director at Cow Tipping Press, teaching and publishing creative writing by adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities.

Originally from Virginia, SARAH MCCULLOUGH (Performer) attended James Madison University as a Madison Achievement Scholar and earned her BA in Dance and Mathematics. Since moving to Minneapolis in 2018, she has had the pleasure of performing works choreographed by Alexandra Bodnarchuk, Berit Ahlgren, Carl Flink, Elayna Waxse, Helen Hatch, Mathew Janczewski, Taja Will, and more. Sarah began working with the VA/NYC-based company Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance in company management and as a collaborating dance artist in 2024. She is currently a member of ARENA DANCES, a new repertory company led by Mathew Janczewski. Sarah has recently led contemporary classes at The Arena, Hothouse Studios, Zenon Dance School, and Minnesota Dance Theater. Sarah has offered workshops at the Limón/Black Label Twin Cities Intensive, ARENA DANCES' Instinct Intensive, The University of Winchester (UK), North Carolina State University, and high schools throughout the Twin Cities. She is a 200-hour accredited yoga teacher and offers a holistic approach to mindful movement as a personal and artistic practice.

BRENNA MOSSER (Performer) is a Contemporary Dancer and Choreographer based in Minneapolis, MN. Her vision is to illuminate the awe in her surroundings by dynamically sculpting falls, stumbles, and asymmetries. She spent two years in the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa, where she faced the reality of climate change and has since dedicated her artistry to dissecting and digesting this crisis. She earned her bachelor’s in dance performance at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, UK. She supplemented her degree at le Centre national de la danse Contemporaine in Angers, France, where she spent two years learning intensively from world-renowned dance companies and their artists. There, she earned an L3 license in dance performance and in arts management. Mosser founded Analog Dance Works in 2019, a company that explores the intersections of dance and science. Alongside Analog and Zoë, she currently works with Threads Dance Project and Ruby Josephine Dance Theater.

NORA NYGARD (Co-director, Composer, and Performer) is a composer and songwriter from North Dakota currently based in the Twin Cities. Since 2008, Nygard has published numerous solo albums alongside hundreds of releases with various groups, including her experimental multi-genre project Citizen Scientist. After growing up touring with punk and emo bands, she dedicated herself to sound design and synthesis while working as an audio engineer, recording and producing for commercial projects and independent artists. Nygard collaborated with choreographer Zoë Koenig on the sound design for Cloud Cover (2022) and Duel Duel Revolution (2023). Their collaboration has since evolved into an ongoing practice of simultaneous choreography and music development for new performance works that consider and unsettle relationships between sound, movement, and audiences.

Born in eastern Pennsylvania, ODESSA RAIN (Performer) began dancing at a local studio at age three. Quickly gaining a love for performing and exploring movement, it was always set in her mind that she would one day make it into a career. To help make that a reality, she auditioned for and attended the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts in Bethlehem, PA as a dance major. Following, she attended The Boston Conservatory on a merit scholarship, where she earned her BFA in contemporary dance performance. Now in Minneapolis, Odessa dances with Threads Dance Project and Doma Dance Theater. “Huge thank you to Zoë and Nora for this opportunity and for an amazing rehearsal process! I’m so excited to take the stage in Physical Prizes.” ––Odessa 

A California native, ADDIE SMITH (Performer), graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2017 with a BA in Theater Arts and Dance. Since relocating to Minneapolis soon after, they have created and performed with local companies and artists, including Crash Dance Productions, Alternative Motion Project, Analog Dance Works, Black Label Movement, Corpus Dance Works, Rachel Lieberman, Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies, and Bobby Rethwish. Addie loves bringing curiosity, vulnerability, some foolishness, and deep grounded honesty and care into their work and into dance spaces. They are so delighted to be a part of this work.

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