DESIGN TEAM
Choreography by George Staib in collaboration with the dancers
Lighting Designer & Set Designer, Gregory Catellier
Sound Designer & Composer, Ben Coleman
Costume Designer, John Merritt
Dramaturg, Leah Cox
Collaborator
Rehearsal Director, Sarah Hillmer
George Staib,
Choreographer
Born in Tehran, Iran, George Staib is of Armenian descent and has been living in the United States since the age of ten. He began his dance training at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, then went on to earn an MFA in dance and choreography from Temple University. Company credits include: Ann Vachon/Dance Conduit, Coriolis Dance Company, Gathering Wild Dance Company, and Paula Kellinger and Dancers. In addition, the fall of 2006 provided Staib the opportunity to perform with the José Limón Dance Company as a guest artist in their re-creation of Missa Brevis.
In 2001 Staib joined the dance faculty at Emory University where he teaches contemporary and ballet techniques, choreography, and a seminar created to examine the impetus and practice of consuming and making art. He serves as an adjudicator for and was an 18-year member of the executive committee for the American College Dance Association, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Dance/USA. Since relocating to Atlanta, GA, Staib's work and teaching have been commissioned across the United States resulting in his recognition by Dance Teacher Magazine in 2014 as one of the top five dance educators in the country. As added service to the field, Staib is a contributing writer and critic for ArtsATL.
Staib is a two-time recipient of Emory’s prestigious Winship Award, taking him to Tel Aviv in 2011 to study Gaga, release technique with Iris Enez, and Jerusalem to conduct choreographic workshops. In 2016, Staib and the company were invited to Stockholm to perform and teach at Södra Latins and BalletAkadamien, and subsequently created new work for Saraceno Dance.
Since the founding of staibdance, he and the company have been awarded funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Emory University Research Committee, The Latham Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The New England Foundation for the Arts, South Arts and The Vail Family Foundation.
In addition, staibdance curated and produced the first-ever Atlanta Multicultural Dance Festival, created a summer intensive in Sorrento, Italy, now in its 11th year and hosted a 10-part podcast series titled Secret Architecture: the process of process, and a 12 part docuseries titled Meaning and Movement that features culturally based artists from across the country.
Staib’s most recent accomplishments include promotion to the rank of Professor of Practice at Emory University, engagement as an educator with ImmerseATL, recognition by the Atlanta Regional Commission as an Arts Leader of Metro Atlanta, and in the summer of 2022, Staib served as a faculty member and choreographer for the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC.
photo by Daylilies Photography
Gregory Catellier, Lighting & Set Designer
Catellier has been working in the field of contemporary dance for thirty years. This includes dancing in works of his own and others, choreographing dances for students and professionals, and designing lighting and sets for dances. He teaches dance, choreography, and design at Emory University. He has also supported dance artists and dance festivals through technical support and dance organizations through advising on dance facilities and technical challenges. Catellier earned a BA in dance from Arizona State University and an MFA in dance from The Ohio State University. He is living proof that a dance education can provide a well-rounded education and an investigative approach to the world. He believes firmly in the power of dance to transform those dancing and those watching the dance. He also believes firmly, that we all need to take steps to mitigate the environmental crisis, battle for environmental justice, and take personal responsibility for our effects on the natural world. He continues to work on making his work and life less of a burden on the environment. He say’s “please, stop burning stuff.”
Works Collaborated On: between dog and wolf, ARARAT, fence, w i s h d u s t, Attic, Name Day
photo by Lori Teague
Ben Coleman,
Sound Designer & Composer
Ben Coleman is a British multi-disciplinary artist residing in Denver, CO. His practice is rooted in sound and performance making, but often plays with other media, including music, text, video and installation. Coleman grew up in theatre and music, forming his first bands in London while studying contemporary performance. Moving to the US in 2006, he dedicated some eventful years to musical projects- later returning to performance alongside new roles as composer, sound designer and installation artist. His practice now embraces curatorial projects, and frequent collaboration with choreographers, visual artists, and theater practitioners. His work has been presented by institutions including the High Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum, Understudy, Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Contemporary, Redline Contemporary Art Centre, Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia, Gibney Dance, Dashboard, Georgia Institute of Technology, Flux Projects, Zuckerman Museum of Art and Emory University. Coleman’s work has been featured by Hyperallergic, Wire Magazine, Vice, Pitchfork, The Denver Post, ArtsATL, Burnaway and WABE Atlanta. He is a resident alumnus and board member at Redline Contemporary Art Centre, Denver. Visit him and his work at www.bencolemansounds.com
Works Collaborated On: between dog and wolf, ARARAT, fence, w i s h d u s t
photo by Jenna Maurice
John Merritt
John Merritt is a freelance costume designer for theatre and a costume buyer/shopper for Film & TV Production based in Atlanta, GA. John received his Master’s of Fine Arts in Costume Design at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (‘21) and his Bachelor’s of Arts at University of Southern Indiana (‘18). Atlanta credits: Macbeth (Kennesaw State University), The Other Shore, Blood Wedding, Lysistrata (Emory University), A Third Way, (Actor’s Express), Native Gardens (Stagedoor Players) and Dido & Aeneas (Atlanta Baroque Orchestra/staibdance). Regional costume design credits include Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Imbroglio (Great River Shakespeare Festival) Detroit 67’, People Where They Are, Airness (Clarence Brown Theatre) Anon(ymous), Crumbs from The Table of Joy, The Glass Menagerie, Fool for Love, Venus in Fur (University of Southern Indiana).
Works Collaborated On: between dog and wolf, Dido & Aeneas for the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra
Leah Cox, Dramaturg
Leah Cox (she/her/hers): lead creator and performer in Group Therapy; co-founder of makegroup with Kristen Osborn, a collective dedicated to using live performance to bring people together in uncommon ways. In addition to making and performing, Cox is a nationally-recognized educator and program innovator. She is currently an associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin and the creator of two experimental workshops. The first, Failure Collective, is an interdisciplinary, intergenerational workshop that explores the creative possibilities that arise when we embrace failure and work in unfamiliar contexts. Intelligent Bodies, Creative Minds offers a paid cohort of dance professionals the opportunity to apply and extend their expertise to projects beyond the field of dance. Cox’s previous programs are noted for creating mutually beneficial partnerships between performing arts organizations and institutions of higher education. These include the Bard College/Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company/New York Live Arts partnership and the ADF/Bard College partnership, both of which Leah created and directed. Her teaching was featured in the Bill T. Jones documentary, A Good Man, which aired on PBS nationwide. Dance Teacher Magazine celebrated Cox with a feature story in May 2016.
Cox’s previous projects and positions include: dancer/collaborator in Liz Lerman’s Wicked Bodies; Dean of the American Dance Festival; Education Director for New York Live Arts; member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, first as a company member, then as the inaugural education director; member of the New York Dance and Performance Awards (The “Bessies”). She frequently serves as an adjudicator for the American College Dance Association. Her choreographic work has been presented at Bard College, the Cool NY Festival, DUMBO Dance Festival, the Museum of Art and Design (NYC), and the 92nd Street Y.
Works Collaborated On: between dog and wolf
photo by Jim Lafferty
Sarah Hillmer, Rehearsal Director
Sarah Hillmer has 20+ years of experience in the professional dance world as a dancer, rehearsal director, assistant to choreographers, stager, educator, creator and arts administrator.
Her company credits include the Atlanta Ballet, glo - as a founding member, and staibdance. Sarah served as a Rehearsal Director at the Atlanta Ballet from 2013-2019 where artistic relationships with Twyla Tharp and Helen Pickett were forged. Sarah staged work for Twyla Tharp at Royal Winnipeg Ballet & Atlanta Ballet, and her work as a stager and assistant for Helen Pickett have taken her to Alberta Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, New York Theatre Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Scottish Ballet, Smuin Ballet, UArts and UNCSA.
Sarah is the Founder & Director of ImmerseATL, a training & mentorship program that serves dancers at pivotal stages in their ever-evolving journey as artists through the Artist Program and the ImmerseATL Collective.
As a choreographer, Sarah has been commissioned to create work for Atlanta Ballet’s Wabi Sabi, Backside of the Tent Productions, Emory Dance Company and Admix Project. Sarah has been a co-collaborator with George Staib on two productions; fence in 2019, which was funded by a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts, National Dance Project, and Dido & Aeneas in 2023, a collaboration with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra.
As an arts administrator, Sarah currently serves as Executive Director for staibdance. During her 6-year tenure she has planned and managed 7 national tours, 2 world premieres, annual workshops, an annual 2-week summer intensive in Sorrento, Italy, (MC)2-Atlanta’s first multi-cultural dance festival, as well as a docuseries based on (MC)2 and a podcast series, Secret Architecture: the process of process.
Additionally, Sarah serves as Business Operations Manager for Windmill Arts, an organization dedicated to the advancement of new work in the arts.
photo by Daylilies Photography