The Minds Behind the Magic
We are driven by a shared intention: to occupy the creative spaces that are often closed to the bipoc community and contribute to a growth in perspective amongst the artistic community and city at large.
Ahja Henry (she/her)
Ahja Henry is a San Francisco native who has been dancing for 17 years, having trained in ballet, modern, hip hop, and Afro movement styles. She spent 3 years in San Francisco freelancing theater, hip hop, and contemporary dance opportunities which gleaned her an array of movement experience. Her current choreographic lens fuses Ballet and contemporary dance with Afro based movement, amplifying Black art within a traditionally Western scope. Since moving to Portland, she’s discovered her first experience within a full time company and has found an incredible new home with Liminal Movement.
Preeya Kannan (she/they)
Preeya, a Portland local, began her passion for dance by studying classical ballet in a variety of local studios. Afforded the opportunity to study and teach dance in India, Thailand and Malaysia she began to expand her movement styles to include bharatanatyam, flamenco, salsa, swing, hip hop, jazz, contemporary and aerial. Continuing her training at University of Utah’s Modern Dance Department, Preeya was awarded the Phyllis A. Haskell scholarship for dance, voted class president and selected for the Performing Dance Company. She began her professional career as a company member with Polaris Dance Theatre before accepting her current position as a company member and choreographer for Horizon3 Dance.
Joy Rothi (she/they)
Joy is a transracial adoptee and avid birder with a background in wildlife rehabilitation and conservation research. Though their primary focus of study is organismal biology, dance has always been a much-needed outlet and community. Born in Jiangxi, China, Joy grew up in Portland, Oregon, performing Chinese dance at elementary school functions and cultural conventions. She began studying at Portland Metro Arts in 2011 where she was trained in classical ballet, modern technique, and dance composition. While attending Lewis & Clark College, they performed with LC Dance Collective and learned to embrace dance as a form of self-expression. Here, they were pushed outside of their comfort zone to engage in unique contemporary styles and more exploratory movement. They are now proud to be a part of the creation of Liminal Movement — a new found family where they hope to inspire others, regardless of training and personal background, to step into their own form of artistic expression.
Dinah Gardner (she/they)
Dinah Gardner is an adoptee from Ethiopia and grew up in Spokane, Washington. She’s always been drawn to the arts, video, sound, and now dance where she’s really exploring how movement lets her express herself.
Nailah Cunningham (they/them)
Nailah Cunningham was born and raised in Portland Oregon. They began their movement training at non profit arts school Portland Metro Arts where they trained in ballet. After graduating they chose to pursue movement as a career and moved to New York to start training on scholarship at The Ailey School. While in training they performed at Lincoln Center with the company in Alvin Aliey’s Memoria and soon graduated in 2020. Throughout 2021 they worked with 98 Art Collective as their featured movement artist. In 2022 became member of a stunt and dance company in New York STREB Extreme Action. They have recently moved back to Portland and were last seen performing in The Holding Project ‘Leviathan’. Now they have gathered movers and creators to start Liminal Movement.
Ezekiel Cunningham
(he/they)
Ezekiel grew up in Portland OR where he was trained in classical ballet, hip-hop, Graham and Horton modern technique, as well as contemporary and classical acting. He has performed as a soloist and ensemble dancer, and performed with local Portland theater companies as an actor and stage reader. He continued his training In New York at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. He is now based in Portland OR, where he continues to perform and choreograph for local companies.
Kiyo Kato-Driscoll
(they/them)
Kiyo was born in Tokyo, Japan and moved to Portland in 2006. They began dancing in their early teens and trained as a Jefferson Dancer at Jefferson High School. They went on to earn their Bachelor’s with Honours in Dance from the Institute of the Arts Barcelona, before moving to the UK for an apprenticeship with The Jasmine Vardimon Company. There, they trained with Jasmine Vardimon and a range of international choreographers, while also collaborating on projects in Barcelona, Berlin, and across the UK. Following the pandemic, Kiyo returned to Portland and established themselves as a professional commercial dancer, signing with agents such as Option in Portland and Go2Talent in Los Angeles. Their performance and modeling work includes work with Nike, Gap, Adidas, Columbia, and more. Beyond dance, Kiyo is deeply committed to advocacy. They were a lead organizer for Portland’s Stop Asian Hate rally in 2021 and currently serve as Director of Self Defense at Femme Rising, as well as an instructor with Rose City Self Defense. Their work bridges art and activism, centering BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and women/femme communities.
Ramón Rodriguez
(he/him)
Ramon started his training in dance at age 17. He immediately excelled in tumbling and contemporary dance. Ramon holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Western Oregon University where he worked with a host of guest artists such as Lauren Edson of Juilliard and Brian Eno of Chicago. At WOU he developed and strengthened his technical and ballet skills as well as began to hone a keen eye and mind for choreography. In recent years, Ramon has performed with Disney’s Broadway caliber productions of Aladdin, Frozen and Believe. He has also toured Internationally with Rainbow Dance Theatre lead by Directors/Choreographers Valerie Bergman and Darryl Thomas whose productions combine traditional dance movement and body integrated multi-media equipment. Ramon has had the opportunity to dance for and work with a number of notable Choreographers and Dance companies over the years, including Directors Dina Castelluccio & Karen Nerkowski of the New England Ballet Academy, and Danial Shapiro & Joanie Smith whose Company focuses on breathtaking physicality embedded in story-driven performances.