While still a student at Western Washington University, JESSICA ARDIS took her very first modern dance class with Pam Kuntz. Pam's class ignited a love of dance in her, and Jessica has worked to keep dance in her life ever since, taking classes where she can and performing with a local dance company in the San Juan Islands. Jessica loves writing poetry and is thrilled about the opportunity to write poetry for dance. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology at WWU, with minors in Dance and Chemistry. Jessica also loves choreographing, sailing, being a mom, and being a friend. You can find her writing on Instagram @jessica.ardis.poetry. Household Hazards is her third time working with Kuntz and Company.

NAQUOIA BAUTSITA received her BFA in dance from WWU in 2019 where she performed works by Rebecca Bryant, Leslie Kraus, Lily Ockwell, and Anya Cloud.  While in college she also performed at and presented choreography for the American College Dance Festival and Western's Graffiti Dance Theater. In 2023 she produced her first dance show, 1 of 2 and 2 of 2, with fellow graduates Caitlin Schafte and Cara Congelli. In her down time you can find her in a yoga class, swimming, or – you guessed it – dancing! Country two-stepping is currently her favorite way to spend an evening.

IAN BIVINS is thrilled to return to the stage with Kuntz and Co.  He most recently performed in Spokes and before that, other notable projects such as Hello, My Name is You, and Positive. This will be his 8th dance with K&C, in addition to technical assistance on many others.  He works locally as a theatre artist and educator with many diverse groups, such as Opus Performing Arts, Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth, and Mount Baker Theatre. Ian also has a decade, "+" of collaboration with Children of The Setting Sun Productions,  whose mission is to create and share Indigenous stories of gratitude, generosity, and respect. Ian would like to thank the creative team behind Hazards as well as you, the audience, for showing up to live performance! 

ALONA CHRISTMAN is a founding member of Bellingham Repertory dance, a Cornish College of the Arts graduate, a former member of Dance Gallery, the co-creator of the Firehouse Arts Center and a kick ass human. She likes to waste her time running, reading, hiking, riding on the back of her husband’s motorcycle with him, while exploring what this great nation has to offer, or working at the College of Fine and Performing Arts at WWU. She would like to thank Pam for taking a chance on her no-longer-dancing-body and she is deeply grateful to once again roll around in the studio with all the amazing artists in this piece.

Photo - Robin Dude

CARA CONGELLI has had the immense privilege of collaborating with Kuntz and Company on several projects over the last decade. She has devoted most of her life to training in and studying dance. After completing her BFA at Western, she transitioned to teaching outdoor education in the Sierra foothills of California for a couple of years. Upon her return to Washington, she immersed herself in producing a dance show of new works titled “2of2” with Caitlin Schafte and Naquoia Bautista, showcased in the summer of 2023. She is profoundly grateful for the enduring presence of dancing and choreography in her life, as well as for the encouragement she receives to continue pursuing it. 

VANESSA DAINES is a BFA graduate from Western Washington University, a former member of Bellingham Repertory Dance (Season 2007 - 2016), and has been an artist with Kuntz and Company since 2008. In her free time, she can be found exploring the outdoors with her husband and two kids, patching up old jeans, and dancing in her living room. She is so grateful for this vibrant dance community and the opportunity to participate in another Kuntz and Company production!

CECELIA HANFORD is a movement and visual artist based in Bellingham, Washington. She graduated from Western Washington University with a BA in Environmental Studies, an accidental geography minor and an emphasis on ocean science, urban planning, dance and art. Architecture, space, and art history inform the dreaming up and design of her dances, dance films and visual art as well as horror films, science fiction and the environmental sciences. From 2017-2024, she has danced and worked as a collaborative member of the Bellingham Repertory Dance company. 

PAM KUNTZ is an educator, dancer and choreographer living and working in Bellingham, WA. She founded Kuntz and Company in 2005 after discovering a passion for working with the community to tell their stories through the arts. With Rick Hermann, in 2012 Pam created a dance class for people with neurological disorders, was a founding member of Bellingham Repertory Dance, and has been on the faculty at WWU since 1999 where she teaches all levels of Contemporary Dance Technique, Ballet, Dance History, and Anatomy for Dancers. She particularly enjoys creating new work with WWU dance students. Pam has received some lovely awards from community organizations and grant makers, listed below, and is both thankful and proud of this recognition and support. Beyond dancing in and with the community she is most happy hanging out with her family and dreamboat husband Mark.

Originally from Columbus, Ohio, GABBY MALAGRECA received her BFA in dance from Ohio State University. She made the move to Bellingham a couple years later and danced with Bellingham Repertory Dance from 2021-2024. Currently, she is enjoying living and working in a community full of passionate, friendly people who inspire and support growth in all aspects of life. As an artist, Gabby values the potential that exists within movement to build and strengthen community bonds, and prioritizes it in her creative work.

SAMANTHA MARTIN has been dancing for as long as she can remember. From making up dances to records relentlessly as a child to taking dance classes whenever and wherever possible as an adult-- it has been a lifelong love. Sam attended modern and African dance classes at The Evergreen State College and at Velocity Dance in Seattle. At age 40 she began performing with a local dance company on Orcas Island and continued with the group for five years. She is delighted to get to work with amazing dancers and creators once again with Kuntz and Company. Sam hopes to retire and study flamenco dancing but, for the time being, works as an ecologist in the San Juan Islands. You can find her musings about this work at Source Paper. source-paper.com. 

SUSAN NEWKUMET teaches ballet and contemporary dance on Orcas Island. Ages ago she toured with Dance Alive National Ballet. More recently a happy decade was spent taking classes with Nancy Cranbourne and Katie Elliot’s 3rd Law Dance Theater in Boulder CO. Performing with Cranbourne’s One Big Yes, Boulder Ballet and Lyra Mayfield Dances closed the circle. Elder dancer is Susan’s latest and favorite incarnation of dancer life.  Susan is a rural healthcare nurse, enjoys her too big garden, her two adult sons, her sweet husband Jack and her naughty dog Frankie. She is so grateful for the opportunity to create a piece with Jessica and Samantha—it’s been a dream.

CAITLIN SCHAFTE grew up dancing here in the Pacific Northwest. She received her BA in Dance from WWU in 2019; during which she performed at and choreographed for the American College Dance Festival. She has danced in Seattle Theatre Group's DANCE This production, with Forthun + Rome Dance Theatre, and with Intrepidus Dance. Last year she produced her first evening length production with Cara Congelli and Naquoia Bautista; 2 of 2. She loves to boogie in general, loves teaching dance to her students, hiking, backpacking, and making people laugh. She's thrilled to be dancing with this group of artists again.

Photo credit Samantha Weissbach

ANGELA SEBASTIAN is a Filipina Dance Artist teaching Ballet and Contemporary dance at Western Washington University (WWU). She acquired her MFA in Dance, focusing on choreography and performance, from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM). She was a member of Airdance Philippines Contemporary Dance and Aerial Arts Company and the University of the Philippines Dance Company (UPDC) in the Philippines. These companies presented the opportunities to perform the works of renowned Filipino choreographers like Denisa Reyes, Myra Beltran, and Ma. Elena Laniog-Alvarez at festivals across Asian countries, such as Taiwan, Malaysia, and China. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music, majoring in dance at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD), Quezon City, she worked for a year and a half for Hong Kong Disneyland as a Parade Dancer, then continued her graduate school in Hawaiʻi where she actively participated and created community projects like Creative Movement courses for the East-West Center participants as a Student Affiliate and a Foundation Scholarship Recipient and Artistang Pinoy, a platform for Filipino Artist. She also performed and choreographed for professional dance companies in Hawaiʻi, including Convergence Dance Theatre and Iona Contemporary Dance Theatre. As an educator, she maintained a great connection with the communities through teaching in dance schools in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Hawaiʻi. Now, she hopes to contribute to perpetuating the significance of art and making it part of the conversation through her current research in Philippine Dance: How traditions flow through time, spaces, and body.

KATE STEVENSON has practiced the splits every day of her life, and when asked (regularly) why this has become her practice her response is always: “Why not?! Use it or lose it.” When she is not single handedly helping the Bellingham community become more inspired and more fit, she is on the move. Her supportive husband, sweet and athletic son, and creative compassionate daughter frequently exclaim how lucky they are to have such a dynamo for a mama/spouse. Kate is a lover of movement, sequined dance recital-wear, mowing the lawn, playing with her Dog Ruby, and winning at connect four. She is a veteran Kuntz and Company collaborator and is thrilled to perform with this group of dancers.

Kuntz and Company has received funding from The National Endowment for the Arts, Bossak Heilbron Charitable Foundation, The City of Bellingham, PeaceHealth, The Washington State Arts Commission, Chuckanut Health Foundation, Western Washington University, Whatcom Family and Community Network, WECU, the Community Food Co-Op, and the Whatcom Community Foundation.

KC’s artistic director is proud to be the recipient of a 2016 and a 2007 Bellingham Mayor's Arts Award, a 2015 Artist Trust Fellowship, a 2012 Artist Trust GAP award, a 2012 Peace Builder award, and a 2011 Ken Gass Community Building Award…all for the work she has created with Kuntz and Company. She is also proud to have been recognized by the American College Dance Association for her choreography with students from WWU. WOOP WOOP!

PAST ARTISTIC COLLABORATORS

Brendan Aanes
Francie Allen
Evyn Bartlett
Naquoia Bautista
Ian Bivins
Amanda Brings
William Coogan
Alona Christman
Cara Congelli
Vanessa Daines
Robin Dude
Paul Dutton
Ben Estes
Brooke Evans
Suzanne Fogarty
Paige Fredlund
Jaynie Hancock
Cecelia Hanford
Pat Harlin
Nate Harpel
Stephen Harvey
Annie Hewlett
Troy Hightower
Jessica Hoage
Nolan Hoppe-Leonard
Angela Kiser
How Loud Media
Jessica Kruger
Ella Mahler
Yuki Matsukura
Nolan McNally/Cambrian Visions
Jaime Monsef
Dionne Noble
Kathy Pottratz
Hannah Reclam
Caitlin Schafte
Sarah Schermer
Richard Scholtz
Gregory G. Schott
Angela Sebastian
Kate Stevenson
Bo Stewart
Nicole Styles
Kerrie Thornton
Spencer Thun
Lena Traenkenschuh
Ruthie V.
Diane Williams
Jessica Young
Zach Wymore