Misa Kelly is the Founder of SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre, Co-Founder of its non-profit The Future Traditions Foundation & Director of the 2011 SB-ADaPT (A Dance and Physical Theater) Festival.  

About Misa

Her choreographic work has been performed at the COOL New York Dance Festival (2010), the AFL Kultur Merzkezi, in Istanbul (2008), on tour with the 3 Cities: 3 Choreographers project with performances in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Pacific Grove, & Santa Barbara (2008), at the Monterey Dance Festival/SpectorDance Emerging Choreographers Showcase (2010, 2007, 2006), as a part of the Electric Lodge’s MAX10 series (2008, 2009, 2010), the MixMatch Festival (2010, 2011), the Santa Barbara Dance Alliance’s New Works Concert, the NECTAR project (2008, 2009, 2010), the Sylvia White Gallery’s 5x5x5 performance art series (2010), Moorpark College (2008), the University of California at Santa Barbara (2010), the Karpeles Museum (2010), as well as in many self-produced shows, studio showings, and as a guest artist in other productions.

Visual Arts

Her work as a visual artist working in the mediums of works on paper, painting, sculpture, and installation has appeared at Santa Barbara’s Contemporary Arts Forum, the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Women’s Center, the Hatlen Theater, the Faulkner Gallery, the Unitarian Church, Victoria Street Theater, Alice Keck Park, the Santa Barbara Farmers Market, State Street Santa Barbara, and Yoga Soup.

Experimental & Explorative Work

Misa’s guerilla style movement dances have taken place at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (2009), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, & MOMA as a part of the Museum Dances: Exploring Perceptions of Performance in Guerilla Spaces (2010.)

Film

Her work in film includes producing and directing Dancing on my Father’s Grave, soloist in the award willing dance film Passage, and a collaboration with poet Sojourner Kincaid Rolle Aint Gonna Study War No More. 

Educator

As an educator, Misa has studied with over 150 teachers of the arts.  Presently she serves as primary faculty for SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre.  She has taught at Çati in Istanbul & taught master classes at Moorpark College, Westmont College, and Santa Barbara City College.

Work with other artists/companies

In addition to her work with SonneBlauma Misa has performed in the community work of Doug Elkins, Keigwin + Co., with Stephen Kelly, Santa Barbara Dance Theatre, Mark Parisian Mime Troupe, James Donlon, Motion Dance Theatre, Smudges Performance Group, Christine Loizeaux, Christina McCarthy, Christopher Pilafian, Stephen Kelly and Tonia Shimin. 

 Awards, Grants, & Funding

Kelly has received numerous awards, multiple grants, and funding from many businesses and private donors including the California Arts Council, the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, the Profant Foundation, the Rudi Schulte Family Foundation, The Crosby Family Fund, The Dianne and Daniel Vapnek Family Foundation, Christiane Schlumberger of the Karuna Foundation, Friends of Lois Capps, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, and Community West Bank.

Education

Misa graduated Lambda Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara holding a B.A. in dance/business economics.  She earned an M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts and has supplemented her formal education with visual art studies in painting, sculpture, & life drawing; music studies in piano, Tablas, guitar; in dance as a ten year workshop participant of SUMMERDANCE Santa Barbara & workshop participant at NYU Tisch School of the Arts; and improvisation and Commedia Dell’arte at Scuola Dimitri in Verscio Switzerland.   Additionally, she is a certified mediator and graduate of Women’s Economic Ventures. 

Stephen Kelly is Co-Artistic Director of SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre (since 2010) and Co-Founder and Vice President of its non-profit The Future Traditions Foundation and Co-Creator of the SB-ADaPT (A Dance and Physical Theater) Festival.

About Stephen

Music

Kelly is a classically trained pianist who has performed solo concerts in France, Spain, and Costa Rica, as well as across the United States.  He received his primary training from Galina Michniuk and Erno Daniel.  Locally, he has presented numerous recitals at the Music Academy of the West, as well as three solo performances at the Lobero Theatre, including one presented by the Santa Barbara Symphony.  His studies of classical Indian music have been with Krishna Govinda and Hom Nath Upadhyaya of Nepal, as well as with Montino Bourbon of the Ali Akbar Khan gharana.  As a dancer, he trained for two years in the majors program at UCSB, and continued his work under the great jazz dancer Matt Maddox in Paris, and later, with the flamenco master Pepe Mancilla in Spain.  In Europe, he played for the classes of Josette Amiel (Paris Opera Ballet) and company class of Ballets Blaska.  He has been invited to witness the choreographic process of Lucas Hoving, Felix Blaska, and Remy Charlip.   He has collaborated with a number of choreographers and dance companies, performing live onstage, as well as serving as music director and composer.  His performance at the Luckman Auditorium in Los Angeles with Nancy Colahan was termed “superb” by the Los Angeles Times. 

Choreography

As a choreographer, he has been privileged to work with some of the finest professional dancers from the Colorado Ballet, State Street Ballet, and Santa Barbara Dance Theater. Together with Juliana Bertelson, he served as co-producer for two seasons of the “Endangered Species” dance collective at Center Stage Theater.

His most recent choreographic work is Atesh, Bayan, created for the 2011 SB ADaPT Festival.  Reviews in the Santa Barbara News-Press praised Atesh as “a brilliant trio” and also declared “Kelly’s original music was amazingly imaginative.”

Awards, Grants, & Funding

Kelly has received awards,multiple grants,and funding from many businesses and private donors including the The Crosby Family Fund, The Dianne and Daniel Vapnek Family Foundation, Christiane Schlumberger of the Karuna Foundation, Friends of Lois Capps, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, and Community West Bank, Ethel Wells, and Christine Boesch.

Seminars, Visual Art, Teaching