About Us
Elliott Ortiz
Artistic Director & Choreographer
Elliott Ortiz is a Venezuelan-American choreographer and producer with formal education in Theater Production Administration and extensive training in ballet, jazz, modern dance, and drama. He has brought years of leadership experience and deep knowledge of producing, staging, promoting dance events to the collective.
He is an instinctive and curious spectator who questions and challenges the contradictions between reality and his own observations. He got attention from critics with his piece Future Imperfect (2005) for D.T.W. (Dance Theater Workshop) in NYC, a dance piece that explored themes of cultural identities, exaggerated control by government, and the contradiction between the idea of "home" and patria / patriotic. He said: " I came from a hybridized culture of Indigenous, Spanish and African (Venezuela); and I'm an existentialist thinker who's inspired by movement in all its forms and how it interacts with time and space. At the core of my dancistic work is the sociology of the body, our primal connection to one another and class warfare. It is my intention to strip social agreements and mirror human shared vulnerabilities that invites the audience to reflect and construct their own interpretations. With a combination of emotions in motion my choreography and staging evoke a poetic dimension of Hispanic dramatism; showing a harsh world in harsh aesthetic with a sense of reconciliation. Sometimes forcing the audience to question life and their placement in it, not by providing an alternative solution, but providing a ground for exploration with multiple stories on dancers’ bodies "
Pilar Cordova
Production Manager/ CEO Wonder Moments
She has participated in the Arts Management Laboratory at DTW. (Dance Theater Workshop). Her production work includes : Don Pedro Vive, Madre Selva, Un Canto a la verdad Sencilla: Poetry in Concert, Intimate Voices, Rehearsal Space, and short films, in Puerto Rico and New York City. She has worked for several Non-profit institutions as producer and administrator. She founded MEDLAM (Movimiento Escenico para Las Americas) with Elliott and Dance 10 Project in 2007 a performing art festival for Latino artists, and she is President of Wonder Moments (her production company). She has worked for D.10 Project since 2005 as Production Manager.
John McGee
Technical Director
He made his theater debut at Equity Library Theater. John has worked for Ensemble Studio Theater, Nat Horn Musical Theater, All Starts Project, Inc –Times Square as technical director and for John Lane at Ogunquit Playhouse as master carpenter.
He also has collaborated for Fresh Fruit Performing Arts Festival as Light Designer and Tech Director in NYC; and more recently with Barrio Independent Productions (BIP), El Barrio's Artspace, and other independent productions. While Mr. McGee enjoys designing and building sets and lights, his “true love” is photography (AA from FIT), and he also participated in different exhibitions as photographer. He has collaborated for Dance 10 Project and Elliott since 2005
Julieta Valero
Guest Choreographer for Arepa Coalition Project
Julieta is a Venezuelan dancer and choreographer, Director of Rastro Dance Company. She began her studies in 1980 Danzahoy-Escuela, becoming a member of the company in 1989, participating in national and international tours to Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Spain, Israel, Canada, England, among others. In 1996 she moved to New York and two years later produced the show, "Andar el comienzo" which marks the birth of Rastro. Julieta has been an artist in residency at D'jerassi artists program, California 2003, which then distinguished her with the Bessie Schoenberg Memorial Fellowship 2003. Julieta also participated in the artistic residence Artward Bound in White Oak Plantation in Florida, as a member of The Field in 2007. Between 2000 and 2006 Julieta continued to collaborate with Danzahoy as part of the cast on tour of the piece "Exodo", including the BIENNALE DE LA DANSE 2002 TERRA LATINA, and their season at the Joyce Theater in New York, 2006. With Rastro, in its 25 years, she has created 17 choreographies and produce works of established and emerging choreographers. The company has performed in a variety of theaters and festivals in NYC and international including three seasons at the Joyce SoHo, twice in the NuDance Festival in the frame of Riverside Festival, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, England; Avant Garde Festival, Yucatan, Mexico; Breaking Lines Dance Festival, New York at the Abrons Arts Center; Dance Theater Workshop, with The Field residency, FARspace NYC; CPR - Center for the Performance Research, New York, among others. Julieta has collaborated in several occasions with Tumàka't danza contemporanea, Merida, Yucatan. In 2016, was invited to perform at the DanzaExtrema Festival Internacional in San Andrés de Tuxtla, Veracruz MX, where she premiered “Pain, nothing new” and was honored for her artistic trajectory by the festival's director, Alonso Alarcon. In 2017 the company performed at the Theater for the New City and Dixon Place. More recently Julieta has presented work at Judson Church, Triskelion Arts, and Brooklyn as the first artist in residency. In 2022, Julieta participated in Spanish Harlem Dance Fest, with her company and her dance piece: Remedy (in collaboration with Leigh Atwell) and they won a L.A.T.A. (Latin Alternative Theater Award) as Outstanding Choreography.
Percy Van Oordt
Make-up Artist/ Hair Stylist
Costume Coordinator
This Peruvian born American artist is licensed and experienced in hairstyling and make up artistry working in different salons, special events , Performing Arts shows and photography projects , he got certificates in make up and hair styling , by different seminars and schools such as Capri cosmetology school , Mac Cosmetics , Tigi, Wella , Redken, and Vidal Sassoon. His passion for his work makes him very happy to enhance the natural beauty of each individual. He has collaborated and worked for D10 Project’s productions since 2007 and he is happy to work for this production
Yvanhova Figueroa
Dancer/ Dance Teacher/ Production Coordinator
Her mother was a ballet dancer, this young dancer originally from Venezuela , she holds a degree from Taller de Danza Caracas as a Modern Dance Performer in 2004. She also holds a BA in Business Administration from Universidad Central de Venezuela. Because she grew up between dancers and in a dance community, she has explored other disciplines such as ballet, tango show (acro-tango), improvisation, modern dance, and dance theater incorporating video art, photography and music. She had the pleasure to work with Ballet Teresa Carreno, TangoXTango, Sinergia Tango, The National Dance Company of Venezuela, Taller Experimental Pisorrojo, Mixed Movement, Palissimo and The Ballet of Connecticut. She has formed a collaboration with independent choreographers like Annette Herwander, Scott Lyon, Lindsey Dietz Marchant, Oliver Steele, Roberto Villanueva and Elliot Ortiz. She owns YvaYoga (YvaYoga.com), a yoga studio in Brooklyn , N.Y., with a growing team of yoga instructors, personal trainers and bodyworkers dedicated to educating their clients and participants in learning about their physical anatomy and physiology in application to dance, movement, and their varying exercise and rehabilitation pursuits. She has performed at the Alvin Ailey Theater, Dance New Amsterdam, New York Live Arts, Movement Research, and The Tank among others. She has toured with dance troupes as guest dancer in Chile, Argentina, Canada, Venezuela and The United States.
Alessia Secli
Performer /Associate Choreographer
Alessia Secli is an Italian performer and choreographer based in New York City.
After finishing her training in Milan, Italy. Alessia moved to New York City in order to pursue her dream to work professionally in the performing arts. Alessia starred in the role of Clarisse in the show 5 Paths to Uptown Stories directed by Elliott Ortiz.
Alessia was also recently associate choreographer in the musical Xanadu at The Heights player in Brooklyn.
Theatre credits include: Hair, Pippin, A chorus line, Evelyn Evelyn, The Taming of Kate, Someone in the crowd and Yes!
Jorge Tagliaferro
Stage Manager
Jorge is a music lover of opera. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Universidad Metropolitana (Venezuela) and has been member of different chorus and theater companies. He worked as Assistant Stage Manager in different theaters in Venezuela. In Miami he worked for The Playground Theater, Teatro Riviera, Hostos Theater as assistant of Carlos Salazar. He was Pablo Cabrera’s assistant for Quien Mato a Hector Lavoe, and then for Raul Carbonell and Fernando Calzadilla. Since 2005 had collaborated as sound designer, stage manager and videographer for Elliott Ortiz and Dance 10 Project’s productions, including Spanish Harlem Dance Fest.
Lupe Gehrenbeck
Guest Artist / Writer Arepa Coalition Project
Lupe is an awarded playwright, director, actress and writer. Her work has been produced and performed in theaters across Latin America, Europe, and the United States. She’s part of the Director’s Unit (Estelle Parsons) and the Playwrights Directos Workshop at the Actors Studio. Since 2017 Lupe is member of the PDW (Playwrights Directors Workshop) of the Actors Studio in New York; she is also vice president of the Actors’ Gymnasium; and also, she is the founder of the Teatro de La Comarca, and the Teatro Sin Fronteras. She is the winner of the 1989 Juana Sujo National Award; the Teatro Autor Exprés Award, from the SGAE (General Society of Authors and Publishers of Spain) 2016; Short and Sweet Hollywood Audience Award 2018;1 and in 2020 she is nominated for the Gilder/Coigney International Theater Award given by the League of Professional Theater Women.
Lupe Gehrenbeck, one of the most representative authors of the contemporary Venezuelan theater. Her theater delves into the everyday, into all that is apparently unimportant, to reveal what lies behind it, the depth that constitutes us. She writes from her perspective as a happy woman to be a woman, and with the humor and eloquence from the Caribbean.
Angelica Guvernez
Casting Director Actors / Content Production Coordinator
Angelica is a multidisciplinary artist, model and Venezuelan actress, residing in New York City, she began her career at the age of 12 in theater, training with renowned directors; including the Latin American director and playwright Jose Ignacio Cabrujas.
Angelica participated in Miss Venezuela 1998 contest where she was the first runner-up with the Miss Amazonas band, during her first year of contract with the Miss Venezuela organization and Venevisión Network television Angelica co-starred in a miniseries that revealed her first steps on Venezuelan television, she later participated in several telenovelas. Immediately she began to appear in countless TV commercials, campaigns, advertising catalogs and fashion shows.
Later, the international modeling agency Ford Models offered her a contract in Paris where she began her career as an international model appearing on the main catwalks in the world including Paris, London, Zurich, Madrid, Vienna, Rome, Hong Kong, where she walked for designers and brands such as Roberto Cavalli, Valentino, Prada, BCBG, La Perla, Aganta Ruiz De La Prada, L'Oreal, Wella, Lancome, Rolex, Avon, and many more.
She enjoys practicing sculpture, and with this activity she integrates, and regenerates imagery, and she brings to light the importance of spiritual and connection with nature, God… Angelica’s fascination for Latino cultures, it had drove her to help some humanitarian issues, then she collaborates and supports some organizations: El cocotero Foundation, Aid for AIDS, Amazonian … and more recently she started collaborating with some creative processes for D10 Project
