Dancers

Michael Bishop started his training in Vaganova based ballet at age 21, receiving his BFA in dance and choreography from Belhaven University before going to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre to train further. Michael has toured internationally and nationally with many companies and choreographers such as the International European Tour of West Side Story 2012-2014, Opera Philadelphia, Bill T. Jones, Manuel Vignoulle, and Alessandra Corona Performing Works to name a few. In addition to dancing, Michael also choreographs and directs dance films, and started his own dance company, Mollét Contemporary Ballet, and his own dance film production company, Dance in Frame Productions. Michael is a member of the Actors Equity Union, AGMA Union, Live Core member with New York Live Arts and is SAG-AFTRA Eligible..

One of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” (2020), dance artist Kara Chan has danced lead roles with Twyla Tharp Dance and assisted Ms. Tharp in the staging of Deuce Coupe and GHOSTCATCHER on American Ballet Theatre. She has performed with companies including Pam Tanowitz Dance, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Merce Cunningham Trust, Janis Brenner & Dancers, Gleich Dances, among others, and has graced prominent venues such as Park Avenue Armory, Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, The Fischer Center, The Barbican Center, 92nd Y, Carnegie Hall and Brooklyn Academy of Music. A native of Vancouver, Canada, Chan studied with Astrid Sherman at Pro Arté Center before earning her BFA from The Juilliard School. She is an alumna of Springboard Danse Montreal, The School at Jacob’s Pillow Contemporary Program, and Youth America Grand Prix. Chan teaches dance to kids when not performing or rehearsing, and is a certified ABT Ballet Teacher for Levels Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. www.karachandance.com

Julia Discenza Julia Discenza is a Brooklyn-based dancer, filmmaker, and educator. She attended Barnard College and Columbia University where she majored in dance and biology and received additional training through scholarships to several summer programs including Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, Springboard Danse Montreal, and Dance Italia. Julia has performed. professionally with Nicole Von Arx/NVA & Guests, Gibney Company, NobleMotion Dance (Houston, TX), Pilobolus Dance Theater, Bryan Arias’ ARIAS Company, Gregory Dolbashian’s DASH Ensemble, Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup, MICHIYAYA, Mary John Frank, Soluq Dance Theater, Nathan Trice/Rituals and Trainor Dance. Julia has directed and shot dance films for individuals and institutions, including Long Island University, Kinections Dancegroup, and The DASH Ensemble. She has taught dance filmmaking, improvisation, and contemporary dance at Gibney, Kinections Dancegroup, Earl Mosley's Institute of the Arts, and James Madison University. Her most recent project is a poetry/dance/art film called Little Gem, for which she served as director of photography, editor, and co-creator with collaborator Georgia Usborne. She is delighted to be performing with BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT.  www.juliadiscenza.com  IG: @jdisc

Molly was born and raised in California, and attended the University of California, Irvine where she majored in Dance Performance and Dance Choreography. While there she was a featured soloist with the Etude Ensemble under the direction of the late Donald McKayle. At graduation she was awarded for excellence in Dance Choreography, and was the recipient of the Donald McKayle Scholarship. She received additional training at intensives and workshops with Alonzo King Lines Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, NW Dance Project, Vim Vigor, RubberBand Dance, and The Cambrians. She moved to New York in 2018 and has been working as a freelance contemporary dancer ever since. Molly has had the pleasure of performing in original dance works by Gregory Dolbashian as a member of The DASH Ensemble, Donald McKayle, Alex Ketley, Courtney Mazeika, Elisabetta Minutoli, Julia Ehrstrand, Max Stone, Nick Alselmo, Theresa Fervers and several others.

Originally from Dallas, TX, Lindsay Harwell is a New York City based dancer and choreographer. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he has performed the works of William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Andrea Miller, Loni Landon and Pam Tanowitz. since graduating he has worked professionally with Brian Brooks, Gallim Dance, Norbert De La Cruz, BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT, Isodoc Dance and Lone King Projects. Lindsay is also a co-founder of HEWMAN, a collaborative collective of artists bent on widening the potential for equality and empathy between dance audiences and performers.

Sumire (Sue) Ishige was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. She graduated from the high school program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2015 and graduated magna cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program in 2019. She has also attended the American Dance Festival and National Ballet School of Canada summer intensives, and has been a part of the Merce Cunningham Trust Workshop. Sumire has performed with McKoy Dance Project, Boston Dance Theater, WHITE WAVE, Parsons Dance Company, and J Chen Project. She is currently a co rehearsal director for Pony Box Dance Theatre, and dancer for BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT.

Fumihiro Kikuchi is a New York City based interdisciplinary dance artist from Japan. His works have been shown internationally at various festivals and venues in Germany, Spain, China, and the United States of America. Kikuchi was invited as a guest artist at Sichuan Arts Festival - Contemporary Arts Performance Season in China (2019) and as a guest choreographer at California State University, Fresno in 2016 and 2018. He was selected as an artist-in-residence at Marble House Project in Vermont, Lake Studios Berlin in Germany (2019), Pinea-Linea de Costa in Spain, Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation in New York (2018) and [nueBOX] in Arizona (2016). As a dancer, Kikuchi is currently working with Barkin/Selissen Project and Valerie Green Dance Entropy. He holds his MFA in Dance from Arizona State University.

Kisara Nonaka is originally from Osaka, Japan. She began her dance training when she was three years old. In 2018, she came to New York City to study at Peridance Capezio Center. She has danced with Julia Ehrstrand, The Next stage Project, Elisabetta Minutoli and others. Furthermore, she had done a scholarship and an apprentice with Jennifer Muller/The Works(2018-2019).  This is the first time dancing with Barkin/Selissen Project. 

Brianna Rivera – originally from New Jersey – started her dancing career at the age of three. Following a move to Virginia, Brianna trained at the Dance Academy of Loudoun and Studio Bleu Dance Center where she danced competitively from age seven to seventeen. Her formal training includes Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, Musical Theatre, Contemporary/Lyrical, and Acrobatics. In 2010, Brianna was honored to be awarded the Teri and Shari Malone Foundation Award for Dance Excellence.

After graduating high school Brianna attended Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA to pursue a career in dance, where she began her training in modern technique. Through the VCU School of the Arts she received her B.F.A in Dance & Choreography; including a Minor in Media Studies in May 2018, under the direction of Dr. Gaynell Sherrod.

Throughout her college career, Brianna performed in numerous works created by faculty and guest artists such as: Autumn Proctor Waddell, Dr. Gaynell Sherrod, Eric Rivera, Melanie Richards, Dawn Marie Bazemore, and Helen Simoneau. In addition, she collaborated with her fellow students to create pieces where she was the performer, the choreographer, or both.

Brianna has attended Hubbard Street Dance’s Pre-Professional Summer Program, Point Park University’s Summer Ballet Intensive, and Christopher K. Morgan’s Summer Intensive. Upon moving to NYC, she attended Broadway Dance Center’s Professional Semester, the Galen Hooks Method: Classic Edition, and Springboard X Skills & Processes.

She has worked with multiple choreographers on projects presented at Dumbo Dance Festival, Fertile Ground, APEX- Peridance, RAW Artists, and Boston Contemporary Dance Festival. Brianna has worked on film sets for, “Honor Amongst Thieves” (movie), “One thing is certain: a dance film”, and on Mr. Chicken’s music video “Never Could”. Brianna performed with Nuevo Tango Ballet during Fall 2021.

Brianna is currently performing upcoming works with Barkin/Selissen Project and continues to reside in NYC.

Amanda Sommers began dancing at the age of three at Tap To Pointe Dance Center in Malverne, New York under the direction of Ms. Sara DeGenarro. Ms. Sommers attended Marymount Manhattan College in New York City and studied under Mrs. Katie Langan. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in Dance and was the female recipient of the prestigious Gold Key Award for Academic Excellence in her major. She was also a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa College Leadership Society & Vice President of Alpha Chi National College Honor Society. Since graduating Ms. Sommers has danced for Roschman Dance Company, modeled on TV for Pix11, NBC and Fox5 and, has also participated in the KOLLISION Fashion Show for New York Fashion Week and modeled for BLOCH dancewear, among other brands. Ms. Sommers is very excited to be a part of BARKIN/SELISSEN Project and would like to thank her parents for their love and support of her dreams.

Ellie Swainhart is a New York City based dancer. She began dancing at age 14 and continued her training at the University of Florida where she received a BFA in Dance with a minor in Business Administration. Since graduating she has performed works by Gregory Dolbashian, Ted Shawn, Ashley Lindsay, Enzo Celli, Black Label Movement, and José Limón. Ellie performed in Dante Puleio’s original work, The Persistence of Time, at WHITE WAVE in 2019. Most notably, she performed in the first co-ed restaging of José Limón’s The Traitor. Ellie currently dances with the Limón Second Company and Barkin/Selissen Project.

Mark Willis is a freelance artist from NYC. He received his B.F.A in Dance from Montclair State University where he was the recipient of Jeanne Wade Henningburg Scholarship and Spirit of Dance Award. Mark has worked with companies such as The José Limón Dance Company, WHITEWAVE Dance, Jody Oberfelder, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, Christina Noel and The Creature, among others. He has taught and performed in the US, Mexico, Canada, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has been guest faculty at Montclair State University and has taught at The University of Wyoming, Detroit Dance Festival, Gibney Dance, Chung-Ang University, Ningbo Culture and Arts Training Center among others. His other interests include choreographing, composing, singing, and playing the trumpet.