KELLY HARGRAVES |
Executive / Artistic Director
Kelly Hargraves is an L.A. dance film creator and curator. She is the current Executive/Artistic Director of Dance Camera West, after co-founding the Los Angeles festival of dance film in 2001. Returning to DCW in 2018, she initiated the Visibility Program for underrepresented artists, which has so far produced 12 films by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists. She also created streaming revenue for DCW selected filmmakers.
Kelly has a Masters in Dance Film from NYU Gallatin School (Dance and Film History), a BFA in Contemporary Dance from Concordia University, and a BA in Communication Studies (Minor in Theater History) from the University of Windsor, in Canada.
She danced independently in Montréal and New York, and was a member of PoMo CoMo artist and scientist collective directed by Rafael Lozano Hemmer in the 1980s. Kelly has directed several dance films that screen internationally, and she travels as a guest lecturer, panel speaker and jury member throughout the world.
Hargraves has been a board member of the Silver Lake Film Festival, and a founding member of the Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival. Having worked for U.S. indie film distributors First Run Features, Film Movement, Icarus Film, Kelly has represented a diversity of artists such as Michael Apted, Lizzie Borden, Cheryl Dunye, Barbara Kopple, Ross McElwee, Monika Truet, and Wayne Wang, amongst many more.
She was also a dance reviewer for Dance Insider, Ballet–Tanz International, Dance on Camera News, Danceonline.com, Campus Circle Magazine, Cover Magazine, and Dance Connection Magazine, and a radio music DJ for over 10 years in Canada.
CATI JEAN |
Co-Artistic Director,
Board Member, 2018 - Present
Originally from Versailles, Cati Jean grew up in Grasse, South of France and studied extensively with renowned teachers from the nice conservatory, Cannes, the Cuban Ballet and Paris Opera. She performed a wide range of the classical repertory before studying the Jose Limon and Martha Graham techniques in Paris. As a performer, Cati worked in television and performed in renowned cabarets in Paris, lived in Japan and then moved to Los Angeles. Cati is involved into creating visual numbers for aerialists, coaching numerous actors in dance. directing live shows and short films. She is an adjunct professor at Santa Monica college, teaches master classes around the world and is recognized as an inventive choreographer, conceptual artist and visual poet. She is the producer, creator and director of the successful French-style cabaret L’effleur des Sens” and Nuit Blanche. She has choreographed onstage for Kylie Minogue, Janes Addiction, Carrie Underwood, and for music videos by Rancid, and Silk to name a few. Cati has performed with Prince, Bryan Setzer Orchestra, Toni Braxton, Ricky Martin, The Gipsy Kings, East 17, Jay-Z and Tina Turner. Her film credits include, Ms Claus, Cinderella, Three to Tango, Rock Star, Ocean’s Eleven, Jag, The Shield and Kiss Kiss, Bang, Bang.She judged and choreographed for Bravo’s reality show Step it Up and Dance, created aerial choreography and trained Jessica Biel in Powder Blue.
SOPHIE ROBERTSON |Board Member, 2018 -
Board President, 2022 - Present
Sophie started her career in the US in the marketing department at The Brooklyn Academy of Music, where she was introduced to the world of contemporary dance and became an avid supporter of dance performance and film. In 2007, Sophie moved to Los Angeles and landed at UCLA Live (now CAP UCLA) becoming the Marketing Manager and interim Marketing Director. She soon began to feel the pull of her education background and love of working with children and decided to take the position of Assistant Director at a small preschool in Venice and then director at WPC Preschool. While working in the early childhood education field, she developed a strong interest in creating inclusive programs that enable young children with autism and other special needs to learn alongside neuro-typical peers.
LYNN TEJADA |
Communications Director
Board Member, 2018 - Present
For 30 years, arts and culture publicist Lynn Tejada, the founder of PR firm Green Galactic, has been navigating the worlds of performing, visual, screened, and recorded art. Founded in 1993, in the heart of Hollywood, the company provides publicity, promotion, and marketing consulting services to an eclectic array of mind-blowing and soul-touching clients who frequently blur the line between popular culture and fine art.
IRISHIA HUBBARD ROMAINE |
Board Member, 2022 - Present
Irishia Hubbard Romaine (she/her) is a choreographer, filmmaker, and educator from South Carolina. She is an Assistant Professor in the School of Dance at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and a 2024 Mellon Arts & Practitioner Fellow at the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration (RITM). Additionally, Irishia holds the distinction of being the inaugural recipient of the Donald McKayle Legacy scholarship.
Her research in screendance examines the unwritten history of Black moving image arts by analyzing Africanist Aesthetics in American dance, photography, and film. In the Spring of 2024, she will complete a Short-Term Fellowship at the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture dedicated to supporting her proposed project, "Reimagining Screendance: Reclamation of Black Aesthetics in Dance Film History."
As a filmmaker, Irishia’s work explores themes of visibility, ancestral veneration, and Black liberation. Irishia's films have achieved international acclaim, premiering at esteemed festivals including Cinevox, ADF Movie By Movers, Auro Apaar, Black Lives Rising, Mignolo International Screendance Festival, Muestra Movimiento Audiovisual, Dancecinema, Desassossego Short Dance Film Festival, and many more. Notably, her film, "Red Line," was selected for Dance Camera West's 2022 Mentorship Program and received the Denton Black Film Festival's 2024 Virtual People's Choice Award. This film has been screened across diverse locations, including India, Spain, Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington D.C., North Carolina, Texas, Michigan, and the United Kingdom.
Irishia holds an MFA in Modern Dance and a Screendance certification from the University of Utah, where she received the Ellen Bromberg Dance Media Award, the College of Fine Arts Creative Research Award, and a University Teaching Assistantship (UTA). Her other roles include professional stager for the Donald McKayle Legacy and Visibility Program Director for Dance Camera West. www.irishiahubbard.com
LETXIA CORDOVA |
Board Member, 2022 - 2023
Letxia Cordova is a Mexican American photographer, filmmaker, and dancer in Los Angeles with a passion for dance films, music videos, and docu shorts. Letxia’s philosophy as an artist emphasizes accessibility, inclusivity, and social awareness – anyone can and should experience the joys of creating art, especially through film and dance.
Letxia has been directing, filming, editing, and choreographing dance films since 2015, teaching herself extensively through online platforms, LA-based workshops, attending dance and filmmaking events, and taking classes at Santa Monica College. Letxia has studied a variety of dance styles since 2010. However, her biggest influence as a dancer comes from training under Karen McDonald and Mark Tomasic at Santa Monica College, where she studied ballet, modern, floorwork, and release technique.
In 2021, Letxia choreographed and directed “Bluebird” for Dance Film Night with Nachmo LA. That same year, she was accepted into the SHIFT/West Residency with Brockus Project Studios, where she choreographed and directed “BOXED.” Since then, she’s had the pleasure of working with a myriad of talented, passionate dancers, artists, directors, and producers on making dance films, music videos, and docu shorts. Her dance film, “Reflection” was accepted into the 2022 Mobile Dance Film Fest in NYC. In 2021, she received a grant from Dance Camera West to re-edit her dance film, “The Sun” where it screened at their 2022 DCW Film Festival under their Commissioned Films. Most recently, Letxia is delighted to have become a Dance Camera West board member, where she is motivated to continue her work in increasing visibility for marginalized communities. After performing for Beatriz Vazquez’s “A La Rueda Rueda” for Ebb & Flow in June 2022, Letxia is elated to have started teaching for Heidi Duckler Dance as a teaching artist. As a dancer, Letxia will be performing in December 2022 with LA Unbound. letxia.com
Past Members
LIONEL POPKIN |
Board Member, 2021 - 2023
Lionel Popkin (choreographer/performer) has had his choreography presented nationally and internationally at numerous venues including DanspaceProject and Dance Theater Workshop in New York City, The Getty Museum, REDCAT, and Highways in Los Angeles, the Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Series, On the Boards in Seattle, the Wilma Theater and Philadelphia Dance Projects in Philadelphia, Sushi Performance in San Diego, Dance Place in DC, The Place Theater in London, and the Guongdong Modern Dance Festival in Guongzhou China. From 1999-2000 Lionel was a Choreographer-In-Residence at the Susan Hess Studio in Philadelphia, PA and he has been commissioned by San Diego’s Lower Left Performance Collective, the Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company, Carolyn Hall, and Nejla Yatkin. As a dancer, Lionel has performed throughout the US and Europe in the companies of Trisha Brown (2000-2003), Terry Creach (1996-2000), and Stephanie Skura (1993-1996). He has received grants from the National Performance Network’s Creation Fund and Forth Fund, the National Dance Project Touring Subsidy, the Center for Cultural Innovation, the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs, the Santa Monica Artist Fellowship, the Puffin Foundation, the Danspace Project’s Commissioning Initiative through the Jerome Foundation, the Nonprofit Finance Fund, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the New York State Music Fund, and the Durfee Foundation. He has served on the faculty of Bates College, London’s Laban Centre, Sarah Lawrence College, Temple University and the University of Maryland. Lionel Popkin is the Chair of the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA, and Professor of Choreography and Performance. He is a certified teacher of Skinner Releasing Technique. lionelpopkin.org
DAVID ROUSSÈVE |
Awards Jury Captain, 2018 - 2023
Board Member, 2018-2022
David Roussève, a choreographer/writer/director/performer, is a magna cum laude grad of Princeton University and a Guggenheim Fellow. His dance/theater company REALITY has performed throughout the UK, Europe, South America, and the U.S., including three commissions for the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival. Roussève has created 17 commissions for other companies and three short films, the most recent short screened at festivals in eleven countries and received ten awards including four for “Best Film.” Roussève has been published in collections by Bantam Press and Rutledge Press, and was twice a Fellow in the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriter Lab. Roussève just completed Twit, a feature screenplay based on his 2014 dance/theater work Stardust. In 2017, Twit was a finalist in two “Best Screenplay” categories at the Nashville Film Festival and a semi-finalist for the Los Angles Outfest Screenwriter’s Lab. Among other’s, Roussève’s awards include a Bessie (New York Dance and Performance) Award, three Horton Awards, the CalArts/Herb Alpert Award in Dance, a Creative Capital Fellowship and seven consecutive NEA fellowships. At UCLA, Roussève is Professor of Choreography in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. For the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture he has served as Associate Dean (2014-15), Acting Dean (2015), and Interim Dean (2015-17). davidrousseve.com
GEORGE LUGG |
Board President, 2018 - 2022
George has been working in the field of contemporary dance and performance for more than 25 years. He was on the founding team that launched the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater and served as Associate Director of REDCAT for a decade. Through REDCAT’s annual New Original Works Festival and ongoing Studio series, he presented more than 250 new works and works-in-progress by Los Angeles artists. He was an Associate Producer for two editions of RADAR L.A. and served as Hub Site Representative for the National Dance Project (2012–14), Lead Program Consultant in the Performing Arts for the Creative Capital Foundation (2011–2012), and on the U.S. curatorial team for the National Performance Network’s Performing Arts Asia Project (2011) and Performing Americas Project (2009–10). georgelugg.com
AMBER PATEE ADAMS |
Festival Producer
Board Member, 2022 - 2023
Amber Patee Adams is a producer, director, and choreographer with a love for both dance and film. She is the Festival Producer for Dance Camera West and teaches Ballet and dance classes at UCLA. She worked for the Dance Films Association and the Dance on Camera Film Festival at Lincoln Film Society in New York City from 2011-2018. She has been an invited Artist Resident at Dance-A-Lorus for three years combining live dance and film performances. Recently, her dance film "Stature" won a 2020 NY Movie Award and her comedic short "Sh*t Queen" is an official selection for the Hollywood Gold Awards. She has produced and edited film content for Roundabout Theatre Company, NBC, Iman Cosmetics, MTV and several nonprofit organizations. She produced feature films, "Finding Home, A Film for National Adoption Day," "8 Slices," "Vigilante," and "A Little Water," all on Amazon Prime. Amber Adams is a graduate of the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts and received her BFA in Ballet and Communication Arts from Marymount Manhattan College. Amber studied with American Ballet Theater, the NY Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts School of Film and Television, Joffrey Ballet School, Steps on Broadway and many other schools around the world. She danced for numerous New York City-based choreographers. She is a SAG Signatory Producer, a member of NYWIFT, and a certified Dance Master of America. She has a continuous curiosity in how we communicate a sense of truth through moving images.