jose esteban abad (they/them) is an Afro-Carribean Filipinx multidisciplinary choreographer, Vertical Dancer, DJ, and curator based in unceded Ramaytush Ohlone Territory (San Francisco). Their work explores the complexities of identity at the intersection of gender, sexuality, class, race, and geography. Rooted in collaboration and improvisation as tools of resistance and liberation, abad’s work centers QTBIPOC experimental collective process-based practices of becoming and re-membering to highlight the most intelligent technologies that exist in this world – our bodies, ancestral wisdom, and nature. 

Styles Alexander (they/them), a Boston Conservatory graduate and movement artist, creates choreographic work that reimagines and communicates with history through fantasy, afro-futurism, and fugitivity. Alexander’s work has been featured in Urbanity NeXt, DougVarone’s DEVICES program, Jess Curtis’ Gravity PPP, and ROT Festival. They have performed and taught nationally and internationally in the Philippines, Palestine, Mexico, and Europe; individually, and in collaboration with Ishmael Houston Jones, Alleluia Panis, Joanna Haigood, Anne Bluethenthal, Keith Hennessy, Sara Shelton Mann, Skywatchers, Jess Curtis/GRAVITY, RUPTURE, Bandaloop, TRY, and KulArts. They are the Co-Director of Community and Curation at the Bridge Live Arts SENSE-OBJECT residency. In 2023, Styles was a DanceWeb Impulstanz Scholarship recipient, under the mentorship of Clara Furey and Lara Kramer. Styles is currently a recipient of the Zellerbach Family Foundation award and Kenneth Rainin Foundation’s NEW award for the creation of their new work TarNation.

Clarissa Rivera Dyas (they/she/he) is a Black, Filipinx, San Francisco Bay Area-, and Ohlone land-based dancer, choreographer, and arts producer. Her artistic practice flows from the truthfulness of improvisation, is rooted in her communities, and centered around movement as a spiritual practice and a conduit of change.

Clarissa Rivera Dyas (continued). River Dyas graduated from San Francisco State University in 2017 with a B.A in Dance and a B.S. in Health Education. They have been a company member of Zaccho Dance Theatre, Robert Moses’ Kin, and Flyaway Productions and have performed with Lenora Lee Dance, Megan Lowe Dances, OYSTERKNIFE, Sarah Crowell, Keith Hennessy, and many others. She is currently in collaboration with Sara Shelton Mann (2020) and Embodiment Project (2023). They have performed throughout the U.S. such as in New York, Jacob’s Pillow, Seattle; and internationally in Berlin,. They have presented work in CounterPulse’s SEED Residency, REYES Dance, Dance Thrill Fest (2021), Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency (2022), Queering Dance Festival’s FROLIC! (2023), KH FRESH Festival (2024), Dance Up Close East Bay (2025), and in the Black Choreographers’ Festival in 2020 and 2025. They were awarded Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2024. Clarissa is a member of Queering Dance Festival’s Steering Committee and is a Co-Director of ROT (KH FRESH) Festival.

Gabriele Christian is an Oakland, CA-based conceptual artist and descendant of stolen folk experimenting within somatic practices, language, performance composition, video production, and community arts facilitation – centering BlaQ (Black and Queer) experience, vernaculars, and aesthetics as wellsprings for radical futurity. They are a founding member of Bay Area performance collectives RUPTURE, OYSTERKNIFE, and BlaQyard. Born in Harlem, NYC, they have worked for 10 years as a professional performance artist and director in San Francisco, New York City, Berlin, Amsterdam, and beyond; with residencies at Counter-Pulse, the University of California Santa Cruz, Watermill Center, and This Will Take Time. They currently serve as GRAVITY’s Co-Artistic Director. They began working with Jess Curtis/GRAVITY in 2017 as a frequent collaborator, curator, audio describer, and director.