THE PC  }  Choreographers

Loni Landon
Loni Landon was born and raised in New York City. She received her training from the NYC High School of Performing Arts, Dance Theater of Harlem, The School at Jacob's Pillow and The Scholarship Program at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She received her BFA from The Juilliard School, under the direction of the late Benjamin Harkarvy and Larry Rhodes. After graduation she worked with Aszure Barton on the opening of the Baryshnikov Arts Center before joining Ballet Theater Munich, under the direction of Phillip Taylor. In 2007, the company changed to Tanz Theater Munich, under the direction of Henning Paar. During her time in Munich, she was exposed to a variety of European choreographers such as, Jirí Kylián, Stephan Thoss, Rui Horta, Robert North, Tony Rizzi, Cayetano Soto, Mirko Hektor and Marco Goerke. Under Phillip Taylor's guidance she began exploring choreography. In 2009, she was a finalist in the Hannover International Choreography Competition. Her work has been shown in The State Theater of Munich, HT CHEN'S Newsteps Choreography Series and at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. Loni was one of two winners of the Northwest Dance Project's 2010 "Pretty Creatives" choreographic competition.

André Mesquita
Born in 1979, André Mesquita trained at Academia de Danca Contemporânea in Setúbal and at the Portuguese National Ballet Company. He was a professional dancer in CeDeCe and in Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporâneo under the artistic direction of Vasco Wellenkamp and has worked with choreographers such as Michael Corder, Ivan Alonso, Ana Sendas, Miguel Oliveira, Bernardo Gama, Sónia Rocha, Vasco Wellenkamp, Darshan Singh Buller, Carlos Matos, Jean Renshaw and Martina La Bonté. André has been developing his choreographic voice since 2006, after completing his employment as resident teacher and dancer at Tanz Companie-Stadttheater Hildesheim. Both Portuguese and international dance critics have been praising André's work by virtue of a higher sensitive quality and great originality. As a choreographer he has presented his work in Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Greece and Spain. In March of 2009 André was awarded the third prize for choreography, at the 13th International Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival of Stuttgart for the solo, "Lake". In the same week, he was a winner of the competition, UNCONTAINABLE 2 at the Royal Ballet of Flanders with the piece "Echoes from Elsewhere".

Ihsan Rustem
Ihsan Rustem was born in London and trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. He was a member of the National Youth Dance Company before being engaged by Adventures in Motion Pictures (Matthew Bourne, UK), Ballet Theater Munich (Germany), Introdans (Netherlands), Bern Ballet and the Tanz Luzerner Theater (Switzerland), working with and dancing repertoire by Mats Ek, Jiri Kylián, Hans van Manen, William Forsythe, Patrick Delcroix, Paul Lightfoot / Sol Leon, Alexander Ekman, Wayne McGregor, Hofesh Shechter, Maurice Béjart, Robert Battle, David Parsons, Carol Armitage and Cayetano Soto, amongst others. Ihsan began choreographing as a student at the Rambert School, creating over ten pieces for the Academy, and has since created works for the National Youth Dance Company, Tanz Luzerner Theater, ArtEz Dansacademie Arnhem (NL), Arnhem Mode Biennale, Dance Art Studio Luzern, Playground Bern, Peter Williams Design for Dance London and the choreographic workshops of Ballet Theater Munich, Introdans and Dance Made In Bern (Bern Ballet) where his piece "Twist of Fate" was a selected finalist of the 24th International Competition for Choreographers Hannover.

Olivier Wevers
Olivier Wevers is originally from Brussels, Belgium. He was a Principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and is currently a Principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet. In 2009, Olivier launched his own company titled Whim W'Him, in order to develop and expand his own choreographic horizons. He has choreographed works for numerous companies including: Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Spectrum Dance Theatre. In 2008, the Seattle Times declared, "Wevers' choreography is full of the unexpected, the theatrical and imaginative." Olivier was selected to participate in the 2009 National Choreographic Initiative, and in 2008 was the recipient of the Artist Trust/ Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship Award. In 2006, he participated in the prestigious New York Choreographic Institute.