Lawrence Fung, M.F.A.
Raised in the concrete jungle of Hong Kong and the American Southwest, the presence of contrast has been a common theme in the dance works, films, and photographs that Lawrence creates.
The self-taught photographer and filmmaker has a particular interest in finding details and patterns in his worldly encounters. Inspired by the vastly diverse landscapes, urban architectures, and environments we live in, Fung finds purpose in uncovering the hidden layers and stories beyond what meets the eye. He uses visual language to draw his viewers attention to an encapsulating storytelling experience by exploring the theories of composition, color, scale, and choreographed camera movement all in relation to dance.
As a choreographer and movement artist, Fung is constantly exploring the integration and similarities between ballet and breaking, bringing the opposite disciplines into a free flowing harmony that exists in a new dimension without contextual boundaries. Modern masculinity, self-discovery, and religion are themes that gravitate Fung’s curiosity in his dance-making.
In the beginning of 2018, Fung founded his company Kraken Still and Film (KSAF), with a humble ensemble of dancers and composers. The interdisciplinary company celebrates the collaboration among dancers and artists of different backgrounds with the vision of touring and premiering works in the spectrum of art and theater spaces, such as proscenium stages, galleries, museums, film theaters, and public projections.
Over the years, the company has performed live in Phoenix Arts Museum, The Nelson Fine Arts Center, Taliesin West, Tempe History Museum, and in collegiate spaces like Scottsdale Community College.
In the screendance realm, the company has traveled around the world in the American Southwest, Europe, and Canada to produce its ambitious works a variety of environments including the Black Sand Beach in Iceland, the streets of Venice in Italy, Downtown Toronto, Death Valley National Park, and many more. The company toured its films in dance film festivals including CASCADIA Dance & Cinema in Vancouver, Canada, American Dance Festival - Movies by Movers in North Carolina, Utah Dance Film Festival, Idaho Screendance Festival, Los Angeles Dance Short Film Festival, Dance Camera West - Dare 2 Dance in Public in Los Angeles, etc. Works such as Cohort 707 (2018) and Kapsule (2019) received multiple awards such as Audience Choice Award, Best Ensemble Performance, Best University Film, Best Sound Design, Choreography for A Lens, and Best Cinematography.
In the art world, KSAF exhibited photographic prints and digital art at the Geo-Passages exhibition in Sydney, Australia in 2019. In 2020, the company received a solo exhibition at the Foundre Contemporary in Downtown Phoenix where a series of photographs and films were showcased in the gallery space alongside a vertical wall projection on the 4-story hotel building. Similarly in 2021, the project Unbreakable received a 2-week long public installation in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles on the LA Live screen by Courtyard Marriott.
The company strives to continually produce works in various mediums and spaces and hopes to build a globe reach as an American contemporary dance company.
Chelsea Rose Neiss - @neissmoves
Chelsea is a native of Phoenix, AZ. She trained at Scottsdale Community College and Cal State Fullerton graduating with a Bachelors in Dance. During her time in California, she danced for Disneyland Resorts as well as participated in free lance projects with Embark Dance, Fuse Dance Inc. and a dance role in the film Waiting in the Wings: Still Waiting. After graduation, Chelsea moved to the midwest where she had the opportunity to dance with Attack Theatre, Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
She has a passion for arts education and sharing her love of dance, and has taught at dance schools in AZ, CA, and OH. Chelsea is thrilled to be in AZ where she currently dances for Epik Dance Company, Scorpius Dance Theatre, Kraken Still and Film, and traveling projects with Flamenco Fever Dallas and Michael Spencer Phillips.
Chelsea has had her own works showcased at Beta Dance Festival, Breaking Ground Contemporary Dance Festival, and others. She has had the pleasure to choreograph for Southwest Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's dream, Desert Foothills Theatre’s production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, Disaster the musical, Annie Get Your Gun, and Sound of Music. Chelsea is most excited to be exposing herself to new creative skills and creating art in inventive ways with the support of her loved ones.
Angelica Santarsiero - @alliestamp
Better known as Geli by all her friends and peers, is from Mamaroneck, New York. She’s an only child, but considers all her friends to be like siblings to her. She is currently a Dance Major at Arizona State University. She has been dancing for over 7 years, and has trained in many different dance genres such as tap, jazz, modern, and hip hop. She has been a part of the Kraken Crew ever since December of 2019, and can be seen featured in the company’s 2020 flagship project Unbreakable. She enjoys spending time with her friends, playing video games, eating, sleeping, and of course dancing. Geli is the furthest thing from a morning person, often sleeping past noon if allowed. She is a lover of all animals, but dogs hold a special place in her heart, and hopes to own one in the near future. She aspires to be a professional choreographer one day as she enjoys being able to work with many different people and create new and unique work. Geli is extremely excited for what is to come as she continues to pursue dance and work with new and old faces.
Adele Etheridge Woodson - @adelecomposer
A classically trained film and visual media composer. As a film composer, her strengths lie in her versatility and her creativity in fusing music genres. Most recently, Adele scored Pant Hoot, a documentary short featuring Dr. Jane Goodall, for which she was nominated for Best Original Score at the International Sound and Film Music Festival 2020. The story follows Stany Nyandwi, a Burundi genocide survivor, who overcomes overwhelming odds to become a master chimpanzee linguist at Dr. Goodall’s Chimp Eden Sanctuary in South Africa. For the project, Adele crafted an empathetic and heartwarming score, featuring solo violin, African drum ensembles, and traditional Burundian whispered chanting that honored Stany’s perseverance in his journey to protect chimpanzees in Africa.
Adele’s array of composition work also includes an art installation for Arizona State University’s art museum and scores for varying visual mediums and dancers, but her most impressive feat may be her compositional premieres in Vienna, Austria, New York City, Phoenix, Cleveland, and Nashville. Her first string quartet, “Humble: Hip Hop Variations on a Theme by Kendrick Lamar,” was premiered by the PHACE Ensemble at Vienna Summer Music Festival. She has worked with composer Dr. Daniel Bernard Roumain, songwriter Gary Burr, and composer Paola Prestini. In the past, she also scored for Arizona PBS’ documentary short, “Hero Material.” She graduated from the School of Music at Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a certificate in Arts Entrepreneurship. She was also the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate in Creative Work award for the class of 2020. Recently, Adele was one of nine composers accepted into BMI’s 2020 Scoring For the Screen program.
