Paty Lorena Solórzano (b. Morelia, MX), is a bi-national choreographer, dancer and teacher. She directs giraSOLa dance, a platform for her dance projects that draw inspiration from natural phenomena and Latin American culture. With a poetic imaginary rooted in the immigrant experience, her choreographies have been presented by Primate Escénico, Performática, Dance Source Houston, Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Texas Latino/a/x Contemporary Dance Festival, Detroit Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts, Triskelion Arts, Dance@DMAC, AUNTS and Movement Research at Judson Church, among others. Artist-in-residence at Keshet Makerspace, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida Dance Festival, Guapamácataro Center for Arts & Ecology, and Storyteller Fellow of the Diverse Intelligences Institute at St. Andrews University, Scotland. Paty has more than 15 years of teaching experience in festivals and schools including the University of Michigan, Riverside Community College, Arlington Heights High School, Ohio University, and as Assistant Professor of Dance/ Artistic Director of Danza UDLAP at University of the Americas Puebla from 2019 to 2023. Paty is a frequent collaborator and dancer with jill sigman | thinkdance (NYC), ChavasseDance & Performance (MI), PDCdance (TX). Co-directs Confluencia Dinámica, a teaching and performance collaboration with Cinthia Pérez Navarro (MX). A 2018 fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute (NALAC), recipient of a National Endowment for Culture and the Arts Mexico award and PECDA Puebla State grant, two-time finalist of the Maggie Allesee New Choreography Award, she received her BFA from Texas Christian University and MFA from the University of Michigan. girasoladances.com

Adele Nickel trained with Oregon Ballet Theater and The San Francisco Ballet before moving to New York City to pursue a career in modern dance. There she worked with Annie-B Parson, Sarah Michelson and Patrick Corbin, among others, and as a member of the Liz Gerring Dance Company (2007-15) was featured in several evening-length productions, including the Bessie-nominated Glacier. The New York Times commended Adele’s “calm, quiet lyricism” and critic Alistair Macaulay described her work with Gerring as “full-bodied dancing that changes my breathing.” During her time in NYC, Adele also performed as a backup dancer for Grammy-winning musicians St. Vincent and David Byrne, and received her 1600-hour Alexander Technique teacher certification. Since leaving NYC, Adele has taught dance technique, somatics, composition, and anatomy & kinesiology across the U.S. and internationally. She holds a BA in Writing from the New School University and an M.F.A. from the University of Washington and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Sam Houston State University. Adele also sits proudly on the advisory board of the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival and is studying to become a CranioSacral Therapist. You can learn more via her website adelenickel.com and Instagram @kingdellers.

Ashley Clos is a multi-disciplinary artist, dance educator, and advocate living in Houston, TX. Her choreography and research have been showcased at the Ailey Citigroup Theater in New York City, the Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center in Brooklyn, the American College Dance Association South-Central Adjudicated and Informal Concerts, the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference in Albuquerque, and Dance Source Houston’s “Mind The Gap.” Ashley has worked as stage manager for Barnstorm Dance Fest for five years and has written 38 published dance previews/reviews with Houston Press and the Dance DiSH. Ashley holds a BFA and an MFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University. While there, she performed in choreography by Dionne Noble, Erin Reck, Dana Nicolay, Andy Noble, guest artist Jane Weiner, and the late, great Jonathan Charles Smith. Ashley’s dance training also includes White Mountain Summer Dance Festival, Mark Morris Summer Intensive, and Dance Italia. In 2018, Ashley was awarded the Ardsley Choreographic Residency in collaboration with Dance Gallery Festival and the Catskill Art Space in Livingston Manor, NY. As Artistic Director of Woodlands Ballet Theatre from 2019-2022, Ashley choreographed her first full-length ballet adaptation of Arthur Saint-Léon’s “Coppélia.” She has created original works for San Jacinto College and Sam Houston State University. Ashley currently teaches movement and lecture courses at Lone Star College, San Jacinto College, Houston Ballet Academy, and Frame Dance. She is a proud cancer survivor who aims to deeply experience and celebrate life—striving to inject that spirit in how she moves throughout the world.