Suchi Branfman, choreographer/curator/performer/activist, has worked from the war zones of Managua to Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre and Kampala’s Luzira Prison to NYC’s Joyce Theatre. Branfman is currently in year seven of a ten-year choreographic residency inside a men’s-prison in Norco, California. She is Artistic Facilitator/Director of the Dancing Through Prison Walls project, choreographing and curating performance, film, and written works in deep collaboration with current and formerly incarcerated, and “free world” movers. Branfman is currently an 18th St. Arts Center Creative Corps Fellow and Montalvo Lucas Artist Fellow, serves on faculty at Scripps College, is a community gardener, and prison abolition activist.

Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo is an artist, abolitionist, educator and person of multitudes. Through a practice based in the printed multiple, community-based work, performance and installation building, they invite the viewer to recall and share their own lived narratives, offering power and weight to the creation of a larger dialogue around the telling of Black, Indigenous, Queer, Trans, People of color’s stories. Their work has been included in exhibitions and performances at MOCA Cleveland, Konsthall C, EFA Project Space, San Francisco Arts Commision, Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, and L’Internationale Online, amongst others. Their artist books and printed editions have been published by Endless Editions, Childish Books, Ghost Proposal, Press Press, Center for Liberatory Practice & Poetry, Printed Matter Inc and Wendy’s Subway. They are a practitioner of global liberation movements, protest tactics, tools & strategies, handmade paper and flight!

Bernard Brown is a Black, queer artist, choreographer, educator, and arts activist who works at the crossroads of Blackness, queerness, and belonging. As artistic director of Bernard Brown/bbmoves, a social justice dance company, his choreography has been presented across the US and internationally in Seoul, Barcelona, India, Istanbul, Italy and future engagements in Burkina Faso and Benin. Brown’s activism has been featured by the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. A first generation college graduate, he is Assistant Professor of Dance at Loyola Marymount University, a Certified Katherine Dunham Technique Instructor Candidate and currently a California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow.

Damian Busby works as a Career Coach for UCSD's Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Longevity, assisting justice-impacted individuals. He is also the UC Underground Scholars Initiative Ambassador for San Diego Mesa College, and a full-time student and Physics major. During his 23 years of incarceration, Damian mentored in GED education and vocational classes, as well as tutoring college students for well over 10 years. He was also a member of the Claremont/Pitzer College inaugural Inside-Out, 8-member Bachelor's Degree Cohort, receiving his BA in Organizational Studies. He is the recipient of a Certificate of Merit from the California State Senate and is currently working on obtaining a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics.

Susan Bustamante is an organizer with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. She grew up in Southern California and was sentenced to Life Without the Possibility of Parole in 1987. After serving 31 years in prison, she received a commutation from Governor Jerry Brown which allowed her to apply for parole. She was paroled and released on September 12, 2018. She is an activist, a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and she sees it as her life’s mission to advocate against intimate partner violence.

Jay Carlon is a contemporary dance artist and community organizer based between LA and NYC and is committed to connecting his art practice to sustainability and his personal and collective journey of decolonization. Carlon was named Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch in 2020. He is a performer and directing associate with the Sway, where he has performed at the 2014 Olympics, the 2016 World EXPO, and the 2018 Super Bowl. Carlon has also performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Bill T. Jones, jumatatu m. poe, Oguri, Solange Knowles, Rodrigo y Gabriela; and choreographed works for Kanye West and Mndsgn.

Marc Antoni Charcas is a competition level salsa dancer, who started dancing with the Dancing Through Prison Walls project inside CRC in January of 2017. Marc Antoni is a firefighter, tattoo artist, voice-over narrator and skilled HVAC installer. We are honored that he has joined us for this work.

Daniel Duron is formerly incarcerated and a graduate of Pitzer College with a degree in Organizational Studies. Daniel started working with the Dancing Through Prison Walls project in the Fall semester of 2020 while he was held captive in the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, California. Post-graduating this December, Daniel aspires to pursue his master’s degree in Public Administration through the Claremont Graduate University here in Claremont, and his life mission is to be the bridge between those who are currently and formerly incarcerated and institutions of higher education.

Ernst Fenelon Jr.is an International Speaker, Author, Life Coach, Holistic Justice Advocate, Poet, and Entrepreneur. He is the Program Coordinator/Consultant to the Prison Education Project (PEP) programs around the world. He also works with other organizations, regarding social justice, personal transformation, and reintegration. He has appeared in numerous documentaries, articles, podcasts, and interviews. His theatrical dance performances include “Angee’s Journey” (based on his and his mother’s lives).

Mokhtar Ferbrache is a formerly incarcerated, self-trained visual artist. Having produced numerous art pieces and murals at multiple institutions throughout the California prison system, Mokhtar is now seeking a BFA in graphic design at CSU San Bernardino. Although a skilled multidisciplinary artist, he has taken great pleasure in the “freedom of making abstract art” since his release from prison.

Irvin Manuel Gonzalez (he/él/they/elle) is an artivist, scholar, community organizer, and teacher. He currently works at the Ohio State University as an assistant professor in Dance and is a founding member of Primera Generación Dance Collective. Gonzalez’s scholarship analyzes how immigrant, queer, and working-class Latin American social dancers navigate hegemonic forces through feeling and creativity while situating creative constructions of/for belonging and social change. As an artist, Gonzalez grounds his work in rasquachismo, a working-class Chicanx sensibility, to generate collaborations and new potentials that upend the intended use-value of materials, connections, and being.

Arthur Groneman holds several associate’s degrees in social and behavioral sciences including one in sociology. His original aspirations were to work to improve the lives of the underserved and underrepresented peoples of our community. He currently works for UCSD Relink Support Services with the justice impacted community. His path led him to a BS in Business Administration - Finance from CSU-Sacramento, and graduate study in Motion Pictures at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, with hopes to work and influence others around creating more opportunities toward building a community of inclusion. As a fellow creative, sharing the passion and vision of abolition within a just world for all, he strives to contribute in this ever-flowing and ongoing effort to liberate himself and others.

Rashaida Hill is a performance artist, community organizer, social justice worker and arts facilitator. She has had the pleasure of training and performing for many world-renowned artists while attending Old Dominion University (B.A in Theatre and Dance), The American Dance Festival, Todd Rosenlieb Dance, and the University of California, Los Angeles (MFA in Choreographic Inquiry). As a dance maker, the continuous ebb and flow informing her work includes American/Black American/Black diasporic history and cultures, Queer narratives, mental health, and trauma processing. Her work seeks to hold space for reflection, rest, recovery, and healing through invigorating and intimate theatrical displays.  Recently recognized by the California Arts Council as a 2023 Emerging Artist, she hopes to continue to hold space for herself and others to investigate our embodied histories and make sense of our ever-changing realities by hosting workshops, classes and conversations with some of our most vulnerable populations.

Selina Ho works as a data analyst at the Vera institute of Justice creating advocacy-driven data products. She joined Dancing Through Prison Walls in February 2019, facilitating dance with Suchi Branfman and dear friends at California Rehabilitation Center, a medium security men’s state prison in Norco, CA. In community, she strives towards cultivating modes of closeness and care.

Kenji Igus has been tap dancing since the age of six and teaching since the age of fifteen. Kenji can be seen tap dancing in a variety of media including doing work for ESPN and Capezio. He has choreographed two shows for Universal Studios Hollywood, consulted on a Coen Brothers movie, “Hail, Caesar” and starred in Rhythm is my Business, a film showcasing tap dance in the modern world sponsored by Levi's Jeans. Igus is featured as a writer for a Google Arts and Culture’s editorial, bringing more information on Tap Dance to the general public.

Leo Manzari is an award-winning musician and Lucille Lortel award nominated tap dancer. Off-broadway production of Maurice Hines Tappin’ Thru Life, So You Think You Can Dance, 50th Inaugural Celebration of JFK, Marvin Gaye Tribute, and the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Center. Dorrance Dance’s Nutcracker Suite, The Mo'nique Show, The Kate TV, TEDMED, PBS News Hour, Jerry Lewis Telethon, and ABC's "The View." Hozier’s “Almost (Sweet Music),” and guest artist with Anderson Paak’s band The Free Nationals. Philly POPS, The Winnipeg Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and The Oregon Symphony. Season 6 of Showtime's "Homeland," and writer and vocalist of his own music which can be found at www.leomanzari.com

Richie Martinez is a writer, voice-over artist and passionate dancer who started working with the Dancing Through Prison Walls project inside CRC in 2019. His written work has been published in Undanced Dances Through Prison Walls During a Pandemic by Sming Sming Books. Richie is a father of four and we are honored that he has agreed to be a part of this project.

Mims is an artist, abolitionist, and facilitator based in Los Angeles, CA. Her work spans across the disciplines of dance, advocacy, facilitation, curation, and direction. She experiences the body as a site of liberation and uses that information as a guide. In her ever evolving exploration of what it means to be in right relationship with ourselves, each other, the land, and other species; her body is her first place of inquiry and practice.

Ramon is a senior at Cal Poly Pomona, earning his Bachelor of Arts in History and minoring in Latina/o Chicana/o Studies. He plans to pursue a master’s degree in public policy and continue advocating for the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated population. He volunteers for Prison Education Project (PEP) and is a member of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) and Project Rebound. When he is not working or volunteering, he enjoys traveling, spending time in nature, and sharing meals with family and friends.

Austin Nguyen is an Associate Editor at Kaya Press and a writer and copyeditor for Dancing Through Prison Walls. His writing has been featured in The Rumpus, Electric Literature, and Ploughshares, among other publications. He also currently fact-checks at Syntax Magazine and has previously held positions at n+1 and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Amy Oden is a freelance performer based in New York City. She has been a part of the Dancing Through Prison Walls community since 2018. In addition to her work with Dancing Through Prison Walls, she dances with Pennington Dance Group, and has worked with Laura Gutierrez, Donna Sternberg, and Kevin Williamson. When she’s not dancing, she’s working to make mathematics more equitable, building with Critical Resistance as a volunteer, or doting over her spaniel mix, Kenny.

Romarilyn Ralston is the founding Senior Director of the Justice Education Center for Claremont Colleges and the former executive director of Project Rebound at California State Fullerton. While at CSUF, she helped expand Project Rebound to other CSU campuses across the State. Romarilyn was instrumental in establishing the John Irwin Transformative Housing Initiative, the first transformative housing initiative in the country for reentry college students, and the Center for Hope and Redemption, a transformative justice space that centers community and university collaboration around issues of justice, gender, and race. After serving 23 years in prison, she earned a bachelor’s degree with Honors in Gender & Feminist Studies from Pitzer College, a master’s degree in liberal arts from Washington University in St. Louis and will complete a PhD in Executive Management (2027) from The Claremont Graduate University Drucker School of Business. Fellowships awarded: CORO Fellowship in Public Affairs, Women’s (Solis) Policy Institute, Napier Fellowship for Peace and Justice, Leading with Conviction Fellowship, and currently a Galaxy Gives Fellow. This education has fueled her commitment to help others discover the transformative power of post-secondary education and community accountability. In 2022, she received a full pardon for Governor Gavin Newsom. She has earned numerous social justice awards and accolades from the California Legislature, the National Council of 100 Black Women-Orange County Chapter, and Pitzer College’s Distinguished Alumni award in 2021. Romarilyn was one of six women selected as the Woman of the Year 2024 by CA State Senator Josh Newman, District 29.

Forrest Reyes is a California mountains native pursuing BIG dreams of creating healthy cultures and better tomorrows, unconditionally. Skilled in multiple Arts, Philosophy, Astronomy, Physics, History, Business, Yoga, Math, all forms of Health Nuttery, and the human condition; he is known by many as Humble, and has always been so.

Terry Sakamoto Jr. is a generous and accomplished storyteller, whose work has been published by Sming Sming Books, in Undanced Dances Through Prison Walls During a Pandemic. He is also a passionate truck driver who has traveled the highways of the United States.

Tom Tsai’s dance work spans stage, film, education, and activism. His upbringing is rooted in the Taiwanese struggle for self-determination, against reductive political narratives, media propaganda, and threats of war. Growing up in this environment drew him to Breakin’, Hip Hop culture, and dance for social justice. Tom's performance work integrates physical rigor with self-inquiry, personal storytelling with political engagement, and combats erasure of identity. He has performed his solo works throughout the USA, and internationally in London, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Singapore. He has received support from the California Arts Council, City of Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, Ghost Light Residency, and Dance Resource Center’s Homegrown Residency @ The Music Center. He has been adjunct dance faculty at Pomona College, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, and Chapman University. Tom is a core collaborator with Dancing Through Prison Walls, where he fulfills choreographic, performance, and filmmaking roles to amplify the experiences and imaginations of those impacted by the carceral system.