Empowering Miami-based Performing Artists
The Live Arts Lab Alliance (LALA) Artist-in-residence Program empowers local performing artists from different backgrounds and disciplines to generate new work and establish new connections and networks of creative feedback and collaboration. Our LALA artist residencies nourish and sustain the vibrancy and resilience of Miami’s live arts community by recognizing established talent and virtuosity, and promoting greater equity in access to the resources and skills that facilitate cultural and civic participation for artists and audiences alike. The goal is to support the emergence of world-class, cutting-edge performances made in Miami and fueled by communal creative practices.
In 2020, Live Arts Miami announced its latest cohort: six locally-based artists selected across performing arts disciplines to develop works centered on climate change and sustainability in Miami. Applications for the next cycle of LALA will open soon. Check back to this page, stay tuned to our upcoming events, and sign up for our newsletter for more details and information.
LIVE ARTS LAB ALLIANCE 2020:
Dale Andree, Choreographer
Dale Andree has been dancing, choreographing, and teaching in Miami for over 30 years. She is the founder and director of NWD Projects, which supports her choreographic projects, and National Water Dance, a bi-annual simultaneous performance across the United States, bringing attention to water issues and climate change. Her commitment to dance and the environment has resulted in her receiving two Knight Arts Challenge Grants, being recognized by the Deering Foundation as Programming Partner of the Year for 2014, and being chosen to be an Artist-in-Residence in the Everglades in October 2018.
Susan Caraballo, Interdisciplinary Artist
Miami-based Susan Caraballo has over 20 years of experience as an arts consultant, producer, and curator. Susan formerly served as Artistic Director at ArtCenter/South Florida (now Oolite Arts) after having worked with the Contemporary Arts Project at Vizcaya Museum, the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, and running an independent arts space Artemis/PS 742 for many years. Recently, Caraballo organized a symposium at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, “ARTiculating Sustainability: Resilience in the Climate Crisis?”. In her own practice at the intersection of curating, directing, and collective artmaking, Susan is exploring collaborative projects oriented toward the ecological crisis.
Michelle Grant-Murray, Choreographer
Michelle Grant-Murray is an independent choreographer, performer, and Artistic Director of Olujimi Dance Theatre. Michelle holds a BS degree in Dance from Jacksonville University, MA degree in African Studies with a concentration in Pedagogy and Cultural Studies from Florida International University, and MFA degree in Choreography from Jacksonville University. Currently, Michelle is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Dance at Miami Dade College, where she is the Artistic Director of Jubilation Dance Ensemble and Executive Director of the annual Artistry-in-Rhythm Dance Conference.
Sandra Portal-Andreu, Multidisciplinary Artist/Choreographer
Sandra Portal-Andreu is a Miami native whose performance experience includes: Arts Ballet Theatre of South Florida, Josée Garant Dance, Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet’s Lounge 2200, and Juggerknot Theater Company. Portal-Andreu’s unique style of blending dance and dialogue has driven her to create work that addresses community, social practice, and identity. Her work has been supported by the Miami-Dade County Dept. of Cultural Affairs, Miami Light Project, Sarasota Contemporary Dance Company, CityTheatre Miami, Miami-Dade Public Library System, Pioneer Winter Collective’s GrassStains 2018, Movement Research/Judson Church, and PBS’ Filmmaker Project. She received an A.A. from New World School of the Arts/MDCC, BFA in Dance from Florida State University and a M.S. in Movement Sciences from Barry University. She’s a proud mama of her two boys, Julian and Gabo, who inspire her every day to keep going.
Fereshteh Toosi, Media Artist
Fereshteh Toosi is an artist of Iranian and Azeri ancestry whose projects foster animistic connections through encounter, exchange, and sensory inquiry. Fereshteh designs experiences augmented by handmade electronics, audio, video, and media transmissions. These intimate live art events often take place outdoors in gardens, parks, and waterways. The immersive performances are produced in conjunction with small sculptures, short films, installations, scores, and poetry. Fereshteh is an Assistant Professor in the Art and Art History Department of the College of Communication, Architecture, and the Arts at Florida International University. They earned The Ellies Creator Award in 2018 for Water Radio, a series of live art events during canoe and kayak outings. Recently Fereshteh also received a Knight New Work 2020 award to support Oil Ancestors. http://fereshteh.net
Hattie Mae Williams, Interdisciplinary Artist
Hattie Mae Williams is a mother, holder of space, director, energetic voice, teacher, and wild woman, who received her B.F.A from The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater/Fordham University program and her Masters from Goddard University in Interdisciplinary Arts. In 2003 she established her dance company The Tattooed Ballerinas, which formed roots in site specific dance. Hattie Mae’s studies and community collaborations are inspired by embodied experiences, art as political, disrupting the mundane, and African Diaspora folklore and spirituality. Her work has traveled nationally and internationally to Holland, Italy, London, Los Angeles, New York, Kentucky and Miami.
Williams is also a local business owner operating Hattie’s House, an online conscious gift shop previously located in North Miami on 125 St.