BURNING WOMAN 2025 BIOS

LaCentheah "Cece" Bagley is a member of Beckles Dancing Company and has worked with them for seven seasons. She is honored to create and debut her first work with BDC. The piece showing tonight "Annyeong pt.1 - grounded," will tell a story of reflection of the beginning of a human relationship with nature, using the characteristics of new fondness, relationships, strength, and groundedness.

Marquita De Jesus is a dancer, choreographer and professor whose work spans over 150 original pieces performed across the U.S., Argentina, Cambodia, and Zambia. She is Artistic Director of Fusion Performance Company and serves on the board of Fusion Performance Project. Author of Understanding Dance and Embodied Practice, her dance research appears in leading journals, including a forthcoming chapter in the Oxford Handbook for Dance and Disability. She received Honorable Mention Prize for the Toni Beauchamp Award (2024) and will earn her PhD from UT Dallas in 2025.

Sorany Gutierrez is a Colombian-born Interdisciplinary artist living in Dallas, TX. She considers collaborative work fundamental, using contemporary artistic techniques, merging different languages and cultural expressions. Her practice is inherently social, engaging with pressing issues and challenging norms through the transformative power of art. Sorany holds a BFA in Performing Arts & Fine Arts and has been involved in professional theater productions for over 18 years, working with companies in Colombia, Spain, Germany, Mexico, and the US. As a performer, she has collaborated with Caramia Theatre on the creation of "Origenes" (2022) and "Diosa" (2024), and in "Inasible" with Pasionaria Laboratorio Escénico (2023). Recently she presented “From Home, The Ashes” a performance art piece at Texas Vignette Art Fair 2024 and “The Soil Box” 2025 an immersive art installation at The Oak Cliff Cultural Center.

Lauren Kravitz is a dance artist based in Dallas, TX. Through choreography, performance, and community work, she investigates how movement is a tool for reflection and communication. Lauren’s work has been presented in New York and Texas at Pageant (NY), Gibney Dance Center (NYC), and the Wyly Theatre (TX). She is currently a Rehearsal Director with NY-based Seán Curran Company, and is a founding contributor to Agora Artists, a DFW-based organization supporting local dancers. She received her early training from Booker T. Washington HSPVA and graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Dance.

Cara Lawson is a performer and dance artist based in Dallas, Texas. She began her training in theater at Booker T. Washington HSPA while co-creating devised theater pieces during her summer and winter breaks with Cry Havoc Theater. She deepened her training focus into movement and dance practice while at Sarah Lawrence College where she focused on Dance and Political Economics. Back in Dallas, Cara is excited to debut her first piece with Over the Bridge Arts.

Jennifer Mabus/Grackle Dance Collective

Grackle Dance Collective aims to bring dance out of the theater and into our local communities. We are a collaborative dance company that aims to create performances that move between the intimate and the expansive—blending interdisciplinary collaboration, immersive theater, and the transformative power of dance. Our creative processes utilize somatic methods to develop innovative works that are physically expressive and emotionally evocative- cultivating authentic connections, thoughtful conversations, and community participation.

Tina Mullone, BA/MFA, is an artist, educator, and scholar. She is also a professional dancer who continues to perform with Beckles Dancing Company, Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth, and solo work. Her training includes dance intensives at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women Summer Institutes, American Dance Festival and the Katherine Dunham Institute.  Tina’s teaching includes the following: community colleges, after-school and outreach programs, and private studios in Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.  During her tenure as Associate Professor of Dance at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, she commuted from Louisiana to Texas to work with BDC and CD/FW (as Associate Artistic Director for the latter) and co-directed M2 (m squared), a performance art duet.  She is a certified Pilates mat instructor, and Professional Umfundalai contemporary African dance technique. She is a National Water Dance ambassador. She is a member of several professional dance organizations including International Association of Blacks in Dance, National Association of African American Dance Teachers, and NDEO. She is serving her second term as ACDA Regional Director for the New England Region. Her current research includes deconstructing space and movement in African-American culture through the Black female dancing body. Other research interests include Black Feminist visual art and African Diaspora spirituality.

Puspa Panda is a distinguished Odissi dancer, choreographer, and educator, trained under the renowned Guru Smt. Meera Das. Beginning her artistic journey at the age of five, she has cultivated exceptional mastery and grace in the Odissi tradition. She holds a Master’s Degree in Performing Arts (Odissi) from Utkal University of Culture, India, and is a recipient of the Senior Scholarship from the Government of India. Her performances have captivated audiences internationally in Romania, Dubai, Fiji, and the Pacific Islands, as well as across the United States at venues such as CFAA Colorado, Kalashreya Festival Virginia, Hindu Temple Nashville, UNC Charlotte, UTD, and Brides Arts Project 2025 in Plano.She is also the Founder and Director of “Nrityaarati”, a performing arts and movement institution located in the DFW area, dedicated to promoting Indian classical arts and creative movement.

Rachana Rao is a performer, choreographer and educator of Indian classical dance, trained in Bharatanatyam, karana and Kuchipudi. Known for her expressive storytelling and rhythmic mastery, she bridges classical heritage with contemporary relevance. She has earned honors including the Yuva Prathibha Award, ICCR Scholarship, and recognition as a Doordarshan Graded Artist. With over 500 performances across India and the U.S., Rachana continues to shape global conversations in dance through performance, pedagogy, and collaboration.

Opalina Salas is a poet, a former bookstore owner, and creator and host of the Poets on X+ reading series, held in her beloved home of Oak Cliff, TX. Her collection of work, "Black Sparrow Dress", was published by Mad Swirl press, and shows the evolution of a woman as a survivor. She is a member of the poetry collective Tejana Cosmica, and a spoken word artist with electronic duo Your Loving Son. She has been performing in the DFW area for over 30 years. 

Lori Sundeen Soderbergh is Executive/Artistic Director of Over the Bridge Arts and founder of Burning Woman in Dallas. She is a director, producer, writer, dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and actress. Lori founded Over the Bridge Arts in 2017 and Burning Woman in 2018. She often explores social issues in her choreography, such as climate change, aging in our society, airport security, global pandemic, human rights and women’s rights. In the DFW area, her work has been shown at the Dallas Museum of Art, Sammons Center for the Arts, Bath House Cultural Center, Oak Cliff Cultural Center, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Arts Fifth Avenue, Arts Goggle, Hip Pocket Theatre, Sanders Theatre, and in street festivals. Lori received her B.F.A in Modern Dance from TCU and her M.A. in Dance History from the Laban Centre in London.