KEERATI JINAKUNWIPHAT / CLAUDE JOHNSON / KEVIN PAJARILLAGA

KEERATI JINAKUNWIPHAT, originally from Chicago, IL., received her BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase and was a recipient of the Adopt-A- Dancer Scholarship. She has additionally studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Springboard Danse Montreal. She has worked with and performed works of artists such as Kyle Abraham, Nicole von Arx, Trisha Brown, Jasmine Ellis, Hannah Garner, Shannon Gillen, Andrea Miller, Paul Singh, Kevin Wynn, and Doug Varone. Keerati began working with A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham in 2016. She has additionally assisted Kyle Abraham in new commissioned work for New York City Ballet and Paul Taylor Dance Company. As a freelance choreographer, Keerati has presented her own choreographic works at the American Dance Guild Festival, Battery Dance Festival, Dance Gallery Festival, the Joyce Theater, New Victory Theater, MASS MoCA, Lincoln Center, Works & Process at the Guggenheim and more. She has been commissioned to set and create works on the Evanston Dance Ensemble, the Martha Graham School, SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, Houston Contemporary Dance Company, New England Ballet Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Bang On A Can, Princeton University, PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, Whim W’him Seattle Contemporary Dance, New York Choreographic Institute, and Rutgers University. Keerati has graced the cover as one of Dance Magazine’s ‘25 to Watch’ in 2021. In 2023, she had the honor of becoming the first Asian American woman to be commissioned to choreograph for the New York City Ballet. Additionally, Keerati has been awarded with the Jadin Wong Fellowship Artist of Exceptional Merit by the Asian American Arts Alliance and is a 2023 Princess Grace Award winner in choreography.

 CLAUDE JOHNSON A Chicago native, Claude Johnson is a dancer, choreographer, and movement director. After finishing his studies at The Chicago Academy for the Arts and Suny  Purchase College, where he was awarded the Adopt-A-Dancer Scholarship, Claude  then became a full-time company dancer with A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham from 2017-2022  where he became a Princess Grace 2021 nominee. Claude has gotten the opportunity to perform works by Kyle Abraham, Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Aszure Barton,  Johannes Weiland, Doug Varone, Kevin Wynn, Nicole Von Arks, Keerati Junakunwiphat, Princess Madoki , and many more. As a performer and black queer artist, Claude dances to translate the human experience to audiences to recognize the art form of dance as the best catalyst to motivate self-expression and social change. In any artistic space he believes his responsibility is to increase the knowledge and perspective of his community’s vast  experience.

New York city based artist, KEVIN PAJARILLAGA is most curious about the process of sharing the lived experiences of the body through time and space fused with a little bit of fantasy and imagination. Pajarillaga danced in the 2021 MTV VMAs with artist Doja Cat, Banana Republic’s “Art of Work campaign”, GAP’s 2018 spring campaign “Experiment in Color”, H&M x Rabanne 2023 Collection Launch, and Celia Rowlson-Hall’s short film “First Snow” featured on NOWNESS and Times Square Arts’ “Midnight Moment”. He danced with companies including Gibney Company,  NW Dance Project, Yin Yue Dance Company, Sonya Tayeh Dance, and Bruce Wood Dance Company. He  guest performed with Parsons Dance Company, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. Pajarillaga has originated roles with choreographers: Alan Lucien Oyen, Felix Landerer, Gustavo Ramirez,  Ihsan Rustem, Yin Yue, Michaela Taylor, Maleek Washington and others. He has performed works by choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, Johan Inger, Alejandro Cerrudo and others. He has choreographed for Gibney Company’s “Company Created’, NW Dance Project’s “In Good Company”, The Juilliard School’s senior concert, and the DREAMscape Gala. He co-choreographed “The Executioner” with painter/sculptor Dan Colen and Claude Johnson. In 2022, he signed with Stetts modeling agency as a model. Pajarillaga is a Filipino American, born and raised in Silver Spring, MD.