Olase Freeman (Associate Choreographer)
Olase is a dancer/choreographer recently relocated to Philadelphia. A partial list of the companies he has worked with includes Jane Comfort & Co., Headlong Dance Theater, Terry Creach’s Creach/Dance and Marlies Yearby’s Movin’ Spirits Theater. Olase is also co-artistic director of bkSOUL, an exercise in soul and form, with grace shinhae jun in San Diego. Heavily influenced by his late friends and mentors, Cynthia Novack and Richard Bull, he continues their spirit of investigation and commitment employing spirals, rhythm and breath.Olase has efforted to integrate disparate movement vocabularies (hiphop, contact improvisation, yoga, capoeira, kung fu) into a modern release technique that is dynamic, organic and evolving. Olase's choreographic work, both as a co-director of bkSOUL and independently has been performed in such diverse venues as The Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Movement Research at Judson Church, Link’s Hall (Chicago), the Cunningham Studio, Joyce/Soho, Dixon Place, Thelma Hill (Long Island University), as well as the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
As a teacher Olase has taught workshops and classes internationally at the Firkin Crane, Cork City, Ireland, Curitiba and Londrina, Brazil, Congresso Internacional de Danza a nivel Baja California, Mexico, and domesticly via the DanceCenter at Columbia College (Chicago), SUNY Brockport, Hobart/William Smith College, Link’s Hall (Chicago), CalState San Marcos, Sushi Performance Inc. (San Diego), Mountlake Terrace Recreation Pavilion, (Seattle, WA), University of Montana, Missoula, and Headwaters Dance (Montana).