INITIATOR, PRODUCER, COREOGRPHER

Wendy Hambidge is a certified Body-Mind Centering Practitioner and Teacher, as well as a Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Infant Developmental Movement Educator. She holds an MFA in choreography and performance and worked as a dance artist for over 30 years.

Since first studying Body-Mind Centering® in 1990, Hambidge has integrated somatic practices into her work with a wide range of clients, including artists, athletes, parents and infants, supporting processes related to movement development, creativity, coordination, injury recovery and psychophysical integration.

Based in Portland, she teaches experiential anatomy and somatic movement education in programs across the United States and Europe, regularly assisting Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, the founder of Body-Mind Centering®

‍ ‍

DANCER, FILMAKER, WEBSITE ‍

Jorge Samuel is a Brazilian dance artist whose work emerges from over two decades of practice rooted in hip-hop culture and an ancestral connection to samba. His research explores Black dance traditions across the diaspora, bridging street and club forms with contemporary performance practices.

Currently completing a Bachelor’s degree in Dance at Universidade Estadual do Paraná, Samuel has developed works presented both in Brazil and internationally, including his solo Algodão Doce, performed at Pomona College (USA) and in Portland.

In 2022 he created his first dance film, Fone de Ouvido, commissioned through a collaboration involving the United Nations and the World Health Organization, which premiered at the UN headquarters in New York City. The project marked the beginning of his work as a filmmaker, director, editor and storyteller.

Samuel’s practice expands across multiple cultural fields. He develops independent cultural platforms such as the Baile da Durag movement, the audiovisual collective Frames de Cria, and the upcoming Jovens Pretos Velhos Podcast, while also working in music production and collaborative artistic projects.

In 2023 he presented the talk TEDxPradoVelhoED, Creativity and Culture: The Art of Preparation, reflecting on how Black cultural practices shape creativity, opportunity and collective imagination.

Through dance, film, music and cultural production, Jorge Samuel builds artistic environments where Black memory, improvisation and joy become tools for creating new futures.

‍

ACTRESS, COLLABORATOR, DRAMATURG

Damaris Webb is a theater maker, social justice advocate. She has created new works for the stage with diverse communities around the US and internationally, her work lives in the intersection of contemplative dance, improvisational performance art, and contemporary theater.

Ms. Webb holds her MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University, and her BFA from The Experimental Theater Wing of New York University. As an artist primarily trained in somatic studies (Body-Mind Centering®, Viewpoints Practice, Psychophysical Acting, Contemplative Dance Practice, Roy Hart Vocal Technique, Developmental Movement), she fuses an approach to creating work that is physically based, Brechtian, and deconstructionist. As an interpretive and generative theater artist, Ms. Webb values collaborative creation, rigor and transparency in process and product.

Recent devised performance credits include Precipice: remembering, forgetting and claiming home (Third Rail), The Sounds of an Afrolitical Movement (Portland Playhouse), The Americans, a seagull and Aw, Hell (Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble/company member) and the ongoing collaboration Standing Together with Body-Mind Centering® practitioners and dancers Wendy Hambidge (Portland) and Jorge Samuel (Brazil).