Kate Weare Company thrives because of the amazing group of talented, daring and committed artists that enrich its work.
Click on an artist to the left to read their bio.
Leslie Kraus graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Dance and Choreography in 2003, and subsequently danced with Curt Haworth and Robbinschilds as well as in her own work in New York. Leslie joined Kate Weare Company in 2006. In 2009, she was recognized for outstanding dancing in Dance Magazine’s annual list of “Top 25 Dancers to Watch.” Leslie routinely acts as Weare’s assistant director, most recently for a commissioned work on dance students at the NYU Tisch School. In 2012 Leslie joined the company Punchdrunk. She currently plays Lady Macbeth in the hit show Sleep No More. In 2009, critic Deborah Jowitt of The Village Voice wrote: “(Leslie) Kraus is amazing - demon and angel.”
photo by Christopher Duggan
Brian Jones is the Principal Lighting Designer for Kate Weare Company: Garden (2011), Bright Land (2010), Lean-to (2009), Bridge of Sighs (2008), Sinnerman (2008), The Light Has Not The Arms to Carry Us (2008). Other design for dance includes works for Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Kelley Donovan, Larry Keigwin and Amy Seiwert. Jones’ lighting has been seen at New York City Center’s Fall For Dance, The Joyce Theater and Joyce Soho, as well as Jacob’s Pillow (MA) and the American Dance Festival (NC). Theater work includes Perfect Harmony (Stoneham Theater and Theater Row), Mother (The Wild Project), Twelfth Night (Hudson Valley Shakespeare). MFA from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts.
Douglas Gillespie received his BFA in Dance from Florida State University and subsequently worked with choreographers Ben Munisteri, Heather McArdle and Tennille Lambert in New York before joining Kate Weare Company in 2007. Born in California but hailing from The Sunshine State, Gillespie currently serves as rehearsal director for the company as well as Weare's directorial assistant for outside commissions. Douglas was a featured soloist in the 2012 opera, Weakness, choreographed by Weare and composed by Barbara White for Princeton University. Gillespie's dancing has been described in The Village Voice: “…(Gillespie) hurls himself into complicated connections the way an Olympian runs into their pole vaults.” Gillespie regularly teaches on behalf of Kate Weare Company, most recently as part of the NYU Summer Program and in residence at Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as under his own auspices at Dance New Amsterdam in New York.
photo by Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang
Kurt Perschke is an artist based in Manhattan working in sculpture, video, collage, and public space. His most acclaimed work, RedBall Project, is a traveling public project that has taken place in Barcelona, St. Louis, Portland, Sydney, Arizona, Chicago and Toronto, and recently won a National Award from Americans for the Arts Public Art Network. Perschke has exhibited with institutions such as Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona, Vienna Technical Museum, and the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis. His video work has screened in Europe and the US, and at the Bronx Museum during an AIM Fellowship. The Lean-to set for Kate Weare Company was developed in residence at MANCC and Jacob's Pillow. For Garden, special thanks to Uli at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.
Sarah Cubbage's credits include: Bright Land, Lean-to, Kate Weare Company; Idyll, Paradigm, chor. Kate Weare; Radio Show (Bessie), Brick, Number 6, Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion. Off-Broadway: Reflections of a Heart, A Year with Frog & Toad. Regional: Evita, The Wizard of Oz, 39 Steps, I Hate Hamlet, Northern Stage; The Ladies Man, Corpse!, Curtain Call Theatre; Catch-22, Aquila Theatre Company. Film: A Clerk’s Tale, dir. James Franco; So Over You, dir. Karen Odyniec, Seconds, dir. Marcin Stawarz; Welcome, dir. Maja Milanovic. Other NYC: Hater, Ohio; The Magic Flute, Gargoyle Garden, Manhattan School of Music; Don Giovanni, Hofstra; As You Like It, The Tempest, NY Shakespeare Society; Alice In Wonderland, Center For Contemporary Opera. MFA:NYU/Tisch School of the Arts; Member USA 829
Originally from Cork City, Ireland, Luke trained Point Park University where he earned a BFA in Dance and English. Luke performed with Punchdrunk in award-winning productions of “Sleep No More” in Boston ('09-'10) and New York ('11-'12), with Martha Clarke in “Angel Reapers” ('10-'11) and John Kelly in the 2010 revival of “Pass The Blutwurst Bitte.” In addition, Luke has danced with Pavel Zustiak's Palissimo Company, Janis Brenner and Dancers, Erick Hawkins Dance Company and in projects with Heidi Latsky, Douglas Dunn, Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and others. His own work has been presented throughout New York, Pittsburgh, Ireland and Germany and has been supported by residencies and commissions from The Duo Multicultural Arts Center, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, DanceIreland, Dragon's Egg, Kelly Strayhorn Theatre and Arts Council of Ireland. Luke continues to perform in "Sleep No More," and is delighted to be working with Kate Weare Company.
T.J. Spaur began dancing at the age of 10 in Des Moines, Iowa. He moved to Los Angeles after high school and performed with Mandy Moore, Paula Morgan, Sir Ryan Heffington and Psycho Dance Sho, and as a member of Adam Parson's Commonality Dance Company. In 2006, T. J. graduated cum laude from California State University, Long Beach where he also danced works by Keith Johnson and Doug Nielsen. From 2006 to 2010, he was a member of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in Salt Lake City, where he performed in repertory by Karole Armitage, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, John Jasperse, Larry Kegwin, Wayne McGregor and Doug Varone. T.J. has also toured internationally to France and Italy with Alwin Nikolais Dance Theater. This is his second season with Kate Weare Company.
photo by Dallas Graham
Adrian Clark graduated from Connecticut College in 2001, majoring in dance and choreography, after which he had the pleasure of working with Jeremy Nelson, Luis Lara Malvacias, Julie Atlas Muz, Tamar Rogoth, Tami Stronach, Ori Flomin and Donna Uchizono. He has been thrilled to be an integral part of Kate Weare Company since 2005, becoming Rehearsal Director in 2009. Clark teaches technique and partnering at colleges and festivals around the country. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Allan Ulrich wrote: “Clark is cool and unpredictable...his performance basks in a hair-trigger exhibition of technique.”
photo by Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang
