The Edinburgh Fringe Festival Presents
Valerie Green/Dance Entropy
RITE
August 13th - 24th at 19:50
Inspired by shamanic journeying and altered states of consciousness, this electrifying healing ceremony is a meditative ritual celebrating the human experience. Six powerful male dancers surrender to instinct, moving through a trance-like ritual that blurs the line between isolation and connection. Through movement, RITE offers a unique opportunity to contemplate your humanity, ignite a release of what weighs you down, and emerge with a newfound clarity: a personal and collective spiritual catharsis. Witness the intensity of energy, surrender to the movement, and dynamically explore the profound connections between body and soul.
Conception, Direction, Choreography by Valerie Green
Performed by Aidan Feldman, Johnny Mathews III, Tsubasa Nishioka, Lawson Pinder, Richard Sayama, Richard J. Scandola
Music by Poranqui/Liquid Bloom/Eric Zang, Danheim,
Lannka-AIWAA, Cobanny, Ancestral Elephants, Mary Isis, Shamanic Vision
Costumes by Irena Romendik and Valerie Green
Original Lighting Design by Kathy Kauffman
Production Technician Clara Anderson
About Valerie Green/Dance Entropy
Founded in 1998, Valerie Green/Dance Entropy believes in humanizing movement, both in Ms. Green’s critically acclaimed choreographic work and the company’s mission to plant creative seeds in communities across the world. Intersecting mortal and transcendent, sensual and sophisticated, visceral and self-aware, VG/DE invites the artist, the audience—the human—into a compelling, physical experience. Based out of its home studio, Green Space in Queens, NY, VG/DE combines performance and specialized outreach programs to inspire communities in cultural institutions throughout the world.
About The Artistic Director
Valerie Green has been an active dancer, choreographer and teacher in the New York City dance community since 1995. She created her own company, Dance Entropy in 1998, adding a permanent company home in 2005 called Green Space. Green Space serves the dance community by providing an affordable and welcoming environment for rehearsals, classes, and performances. To date Ms. Green has created 44 dances and 11 evening length works. Her choreography has been seen throughout NYC and has also toured to various venues throughout the US. Internationally she has taught and performed in Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, France, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Korea, India, Italy, Lebanon, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Togo. As a teacher, Green leads movement workshops for all populations rooted in the philosophy that all bodies can benefit from dance, fostering creativity and physicality beyond the stage. Valerie’s choreographic work and teaching style is influenced by her formative years working with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, certification in Body/Mind Fitness, Core Energetics (Somatic Psychology) and her undergraduate work at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been a distinguished committee member of the Bessie’s New York Dance and Performance Awards and is currently on the Queens Borough Presidents General Assembly, and the Queens Chamber of Commerce Performing Arts Committee.
About The Performers
Aidan Feldman is a software engineer by day, dancer by night. Aside from Dance Entropy, he performs with Artichoke Dance and danceTactics Performance Group, and has worked with others like Chavasse Dance & Performance, Spark Movement Collective, and the Barkin/Selissen Project. Outside of dance, Aidan teaches coding at New York University (NYU) and Columbia University, and helps government agencies do technology better. When not dancing or nerding, Aidan can be found flying around the streets of New York on his bicycle. Aidan started working with Dance Entropy in 2021.
Johnny Mathews III (he/they) is a Brooklyn-based dancer/ choreographer from Madison, Wisconsin. Johnny dances with Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, and KAOS Dance Collective. He has performed works by Maxine Doyle, Johannes Wieland, Ohad Naharin, Shannon Gillen, Meredith Monk, and other prestigious choreographers. Mathews has been awarded choreographic residencies at The Residency Project @280 in Pasadena, CA, and Greenspace in Queens, NY. He graduated from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Performing Arts Management. Johnny started working with Dance Entropy in 2023.
Tsubasa Nishioka is a Japanese-born dancer and choreographer. He moved to the U.S. in 2017 from Tokyo to attend The Ailey School and performed in Alvin Ailey’s Spirit Gala at Lincoln Center. He has worked with choreographers such as Marcus Jarrell Willis and Omar Roman de Jesús. Nishioka is a member of Valerie Green Dance Entropy, i KADA Contemporary Dance, H.T. Chen & Dancers, and others. In 2023, he founded Feathers Dance Company, premiering “Kibi Dango” in Tokyo. In 2025, he performed at Jacob’s Pillow and toured in Scotland at the Fringe Festival.
Lawson Pinder is from the Bahamas, and graduated from The Edna Manley Collage of the Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica in 2004. There he studied the Martha Graham Dance Technique and La Técnica Cubana "Cuban Modern Dance Technique." He worked with L’Acadco - A United Caribbean Dance Force based in Jamaica where he obtained certification in the L'Antech Dance Technique. Lawson is no stranger to the stage. Passing on all the information that he’s learned during his studies and travels is also the greatest feeling that one can achieve. Lawson has been a teaching artist with Dance Entropy since 2020 and began dancing with the company in 2022.
Richard Sayama originally from Honolulu, Hawai’i, graduated early from Marymount Manhattan College with a double major in B.F.A Modern Dance and B.A Business Arts & Management. Upon graduation, Sayama joined Jon Lehrer Dance Company where he toured domestically and internationally for over 5 years. He finished seasons with Limón 2, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, iKADA Contemporary Dance Company, H.T Chen & Dancers, Rock Dance Collective, and McKoy Dance Projects. He currently dances for Valerie Green Dance Entropy, Obremski/Works, LaneCoArts, One Day Dance, and General Mischief Dance Theatre.
Richard J. Scandola is a native of southern France where he performed with Les Ballets des Alpes Maritimes, Horizons, and Corps Accord. Richard moved to New York City to study American Modern Dance, Cunningham and Limón techniques. He met Jim May who became his mentor and soon became one of the dancers of the Sokolow Ensemble in 2012. He has since worked with Barkin/Selissen Project, Brice Mousset OUI Danse, Overground Physical Theater, Shadow Box Theatre as co-director, dancer and puppeteer and started working with Dance Entropy in 2017.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
Irena Romendik (Costume Designer) is a Brooklyn based multidisciplinary artist. She moved to the US from Kiev, Ukraine where she studied Painting at Shevchenko School. And also holds degrees from Pratt and Tisch School of the Arts. Irena participated in multiple shows, made costumes for dancers, and performed herself, but that has not been the focus of her artistic career. Irena values the process of artistic creation over production. Her multidimensional interests have produced projects that cross disciplines, and sometimes are difficult to categorize.
Kathy Kauffman (Original Lighting Design) is a New York City native, and two time Bessie recipient. She is resident designer at Danspace Project at St. Marks Church, and has taught at Sarah Lawrence and NYU. She designs regularly for Dorrance Dance, Music From The Sole, Joanna Kotze, The Bang Group, Mariana Valencia, Mina Nishimura, Koma Otake, Ephrat Asherie Dance, and Vicky Shick.
Clara Anderson (Production Technician) is a graduate of Edinburgh College with an HND in Technical Theatre and Production Arts. She has just completed the premiere run of the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) production ‘Make it Happen’ as lighting technician. She has worked as production technician for Baloney Theatre Company and PASS Theatre 2024 Fringe programmes. In addition, she has worked as LX crew for JMP Productions and LX casual at Dundee Rep Theatre. Clara has a keen interest in lighting for theatre and dance productions.
RITE was created in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the generosity of individual donors.
Dance Entropy Inc. Board of Directors
Sierra Alea, Emily Bunning , Natalie Greaves, Valerie Green, Sharon Harsa, Sallie Sanders, Chandler Wilson
If you have enjoyed today’s performance, and would like to support our continued success, please consider making a tax-deductible donation. Dance Entropy Inc. is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization.