Artists - Imperfect Joys
Helen Hansen French received her BFA from The Juilliard School and her MFA from Hollins University. Helen joined Buglisi Dance Theatre (NYC) in 2001 where she rose to principal dancer and served as rehearsal director. She has toured nationally and internationally, and been instrumental in staging BDT’s works throughout the world including at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Pieve International School in Italy. As a creative she focuses on collaborations and in support of her work has been awarded a 2015, 2016, and 2017 Individual Artist Grant from the City of St. Petersburg, she was also a 2016 and 2021 Creative Pinellas Artist Fellow and she was the 2021 Creative Pinellas Artist Laureate. In her work as an educator and arts advocate she has served on numerous dance faculties including George Mason University and The Juilliard School. Helen is currently adjunct faculty at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School. She is a founding member of the St. Petersburg Dance Alliance and the Board Chair of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance.
John C. O'Leary III is a Mexican American jazz pianist & neuroscientist from the Yucatan peninsula. Born to a Mexican concert pianist mother, John started piano lessons at age three and left everything behind to come to America in 1998, where he studied jazz piano performance and chemistry at the University of South Florida. There, he started the highly acclaimed jazz group La Lucha. John’s debut solo album for Arbors Records, The Sundering, features guests Shaun Martin & Dick Hyman. He takes inspiration from his experience as a Mexican American to write original compositions for the piano. The overall collection of songs creates an exploration of resilience, of putting oneself together after facing hardships, and of feeling like a stranger in an unfamiliar land. The uncertainty but also the grit from someone who leaves everything behind to start a new life somewhere else is felt throughout the music.
Collaborators for The Forget-Me-Knots, Petal No.1
Sadie Lehmker is a choreographer and dancer currently based in the Tampa Bay area, where she is an active member of the dance community. In 2017, Sadie received her MFA in Dance at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and additionally received a Graduate Certificate in World Performance Studies from the University of Michigan in 2016. Through her time at the University of Michigan, she worked with Charles Gushue/Gushue Moving Arts, Xan Burley + Alex Spring/the Median Movement, and Meredith Monk, as well as university faculty. In 2010, Sadie received her B.A. in Dance Studies magna cum laude from the University of South Florida with a focus in Dance History and Honors College Distinction. While at USF, Sadie performed in the 2010 USF School of Theatre and Dance’s production of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s Serenade/The Proposition. She also had the opportunity to study abroad and perform in France in 2008 and returned in 2009 and 2016 for solo creative research projects. Sadie has set her choreography throughout Central Florida at Florida Southern College, St. Petersburg College, Moving Current Dance Collective, Florida Dance Arts, America's Ballet School, Florida Dance Festival, and Shoes at the Door Dance. Her choreography has been accepted into several festivals in Florida, and has been showcased in southeast Michigan. In 2013, Sadie was selected as a Choreographer-in-Residence for the annual Florida Dance Festival. In addition, Sadie has been invited to perform across the nation through performance engagements, tours and festivals in Florida, in New York City, in Michigan, and in California. She has also performed internationally in Paris, France, and in Vietnam. Additionally, she has extensive project and production management through different non-profit organizations in the Tampa Bay area, and works as a stage and house manager at both the University of South Florida and Florida Southern College. She is also the American Ballet Theatre at USF Summer Intensive Coordinator. Sadie works as a freelance dance stage manager for local professional companies and for the USF dance department’s concerts. Sadie has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of South Florida, at Eckerd College, at St. Petersburg College, and at Florida Southern College. Currently, Sadie is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida and serves at the USF Theatre and Dance Production Manager. AND Sadie is thankful to be one of the Palladium’s Creative Fellows!
Heidi Brewer, born + raised in the Pacific Northwest and University of Washington alum, has worked as a dance artist in Seattle, NYC, Los Angeles and St. Petersburg since 2001. Her own work has been shown at Pieter and Highways Performance Space in Los Angeles, and at The Studio at 620, The Palladium and Sarasota Contemporary Dance in Florida. She founded the LAYERS platform in LA to produce 3 workshops between 2017-2018, and returns to LA periodically to work with Pennington Dance Group. Heidi has taught dance classes for the Sarasota Ballet and masterclasses for Sarasota Contemporary Dance, and currently teaches community class in St. Pete. She toured The Invitation Situation, a collaboration with choreographer Jeanine Durning and performers Clare Croft, Andee Scott and Mary Williford-Shade in Sarasota, Chicago and Denton, TX, with the next stops in Houston and Detroit this spring. She performs regularly with projectALCHEMY in St. Petersburg, and is a Certified Pilates teacher through the Kane School & kinected in NYC, where she also works as the Communications Director. She is a Pilates Instructor, Oov instructor & Kane School teacher trainer at Body Center St. Pete. She and her husband Will are proud cat parents to Penny.
Esophia Higgins-Wilkins, a Florida native, earned her BFA in Modern Dance from the University of South Florida and an MBA in Sports Business from St. Leo University. She began her career with Shoes at the Door and is now a project-based artist with projectALCHEMY, founded by executive creative director, Alexander Jones. Her passion for dance and travel led her to India, where she performed with SHIAMAK Davar’s Bollywood company and taught Western dance forms in the apprentice program. She continues exploring cultural dance as a company member of the Spinning Canvas Bollywood troupe founded by Shivali Vyas. Combining her background in athletics and movement, Esophia has trained NFL clients, integrating dance into sports performance. As a choreographer, she blends spoken word and movement to tell compelling stories and continues to engage in freelance performance opportunities with local and international artists. Her most cherished role, however, is her residency with her toddler—where their living room performances blend dance, music, with an abundance of love and joy!
Deisha A. King is an interdisciplinary movement artist and educator passionate about using art and movement as tools for empowerment, healing, and transformation. Navigating various health challenges led her on a path of learning and leaning further into holistic health and movement as a healing modality. In 2021, Deisha completed Qiqong and The Chinese Five Elements Teacher Training under the guidance of Mimi-Kuo Deemer and is an apprentice of Kathryn Davis of the Kun Li Sheng School of Applied Healing Arts. Currently, Deisha is a freelance artist and creative collaborator with Gesel Mason Performance Projects, where she contributes to both the creative direction and organizational aspects of the company’s work. Most recent credits with the company include a retreat experience, and performance in Phillipsburg, Sint Maarten, in summer 2024. Deisha is excited to continue exploring the possibilities of cross-disciplinary collaboration and embodied storytelling through movement.
Katie Kunselman describes herself as a versatile and hard working dancer with lots of drive and dedication towards her work. Kunselman began dancing at the age of nine and has extensive training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, and Contemporary dance. Recently, Kunselman earned a BFA degree in Modern Dance performance at the University of South Florida. While training in her college years, she became exposed to different modern/contemporary techniques and had the privilege of working with Guest Choreographers that visited the University in her time there. Some of the notable people Kunselman has worked with include Stephanie Martinez, Marc Brew, and Kate Weare, as well as performing in faculty works. Kunselman had the opportunity to participate in the Paris Abroad Program in the Summer of 2023 where she learned styles of African Dance, elements of William Forsythe, and many other techniques within Master Classes. Her leadership skills are evidenced through her participation in the Dance Education Organization Board, where she held positions as Historian, Junior Vice President, and President in her senior year. Now graduated, Kunselman has been dancing professionally with the Tampa City Ballet Company and has also been teaching and choreographing for young dancers in Tampa.
Sharon McCaman was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. She began pursuing her dance degree at St. Petersburg College where she earned her AA. She then went on to receive her BFA in Dance at the University of South Florida in Tampa. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Sharon founded the annual Dance Shorts: College Film Festival. Sharon filled the role of artistic director for the festival for five years. Sharon graduated from Arizona State University, where she obtained her MFA in Dance, Interdisciplinary Digital Media and Performance. While at Arizona State University her research was focused on discovering innovative ways to combine dance and technology. This included: investigating the manner in which the body interacts with technology, developing technology as a pedagogical tool for dance, and combining dance and technology in creative and artistic practices. Provoked by her thirst for knowledge, she yearns to create work that will challenge, grow, and inform her ideas. It is from this place of continued self-exploration that she approaches the process of creating art. She is an interdisciplinary artist who works with a multitude of different media including, but not limited to, classical and contemporary movement techniques, digital media design, projection design, production design, sculpture, live video manipulation, and sensor technologies. She creates work that prioritizes the body and physical movement as well as the crafting of physical materials and the manipulation of technology. Aesthetically, her work often includes components of repetition and accumulation, while still leaving room for agency and interactivity, both for herself and for others. Sharon is currently working as a Project Manager for the Tampa Bay Rays Creative Team and also works as a freelance interdisciplinary artist, teacher, and designer.
In The Process and Will be in Petal No. 2 = Fernando Chonqui