BDT’s work strives to connect our human experiences through thought and movement. This creative vision has led the company to create stories on stage, either from a work of literature, a current event, or drawing from personal experiences. Artistic Director, Danielle Ricci Cheng, works to create community through programming that supports learning and growing through the arts. At the end of the 2021-22 season, Cheng made the hard decision to forgo the professional company of dancers and focus on programming that supports our communities. Since then she has worked to provide learning opportunities through dance with the Minnesota High School Dance Festival for public school students and Dance Camera North International Dance Film Festival.
Past Collaborators
Samantha R. Crossland began her fashion design career with her label “Blasphemina’s Closet”, one of the first Lolita clothing lines in the US, in 2000. After closing “Blasphemina’s Closet” in September of 2013, she started anew with her new eponymous label “Samantha Rei”. “Samantha Rei” embodies the sweetness, femininity and attention to detail that has come to be expected from the designer.
Samantha Rei draws her inspiration from such illustrators as Chris Riddell, Brom, Tony DiTerlizzi, Brett Helquist and Mihara Mitsukazu as well as stories like Alice in Wonderland and Snow White. Her hero Alexander McQueen along with designers Vivienne Westwood, Hirooka Naoto, John Galliano, and Anna Sui have all influenced her style.
She’s been featured in Huffington Post, Shojo Beat, the American Gothic and Lolita Bible, Gothic Beauty, Glamour UK and Vogue UK. Samantha was named one of 2014 City Pages “Artists of the Year” and 2016 Best of the Twin Cities “Best Fashion Show” and 2016 and 2017 Reader’s Choice “Best Local Fashion Designer.” In 2015 she authored and illustrated a how-to book on subculture fashion design called Steampunk and Cosplay Fashion Design and Illustration. Samantha was a contestant on season 16 of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the final season to appear on the station.
Paul Herwig (Live Animated Projection Design) Paul is the co-artistic director of the dance and theater company, Off-Leash Area, now celebrating its 23rd year. Paul is a McKnight Theater Artist Fellow, and his production work has received Ivey and Sage Awards, and has been listed in the local press Best of the Year lists 21 times. Paul is a graduate of the internationally renown Lecoq School of Movement and Theater in Paris (1981-1983), and has spent four decades performing lead roles, designing sets, and creating original performance work in France, across Canada, and throughout the US.
AJ Isaacson-Zvidzwa is an international lecturer, caretaker for her brother, a former competitive dancer, performed a composition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., played and learned the oboe is not her instrument, is presently partnering with Borealis Dance Theatre to choreograph “Angels Sang to Me.” AJ has traveled to 32 states with her husband where she has taken up hiking,
kayaking, and (yet-to-catch-a-fish) angling. She is also a female, BIPOC, violist, composer, and musicologist who lives with mental illness.
AJ has partnered with musicians of Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Artaria String Quartet and other well respected Twin Cities chamber musicians including composing two pieces for soprano Maria Jette. AJ’s primary composition teachers include Randall Davidson and Linda Tutas Haugen, and she has participated in workshops with Stephen Paulus and Libby Larsen.
artistic director
Danielle Ricci Cheng is an educator, choreographer, director, and dancer. She received her BFA in Dance Performance from University of California, Irvine in 2006 under direction of Donald McKayle. In 2014 she graduated with an MA in Arts and Cultural Management from St. Mary's University of Minnesota and earned an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University in 2018. She has studied at The Ailey School in New York City as part of their Certificate in Dance Program studying with Milton Myers, Tracy Inman, Nancy Turano, and Sharon Wong. Danielle has danced professionally in California, Texas, and Minnesota performing with Loretta Livingston and Dancers, Austin Classical Ballet, Austin City Ballet, and Alternative Motion Project. She has also performed on stage with members of Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, James Sewell Ballet, and Minnesota Dance Theatre. Danielle was an adjunct professor of dance at Winona State University and now teaches at PiM High School for the Arts in Eden Prairie.
Visit www.daniellericci.net for more information about Danielle.
Board of Directors
Danielle Ricci
Mike Ricci
Sifei Cheng
Tony Xiaaj