FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

2020 - present

Catherine is highly engaged in community work, and is best known for running reoccuring safe, socially distanced, often outdoor, traveling dance festivals throughout the Eastern seaboard.

This began as a way to keep art alive during Covid-19 in Atlanta, GA - a city highly underfunded in art and lacking in public support. Now, she has hosted many nights of performances and partnered with many organizations for donated space and resources including mignolo dance, Uptown Atlanta, Decatur School of Ballet, the Neighborhood Ballet and The B-Complex.

Her three yearly festivals include the Fall for Fall Dance Festival (hosted in Atlanta, GA), the Spring for Spring Dance Festival (hosted in Metuchen, NJ) and the unKEMpT Dance Festival (hosted in NYC in collaboration with Emmy Wildermuth).

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Over thirty local choreographers are showcased at each weekend, each hiring their own set of dancers. What makes this festival unique from the standard module?

-All ticket sales and donations go directly to the artists involved.

-No application fee.

-Complementary photos and videos to every choreographer.

Each night is at a different location in order to provide accessibility to the city. The evening often has a DJ and visual art as well. Messina creates the application, arranges the schedule, oversees all marketing and ticketing, secures the locations, and runs the technical production of the events.

Fall for Fall and Spring for Spring come with a Director's Choice Award. This recipient receives studio space and the chance to showcase their work at an in-studio performance. Past recipients include five.two dance company, Julia Ramirez, and Charlotte Angermeier.

Vision

SEE MORE PHOTOS

With the growing cost of classes, Messina and Wildermuth often collaborate on bringing an affordable class series the morning or days leading up to the festival. This allows for growth of community.

At this time we have offered partnering, floorwork, countertechnique, release technique, and more at $10 for a two hour class.

Class Series

Residency Program

Rogue wave believes in the core mission of making the dance world smaller. This means connecting more individuals, engaging more in processes, and lifting as we climb. Through the Dance Artist Residency, the communities of New York and Atlanta (North and South hubs of dance) will be connected. This will serve as a vehicle to bring new and exciting choreographers to new cities to create dance in an intensive style on independent professional artists, and then be performed for the public at the Fall for Fall Dance Festival. This opportunity makes it possible for emerging and mid-career dancers to work curiously and freely toward an end goal that feeds the dance community and city.

During the course of the residency, one dance artist from New York City will come to Atlanta to set a new work of choreography over five days and teach local students. This piece will be created with Atlanta based dance artists who apply for the residency process. It will be a first come first serve basis. The reverse will happen for Spring for Spring.