Staff

Meet the part-time staff—artists themselves, by the way—who work hard to fulfill Base’s mission to elevate experimentation and put flexible, exceptional space in reach of artists.

Julia Sloane, Programs and Operations Manager Originally from North Carolina, Julia Sloane is a multifaceted artist and producer with a love for experimental performance. Sloane received a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts in 2015; since then, she has worked professionally with Dayna Hanson, Peggy Piacenza, Heather Kravas, Jody Kuehner/Cherdonna, and Kate Wallich, among other projects. Her own work has been presented in Northwest NextFest and Trigger: New Dance Happenings, as well as in multiple self-produced dance films. Sloane currently resides in NYC, working as a freelance dance artist and Pilates instructor.

Aaron Butler, Technical Director
Aaron Michael Butler is a percussionist, composer/sound artist, and educator based in Seattle, WA. As an advocate for contemporary music, his concerts regularly feature new commissions from emerging composers as well as modern classics and overlooked works from the 20th and 21st centuries all with a concerted effort to represent the diversity of voices in contemporary classical and experimental music.

Recent performance highlights include presentations at the 2022 Percussive Arts Society International Convention; premiere performances of Michael Gordon's Field of Vision at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, PS21, and Mass MoCA; and performances with The Harry Partch Instrumentarium and Luciano Chessa's Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners. As a composer he has worked closely with choreographer Ani Javian and presented their collaborative work the earth is old, we are ancient at NPAK in Yerevan, Armenia in 2022. Other commissions include choreographer Travis Gatling, filmmaker Chris Lange, Bristol-based potter Steve Carter, the Ohio University Wind Symphony, and the Cincinnati Soundwebs project.

Photo by Jim Coleman

Catriona Urquhart, 12 Minutes Max Coordinator
Catriona Urquhart (she/her) is a lighting designer and stage manager based in Seattle, WA. Originally from Denver, CO, she received a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts in 2020. She currently coordinates 12 Minutes Max at Base and works on the tech team at Theatre Off Jackson. Catriona's freelance work has included projects with Dayna Hanson, Scott Shoemaker, Kyrin Grey, Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam, and the Stay Up Late Show. She also makes paper.

Photo by Original Studios

Akoiya Harris, Marketing and Programming Assistant
Akoiya Harris is a movement artist based in Seattle Washington. Her work uses a queer Black gaze to explore ways communal and personal stories can be interwoven into dance works. She has collected oral histories on behalf of Wa Na Waris Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute, and Black Collectivity. Akoiya has also participated in the Black Embodiments Studio Arts Writing Incubator. As a choreographer, she has shown work at the Seattle Art Museum, Wa Na Wari, On The Boards, Friends of the Waterfront, Velocity Dance Center, The Moore Theater, and more. Akoiya is a founding member of Black Collectivity, a group that explores memory and culture through embodied responses. Following a matriarchal lineage of teachers, Akoiya is a dance educator working with youth at Ailey Camp and Pacific Northwest Ballet. She has also performed with Spectrum Dance Theater, Will Rawls, Zoe|Juniper, Third Rail Projects, The Congregation, and SoloMagic. She is a 2023-2024 Base Resident Artist.

Dayna Hanson, Co-founder & Interim Co-director
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Dayna Hanson has been active as a choreographer, director, filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist since 1987. A Guggenheim and United States Artists Fellow in dance, Hanson’s work has been presented in venues and festivals throughout North America and Europe. With Gaelen Hanson, she co-directed dance theater company 33 Fainting Spells from 1994 – 2006, creating six critically acclaimed, evening-length, touring works. Her debut feature film, Improvement Club, premiered in Narrative Competition at SXSW in 2013. She wrote, choreographed and directed an episode of HBO's TV series, Room 104 by The Duplass Brothers. Dayna is an Artist Trust Arts Innovator awardee and a 2017 MacDowell Fellow.

Peggy Piacenza, Co-founder & Interim Co-director
Originally from Chicago, Peggy Piacenza has been creating work and building community in Seattle for over 30 years. Her work embodies a wide spectrum of experience drawing from explorations in improvisation, video art, performance, meditation and interdisciplinary collaborations. Her latest work, The Forever Project, premiered at On the Boards in January 2024. She is currently in rehearsals with NYC/Toronto-based performance collective, Same As Sister (S.A.S.). She has collaborated and performed with Seattle-based dance-theater companies 33 Fainting Spells and Pat Graney Company, choreographers Dayna Hanson, Stephanie Skura, Deborah Hay, and others. She is a 2010 graduate of Smith College, where she was an Ada Comstock Scholar. Peggy was the inaugural recipient of Smith College’s Helen Gurley Brown Magic Grant as well as a 2024 recipient of the Artist Trust Fellowship Award.

Curators

Independent artists Nia-Amina Minor, Bennyroyce Royon and Parmida Ziaei are currently fulfilling two-year terms as co-curators of the Base Residency Program, helping define the parameters and priorities of the program, leading the artist selection process and offering mentorship and connection to Base Resident Artists throughout the season.

Nia-Amina Minor

Nia-Amina Minor (she/they) is a movement artist, choreographer, curator, and educator originally from Los Angeles. Her work focuses on the body and what it carries using physical and archival research to explore memory and history. She approaches her practice as an imaginative space grounded in rhythm where improvisation, Black vernacular movement, and choreography meet. Nia-Amina has received regional and national commissions for her choreographic and film work and has a working background as a performer and dramaturg. She is co-founder of Black Collectivity, a collaborative project that explores and celebrates memory and culture through embodied responses. As a performer Nia-Amina has worked with artists such as Zoe Juniper, Will Rawls, Alice Gosti, dani tirrell and Amy O'Neal. From 2016-2021 she was a Company Artist at Spectrum Dance Theater under the direction of Donald Byrd and in 2021 she was recognized as Dance Magazine's 25 Artists to Watch. Nia-Amina has also provided dramaturgical assistance to choreographers Jade Solomon-Curtis (Keeper of Sadness 2023) and Donald Byrd (Grief 2022). As a curator, she has developed programming at On the Boards, Wa Na Wari, Velocity Dance Center and Base. From 2014-2016, she was a co-founder and curator of Los Angeles based collective, No)one Art House. As an Educator, she has taught, guest lectured, and been a visiting artist at CalArts, University of Washington, Saddleback College, Cypress College, and UC Irvine. Nia-Amina received her MFA in Dance from UC Irvine and a BA from Stanford University and is based in Seattle.

**Bennyroyce Royon**

Bennyroyce Royon (he/they/siya) is a queer, immigrant, Filipino-American multidisciplinary dance artist and cultural producer living and working between Seattle and New York City. Royon is passionate about performing arts, education, and community building through dance. Inspired by love, people, nature, and the cosmos, his/their choreography and world-building projects explore identity, culture, and the idea of belonging.
He/They received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the Juilliard School, and performed works by Eliot Feld, José Limón, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Ronald K. Brown, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Alan Hineline, Jill Johnson, Jessica Lang, and Aszure Barton. Royon worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, New York Philharmonic, and with professional dance companies including Armitage Gone! Dance, Sidra Bell Dance New York, Carolyn Dorfman Dance, Cas Public, and is a founding member of Bad Boys of Dance. The New York Times has noted his/their "keenly focused, succinct way with movement.”
Royon received choreographic commissions from Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Hispánico, Point Park University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, American University, DeSales University, and The Joffrey Academy of Dance to name a few. He/They received two CUNY Dance Initiative residencies, Velocity Dance Center’s Creative Resident Award, and The Joffrey Ballet’s Winning Works Choreography Award. He/They received grants from the MAP Fund, 4Culture, and Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.
His/Their project-based contemporary dance company, Bennyroyce Dance, performed in New York City at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Joyce Theater, Baruch Performing Arts Center, The Ailey Studios, Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, Bryant Park Presents, and more. The company also performed in other cities including Seattle, Bellevue, and St. Louis.
Royon belongs to several communities as a co-chair of the Eastside Culture Coalition, Inspire Washington member, Artist-in-Residence at the Filipino Community of Seattle, and as a Washington State Arts Commissioner. This is his/their second year as a co-curator for the Base Residency Program. More info at www.bennyroyce.com.
*Photo by Jeriel Calamayan for Filipinotown Magazine*

Parmida Ziaei

**Parmida Ziaei** is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist based in Seattle. Parmida's work is often informed by her identity as an Iranian immigrant and is inspired by her background in architecture and theatre. As a performer, Parmida often combines her training in various dance forms including Classical Persian dance and contemporary movement to create a unique movement style that represents her merging identities and explores resilience, culture, and social-political issues. In her teaching and choreography work, she is interested in cultivating and nurturing how each person's body embodies movement informed by their experiences to tell a story, express emotions, and show resilience. As a designer, Parmida has designed various interior, architectural, immersive, and entertainment spaces and has been a scenic and production designer with many Seattle theatres including ACT, Village Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, and ArtsWest among others. Parmida is the co-founder of Seda Iranian Theatre Ensemble and has been the recipient of multiple residencies including the 2022 Northwest Creator Residency at Village Theatre. parmidaziaei.com

Board of Directors

Jim Kent, President
John Robinson, Treasurer
Natalie Sandoval
Nikolai Lesnikov
Alice De Muizon
Sharon Park