Scapegoat Garden

Present Collaborators

Dancer and choreographer Mano Preto (José Emanuel Brandão) co-founded Raiz di Polon Contemporary Dance Company in 1991 in the city of the Praia, Cape Verde. In 1994, Raiz di Polon encountered contemporary European dance for the first time when the company participated in the performance project Dançar Cabo Verde, directed by Clara Andermatt and Paulo Ribeiro of Prémio Acarte. This project was followed by, Dançar o que é Nosso a few years later. In 1997, Raiz di Polon, created its first contemporary dance work, Até ao Fim, which premiered in Cape Verde and later in Portugal. Lessons from these early projects continue to form the foundation for Raiz di Polon and form the basis for the training of new dancers, the development of new choreographic works, and are applied to the traditional Cape Verdean dance forms to expand their impact for modern audiences.

Under Mano Preto's direction, Raiz di Polon has received many awards, including an Investiture of Cultural Merit from the Government of the Republic of Cape Verde as well as a Medal of Recognition from the town council of Praia. The company’s work is also featured in the 2007 documentary film Movement (R)evolution Africa, by Joan Frosch and Alla Kovgan. Raiz di Polon’s choreographic works have been presented in Cape Verde, Portugal, Germany, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Holland, Romania, Croatia, Denmark, Wales, Belgium, Senegal, Brazil, Cuba, Switzerland, Mali, United States the America, United Kingdom, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa, the Canary Islands, Mauritius, Comoros, Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, Kenya, and Niger. Raiz di Polon is, along with artists like Cesária Évora, an important cultural ambassador, transmitting Cape Verde’s cultural heritage throughout the world through its dance, song, language, literature and theater.

Sarah Weiss began her dance training in Dallas, Texas at the wee age of three, when her parents planted her in ballet class because she couldn't sit still. After many pointe shoe fittings and new pairs of pink tights, Sarah made the switch to modern dance and never looked back.

She graduated from Bates College with a B.S. in Biology and received a One Year certificate from London Contemporary Dance School at The Place. Sarah also holds an MFA from the University of Utah where she taught undergraduate non-majors classes and explored the physical and psychological realms of boundaries. She has performed in works by Sean Curran, Maura Ngyuen Donahue, Doug Elkins, Bebe Miller, Marcy Plavin, Sara Sweet Rabidoux, Kaye Richards and Doug Varone.

Since her arrival in New Haven in December 2003, Sarah has taught children’s creative movement at Yale University and led workshops for Waterbury’s Brass City Ballet’s Reading in Motion program, which integrated dance and reading in public school classrooms. She has also performed with Yale Repertory Theater and with local choreographer Mary Barnett. Sarah is currently an Assistant Director of Annual Giving at Yale University and has been dancing with Scapegoat Garden since 2005.

Past Collaborators


	Hanna Kivioja is originally from Finland, where she has recently returned to live and work. She is a BA Hons graduate in Contemporary Dance from London Contemporary Dance School at the Place, England and also studied at the California Institute of the Arts. Hanna has also studied yoga and kung fu with Damon Honeycutt and Master Hu Jianqiang. While living in the United States, Hanna was a founding member of Scapegoat Garden, danced with Full Force Dance Theater, in the works of Amber Sloan, Nicole Wolcott, and Julian Barnett, and collaborated with Leela Leela Dance Theatre. Hanna has served as choreographer and assistant director in numerous projects in Connecticut and New York. As a teaching artist, Hanna has taught dance and yoga at a number of institutions including Hartford Conservatory, Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Dance Connecticut, and Peridance in NYC.

	Tony Olivares was born in Managua, Nicaragua. His dance training began in Edmonton, although he had performed in Managua, Mexico and the United States before that time. In Edmonton, Tony assisted the dance program at Grant MacEwan College. Later he formed Dirty Feet Productions, a dance collective which was active for 3 years and produced 5 independent shows. Tony performed and trained in Improvisation in Montreal, New York, at Bennington College, and at EarthDance in Massachusetts. Tony moved to Hartford in 2003 to study massage therapy at the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy. He is a graduate of Hartford Conservatory where he earned a certificate in dance pedagogy. He is currently a student in the Theater and Dance department at Trinity College.

	Damon Honeycutt is a transdisciplinary artist whose work involves the cohesion of many traditions. He holds an MA in Conscious Evolution and Integral Studies from The Graduate Institute and a BFA from California Institute of the Arts in music composition and cross cultural dance studies. Damon is a grassroots martial arts practitioner and yogi with twenty years of experience. He is the founder of The Temple of the Monkey, through which he teaches Taoist Yoga, and Monkey Kung Fu as well as creates programs and apprenticeships in those fields. Damon is a founding member of Scapegoat Garden and has worked with Nai Ni Chen dance company, Mei Yin Ng, Beijing Opera company Yuan, I Nyoman Wenten and the Burat Wangi Gamelan, Oddfellows Playhouse, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Leela Dance theater and has been featured at numerous martial art festivals and independent films. He currently performs with Pilobolus Dance Theater.

	Jennifer Morley received her BA in Dance from Hofstra University. The Connecticut native earned an MFA in dance at Temple University where she currently directs the dance conditioning program. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Figments Dance Ensemble which is dedicated to inspiring students to use movement as a means for communication by creating and performing ground-breaking modern dance works for children of all ages - offering workshops, lecture demonstrations and residencies. She is a certified Pilates instructor, performs with several choreographers in Philadelphia, and produces her own choreographic works.

	Ana Manuela Jara is from Bogota, Colombia where she began her dance training. She performed and toured Colombia with the pre-professional modern dance company “Danta Danza”. Manuela is a Magna Cum Laud graduate from the Hartt School/University of Hartford BFA program. She was a member of the Touring Ensemble, performing in works by Martha Graham, Peggy Lyman and Katie Stevinson-Nollet, and had the privilege of performing at Jacob's Pillow and the Festival of Arts and Ideas Festival in New Haven. She served on the faculty of the School of Dance Connecticut and performed with Greater Hartford area artists, including Full Force Dance Theater, the Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble as well as Scapegoat Garden. She is currently a dance teacher and entrepeneur back home in Colombia.

	Anne Tegtmeier originally trained in Denver, Colorado and went on to receive her BFA from The Boston Conservatory in 1996. Since then she has danced in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and has performed with various modern dance companies in the Hartford area, including the Bare Bones Project and Scapegoat Garden. Anne is a licensed massage therapist.