Mission Statement and Biography

casebolt and smith are committed to exploring the collaborative process as a means of creating clever, socially charged and humorous dances that challenge traditional representations of marginalized bodies.

While in the process of enjoying two distinctly individual careers in performance and choreography, Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith met and discovered a shared desire to make dances that confront conventional notions of dance making. They formed casebolt and smith in the spring of 2005. Their focus on collaboration has enabled them to collide two diverse histories, exposing layers of social, cultural, gendered, sexual, and educational differences. casebolt and smith have presented work all over Southern California including Focus Fish Studios in Hollywood, Garrison Theater in Claremont, Burnight Theater in Norwalk and at The Loft in Los Angeles. They were invited to perform at the Phoenix Theater in Phoenix, AZ, at UC Riverside for Dance Under Construction 8, and at Scripps College. casebolt and smith were recently selected to participate in Hothouse; a three week residency at UCLA that fosters the development of new work by Los Angeles based dance makers, curated by Victoria Marks. Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, CA will produce an evening of their dances in the fall of 2006.

Artist Biographies

Liz Casebolt is a dancer/choreographer/educator currently residing in Los Angeles. She began her dance training with Doris Driver and Finis Jhung and earned a B.F.A. in dance from New York University. While in New York, Liz danced with Partridge/Benford/Dance/Music and Claire Henry and Dancers. She has danced in works by Cliff Keuter, Michael Montanero, Ellen Bromberg, Ann Carlson and many others. In Phoenix, AZ Liz was a principal dancer with Frances Cohen's Center Dance Ensemble, performing lead roles in Hamlet, La Llorona, A Streetcar Named Desire, and the title role in The Snow Queen. She was also a founding member of Lisa Starry's Scorpius Dance Theatre, and was the Artistic Director of lizcasebolt&dancers. The Arizona Republic wrote: Caseboltturns her head or kicks a leg, and you know she expects the world to take note.
Liz was adjunct faculty at Scottsdale Community College, where she also co-directed the SCC Moving Company and served as Assistant to the Dance Director, handling departmental public relations and student activities and recruitment. She was also on faculty at Glendale and Phoenix Colleges. She was the Program Coordinator at Arizona Sunrays Dance Center, and developed and taught an after school dance program for the City of Phoenix, teaching at over 20 elementary schools. She taught a residency for the Phoenix Arts Commissions PACARTS program, and was an artist-in-residence for the Wolftrap Foundation, in which she trained head start (pre-K) teachers on using the arts in the classroom. In Los Angeles, she teaches residencies on dance and self-esteem for Aimee Arts Productions, and taught movement, health and fitness for Lokahi Outreach.
Liz's choreography has been presented in Phoenix,AZ at the Herberger Theater, the Orpheum Theater, SCC Performing Arts Center, and the 3rd St. Theater; and in Tucson, AZ at Pima College . She moved to Los Angeles in the fall of 2004 and currently dances with Hassan Christophers The Company of Strangers and Susan Rose and Dancers. She has produced choreography with collaborating artist Joel Smith at the Phoenix Theater, AZ, Scripps College Garrison Theater, Cerritos College and at Focus Fish Studios. Liz is currently an MFA candidate for Experimental Choreography at UC Riverside, expected to graduate spring 2007.

Joel Smith received his Master of Fine Arts degree for Experimental Choreography from UC Riverside in 2004. His choreography has been produced at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, CA on several different occasions, the Phoenix Theater in Phoenix, AZ, and various college campuses around southern California, and his career as a concert-dance artist has taken him to New York City, Boston, Miami, Phoenix, and to Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has been invited by professors in dance studies at both UCLA and UCR to deliver lectures on making dances and the choreographers process. He has studied and continues to work with some of the most prolific dance/body scholars in the world including Susan Foster, Anna B. Scott and Marta Savigliano, as well as nationally and internationally recognized dance makers including Susan Rose, Doug Varone, Joe Goode, Blondell Cummings, Lea Anderson and Marlies Yearby. He continues to create work that deals with social and political issues and his research involves interrogating representations of masculinity in performance as well as gay identity and dance construction. Aside from experimental concert dance he has extensive commercial credits including dancing for pop artists Ricky Martin and Thalia as well as appearing on film and television. His true passion, however, lies within the classroom, where he finds himself making more of a difference than anywhere. Smith is on faculty at Scripps College in Claremont, CA where he teaches jazz and modern technique, and at Cerritos College in Norwalk, CA where he teaches modern technique and dance history. Smith was a company member of Susan Rose and Dancers for three years; is currently dancing with Hassan Christopher and The Company of Strangers and was recently named one of LAs Finest contemporary male dancers by Dance Spirit Magazine.