Gunta Liepina-Miller is the founder and Artistic Director of PYDC. She is a Latvian choreographer, dancer, dance instructor, and Fulbright scholar currently working in Southern California. She got her MFA in Dance at University of California, Irvine, and her BFA in dance in Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music. In addition, she has studied at CODARTS Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands, Tsech summer academy in Moscow, Ate9 in LA, Mark Morris, Complexions contemporary ballet in NYC, and many more.
As a dancer she has performed with ballet company Grande, Indra Reinholde chamber ballet, contemporary dance company Kairos in Los Angeles, Emergent dance company and has worked with such choreographers as Lisa Naugle, Jessica Torres, Keith Derreck – Randolph, Mario Camacho, Anouk van Dijk, Hans van Manen, Lorand Zachar. She has also worked as a commercial dancer and choreographer for TV shows The X Factor and Your Face Sounds Familiar.
Gunta’s works have been showcased in Highways Space in Santa Monica, The Latvian National Opera in Latvia, Lithuania, Thailand, China, Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Israel, etc. Gunta’s reimagined ballet Nutcracker was nominated for the Latvian Dance Awards and received the audience choice award. Her choreography and dancers advanced to the semi finals in the TV show Dance Revolution in Lithuania. She has been awarded second place at the prestigious Palm Desert Choreography Festival. Her students have won and been recognized at the Youth America Grand Prix semi finals and finals. She has been awarded the Outstanding Choreographer award at the YAGP and ICON Dance Awards convention. Her students have been accepted at the Juilliard, USC, Arts Umbrella, Buttler Ballet, Latvian ballet school classical and contemporary dance programs, The Northern School of Contemporary Dance in UK, Copenhagen Contemporary dance school, Elephant in the Black Box Youth Dance Company in Spain,UC Irvine and many more.
Together with her husband Stefan Miller she has established the Young Artist Residency in Kuldiga, Latvia for young emerging singers and dancers.
Spenser Theberge is a performer, creator, and educator based in Los Angeles. His work is centered in multidisciplinary practice, including the use of dance, theater, text, film, design, and pedagogy to create genre-defying, innovative performance, visual art, and education environments.
His commissions and collaborations span a range of artists and organizations including The Broad Museum, Taylor Swift, Gibney Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, LA Dance Project, MOCA Geffen, The Juilliard School, NAVEL, Savage x Fenty, Ben Platt, the NY Times Magazine, The Today Show, LAX Festival, and Gothenburg Opera Dance Company, among others.
Spenser is the first ever Artist In Residence at The Juilliard School of Dance, as well as an Artist In Residence at USC’s Kaufman School of Dance, and a former faculty member at the California Institute for the Arts. He has been an invited guest educator at the National Theater of Taiwan, BE Moving, Nuova Officina della Danza, CLI Conservatory, Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst, and Springboard Danse, among others.
Spenser has performed the works of the world’s most influential choreographers as a former dancer with Nederlands Dans Theater and The Forsythe Company, and has been a guest artist with Kidd Pivot, Gothenburg Opera Dance Company, the ARIAS Company, Astrid Boons. He is a YoungArts winner, a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and a Princess Grace Award winner, as well as a proud graduate of the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics and The Juilliard School.
Bret Easterling is a queer multidisciplinary artist, director, and educator creating performance, film, and community-based projects that center movement as a tool for connection, inquiry, and collective experience. He received his BFA and the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreography from The Juilliard School, was a formative member of Gallim Dance and became a prominent performer and contributor to Ohad Naharin’s internationally renowned Batsheva Dance Company.
Described as a “tour-de-force” by LA Dance Chronicle, Easterling has created and presented work across live performance and interdisciplinary platforms at institutions including Jacob’s Pillow, Lincoln Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, 92NY, Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, REDCAT, Opera Philadelphia, LA Dance Project, AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), Whim W’Him, Backhausdance, b12, Dance Camera West, Dance on Camera Festival, and Hauser & Wirth. His collaborative practice includes projects with the John Cage Trust, Kesha, 2hollis, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and he maintains an artistic partnership with Julia Eichten as EICHTERLING, spanning choreography, curation, film, and fashion.
As Founder and Artistic Director of the LGBTQ+ nonprofit BEMOVING, Easterling builds infrastructure supporting the creation, presentation, and sustainability of dance. He is on faculty at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, co-director of Ghost Light Residency, co-founder of PAY DANCERS, and an Ilan Lev Method practitioner, grounding his work in care for artists.
Braylon Browner is a Los Angeles-based dancer, choreographer, educator, and student at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. He first gained widespread recognition through his viral presence on TikTok and as a finalist on Season 18 of So You Think You Can Dance, establishing himself as one of the industry's rising young artists.
As a performer, Braylon's credits include Despertares in Mexico City, Gala de Danza at London's Rambert, the Youth America Grand Prix Galas in Houston and at the prestigious Lincoln Center in New York City, and the 30th Anniversary Fire Island Dance Festival. He has also appeared in a GAP campaign music video.
A weekly instructor at Millennium Dance Complex in Los Angeles, Braylon has taught master classes and intensives at renowned studios and conventions across North America and internationally, including Steps on Broadway, Artistic Dance Exchange, Hit The Floor (Quebec), Kairos Dance Convention (New Zealand), Movement Dance Journey (Poland), and numerous premier competitive dance studios and conventions throughout the United States and Canada. As a choreographer, he continues to hone his artistic voice while inspiring the next generation of artists through creation, performance, and community.
Kazuma Brailsford is a Hawaii native who holds 2x the Best Dancer title from Dance Awards, specializing in multiple genres of Hip Hop along with Contemporary.
He has 10+ years of experience within Hip Hop foundations and freestyling, and he's currently on GRV's junior team, the GRaVy Babies. He puts all his passion into dancing and loves to express himself freely within his movement and musicality. Kazuma's goal when teaching his choreography is to challenge dancers with a push of unfamiliar movement while creating a fun atmosphere.
PYDC Summer Intensive
A focused two-day training experience designed for serious young dancers ready to push their technique, artistry, and versatility. The intensive brings together an exceptional faculty of established artists and emerging voices in dance, offering dancers the opportunity to work closely with Gunta Liepina Miller, Spenser Theberge, Bret Easterling, Braylon Browner and Kazuma Brailsford in an intimate studio setting.
Schedule:
Sunday, 9/20 10am-4:30 Gunta Liepina, Miller, Bret Easterling, Spenser Theberge and Braylon Browner
Monday, 9/21 6:30-7:30 Kazuma Brailsford (ages 10-12)
7:30-9 Kazuma Brailsford (ages 10-12)
With a limited number of participants, the intensive is designed to provide focused training, meaningful interaction with faculty, and an environment that challenges dancers to grow as artists and performers.
Registration
PYDC. Non-PYDC
Full Intensive $295 $325
Sunday Only $275 $295
Sunday Drop-In $80
Monday with Kazuma $40