Casual and Connected
Live Dance Vignettes with Katie Moorhead and music by Ian Q Banno
Saturday, December 4, 2021
12 - 3 pm
Free, drop-in event
Dancer Katie Moorhead collaborates with bassist Ian Q. Banno to present a series of improvised dances responding to the 2021 Members’ Show and the gallery audience.
Katie and Ian will be in the gallery from noon until 3 pm on Saturday, December 4. This is an opportunity to see two performers interact and build dance and music in the moment.
This ‘drop in’ event is casual and aims to provide a connected audience experience.
Photograph courtesy of Eric Hovermale
About the Artists
Katie Moorhead
Katie Moorhead trained at Oxford Center for Dance and began to choreograph from age 9. She credits this early introduction of her knowledge and creativity in music and story to her Director and first ballet teacher, Dina Gazzero. Her dance career extends from age 15, performing with Russian Ballet Theater, DE in Robert LaFosse “Nutcracker Suite.” She placed a Silver Metal in Ballet and Contemporary junior division at the Youth American Grand Prix. Graduating with honors from the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington DC, she joined Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida and received an Honorable Merit Diploma from the Tersiphora Foundation of St. Petersburg, Russia. She has worked with numerous Ballet and Contemporary companies such as American Repertory Ballet, Staten Island Ballet, Bradley Shelver Contemporary Dance Theatre, and Collective Body Dance Lab to name a few. Katie has enjoyed performing in many beautiful countries such as Denmark, Poland, Italy, Australia and Kazakhstan. In NYC, she was Rehearsal Director for Untitled-Collective (based NYC and Australia) where she re-staged company work for various festivals. U-C was the first dance company to perform at the United Nations in NYC and Washington, DC. Katie performed in the Dumbo Festival, in Central Park for Summer Stage Festival and at City Center for Career Transition for Dancers Fundraiser.
When she wasn’t performing, she was a ballet substitute at Alvin Ailey Extension Program for Kat Wildish. During the fall of 2014, she directed and produced a benefit performance joining dancers, artist, and musicians at the Jamestown Arts Center, titled “Pro-Aesthetic.” She owns GYROTONIC® Newport where she trains golfers, sailors and anyone looking to heal or prevent injuries. Katie has been a dancer with Island Moving Company since 2013.
She enjoys continuing her education, freelancing with other artists and riding her bike to the beach.
Ian Q. Banno
Ian Banno is a professional bassist in the New England music scene. He has performance experience across many different styles of music including classical and jazz, Ian has played at the Newport Jazz Festival as a member of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute Workshop; the Vail Jazz Festival with the Vail Jazz Workshop (one of two bassists selected nationally); at Carnegie Hall as Principal Bassist of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestra; at the Berklee Performance Center with the Berklee World Strings under the direction of Eugene Friesen; and at the French Embassy in the US as a performer at the DC Jazz Festival with Jacques Schwartz-Bart. Currently a performance major at the Berklee College of Music, Ian has had the opportunity to study under legends in his field, such as Victor Wooten, John Patitucci, Bruce Gertz, Hal Crook, Dave Zinno, and Tia Fuller.