LOUD VOICES’ CAST and COLLABORATORs

Diamond Gant (she/her) is 24 years old and born and raised in Chicago, IL. She has danced since she could crawl but officially began her training at the age of 4. Dance has always been a way for her to fully express herself. Diamond has taken lessons in styles such as tap, ballet, modern and jazz but her favorite style of dance is hip-hop. While attending college, she minored in dance and was involved in various dance organizations such as a hip-hop dance group, Scorch, an African dance team, Afro Descent, and the Korean Pop dance team, KO/OP. Kpop (or Korean pop music) was a new found interest of mine that began in college and only grew stronger once I graduated. I am currently the co-director of one of Chicago’s most diverse Korean Pop Dance Cover Team’s called MINT.

Jada Rose Cunningham (she/her) is a Chicago born and raised dancer, performer and educator. She received her master’s degree in Dance Education under the direction of Barbara Bashaw in May of 2016. Before earning her master’s degree, Ms. Cunningham received her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Mason Gross School of The Arts. Throughout her five years of immersion with New York City artists, she had the opportunity of performing works by Steffanie Batten Bland, Manuel Vignouelle, Doug Elkins, and Sidra Bell. She has performed in two American College Dance Festival Gala performances in the Northeastern Conference, as well nationally at the American College Dance Festival Gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C in 2014. Preceding graduation, Ms. Cunningham partnered with After School Matters to create and instruct an original dance program, “Soul Du Ballet,” which offers apprenticeships for Chicago Public School students. In 2017, Ms. Cunningham joined Hubbard Street’s education, youth, and community programs as a teaching Artist. After a two year performance apprenticeship with professional, jazz dance company Inaside Chicago Dance, Ms. Cunningham became the full-time dance teacher at Michelle Obama School of Technology and Performing Arts in Park Forest, Illinois. Ms. Cunningham is currently serving her third year on staff at Michelle Obama School of Technology and Performing Arts. 

Kait Dessoffy (they/them) is a freelance dancer and choreographer. They have danced with VADCO, Synapse Arts and Meadow's Dance Collective. Kait was most recently seen in LOUD BODIES' Legalize Menstruation, and is psyched to continue working with this incredible company. They've shown work at Delve, Alive and Well, and various collaborative concerts throughout Chicago. Kait spent the pandemic unionizing their day job and cannot wait to pour all that energy into this piece. 

Born and raised in Davao City, Philippines, Dee Alaba (she/her) is a dance artist and a transfemme person of color who graduated with a BFA from The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago in 2017. Since graduating, Dee has navigated through the industry as a trans artist and has expanded her network and collaborated with companies and independent artists such as The Cambrians, LOUD BODIES, and Thodos Dance Chicago. Dee has worked with dance artist Erin Kilmurray, collaborating in her work Search Party Dances ‘18 and as a member of the Honey Cast for The Fly Honey Show X. Aside from performing, she has also created choreography for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Dance Program. Dee is currently dancing with The Seldoms and is very excited to be collaborating with Loud Bodies again.

Aaliyah Christina (she/her) curates and makes dances that center mental health and healing of the Black American femme. She often incorporates her cultures coming from both the South (Louisiana) and East coast (Maryland). She founded Catalyst Movmnt (2017) to share spaces with artists and audiences as they negotiate and acknowledge their vulnerabilities as they perform and witness, respectively. She has worked with mentors + artists like Onye Ozuzu, Kristina Isabelle, Darrell Jones, and Darling Shear. Her work has been featured in j e l l o, Links Hall’s CoMISSION Festival of New Works, and Project Tool in SET FREE. Aaliyah has co-curated Elevate Chicago Dance 2018, La Femme Dance Festival 2019, and The Fly Honey Show X. Her writing has also been featured in The Dance Center of Columbia College Blog and Performance Response Journal. She desires to continue bridging the gap between performers and witnesses by focusing on acts of understanding, self-love, and communal care.

Kaleigh Dent (she/her) is a recent graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. She has been a part of works created by choreographers like Endalyn Taylor, Linda Lehovac, Olga Žitluhina, and Jennifer Monson. Her recent performance experience includes dancing in Intensity. Transcendency. by Ginny Ching-Yin Lo (2020) and in her own work Surfin' for Inaside Dance Chicago Virtual Choreography Competition.  She has been teaching dance for the past 4 years at various studios in Illinois and continues to create and perform as the opportunity arises. Kaleigh is very excited to dance and perform with LOUD BODIES this season!

Maddy McCarthy (she/they) recently graduated from Indiana University with a BFA in contemporary dance and a minor in exercise science. While studying at IU she practiced modern dance techniques such as Graham, Limón, and Horton as well as contemporary somatic/release practices and several forms of West African. In addition, she served as director/treasurer/choreographer of an on-campus dance group as well as organized, choreographed, and danced in several student-run showcases. In IU productions she was cast in pieces by Bill T. Jones and Stephanie Batten-Bland, and danced the role of Twyla Tharp in the first ever re-staging of Deuce Coupe. She hopes to work professionally as a dancer and choreographer throughout her twenties and then pursue a Master’s degree in contemporary dance, dance pedagogy, choreography, and/or dance movement therapy.

Marceia L. Scruggs (she/her) is a Chicago based dancemaker, creator, and collaborator. She is a 2019 Links Hall Co-Mission artist and Chicago Dancemakers Forum (CDF) Greenhouse recipient. As a creative, Marceia values writing, performance, and storytelling highly driven by her inquiry in womxn’s/gender studies and rooted in high energy movement practice. Her recent work will be presented at Holding Common Ground: Pathways to Cultural Exchange in Vietnam 2021 (Virtual). Her previous works have also been presented at RAD Fest (Kalamazoo, MI), Old Town School of Folk Music, La Femme Dance Festival, Links Hall (Chicago), Black Coffee & Raw Sugar Series, and The Edge Theatre (Chicago). Additionally, this is Marceia's fourth season as a company member with Red Clay Dance Company.