Angela Wang (artistic director/ composition/ installations/ voice & keys) 

Dedicated to honoring past musical traditions while forging new ones, Angela Wang is a multi-faceted artist who applies her technical and creative skills in genres such as jazz, rock, contemporary classical, and alternative. A classically trained pianist and composer, she brings a passion for excellence, authenticity, and originality into artistic collaborations that produce cross-genre, multimedia projects and novel musical offerings. Along with her experience and training in production, performance, jazz music, and film scoring, Angela has led ensembles, taught courses, and provided individual instruction within collegiate and private studio settings. She is currently the artistic director of "A Story of an Island (Taiwan)" and "Connecting Island Arts.(USA)" Her musical works are performed across the globe, she collaborates with artists from the United States and her home country Taiwan, and creates multi-disciplinary works every year. In the recent years, she has been focusing on creating work that combines music and dance. Angela has composed, performed, and produced original music for albums such as: Obsession: Live at Umay Theater Taipei 2024 (2024), Allure (2022), Metamorphosis (2021), Prayer (2021), Time of Lost (2020), A Story of an Island (2019), Journey (2013), and Love Is (2010). Her work in composition and arranging includes scores for multiple commercials and films, including The Final Sutter (2012) which received a screening at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Over the course of her career, Angela has collaborated with artists like photographer Von Taipei(Taiwan), choreographer Lindsey McGill (Houston), Sylvana Cecilia Tapia (NYC), and cinematographer and playwright Jessica Wang (Taiwan), AGT finalist Christina Wells,(Houston). She has joined Michele Brangwen Dance & Music Ensemble (Houston/ NYC), performs voice, keyboard and dance.

Angela earned her Master of Music degree from New York University in Composition for Film and holds dual bachelor degrees from Berklee College of Music in Contemporary Writing & Music Production and Piano Performance. Prior to her musical career, she completed a Bachelor of Architecture, exercising her visual creativity and building the foundation for the collaborations that now pervade her career.

Joy Crissmon (choreographer & dancer) is a University Scholar from Stephen F. Austin State University with dual Bachelor’s degrees in Dance and Theatre. She is passionate about the fusion of movement and theatrical expression, believing that dance is a powerful tool for creating connection—between performers, audiences, and communities. Joy sees dance as a way to build empathy, provoke thought, and challenge harmful social constructs through shared experience.

Dawn Dippel (choreographer & dancer) has been dancing most of her life and is a former co-owner of NHPA, former co-Director and founding member of Revolve Dance Company, and a former member of the Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre. She grew up in the Houston area, graduated from Houston’s High School for the Performing & Visual Arts Dance Department, and since then continues to train in and outside of Houston. In the 2008 issue of Dance Magazine she was named as one of "25 to Watch" for up and coming artists across the country and also named one of Houston's 100 creatives by the Houston Press.  During her professional career, Dawn was fortunate to perform internationally in New York, California, Italy and Spain. Currently Dawn is teaching at Houston Ballet Academy and local community studios with pre-professional and professional students.  In addition to sharing her passion as a teacher, she is a student, dancer and choreographer in Houston.  Dawn has spent her years working beside many talented and professional artists who have all been an influence and inspiration in her journey of this art!

Dwain Travis (choreographer & dancer) is a Houston native and began training at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington DC at age 12. His professional career began with BAHBT in South Houston, where he spent four years as Principal and Artist in Residence under Luis Fuente and Lynette Mason Gregg. Other credits include: Houston Ballet, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Joffrey Ballet's JKO School, the Harid Conservatory, and Nunamaana Immersive Dance Theatre. In 2017, Dwain joined Houston Met Dance, where he performed works from Mario Zambrano, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, and Dominic Walsh among others. In 2018, he co-founded and directed Juxtapose Arts Collective in South Houston. His first piece of choreography, Dearly Departed, was selected for the RDA/SW Dance Festival and the 2010 Craft of Choreography Conference, and further awarded the RDA Choreography Connection Grant. His second piece, Pulse, was chosen for the 2012 RDA National Festival in Montreal, Canada. Other choreographic credits include: Barnstorm Dance Fest (2016), Austin Dance Project (2016 & 2017), blank/SLATE (2018 & 2019), and Houston Choreographers X6 (2019). Most recently, Dwain became a founding member of the Houston Contemporary Dance Company and excited to be in his 6th season! @dwizzlestick

Alison Landolt-Franjie (special guest performer) began her ballet training in Houston, Texas with Samira Hall before joining the Hartford Conservatory’s pre-professional program in 2006. She later continued her dance training under Sue Boyle in Brookline, Massachusetts at The Studio: A Dance Center for Adults. She danced with dedication until 2015, when she began a multi-year battle with stage 3 endometriosis. During this time, Alison co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of Houston, becoming a passionate advocate for others living with the disease.

After undergoing three major surgeries, Alison returned to ballet in 2022. Since then, she has studied under three of the four featured dancers in this performance—Lindsey McGill, Dawn Dippel, and Dwain Travis—and continues her training at Houston Ballet, Institute of Contemporary Dance (ICD), and Hunter Dance Center.

This performance marks Alison’s first return to the stage since her diagnosis, symbolizing both a personal and artistic milestone in her journey.