Celeste Miller has made her career as a solo performer, choreographer, writer, community arts animator and innovator in arts-learning. Awards for her work come from a National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship, National Performance Network Creation Fund Award and others. Her work has been commissioned by theatres, galleries, museums, community organizations and universities. Currently, Celeste is Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Grinnell College, a position that allows her to combine her passion for teaching with her investigation of dance as a performing art, cultural practice, political act and a method for the embodiment of ideas and beliefs. At Grinnell she teaches courses that include “Movement for the Performer”, “Contemporary Dance in a Global Context”, and “Dance, Human Rights and Social Justice”. She is the director of Dance Ensemble/ACTivate.
Naomi Worob (Grinnell College Class of 2019, Theatre & Dance and Anthropology) writes, “Atop my head sits at least as many hats as the peddler has in Caps for Sale—student, dancer, mover, anthropologist, artist, environmentalist, musician, waitress, woman, daughter, sister, aunt, bread-baker, and cook, are a few. I see no reason why one should limit oneself to one thing—we are all so much more. Communities of belonging are what I hope to create, and whether that is accomplished through dance, anthropology, music, food—a combination of some or all of these—it doesn’t make much difference to me. Come for the class and stay for the jam; there’s bread in the oven and the soup’s almost done, so, heck, you might as well sit and stay for dinner too. Please bring your friend; everyone’s welcome.”
Obuchi Adikema (Grinnell College Class of 2021, Computer Science) is currently a student of the liberal arts and sciences, but aspires to build a life as an artist-engineer. While at Grinnell, she hopes to perform in a musical and sell a popular mobile app. Obuchi has mastered the art of the blog and can improvise elaborate speeches like no other. She has plans to develop software, produce movies, write for television, and publish several novels over the course of her career. Her work on the Digital Bridges to Dance project inspires her to continue pushing the boundaries of work and play and exposes her to people whose jobs are full of both.
