Shaina and Bryan began working together in 2014 when their first collaboration, “Bench Duet”, was selected as the DanceNOW at Joe’s Pub “Audience Choice Award” Challenge Winner. From 2015-16 they were East Village Dance Project (NYC) Company in Residence and received the Laban Institute of Movement Studies – Atelier Award. From 2016-18 Shaina and Bryan were chosen to participate in Pentacle’s 2-year research and artist capacity-building program, “Administrative Resource Team (A.R.T.). In 2017 they were awarded a creative space grant by The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York and were Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Program Recipients for the 2017-18 season. This past summer Shaina and Bryan were invited as the inaugural Dance Artists in Residence at The Wassaic Project as well as invited to Participate in The Watershed Laboratory 2018 at Mt. Tremper Arts in collaboration with Courtney J. Cook, Greg Purnell, and The Illustrious Blacks. Shaina and Bryan relocated to Detroit in July 2019 and, in collaboration with Wayne State University, have launched ‘BAIRA Intensive Detroit’ – Summer and Winter international training intensives for professional/pre-professional dancers. In addition to providing training for professional dancers, BAIRA has collaborated with Collective Sweat Detroit and others to organize and share movement workshops for all levels. Since their relocation, BAIRA’s choreographic work has been presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, The Bonstelle Theatre, Andy Arts Center and LightBox Theater.

Shaina Baira was born and raised in Victoria, Texas and received her BFA in Dance at the University of Iowa. She completed her certification as a Movement Analyst at the Laban Institute of Movement Studies, and completed studies in religion and philosophy at the New York All Faiths Seminary International. She has performed and taught in Haiti, Israel, Italy the UK, Belgium, and through the USA. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister and member of The Feath3r Theory. Currently, Shaina is an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Wayne State University, is a Detroit based Wedding Officiant and actively serves as a mentor for young dancers.

Bryan Baira is originally from Carleton, MI, Bryan is a graduate of Wayne State University with a B.F.A in dance. He has performed and taught around the world in places such as Colombia, South Korea, Turkey, Tajikistan, and Armenia; as well as throughout NYC and the U.S. He has danced with Nicholas Leichter Dance, Brian Brooks Moving Company, David Dorfman Dance and ThirdRailProjects. Bryan is an active sound designer/musician and is a member of The Feath3r Theory. Bryan is honored to have been selected as one of Dance Magazine’s ‘Top 25 to Watch’ for 2013, and is also an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Wayne State University.

John is a multidisciplinary artist, creator, performer and educator originally from Washington Heights, a neighborhood in a densely populated small island known as Manhattan/New York City. Since finishing his BFA (in theater/drama) at NYU Tisch’s Experimental Theater Wing, John has ventured into various worlds of performance – working with directors and choreographers from around the world such as Big Dance Theater, Full Circle Souljahs, The Ridiculous Theater Company, MOTUS of Italy, Ivica Buljan of Croatia, Jesse Phillips-Fein, Culture Hub NYC, and many more, performing in venues all over the East Coast and Europe such as BAM, The Kennedy Center, La Mama, Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place, Danspace, Dance Place DC, BAX, and many more. John’s personal work combines theater, movement, and original music ranging from artistic expressions based in everything from hip hop to postmodern and has been presented at The Rubin Museum, Gibney, Theater for The New City, HERE Arts, and TADA Theater to name a few. His work, typically collaborative based, often deals with current and historical interpersonal and systemic sociopolitical issues. John recently finished training at The Terry Knickerbocker Studio which offers a two-year acting conservatory in the Meisner technique/method. He is a proud member of the feath3r theory, BAIRA | MVMNT PHLSPHY, and the Great Jones Rep Company of La Mama. He is excited to be

Graczyk is a Brooklyn-based choreographer, performer, educator, and scientist. Graczyk has performed throughout the United States and internationally in Japan, Ecuador, France, and India for the past 17 years. Concurrently, she has contributed to 10 science publications in the field of cancer research. She brings over a decade of teaching nationally and internationally working with populations spanning from non-dancers to advanced professionals. She recently began teaching movement practices to artists with developmental and mental disabilities through Interact Theater in Minneapolis and is commissioned to make a new dance work with their LGBTQIA artists in 2019. She co-directed the performance company Salt Horse in Seattle with Corrie Befort and Angelina Baldoz from 2008-2016. After moving to NYC 4.5 years ago, Graczyk launched a solo project – Desire Motor. Graczyk concocts sensation-based worlds built by observing and amplifying the hidden, the unseen, and the ignored, in an attempt to bring into focus peripheral stories, spaces, and ideas. She enmeshes herself and the audience as, simultaneously, active participants and outside observers, through the interplay between the imagination, the human body, and inanimate objects. In NYC, her solo works have been presented by Gibney, La MaMa, Judson Church, Jack, Triskelion, CPR, Movement Research, Oye Group and through Pioneer Goes East Collective. As a performer, Graczyk has most recently danced for Raja Feather Kelly, Sara Shelton Mann, Mark Haim, Scott/Powell Performance, K.J. Holmes, and Jen Salk/Chase Angier in Aix en Provence, France. Currently, Graczyk works part-time as a Research Specialist at Rockefeller University is on staff at Peridance Capezio Center in New York where she co-teaches improvisation with John Gutierrez and is an Educator and Collaborator at BAIRA | MVMNT PHLSPHY.