Team DISCO RIOT

Alyssa Rose (they/them) is a multimedia artist, advocate, organizer and educator based on Kumeyaay land (San Diego, CA). Their mission is to dissolve access barriers to embodied liberation practices like dance, somatics, Dharma, Yoga, and art-making through operationalizing and integrating equity into performance and practice spaces. Alyssa is a queer, trans, disabled, mixed race, autistic adhd-er with 10 years of experience producing performance art, 25 years of dance training in various movement and dance forms, 15 years as a visual artist, 10 years of meditation practice, and 5 years as a dedicated student of the Dharma and Yoga with their teacher Sarah Clark. Alyssa currently teaches, writes grants, produces, and is responsible for operations and accessibility at DISCO RIOT – a shared leadership, community-centered dance nonprofit that actively supports local independent marginalized artists. In their work and life, Alyssa explores the possibilities of collective liberation through their art practice and commitment to disability justice. In teaching and hosting, they feel called to empower marginalized people through embodiment and radical expression. As a research-based artist, Alyssa is most interested in the interplay of the liberation project of the Dharma and collective creative communion and uses improvisational art practices to explore the mystery of being alive and interconnected.

(photo credit: Sam Zauscher)

Milana Aernova (she/her) is a producing artist, creative technologist, and active member of San Diego’s dance community. A graduate of UC San Diego with a degree in Computer Science, she brings a unique blend of technical innovation, artistic vision, and community leadership to her work. As Communications and Marketing Lead at DISCO RIOT, Milana is dedicated to supporting local artists, curating meaningful experiences, and fostering collaboration across disciplines to strengthen the city’s creative ecosystem. An experienced producer and organizer, Milana has developed and presented dance shows, workshops, and multimedia performances that merge art, technology, and community engagement. Beyond her curatorial and coordination work, she is also a photographer, videographer, and interdisciplinary artist. Trained in jazz, contemporary, contact improvisation, Bollywood, ballet, and hip-hop, Milana’s movement practice deeply informs her creative approach using performance as a medium to explore humanity’s evolving relationship with technology, the body, and the act of being seen.

Marty (he/him) graduated with a BA in Dance from New Mexico State University in 2011. He performed in San Diego Dance Theater’s Annual Trolley Dances in the Fall 2011, which inspired a relocation to San Diego. Since then, Marty has continued to perform in Trolley Dances, and has danced for many San Diego artists and companies including Visionary Dance Theater (2012-2015), The PGK Dance Project (2014-2020), Compulsion Dance and Theater (2014-2019), as a guest artist for San Diego Dance Theater (2019 and 2024), and Malashock Dance (2014-2022). Recently, he has also been exploring his creative side, choreographing work for productions with Diversionary Theater and DISCO RIOT. Marty is thrilled with his decision to move to Southern California and be part of such a wonderful community of devoted artists.

Taylor (she/her) is a San Diego-based Lighting Designer grateful to be a part of the DISCO RIOT team; she believes that DISCO RIOT is the future of dance in San Diego. She is attending the University of California San Diego for her Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design and received her B.A. in Theatre Arts for Design and Production from California State University, Fullerton. Taylor has worked with Fresh Congress, La Jolla Playhouse, Malashock Dance, FACT/ SF, and California Ballet and collaborated with independent choreographers, directors, and visual artists throughout Southern California. She is grateful to be a part of the creative process, collaborating with innovative artists to bring impactful storytelling to the dance community.

Born and raised in San Diego, Casey Hall-Landers is a production and stage manager, AV technician, choreographer, interdisciplinary artist, and accessibility advocate working at the intersection of live arts, disability justice, and performance technology. With a BFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and a master’s degree in Creative Media and Technology: Live Experience Design from Berklee College of Music NYC, Casey creates and supports live performances that are collaborative, interdisciplinary, and intentionally accessible. They are currently the Production Management Intern at La Jolla Playhouse while freelancing with regional dance companies including Malashock Dance and Disco Riot as a projection designer, stage manager, and production manager. Casey also serves as the audio engineer and lighting and projection designer for Open Mic at the Template OB, and has worked as a live video DJ and lighting designer for concerts at Quartyard in downtown San Diego.

Casey’s creative work is interdisciplinary, spanning dance, spoken word, visual and tactile art, and film. Their first short film Love Me Maybe, a dance and spoken word solo, premiered at Queer Movement Fest 2025 at Digital Gym Cinema. This follows their recent directorial debut with Jazzie Lock’s Abyss music video. Casey looks forward to continuing to develop their work in film alongside their passion for live events production, accessibility, dance, and performance.

Aisha Reddick (she/her) is an African American/Filipino movement artist and instructor based in San Diego, California. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at California State University, Long Beach in Fall 2021. Since graduating, Aisha has made work that has been presented across the west coast for various concerts, festivals and sharings. Aisha has had the pleasure of working with various independent artists and companies between San Diego and Los Angeles, whose influence has helped shape her own craft. In her practice, Aisha finds real fulfillment in moving between juxtaposing gentle and aggressive powers to create a flow into and through the body to find ways, basically, feel good. Presently, Aisha shares this way of moving at DISCO RIOT, Culture Shock San Diego, Helix Charter High School and San Diego Dance Academy.

Meesh is an artist, art-advocate and 6th generation educator- who believes firmly in the transformative power of coming together in the name of art-making, to expand within community. They have trained, taught & communed with artists, dancers and “non-dancers” all around the world. They are deeply informed by over 20 years of performing and practicing a breadth of classical, social & regionally specific dances. The movements and philosophies of Tao and Yoga anchor their teaching practice and know in their bones, the keys to liberation have always been through singing and dancing. They are incredibly passionate about sharing those keys. Meesh substituted their first dance class at 15 and began assisting at 11.

Jane Blount, (she/her) is dedicated to the cultivation of community, creativity, and healing through conscious movement and touch. She holds an HHP (Holistic Health Practitioner Certification) in Integrative Somatics from the International School of Professional Bodywork (IPSB) and has studied numerous bodywork modalities throughout her 35+ years providing holistic bodywork. She was a founding member of the San Diego based Lower Left Dance and Performance Collective from 1994 – 2007 and served as Lower Left’s managing director. Jane is grateful to have worked with many amazing choreographers, dance companies, and improvisational collaborators throughout San Diego, Chicago, Cincinnati, Winona, MN, and NYC. Locally, she received two San Diego Dance Alliance “Tommy Awards” for outstanding performance. She currently finds joy and meaningful engagement in her work as a holistically oriented bodyworker, and through the practices of Authentic Movement and Qigong. Jane is thrilled to join DISCO RIOT’s board of directors.

Lavina Rich (she/her) is a native San Diego dance maker, lover, and supporter. Her love of the performing arts began at Grossmont College, to UCSD, to working with some of San Diego’s finest artists. She has since moved to behind the scenes, creating works with her own company, Push Process Movement. As an earnest supporter of San Diego dance, Lavina is excited to be on the board of DISCO RIOT. She hopes to be able to further grow this organization’s mission and foster more opportunities for dancers and dancer lovers in this community.

Lauren Dockweiler (she/her) has a BA in Economics from UC San Diego, and while at the university, delved deep into the world of modern dance. Directly following, from 2002 to 2015, she served as a company member of bkSOUL under Dr. grace shinhae jun, growing her artistic vocabulary and understanding the power of movement as an expression of a collective voice. This experience instilled a deep commitment to community, which now helps drive her work as a professional fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. She is passionate about ensuring access to reproductive health care and advocating for a just and equitable society, leveraging a diverse background of experience to make a meaningful impact.

Joyce Lien Kushner (she/her) is a Taiwanese American contemporary dance artist, teacher, and maker. She has trained dancers of all ages, nourishing a philosophy that all bodies dance. She has performed and collaborated with artists throughout California including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. In 2015, she founded TILTshift Dance in San Francisco. Now back in her hometown of San Diego, she continues to teach, make work, and hold space for other dance artists to create and work. In 2024, she was awarded an 18-month artist residency by NTC Foundation in ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station to help further these endeavors. In 2025, she developed and co-produced AADF, San Diego’s first Asian American Dance Festival centering AAPI dance artists and stories. She currently teaches on faculty at Lynch Dance Institute and Malashock Dance. She has served on DISCO RIOT’s board since 2021 and is proud to be a member of the DISCO RIOT family.

Charlie Slender-White (he/him) is a queer contemporary dance artist of mixed European and Roma descent. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of San Francisco-based contemporary dance company, FACT/SF. Charlie believes that artists deserve a living wage and that artists’ labor should be recognized, and he utilizes FACT/SF as a framework to realize these values, make art, and engage community. He is a Certified Countertechnique Teacher, serves on the Cultivation Committee for Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, and was the Guest Curator and Resident Strategist at ODC Theater from 2021-2023. Charlie is thrilled to serve on the DISCO RIOT board of directors.

DISCO RIOT Founder and Director Emeritus, Zaquia Mahler Salinas (she/her), is a dance artist working with live and filmed dance, invested in movement-art as an act of reclamation and revolution. Her art practice is grounded in cultivating responsiveness to the present moment, community, and the magic of collaboration. She has worked with many organizations in San Diego in various artistic, administrative, and teaching capacities, and believes that San Diego can be an amazing place for dancers and artists. She has been awarded various artistic residencies, including a 2019 residency in Bethlehem, Palestine where she focused on dance as a form of cultural, embodied resistance. In 2023, Zaquia was a recipient of San Diego’s inaugural Far South/Border North grants for artists working in socially engaged practice. In 2024 she relocated to Boston, and is currently serving as Resident Curator with ODC Theater in San Francisco.

Desiree Cuizon (she/her) achieved a Bachelor of Fine Arts, in Dance, from San Diego State University in 2008. She had the privilege to perform and travel internationally in Mexico, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, and Indonesia. Since graduating she became a dance company member with Joe Alter Dance Group (2009-2010), The PGK Dance Project (2012-2016) and San Diego Dance Theater (2015 – 2018). Desiree also worked with various independent and local artists including: Somebodies Dance Theater, Anne Gehman, Blythe Barton Dance, Boroka Nagy, Khamla Somphanh, IsadoraNow, [the] movement initiative and more. In 2016, Brittany Taylor and Desiree premiered their first co-choreographed work, Avenue Lexicon, and since then they continue to collaborate via the B.A.D. Dance Collective. Most recently she is grateful for the performance and creative opportunities Zaquia Mahler Salinas has created through DISCO RIOT. In addition to dancing professionally, Desiree is a certified Massage Therapist and Pilates Instructor. She is currently back in school to achieve her Doctorate in Physical Therapy in order to work with dancers and other athletes via injury prevention, rehabilitation, and refined performance skills.

Trystan Merrick (they/them) studied ballet under the tutelage of Ahita Ardalan, formerly of the Paris Opera Ballet. In addition to most of the full length classical ballets, they have performed the works of such great choreographers as Twyla Tharp, Robert Cohen, James Canfield, Peter Anostos, Septime Webre, Merce Cunningham and George Balanchine to name a few. Trystan started their professional career with Nevada Ballet Theater in 2007, and has since danced for San Diego Ballet, San Diego Dance Theater, Malashock Dance, Owen Cox Dance, Concept Zero, City Ballet of San Diego, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, and The California Ballet. Through the lens of a queer nonbinary artist, Trystan has presented work for DISCO RIOT, San Diego Dance Theater, and The California Ballet. While navigating their performance career Trystan prioritized developing experience as a teacher, choreographer, and artistic leadership. They believe that being able to relate and empathize with intersectionality within our dance and queer communities will certainly bring us to a future were there is opportunity for all.

Elva Salinas (she/her) continues her work in equitable and affordable education and humane immigration rights advocacy. She is Professor Emeritus of English and Chicano studies with 39 years of teaching and professional leadership training experience at San Diego City College. She is the recipient of the Golden Apple -Faculty of the Year Award, KPBS and Union Bank Hispanic Heritage Local Hero Award in education and the Board of Governors Exemplary Program Award for A Pedagogy of Love: A Professional Development Model for Educational Practitioners. She believes that education must be transformational, that culturally and personally relevant experiences are essential to learning and that each one of us can become social change agents.