TuMM Dance Theatre invigorates modern dance in Oklahoma by creating and performing new choreography, promoting life-long learning in the art of dance and collaborating across disciplines.
Vision
A collaborative group of dancer/innovators making progressive work that surprises, delights and stimulates, working within a broad network of producing artists.
Founder/Artistic Director Biographies
Ari Christopher
Photo: iCandy Photography
Ari Christopher attended the Marymount Manhattan College BFA program for Modern Dance and Choreography. While living in New York City, she performed with Maude Baum & Company Dance Theater, Vanessa Page Dance, and the McDuffie/Jones Company at such NYC venues as Soundance, the 92nd Y and Downtown Dance Festival. Ari currently serves on the Living Arts Dance Committee and is the Associate Director of Project CREATES, committed to transforming educational opportunities through art and creativity. Her original choreography has been presented at the Tulsa PAC, in collaboration with Soluna Performing Arts Group, the Denise R. Neal Equality Center and the Living Arts New Genre Festival. As Co-Artistic Director of TuMM, Ari enjoys collaboration with various artists across disciples. Her choreographic work with TuMM includes site specific works including Spiral at the Living Arts Lab, InIt #1 at the Southwood Garden Center and Suchness on the bank of the Arkansas River. Most recently, Ari danced Remains, a site-specific work, and Confessions, an evening length piece presented in June at Tulsa Ballet's Studio K.
Alicia Chesser
Photo: Rachel Bruce Johnson
Alicia studied classical ballet with Jane Reid and Moscelyne Larkin and while in high school danced as an apprentice with Tulsa Ballet. After majoring in English and philosophy at the University of Tulsa, she worked in New York City as a magazine editor, a freelance writer, and a dance critic. Her writing about dance has appeared in such publications as the Village Voice, the Dance Insider, and Dance Teacher. She currently writes about the arts for Urban Tulsa Weekly. In addition to her work with TuMM, she is a member of the Soluna Performing Arts Group and serves on the Living Arts Dance Committee. Alicia's solo Nine was presented at the XVIII Contemporary Dance New Genre Festival, where she also performed in the premiere of Nina Madsen’s Between Us. She danced with Rachel Bruce Johnson in a duet by Melody Ruffin Ward, Verse VIII for Joi and Hope, at the 2011 Exchange Choreography Festival, and with Megan McKown Miller in Soluna's film Vision Field, which won the Collaborative Challenge prize at the 2011 Oklahoma Dance Film Festival. Most recently, Alicia danced Remains, a site-specific work, and Confessions, an evening length piece presented in June at Tulsa Ballet's Studio K. She lives in Tulsa with her husband and three young children and writes about local dance at her Tulsa Dances blog.
