Charly Santagado (she/they) is a dancer, choreographer, director, writer, and curator dedicated to forging interdisciplinary connections across diverse artistic mediums and practices. Originally from Orlando, Florida, and currently based in the tristate area, she graduated with highest honors from Rutgers University in 2017 with a major in philosophy and minors in dance, music, and creative writing. She co-founded mignolo, a 501-c3 nonprofit arts organization, with her sister Eriel in 2019.

Her dance training includes Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company's 5-month International Training Program, Sidra Bell's MODULE, RUBBERBANDance Group's Winter Intensive, Axis Connect Summer Intensive, the Hofesh Shechter Company Intensive, SHARE Intensive Paris, and HAVEN Choreography Mentorship. Charly has danced professionally with Heidi Latsky Dance, VALLETO Dance, ReFrame Dance Theatre, TK Dance Lab, Bailey Benoot, Monteleone Dance Collective, Katelyn Halpern and Dancers, Haven Movement Company, Olivia Dwyer Dance Projects, Maiya Redding, Daniel Rose Projects, and Arts By The People. She also regularly performs in her own work, which has been presented at numerous venues around the tristate area and beyond.

Charly’s creative writing has been published in Apricity Magazine, Lucky Jefferson, Blue River Review, Interim Poetics, New Plains Review, Z Publishing House, Soup Can Magazine, and Wingless Dreamer Publisher. She is also a dance critic and journalist writing for Dance Informa. Charly was awarded a 2023 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and you can find her online at www.charlysantagado.com and on Instagram @charlysantagado.

Bailey Benoot (she/her) earned her BFA in Dance and minor in Creative Writing from Rutgers University in 2019. She is a company member and costume designer for mignolo dance. In addition to working as a dancer, Bailey moonlights as a fiber art designer under her label, Gossamer Winged. Bailey loves art and literature, but loves reality television equally as much.

Andrew Lackland (they/them) is a performative visual artist working between painting, sculpture, printmaking, and illustration. They received their BFA in Art from Ithaca College. Andrew is also a musician in several bands playing the drums, and loves rock climbing and hiking.

Niko Popow (he/him) is a philosophy Ph.D. candidate at UT Austin who writes poetry and short fiction, and is working on an experimental novel. He looks for dissonances in artistic works that offer density and strangeness, and loves poetry that isn’t ashamed of conveying thought even when it disdains to do so.

Sophie Rubenstein (she/her) holds an MFA in Creative Writing & Literature, and taught at Stony Brook University before relocating to Oregon. Her artistic passions lie in fiction and mixed media collaboration, and her writing has been published in The Southampton Review, Gemini Magazine, A Raven’s Quill and Boletin. Sophie works as a private educator and education consultant out of Portland, Oregon. She also leads writing workshop for youth and adult writers.

Eriel Santagado (she/her) is the co-founder and Associate Artistic Director of mignolo dance. She started dancing at the age of 2 and graduated from the Honors College at Rutgers University with a major in evolutionary anthropology and a minor in dance. She was also competitive gymnast on the Division 1 gymnastics team and really loves her cat Gatsby.

Alissa (she/her) has a background in editing and project management in the publishing and media industry, with experience in production and editorial. She has also worked in management consulting. She has a BA in English and Communication and an MA in Strategic Organizational and Leadership Communication. She is writing an experimental piece that is currently novella-length and may never see the light of day. In literature she most enjoys consonance and assonance, and in all things she appreciates good design.