The Mobile Dance Film Association and the Inter-grant Festival are thrilled to collaborate on a Mobile Dance Film Docuseries project for the Inter-grant Festival 2025!
Three Dance Filmmakers are paired with three Inter-grant Mentors to create a Mobile Dance Film Documentary highlighting their respective connections to the Southeast Asian / Caribbean diaspora and the myriad conditions they are met with in the immigration process as artists living and working in the United States.
The 2025 Inter-grant Festival will screen the documentaries in-person Oct 2-4, 2025 at Arts On Site in New York City while the Mobile Dance Film Association will offer online screenings throughout the month of October.
Peruse below to learn about the Inter-grant Festival Filmmakers and Mentors. Click the button directly below to screen the Inter-grant Mobile Dance Film Docuseries in full.
Intergrant festival / mdfa
MOBILE DANCE FILM DOCUSERIES PROJECT
MDFA / Intergrant Festival Filmmakers
IN SCREENING ORDER
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Siqin Bian’s Bio:
Siqin Bian is a New York City-based director and photographer whose work explores the
nuanced interplay of narrative, imagination, and cultural perspective. A graduate of the
School of Visual Arts with a master’s degree in fashion photography, Bian brings a distinct
sensibility to her craft, shaped by her upbringing in China and later experiences in New
Mexico and New York. Her work seeks to transcend conventional boundaries, embedding
a narrative depth and emotional intimacy that reveal unique facets of her subjects. Her
photographs have been featured in renowned publications, including Vogue Italia, Harper’s
Bazaar China, Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam, Nasty Magazine, Judas Magazine, Huf Magazine,
and Metal Magazine, attesting to her refined vision and international appeal.
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Ankita Sharma is an experimental movement-based performance and film artist invested in story-telling where content dictates genre and betrays expectation. They create to think critically, unpacking systems and symptoms of power from a queer, punk solidarity-based lens that rehearses freedom in the body and mind. Their work is rooted in Contemporary dance, Dance-Theater, and forms from both the South Asian and the African diaspora. Ankita's work has been performed throughout the US, and their films presented internationally, including at: Denver Art Museum, Abrons Art Center, Dixon Place, The Tank, BASE, JACK, Ormao, and University Settlement. They have been in residence with The Barn (2024), BASE (2024), GALLIM (2024), Performance Project (2022-23), MNE (2022-23), LEIMAY (2022), and Crown Goodman (2021).
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Bio: Megan Curet
Bronx native dance artist, educator & doula. Currently a PhD candidate at The University of Plymouth. Former Coordinator to the Artist of Color Council at Movement Research, founder and artistic director of Curet Performance Project a contemporary dance company and former online dance magazine TiLLT. Curet’s choreography and practice has toured South America, The Middle East, The Caribbean, North America and Europe. Recipient of the 2022 Dancing Futures Artist Residency, finalist at the 2023 ODDFEST Dance Film Festival in NYC and a 2024 EDDIII choreographer for San Diego’s Malashock. She has danced for San Diego Dance Theater as a community dancer, Stanley Love Performance Group, Sally Silvers and BKSoul Dance. She has previously served on faculty at The Martha Graham School, guest lectured in dance at Franklin and Marshall College. Curet’s work has been supported by the Jerome Foundation and NYC Cultural Affairs. Recent dance research publications include the Movement Research Performance Journal and Critical Correspondence.
MDFA / Intergrant FESTIVAL MENTORS
IN SCREENING ORDER
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PAZ TANJUAQUIO has been active in New York City since 1990 as a choreographer, performer, visual artist, curator, educator, and an 8-time marathon runner. Paz is Co-Founding Director of TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. since 2000. Her work has been presented internationally at The Drawing Room Manila, in NYC by Pioneers Go East, LaMaMa Moves! Dance Festival, 92Y Harkness Dance Center, Fisher Landau Center for Art, Danspace Project, Norte Maar’s Dance at Socrates, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Performance Space New York (formerly PS122), Aaron Davis Hall, Symphony Space, Dixon Place, Thelma Hill Performing Arts, Yangtze Repertory, among others; nationally, at Operation Unite in Hudson NY, San Diego Trolley Dance, American Dance Festival Int’l Screen Dance, Philadelphia Fringe Festival; and internationally at Le Commun, Bâtiment d’Art Contemporain in Geneva, Switzerland, and residencies in Cambodia, Japan, Korea and her birthplace, the Philippines. Awards for her choreography include City Artist Corp Grant, National Endowment for the Arts, Dance/NYC’s Dance Advancement Fund, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, New York Foundation for the Arts BUILD Award, Queens Council on the Arts, and the Suitcase Fund where she participated in the Mekong Project’s Cambodia Creative Residency and artistic research travel in Vietnam. She has been an artist-in-residence at Kaatsbaan in Tivoli, NY, Akiyoshidai International Art Village in Japan, The Yard at Martha’s Vineyard, Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida, and Movement Research in NYC. As a dancer, she is a performer in The March with Big Dance Theater in choreography by Annie-B Parson, Tendayi Kuumba, and Donna Uchizono. Paz has performed with Molissa Fenley and Dancers, and Marlies Yearby’s Movin’ Spirits Dance Theater, and has performed for Nicky Paraiso, Dean Moss, Carl Hancock Rux, Clarinda Mac Low, Maureen Fleming, among others. She currently teaches movement at The New School/College of Performing Arts, and at NYU Tisch School of the Arts/ Experimental Theater Wing; from 2018-2020 full-time at SUNY/Nassau Community College; and as guest artist at CUNY/Queens College, Sacramento State University, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, and Vargas Museum at Univ. of the Philippines. She received her MFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and her BA in Visual Arts from University of California, San Diego. A member of NYS DanceForce since 2009 and formerly Chair of the Bessie Awards Steering Committee, Paz continues to create, support, promote dance as an artform.
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Shachi K. Phene is a dance artist, educator, and arts curator currently based in New York City. She is the director of Noor Dance Academy and co-founder of Aangan: South Asian Center for Art & Thought.
Trained in bharatanatyam and kathak, Shachi has presented work at notable venues including the United Nations, Ellis Island, Rubin Museum, Dixon Place, Little Island Percussive Music & Dance Festival, Emerging Artists Theatre's New Work Series, Collective Thread, KoDaFe, and more. As a performer and choreographer, she deeply enjoys exploring traditional narratives through a modern personal lens, and incorporating expressive rhythm-play in her work. A passionate educator, Shachi has 15 years of experience teaching dance to students of all backgrounds, and currently teaches bharatanatyam and kathak through her dance school, Noor Dance Academy, as well as at Bangladesh Academy of Fine Arts (BAFA).
In April 2022, Shachi and her collaborator, Barkha Patel, launched Aangan: South Asian Center for Art & Thought. The organization's mission is to serve South Asian art, artists, and aesthetes in the US by fostering community, building platforms and gathering resources, and creating forums for critical consideration of art.
In her spare time, Shachi enjoys discussing novels with her friends, traveling (especially to the ocean or mountains), hosting dinner parties, and noodling around on the piano.
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Kieron Dwayne Sargeant is a multifaceted artist, choreographer, performer, drummer, dance researcher, and educator hailing from Trinidad and Tobago. His extensive career is rooted in the exploration and promotion of African-Caribbean diasporic traditions. Currently, he holds the position of Assistant Professor of Dance at Skidmore College. Sargeant earned his MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Florida State University, an MA in Community Dance from Ohio University, and a BA in Dance Education from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.
Sargeant's choreography has received international recognition, with his works commissioned and showcased widely across the United States, Canada, Cuba, Grenada, Barbados, Togo, Nigeria, and various European locations through MSC Cruise Lines. Among his notable choreographic achievements are He Shall Walk, commissioned by Northwestern University’s Black Arts Consortium and the Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar, as well as collaborative endeavors like Mirror of the Soul (Danse Contemporaine Togo), Legend of the Pitch Lake Myth (University of Iowa Dance Company), and Rebirth (Minnesota State University).
His esteemed performance and collaborative history include partnerships with renowned institutions and organizations such as the International Association of Blacks in Dance, NYU Steinhardt, Collegium for African Diaspora Dance, Simon Fraser University, Woezo Africa Music and Dance Theatre Inc., Ecole des Sables in Senegal, and the Nigerian Dance Guild. Furthermore, he has worked alongside distinguished dance practitioners and scholars, including Thomas Talawa Prestø, Caroline Clay, Makeda Thomas, and Caroline Copeland.
Sargeant is a dedicated researcher and author whose academic endeavors investigate the connections between dance, identity, ritual, and resistance within the African diaspora. His body of work includes collaborative publications such as "Transatlantic Dance Traditions" and an upcoming chapter titled "Flick the Skirt: The Amplification of the African Body," which will appear in The African Diaspora and Civic Engagement. His research has been prominently showcased at various international conferences, including the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance and the International Association of Blacks in Dance.
In acknowledgment of his scholarly and creative achievements, Sargeant has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the 2019 FA Ada Belle Winthrop King Art Endowment Award, the Grant Wood Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Performance at the University of Iowa in 2022, the UNESCO Dance Fellowship in 2020, and the 2021 International Artist Award from the Ayjano Folklore Heritage and Performing Arts Institution in Nigeria. Additionally, he received the Mayor of the City of San Fernando Citation Award in 2023 for his significant contributions to the arts and culture sector.
Sargeant is deeply invested in promoting artistic excellence and cultural preservation, having established the Kieron Dwayne Sargeant Dance and Dance Education Foundation in Trinidad and Tobago in 2020. This initiative aims to nurture artistic communities and provide educational opportunities that empower dancers and educators throughout the African-Caribbean diaspora.
Kieron Dwayne Sargeant continues to be a vital presence in contemporary dance, effectively linking academia, performance, and community involvement through his unwavering commitment to the preservation and innovative development of African-Caribbean dance traditions on a global scale.