introducing the 2025-2026 imprint fellows

imprint is an annual dance writing fellowship program designed for QTBIPOC dance writers. Launched in 2025, pdw's artistic director, Bhumi B Patel will support emerging dance writers in the Bay Area through writing and publishing mentorship and professional development as a dance writer.

We're so excited to announce our four inaugural imprint fellows!

Our 2025 imprint fellows:

💥Teo Lin-Bianco is a queer dance artist and writer based in San Francisco. They studied dance and performance at UC Berkeley, where their choreographic and academic work began to intertwine. Currently, they serve as co-director of Tether Dance Project, a company committed to interdisciplinary collaboration and embodied storytelling. With a background in circus, gymnastics, and modern dance, Teo brings an intuitive and critical eye to their writing. They are particularly interested in how movement can act as emotional language, cultural archive, and collective memory. Photo credit: Diamond Genesis

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🌞Nkechi Deanna Njaka (she/her) is a practice-based researcher whose work explores embodied presence as a modality for healing, transformation and somatic liberation. Integrating neuroscience, mindfulness, and performance, her research investigates how contemplative practices and guided mindfulness intersect with creative expression to foster individual and collective well-being. Currently pursuing doctoral studies in Creative Research at Transart/Liverpool John Moore’s University, Nkechi’s inquiry is grounded in her expertise as a neuroscientist, choreographer, and mindfulness guide.

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🌳Marlena Gittleman (she/they) recently completed a PhD in Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley, where she taught writing and literature and researched gestures in US and Latin American queer and feminist literature and performance art. Marlena’s writing has been published in Feminist Studies, In Dance, and Life as a Modern Dancer, and their translations have been published in Critical Times, The Common, and Asymptote. She is a dancer and improviser who has performed in NACHMO SF and with 4Fish x RedEye Productions. Marlena is based in Oakland, CA on Ohlone land. They are an incoming postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry at UC Berkeley. Photo credit: Bella Reeves

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🪐Jeffrey Gan is a dramaturg, curator and performance maker specializing in non-western and experimental performance. Gan holds a PhD in performance studies from the University of Texas at Austin, where his research explored popular performance in the Dutch-Indonesian diaspora. As a dancer, Gan trains and performs with Gamelan Sekar Jaya and Nā Lei Hulu i Ka Wēkiu. He currently serves as the Literary Manager of the Playwrights Foundation, where he curates the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. This past spring, he co-curated ART Gado Gado, the first juried exhibition of Indonesian diaspora art in the United States.

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