Northwest Movement Ensemble

04/23/2026

Did you get your tickets to The Understory yet?
(Link in bio)

This stunning piece of NoME dancers was created by at the National Dance Week Celebration last week.

04/14/2026

Free Dance Performance this Friday!

Catch Northwest Movement Ensemble perform at the National Dance Week Kick Off Party.

Friday April 17th 5pm-8pm
85 E 8th Ave Eugene

Come celebrate Eugene’s vibrant dance community with us!

04/14/2026

NoME Production Manager Spotlight 🔦

Hayley has over 15-years of experience as a community organizer & clown, and uses this expertise and experience as a performance artist, activist, and educator. By day, Hayley is the Executive Director of the Lane County Farmers Market. By night, you can find her performing & producing q***r art. For nearly a decade she has been fooling around with her big teeth & big personality. Most recently she wrote and debuted a one-hoe show, Slumber Party, and co-produces & co-hosts the Dirty Faerie Drag Show at the Oregon Country Fair. All of Hayley’s work is rooted in the desire & dedication to tell stories about identity, sexuality, revolution, the struggle being real and q***r joy! Supporting as the NoMe Production Manager is an extension of that and she is honored to play a small role in helping the magic come to life.

Tickets are now on sale for The Understory (April 24th & 25th)
(Link in Bio)

04/13/2026

Director and Cheograpier Spotlight 🔦

Bonnie Simoa, director of Northwest Movement Ensemble, holds an MFA in Dance from Mills College and is a Master Somatic Movement Educator through ISMETA. A dancer, choreographer, Continuum teacher and somatic dance educator, she developed Individual Movement Art–an approach to sourcing technique and creative material from deep states of awareness to generate distinctive movement ideas. She has choreographed over 35 dances, each exploring the beauty and challenges of the human condition. Bonnie is a Balinese dancer and scholar, traveling there to study numerous times since 1996. Bonnie’s movement explorations have expanded to include horses, with particular interest in the potencies of interspecies communication. These experiences reinforce her perspective that movement is the universal language and that dance unifies and heals. 

Tickets are now on sale for The Understory (April 24th & 25th)
(Link in Bio)

04/13/2026

Friendly reminder to get your tickets for the Understory. (Link in bio)

You can learn more about the artists involved in this project on our page.

✨ Artist Spotlight - NoME Company Member, Karen!

Karen Sanchez (she/they) was born on a ranch in Guadalajara, Mexico, and raised there until age 6. As a multi-disciplinary artist in Oregon, her mediums include music, drawing, poetry, cinematography, prop building, and foreign languages. Karen is a founding member of Northwest Movement Ensemble, and also performer with DanceAbility International. She has been commissioned to dance with A-Squared Productions’ “Birds Flying Through”, Garner Dances, the Lane Dance Company, Dance Northwest, all in addition to appearing in dance films. Often abstract and surreal, Karen’s work emerges from an absurdist philosophy.

Tickets are now on sale for The Understory (April 24th & 25th)
(Link in Bio)

04/09/2026

Artist Spotlight - NoME Company Member, Hales!

Hales (they/them) creates through a q***r & non-binary lens in disciplines including performance art, dance, and nature connection. Their mediums include drag, theater, experimental performance art, event hosting, gogoing, makeup and costume design, and dance styles including waacking, contemporary, heels, and improvisation. Hales is a founding member of Northwest Movement Ensemble by Bonnie Simoa, and danced with the Lane Dance Company and Melecio Estrella’s “Empty Where It Echos. They are a producer of the Dirty Faerie Drag Shows at Oregon Country Fair, Eugene D**e Night, and weekly LGBTQ+ improv classes, among other immersive containers for q***r collective healing. Hales is a director of an outdoor school fostering youths’ ecological understanding, gratitude, & an enhanced connection to self, community, & nature. 

Tickets are now on sale for The Understory (April 24th & 25th)
(Link in Bio)

04/08/2026

Artist Spotlight - NoME Company Member, Maddie!

Madeleine (Maddie) Sisson (she/her) is a movement artist, Certified Master DanceAbility Instructor, and facilitator of movement improvisation. Her work intersects with somatic dance, improvisational movement, exploring these practices as tools for communication, accessibility, and embodiment for people of all abilities and identities. Maddie’s work is informed by her experience performing and teaching with DanceAbility International and apprenticing under Alito Alessi. Maddie leads movement improvisation workshops with corporate teams, assisted living communities, public school districts, university dance programs, and arts organizations. Her choreography has been presented at The Shedd Institute, The Hult Center, Oregon Country Fair, and Piazza Testaccio, Rome, Italy.  She is also co-founder of Eugene Creation Exchange, a q***r, community art collective that hosts free and sliding scale art nights. Maddie believes in the power of movement and art to create community and connection.

Tickets are now on sale for The Understory (April 24th & 25th)
(Link in Bio)

04/07/2026

Artist Spotlight - NoME Company Member, Ethan!

Ethan Anthony Guillén has had a decades-long career as an activist and leader in global public health. In recent years, Ethan returned to the performing passions of his youth, finding new avenues to heal and connect to himself and others, (re)taking on his roles as a musician, actor, choreographer, and movement artist. Ethan has danced with Lane Dance Company and twice won the Choreography Award for dances created and performed at Lane. He co-facilitates a weekly improvisational dance class focused on somatic based practices and in 2025 premiered his first evening length choreographic piece, The Unknowing.

Tickets are now on sale for The Understory (April 24th & 25th)
(Link in Bio)

04/05/2026

Artist Spotlight - NoME Company Member, Bekah!

Rebekah (Bekah) Felten took her first ballet class at age 10 and immediately fell in love with dance. She studied jazz, hip hop, acrobatics, and choreography with Hosanna Dance studio and is currently studying contemporary dance with Bonnie Simoa. In 2025, Bekah joined Northwest Movement Ensemble and performed in The Unknowing, and evening-length piece directed and choreographed by Ethan Guillén. Bekah plans to continue pursuing dance and dreams of one day becoming a circus artist. Her love for movement extends beyond the studio into hiking, bouldering, and mountain biking. She is a musician and visual artist, working in several mediums including ink, pencil, and acrylic paints.

Tickets are now on sale for The Understory (April 24th & 25th)
(Link in Bio)

03/31/2026

03/23/2026

The Understory explores the intersection of embodiment, presence, and social awareness through contemporary dance and individual reflection.

Following the performance, participants are welcomed into guided reflection and creative response through writing, drawing, movement or meditation as a way to further engage with the experience.
Directed by , the Northwest Movement Ensemble (NoME) brings together dance artists of diverse movement backgrounds, sexual and gender identities, and ages. Rooted in somatic-based contemporary dance and postmodern dance perspectives, NoME’s creative process emphasizes mutual respect, embodied awareness, and a culture of care.

This project is made possible in part by a grant from LCCC.