Fall For Dance

Charles O. Anderson is the head of the dance program at The University of Texas at Austin. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Anderson earned his B.A. in Choreography and Performance with a minor in African Studies from Cornell University and an M.F.A. in Dance from Temple University where he specialized in African Diasporic dance. Professionally, Anderson is the artistic director of the critically-acclaimed Charles O. Anderson Projects (formerly dance theatre X), which he founded in 2003. He has performed in the companies of Ronald K. Brown, Sean Curran, Mark Dendy and Miguel Gutierrez, among others. His work has been presented nationally and internationally and has earned recognition from numerous organizations such as the Pew Fellowship for the Arts, one of “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine and one of “12 Rising Stars in the Academy” by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine.

Dorothy O'Shea Overbey is a dancer, choreographer, musician and visual artist now exploring the emerging technologies of virtual and augmented reality. She grew up in Austin, studying classical piano while training and performing corps de ballet roles with Ballet Austin. She received her B.F.A. in Dance and B.A. in Philosophy from Southern Methodist University in 1999, later dancing with Colorado Ballet, David Taylor Dance Theater, Ballet Nouveau Colorado, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Ballet New York, Dances Patrelle and numerous independent choreographers in New York.  While in New York, she studied at the Atlantic Theatre School and acted in independent films, commercials, and off-off Broadway productions. This is her fifth year on faculty at the Department of Theatre and Dance. In 2015, Overbey made her first short film and in 2017 she founded Red Nightfall Productions, which is now in pre-production for the virtual reality dance film Crone. The live-dance version of Crone with original score by Samuel Lipman premiered at Fall For Dance in 2017, accompanied by 25-piece orchestra.  Red Nightfall is co-producing an immersive dance/theatre re-imagining of The Nutcracker at the Neill Cochran Harris Museum in December of 2018. 

Gesel Mason joined the Department of Theatre and Dance as an Associate Professor of Dance fall 2018. She is artistic director for Gesel Mason Performance Projects and was a member of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Ralph Lemon/Cross Performance Projects. Mason’s solo project, No Boundaries: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers, has featured the work of Kyle Abraham, Robert Battle, Rennie Harris, Dianne McIntyre, Donald McKayle, Bebe Miller, David Rousséve, Reggie Wilson, Andrea E. Woods Valdéz and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Recently featured on National Public Radio, Mason is turning No Boundaries into a digital archive to illuminate the unique legacies and aesthetics of these choreographers. The project uses dance as an entry point to understanding the artistic, historic and social forces impacting the selected artists as well as their influence on the wider dance field and the greater American socio-political landscape. Mason’s choreographic work has been commissioned by the American Dance Festival, John F. Kennedy Center, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and numerous colleges and universities. For more information, visit geselmason.com.