From Student Project to Hub for Emerging Choreographers

An Interview with Teo Lin-Bianco, Tatianna Steiner, and Ella Wright of Tether Dance Project

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Photos by Michelle Castillo

Based in San Francisco, Tether Dance Project is a new nonprofit presenting performances, workshops, and community-building around modern dance and performance art. Initiated by recent UC Berkeley grads Teo Lin-Bianco, Tatianna Steiner, and Ella Wright, the trio are working to create opportunities for emerging artists. Here, Teo, Tatianna, and Ella discuss how they transitioned from a student group at UC Berkeley to a professional project, as well as what they learned from their recent choreographer showcase, Flux & Form.

Callus Theory, directed by Tatianna Steiner, performed by Teo Lin-Bianco, Emma Lowe, Tatianna Steiner, Vivien Terrell, Ella Wright

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Can you first tell me a little about yourselves and your dance histories?

Tatianna: I’m from San Diego, and I grew up dancing ballet. As a teen, I was looking into majoring in Dance; I wanted to broaden my horizons and explore other styles of dance. At UC Berkeley, I earned my degree in Dance and Media Studies, and fell in love with modern dance. While there, I met Ella and Teo, and we started a student organization called Tether Dance Company.

Ella: I grew up in the Bay Area, dancing ballet since a young age. I was also a bunhead and I trained pre-professionally in San Francisco during high school. After the pandemic, I decided to attend college, and I landed at UC Berkeley where the three of us met. There’s such a huge modern dance presence and community at Berkeley where I found a new passion for dance. It’s been an amazing journey with Tether to be able to choreograph, direct, build community, and continue our mission of supporting fellow emerging artists.

Teo: Both my parents were dancers and my dad choreographed professionally. I went to dance classes when I was little and I always enjoyed moving. I made the rounds through gymnastics and circus before moving into jazz and tap in high school. In college, I started taking dance classes while at UC Berkeley. Initially, it was a hobby, a way to disconnect with everything that was going on academically, but in junior year I took an improv class, and that was the moment when dance became what I wanted to do seriously. My senior year, we started Tether Dance Company. It’s been a huge blessing to have the opportunity to choreograph, to work together, and to meet other community members who are interested in dance.

Catalyst, directed by Ella Wright, performed by Carmen Cortez, Marlena Gittleman, Abigail Hinson, Teo Lin-Bianco, Emma Lowe, Tatianna Steiner, Vivien Terrell

What was the impetus behind Tether Dance Project?

Tatianna: At UC Berkeley, we formed a student group, Tether Dance Company. The other dance student groups were more competition-style contemporary, so Tether was the first modern dance student group on campus. With Tether Dance Company, we wanted to emphasize improvisation, scoring, modern technique, and floorwork. We held an audition, had rehearsals twice a week, and we created an eight-minute piece. The Berkeley dance community student groups present a big showcase at the end of the semester, and we were part of that! After graduating, we knew we wanted to take Tether off campus because the student group was a community people flocked to. This soon became Tether Dance Project, our nonprofit hub for emerging artists to create and find community. We’re emerging ourselves, and emerging artists tend to flock to each other.

Ella: We wanted to bring what we were learning in our academic dance classes to the student body that majorly use competitive dance styles. That was one of the inspirations behind starting the student group, which led to us hosting dance workshops and classes for students. We offered different modern dance techniques that the students hadn’t necessarily been exposed to, and wanted to spread our love for modern dance with other students.

What was the transition from being a student group to a freelance professional project?

Teo: There was a really big learning curve. As a student group, there were a lot of resources, the primary ones being access to space and access to dancers who will work for free. Moving into the freelance space, the challenges were administrative, like finding space and fundraising. With our first professional show, we were lucky in that we got a lot of donations because we knew people who had stayed in the Bay Area who were interested in supporting our project. Everything we did for Flux & Form, our recent showcase this past November, was the first time we did it, from booking space, to starting a GoFundMe, to building a website. Even though it wasn’t necessarily all challenging, it was new to us. We’re lucky that we had great mentors. We have learned a lot in the past year in terms of the production side of things, especially since we have more experience on stage. We’re definitely more prepared for our next production. A lot of it was problem solving on the fly. That’s the beauty of having three of us. We can bounce ideas off each other.

How Many Am I?, directed and performed by Abigail Hinson & James Jared

Tell me more about your recent show, Flux & Form?

Teo: As we were working in the freelance space outside of Tether, we noticed we were taking jobs that were not being paid or not in creative alignment with what we wanted to do. There felt like a huge disparity between the resources provided in college and the resources available to freelancers in the real world. That was the idea behind creating a showcase for emerging choreographers to feature their own work. We put out an application for choreographers to apply. We realized we had to decide what “emerging” meant. We had to decide who the space was for. We decided upon people who had some experience in the dance field, who were not in a college dance program, and who didn’t have a lot of choreographic experience. From there, we also started working on our own pieces and fundraising. Luckily, I think people are eager to see young artists thrive. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but we were grateful for how much we were able to raise, which made our stipend payouts easier.

What have you learned from running Tether Dance Project so far?

Tatianna: A lot of what we learned was how to communicate with each other and with the artists. We managed nine other choreographers, and we had to reckon with the capability of the three of us as directors. We were able to hire both a stage manager (Luca Giles) and a lighting designer (Riley Richardson), which helped tremendously. Before hiring a stage manager, we were handling all the communication, and it was a mad race to get everyone scheduled for tech and other check-ins. We found a nice balance with our stage manager to help with communication.

Copper P*ss Lasagna, directed by Teo Lin-Bianco, performed by Teo Lin-Bianco, Tai Lum

Teo: The other thing that I’ll add is that the most valuable asset for us is other people, whether that’s other choreographers we’ve met or mentors who have helped answer questions. The primary reason Flux & Form was so successful was the team. Moving forward, we’ll be intentional with the people we want to work with. Even though we were doing a lot of things on the fly, because everyone who was a part we knew and trusted, it went a lot smoother.

Tatianna: Echoing Teo, our 2025 cohort was extremely passionate about the work they created, and that translated into a successful show. We heard from audience feedback that Flux & Form was captivating, and had audiences emotionally invested in each piece. We will have varied themes for Flux & Form. This year each choreographer created a piece based on reflection and evolution through identity.

What’s next?

Ella: We’re excited to keep the momentum going from our first year as Tether Dance Project and carry that energy into everything we do next. In late spring/summer 2026, we will be producing our first evening length piece, directed and choreographed by the three of us. We will also be continuing Flux & Form in November, making it our annual production for emerging choreographers to gain exposure and experience in the dance scene. We will continue hosting workshops throughout the year. We can’t wait to continue this journey and see where 2026 takes Tether Dance Project.

Tether Dance Project Cast and 2025 Cohort

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To learn more about Tether Dance Project, visit www.tetherdanceproject.org.

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