Music, Installation / Visual Art, Dance

Experimental, Interactive, Jazz, Live Music

Kathy Leiner, Anna Kimmell, Erin Braasch (Asheville)

Kathy Leiner teaches and creates interdisciplinary performances/workshops, inspired by literature, social issues, and personal stories. She is excited to collaborate with Anna and Erin.

Anna Kimmell is an actor, educator, and director/choreographer. In Asheville, she leads adult dance classes at the Wortham, teaches youth theatre, designs digital media, carves custom prints, and travels to direct/choreograph. @anna_kimmell_creative

Erin Braasch has been dancing and performing in Asheville for 25 years, co-founding Moving Women and co-directing the Asheville Fringe (2002–2004). After a hiatus, she returned to the stage last year and is beyond thrilled to perform alongside Anna & Kathy!

Gruda/Hay/Hefner Trio

Susan Hefner utilizes a vast collection of noisy objects to inspire and create boundary-defying improvisational performances which combine modern interpretations of movement, shocking sounds and unusual objects of noise theater. Based in both Brooklyn, NY and Birmingham, AL, Hefner often performs with a wide range of collaborators, including LaDonna Smith, Dafna Naphtali, Kevin Shea, Evan Lipson and Michael Evans, amongst others. Hefner hosts multi-genre artistic salons, fostering a wide range of collaborations and artistic interactions with musicians and dancers from around the globe.

Kris Gruda is a guitarist, vocalist, sound experimenter and songwriter based in western North Carolina. In addition to his collaboration with Emily Hay and Susan Hefner, Gruda performs and records as a soloist, in duo with a wide variety of NC and NY musicians, previously with his ensemble GrudaTree and most recently with the Jeff Arnal and John English as the trio Jupiter, which recently released their self-titled album on Generate Records. Gruda has just released a recording of his duo project with Gian Perez entitled “Live at 1st Street Garden, NYC” and his guitar-in-the-car album “Plays For You” was released on Palilalia Records in 2023.

Emily Hay is a flutist and vocalist who extends the traditional roles and capabilities of her instruments with the spontaneity of improvisational experimentation, creating sounds augmented by electronics, ranging from primal to operatic with often shocking lyrics and sounds from the unfettered stream of consciousness. Hay has recently relocated to the Asheville, NC area from Southern CA where she was an active member of the ‘left coast’ music scenes, performing, touring and recording in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and beyond with numerous ensembles such as HayFever, Polarity Taskmasters, U Totem, Motor Totemist Guild, the Vinny Golia Large Ensemble, Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra, to mention a few. Her music has been released on Cuneiform Records, Recommended Records, Public Eyesore Records, Nine Winds Records, No Man’s Land, Fullscale Records, Meta Records, Dragnet Records, pfMentum and other creative music record labels. emilyhay.com susanhefner.org