Germinate: Space Grants for Artists
Germinate invests in the San Diego creative economy by offering space grants to local choreographers. Germinate provides rehearsal space and a supportive environment for artists to deeply engage with their work and creative process. The development of this space grant program is in direct response to the need for uninterrupted time and space to experiment and innovate that has been articulated by our peers in multiple Town Hall gatherings Malashock Dance has held over the past several years.
Germinate is part of Malashock Dance’s mission to foster a hub where artists come together to create new work.
Malashock Dance grants up to three space grants to choreographers/ companies/ collectives based in the San Diego region. In alignment with our values of passion, excellence, equity, and inclusivity, Malashock Dance is committed to uplifting artistic voices that reflect our diverse San Diego community.
2026-2027 Germinate Artists
Kelsey Hirte Bio
Alston Tyndall Bio
Khamla Somphanh Bio
Germinate Artists Alumni (2024-2026)
Cecily Holcombe Bio
Lauren Lee Bio
Patrick Li Bio
Eric Geiger Bio
Tina Carreras Bio
Negative Space Dance Collective Bio's
Brianna Pilkinton Bio
Brianna Pilkinton
Germinate Residency: 2024-2025
Brianna (sounds like banana) can be described by the following titles: Mom, Wife, Environmental Scientist, Performing Artist, Choreographer, Self-Made Thousandaire, and Epic Multitasker. She earned a BS in General Biology with an emphasis in Marine Biology from San Diego State University in 2003 and works full time in the environmental consulting industry. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of Accipiter Dance Company, focused on creating site-specific work in non-traditional settings across San Diego County. In addition to presenting her own work she has been fortunate to have danced as a guest artist with many local dance companies and independent choreographers including; H2O Dance Company, GetDown/PickUp Company, Malashock Dance, Lara Segura, Tamara Saari Dance, Angelica Bell, Ion Theatre, San Diego Dance Theater, and others.
Negative Space Dance Collective
Germinate Residency: 2025-2026
Negative Space Dance Collective (NSDC) is an emerging contemporary dance ensemble based in San Diego, California, committed to pushing the boundaries of movement and performance lead by Alexa Lopez Plush. NSDC is rooted in collaboration and experimentation, the collective crafts immersive, unconventional works that invite audiences into dynamic, and ever-evolving experiences. Centering improvisation as both a creative and performative tool, the collective embraces spontaneity not only in the choreographic process, but also within the final performance itself, allowing each piece to remain alive and responsive in the moment. Collaborating artists participating in Germinate include Ilyana Hughes, Ranier Martinez, and Samara Rodriguez.
Alexa’s captivating choreography has been showcased in various productions and festivals, and she has performed at renowned events such as Trolley Dances 2021, WOW Festival 2023 and Live Arts Fest 2022 & 2024. Recognized for her artistic excellence, she received the Virgil Yalong Quick Grant in 2021, the Orion Choreographic Fellowship 2024 and has been featured in SD Voyager Magazine.
Ranier has experience in multiple styles of dance and has danced mainly in San Diego, notably under bk SOUL for Fresh Dances and somebodies dance theater for Live Arts Fest. Ranier loves exploring movements that are outside of his comfort zone and attempts to see the beauty in everything. In the future, Ranier would love to make dance that would mix with other various forms of medium (art, film, etc.) in order to create contemporary works of art that have been inspired from his own past experiences while intertwining experiences from future collaborations.
Ilyana Hughes is an active performer, choreographer, and teacher in San Diego, California. Since receiving her BFA in Dance from Howard University (2023), Ilyana continues to explore the depths of her artistry as it stems from her experiences as a Black woman.
Samara is a performing artist based in San Diego. She recently graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in theater where she deepened her understanding of the mind-body connection and the power of emotional expression. Her dance journey began at 5 years old when she fell in love with tap and jazz, and over the years started immersing herself into other genres of dance and art forms. Dance has always been an integral part of her life, teaching her the value of movement as both a creative and healing force.
Kelsey Hirte (she/her)
Germinate Residency: April 26 – May 7, 2027
Kelsey is a contemporary modern dancer and choreographer based in San Diego, CA. She started her dance training at a quaint, independently owned dance studio in San Marcos, CA at the age of four years old. Kelsey has had the opportunity to dance in various ballet productions such as Peter Pan, Coppèlia, and The Nutcracker and has been on jazz and lyrical competitive dance teams as a child and teen through Dance FX studios. She was first introduced to modern dance at Mission Hills High School where she was a student in the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) program. Since then, she has trained and performed in works created by Heather Zornes, Sadie Weinberg, Joei Waldron, Faith Jensen-Ismay, Bernard Brown, Terry Wilson, Rachel Torres and Erica Buechner. She was a company dancer with Avocado Dance Theater in Temecula, a community dancer in San Diego Dance Theater’s Trolley Dances and a part of Mojalet Dance Collective’s Core Group where she has also choreographed and presented work. Kelsey is currently working as a VAPA Specialist at Mission Hills High School in San Marcos and she teaches and choreographs independently throughout the county.
Alston Tyndall (she/they)
Germinate Residency: Mar 1 – 12, 2027
Alston Tyndall is a dance artist who interrogates evolving relationships to the body and other bodies through movement exploration. They hold “dance artist” as a broad identifying term that encompasses their intertwined passions for dance making, dance teaching, dance research, dance community, and their own dancing body. Their identities as a white, queer, disabled person from the Southern United States deeply influence the space from which they access being a dance artist.
They currently hold an MFA in Dance with a Somatic Emphasis in Access and Inclusion from the University of Colorado Boulder and a BA in Sociology and Dance with a Professional Performance Certificate from Meredith College. They have danced professionally, collaborated and created with extraordinary interdisciplinary artists, and persuaded people that movement will always be worth doing. They are actively working to make dance more accessible and inclusive while asking questions of who gets to dance and why.
Khamla Somphanh
Germinate Residency: Nov 30 – Dec 11, 2026
Khamla is a nationally recognized dance artist and lifelong student of human expression. She holds a B.A. in Dance from Saint Mary’s College, Certification of Horton Pedagogy from The Alvin Ailey School and graduated from Duke Ellington High School of the Arts. Currently, Somphanh teaches at San Diego State University, serves on faculty at Mounarath-Powell Dance Theater, and is Arts Coordinator at Pacific View Arts Center.
Stemming from personal inquiries, her choreography allows physical pathways to shape each work. Past works have been created for Wasatch Contemporary Dance, LITVAKdance, San Diego Dance Theater, Malashock Dance Company, Mounarath-Powell Dance, SDSCPA, among others. Her self and co-produced works have been exhibited at ODC Commons, the 10th Avenue Theater, Dorothea Laub Studio, The Light Box Theater and Black Box at CPAA.
A few of Somphanh’s performing credits include ODC/San Francisco Dance Company, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, Na-Ni Chen Dance Company, Malashock Dance Company, soloist for the San Diego Opera, Broadway and 1st National touring production of The King and I.
Cecily Holcombe
Germinate Residency: 2025-2026
Cecily Holcombe discovered her love for dance after taking her first modern dance class with Jean Isaacs at UCSD. After college, she performed with Liss Fain Dance in San Francisco while earning her teaching credential. Since moving back to San Diego, Cecily has performed with LITVAKdance and San Diego Dance Theater and has been honored to work with many local artists including Blythe Barton, Lavina Rich, and Khamla Somphanh, among others. She premiered her first choreographic work at Live Arts Fest in 2022 and has continued to create and present new works in San Diego. She was the recipient of DISCO RIOT’s S P A C E Pro Residency in 2024 and is planning to present at ODC in San Francisco in June 2025.
Lauren Lee
Germinate Residency: 2024-2025
Cecily Holcombe discovered her love for dance after taking her first modern dance class with Jean Isaacs at UCSD. After college, she performed with Liss Fain Dance in San Francisco while earning her teaching credential. Since moving back to San Diego, Cecily has performed with LITVAKdance and San Diego Dance Theater and has been honored to work with many local artists including Blythe Barton, Lavina Rich, and Khamla Somphanh, among others. She premiered her first choreographic work at Live Arts Fest in 2022 and has continued to create and present new works in San Diego. She was the recipient of DISCO RIOT’s S P A C E Pro Residency in 2024 and is planning to present at ODC in San Francisco in June 2025.
Patrick Li
Germinate Residency: 2024-2025
Patrick (he/him) is an emerging dance artist who integrates movement with other disciplines. A graduate of UC San Diego with dual degrees in Dance and Biology, he was honored with the Theatre & Dance Undergraduate Scholarship Award and the Global Service Award. Growing up abroad, he trained in ballet, Peking opera, and traditional Chinese dance. Immersed in the San Diego dance community, Patrick has the privilege to work with La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Dance Theater, LITVAKdance, MAVERiC Studio, and DISCO RIOT. His choreographic works and dance films have been showcased at the American Dance Festival Movies By Movers, California Center for the Arts in Escondido, and DISCO RIOT Choreographic Residency. Patrick envisions uniting people across diverse backgrounds through the universal language of dance.
Patrick is participating in GERMINATE as a part of DANSE PLUS, an interdisciplinary movement-based collective established in partnership with his artistic collaborator, Lauren Lee.
Eric Geiger (he/him)
Germinate Residency: 2024-2025
I dance and make dances in an attempt to make sense of the world around me. Early on, I received a full merit scholarship to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. I was a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company where I also taught and served as choreographic assistant to Bill. As a member of The Lyon Opera Ballet, I performed in works by William Forsythe, Stephen Petronio, Susan Marshall, Maguy Marin, and Angelin Preljocaj. I recently left my faculty position of 14 years at UCSD. Contact Improvisation, Trisha Brown-like qualities, and performing Deborah Hay’s choreography has transformed and expanded my movement capacities. I am also a certified Feldenkrais Method practitioner. As a dancemaker I am a collaborator. I’ve made dances with Anya Cloud, Karen Schaffman, Liam Clancy, Leslie Seiters, and Jess Humphrey. I live in San Diego.
Tina Carreras (she/her)
Germinate Residency: 2024-2025
Tina Carreras is a Dancer, Choreographer, Teaching Artist, and Certified Personal Fitness Instructor living in the Fairmount Park area of San Diego. Her passion is movement as a form of creative expression, exercise, therapy, self-care, and community-building. She has performed, choreographed, and volunteered in the San Diego dance community for the past 5 years, working with organizations such as San Diego Dance Theater, Disco Riot, Malashock, H2O Dance, Accipiter Dance, and Ballet Counterpointe. Tina recently graduated from San Diego City College with her AA in Visual and Performing Arts in Dance. She currently teaches an Aging Creatively Modern class with San Diego Dance Theater. She also teaches Movement Therapy Dance classes to seniors living in Memory Care, Assisted Living, and Retirement facilities with Grey Matters. Tina loves to experiment in dance film and editing and is looking to further her creativity and experience in this area as well.