Dass Dance
Artistic Director/Choreographer Daniel Wilkins formed DASS dance in 1996 after seeing a need for daring and innovative movement in the dance community. Incorporated with the State of New York as a 501 (c)(3) in 2000, DASS dance took up residency at Diane von Furstenberg-The Theater and created a sensation in the fashion industry. DASS dance has appeared in several publications such as Fashion Wire Daily, Flaunt, Paper Magazine, Art News, W Magazine, New York Magazine, as well as The Seattle Times, The Daily, and the New York Times radio WQXR. DASSdance has collaborated with Diane von Furstenberg, (DVF.com) on costume creation and enlisted the talent of visual artists, sound artists, and lighting directors on nine full-length works to date. Other colaborators include award winning Technical Director and Lighting Designer, Jeff Sugg, (JeffSugg.com) and Museum of Modern Art collected artist, Lyle Starr, (MoMA).
DASS has also been presented by festivals in New York and Washington State, including DanceNow Festival (New York, 2004), d.u.m.b.o. Dance Festival (New York, 2006), Move! Festival (Tacoma, 2006, 2007), On the Boards 12 Minutes Max (Seattle, 2006, 2008), the Lynnwood Family Multicultural Festival (Lynnwood, 2007). Winterfest (Seattle Center, 2008), Seattle Weekly’s Artopia (Seattle, 2008), Chop Shop Festival (Bellevue, 2008), Big Bang (Velocity Dance Center, Seattle, 2009), Seattle International Festival (2009), Siteworks (Museum of Glass, Tacoma, 2009), and Bumbershoot (Seattle, 2009), South Seattle Arts Festival (2010), Boost Dance Festival (Seattle 2011) and was featured in Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s production of HMS Pinafore. In 2004, DASS transitioned into a bi-coastal company with primary residence in Seattle. The company has performed works at the Bagley Wright Theatre in the Seattle Center, Edmonds Center for the Arts, Velocity, Washington Hall, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center among others. DASS officially became a Washington State charitable organization in 2007.
DASS has donated proceeds and partnered with Real Change, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Read Across America, Seattle Race Initiative, Washington Hall, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center and the Seattle Housing Authority. All-Terrain Dance is a dynamic and visceral style developed by Artistic Director Daniel Wilkins that juxtaposes a variety of techniques from diverse cultural backgrounds. Utilizing clean balletic lines, modern release, martial arts, break-dancing, tumbling and wrestling, Wilkins investigates the limits of physical architecture with an acute attention to agility.
The fluidity and attack that signals the intermixing of these vocabularies allows DASS to tackle movement with a comprehensive realism and intensity. Committed to the 
pure athleticism of the human body, All-Terrain Dance exemplifies the contrastive and changing forces that constitute contemporary life in society. DASS’ All-Terrain productions traverse multiple artistic mediums. Visual art, video and photographic projection interact with technologically innovative set and lighting design as well as fashion forward costume design.
Daniel Wilkins
(Producing Artistic Director)
Daniel Wilkins graduated from School of American Ballet performing principal roles in the graduation workshop at Lincoln Center. Wilkins went on to dance professionally with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Donald Byrd/The Group, Spectrum Dance Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Suzanne Farrell Ballet among others. Daniel formed DASSdance in 1996, with the intention to push the athletic and architectural limits of dance. An integral part of his artistic vision is 20 years experience in sports such as wrestling, basketball and baseball as well as a curiosity in visual art that began with employment at the Guggenheim Museum, and remained with him to fuel his All-Terrain / multimedia choreographic endeavors. DASSdance inaugurated Diane von Furstenberg -The Theater in 2000 and has performed five world premieres with original costumes by DVF. DASSdance has also performed seasons at the JoyceSoho (NYC), Baryshnikov Arts Center (NYC), HundredGrand Soho (NYC) and the Bagley Wright Theater (Seattle) including residencies at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center (Seattle) and at Washington Hall (Seattle). Wilkins has been commissioned nationally and internationally, including for the Chrysler Salon, Spectrum Dance Theater’s Northwest Best, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Flux Laboratory in Switzerland, Arts for Art NYC as well as film and commercial projects. Wilkins has been featured in New York Magazine, Flaunt Magazine, the New York Times, Seattle Times and named one of Paper Magazine’s 50 most beautiful people. Daniel is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of DASSdance.
Bojohn Diciple
Bojohn Diciple is a native to Portland Oregon and received his early training at the Jefferson Performing Arts High School in Portland, the Oregon Ballet Theater School, and Northwest African America Ballet Theatre. He received a BFA in dance in 2006 from one of the Northwest’s top performance arts schools, Cornish College of the Arts, as a Kreielsheimer artistic merit scholarship recipient. He has performed with Spectrum Dance Theater, Fusion Dance Theatre, Seattle Opera, 5th Avenue Theatre, Village Theatre, and the Intiman Theatre, and has performed set pieces by Andrea Woods, Luis Garay, Nicholas Leichter, and Bill T. Jones. Diciple has served as Assistant Choreographer for Black Nativity and his original works of choreography have also been featured at American Dance Festival, Cornish New Moves Concert, and Anonymous Dance Company in Portland. Bojohn is in his sixth season with DASSdance.
Elise Landles
Elise Landles received a BFA in Dance at Cornish College of the Arts where she studied under Pat Hon, Wade Madsen, Iyun Harrison, Michelle Miller, and Deborah Wolf. Through Cornish Dance Theater she performed works by Jose Limon, Pat Hon, Jason Ohlberg, Brenna Monroe-Cook, and Cyrus Khambatta, among others. Elise is in her third season with DASSdance.
Britany Falso
Brittany Falso was born and raised on Whidbey Island. She danced at Island Dance from age three through her senior year in high school. She graduated in 2008 from Bayview High School. After high school she studied dance at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. She is a mother to four year old son, Leo, who inspires her every day to live and dance with a full, loving, and open heart. Brittany currently teaches at Island dance is is the assistant Artistic Director of Whidbey Island DAnce Theatre. Brittany is in her fourth season with DASSdance.
Dade Glaser
Dade Glaser started tap dancing at British Dancing Academy when he was four and started ballet when he was in 7th grade. In high school he trained at the Evergreen City Ballet in ballet, modern, and hip-hop preforming in many roles such as Russian, Arabian, and Caviler in The Nutcrackerand Benno in Swan Lake. He also performed in Cinderella, and Giselle as well as other works created by Wade Walthall, and Kevin Kaiser. In 2006 he attended a summer intensive at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. Dade is in his eighth season with DASSdance.
Jasmine Wright
Jasmine Wright is from the Tacoma area, where she began ballet, tap, and jazz as a little girl at Charisma School of Dance which later included choreographing her own solos for competitions. Following high school, she studied Music Education at Pacific Lutheran University in 2011. After working with Walt Disney World Entertainment as an intern and the Disney Live stage shows as an ensemble dancer, she transferred schools upon her return to the WA State and pursued a Creative Studies Dance major and Music minor at the University of Washington. There, she performed with the Chamber Dance Company and Robert Moses Kin’ Dance Group as a guest performer and choreographed on students for the Dance Majors Concert.
After graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors in Spring 2015, she went to New York for the Mark Morris Dance Group summer intensive. She has always been interested in dance as an elite sport, supplementing her training with other skills such as Martial Arts and Track & Field. She currently runs her own children’s character-themed entertainment business, teaches at Image Studio of Dance in Lakewood, dances with Version Excursion in Seattle, as well as acting for film and television. Jasmine is in her first season dancing for DASSdance.
