Administrative Team

Development Associate

Tashi Swierkosz (she/they) is a nonprofit development specialist, fusion belly dancer and instructor, and an advocate of all forms of artistic expression based in the East Bay Area. She possesses a double Bachelor’s of Arts from the University of New Mexico majoring in International Studies with a focus in Culture & Art and Women and Gender & Sexuality Studies with a focus in Sociology and Communication.  During her time living in New Mexico, Tashi served as the Development and Communications Manager for PB&J Family Services, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to child abuse prevention and improving family well-being. She believes that radical and inclusive creative expression has the power to foster a world in which our differences and unique experiences are utilized as fuel for transformative artistic innovation.

Engagement Project Manager

Katherine Nauman (she/her) is a Horton technique instructor, performer, and arts administrator. Katherine rejoined AXIS Dance Company in 2021 after serving as its Rehearsal and Engagement Director in 2018. She lives in New York City where she is on faculty at The Ailey School and STEPS on Broadway.
While living in San Francisco, Katherine was the Director of the Alonzo King LINES Dance Center, Assistant Professor for LINES Ballet/BFA at Dominican University, faculty for the LINES Ballet Training and Summer Programs, and guest teacher for the El Cerrito HS Dance Program. In the Bay Area she performed with Ray Tadio, SOULSKIN Dance and Mary Carbonara Dances.

Prior to her time in SF, Katherine trained, performed and taught in NYC. After graduating from The Ailey School, she was teaching and choreographic assistant to Horton master teachers Milton Myers and JoLea Maffei, and taught at Juilliard, LaGuardia High School, The Ailey School and STEPS. She danced for companies including: Stanley Love Performance Group, bopi’s black sheep/dances by kraig patterson, Maffei Dance Company, Glen Rumsey Dance Project, and Makram Hamdan Dance Company. 

Marketing & Communications Coordinator

Octavia Rose Hingle is a dance maker, performing arts administrator and visual storyteller born & raised in the East Bay Area. Through multi-media design and
in-person/digital programming, they work to build arts audiences across generations that reflect the breadth and diversity of disability and queer communities. They are an advocate for universal accessibility in arts spaces, and a proponent for cultural & aesthetic equity in the performing arts sector.

Octavia holds a BA in dance from Middlebury College, and has studied with ODC/Dance, the UCLA Dancing Disability lab, AXIS Choreo-Lab and the Headlong Performance Institute. They have recently performed original choreography for LEVYsalon, the SAFEhouse for the Arts RAW residency, the Shawl Anderson Queering Dance Festival & the National Queer Arts Festival. You can see more of their work at vimeo.com/octaviarose

Company Manager

Christopher is a native San Franciscan who received his professional dance training on full scholarship with San Francisco Ballet School. He majored in dance at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts High School, with additional dance training at ODC/Dance, New York City Ballet’s School of American Ballet, and North Carolina Dance Theater. He joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theater in 2008 before moving to New York to further pursue his dance career, where he joined as an Inaugural Cast member of Disney Cruise Line’s ships: the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. Most recently, Chris was a ballerina with the world’s premiere drag ballet company, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo where he has spent the last five years touring around the world. When not performing, Chris is also the Art Director of Second Cast Productions, the Bay Area drag company that transforms local dancers into their drag personas for a calendar that raises awareness for queer youth in need. His other interests include costume design and construction, screenwriting, and uplifting and advocating for his community. Chris is proud to be a part of the AXIS organization as we continue towards radical inclusion and the assurance that dance is accessible to all.