Elia Mrak

Founder

I love working with people. It is my greatest skill and brings me the most joy.

Also, once upon a time at the beginning of a workshop, a student claims that I said:

“This class will be about the poetry of movement, because that is what I am about.” Cool.

Nothing worth doing can be done alone, and this work is no exception. There is a team that supports this vision, and it is an honor to work with them. Check their stories out below.

“Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. (And we’ll dance).” - Rumi (and Elia)

Steven Ripley

Administration and Project Management

I studied theater at UC Berkeley and got my MFA in Playwriting at UCLA. I worked as an actor, stage manager and playwright for 20 years. My weird, socially-charged plays were performed in San Diego, Berkeley, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

I worked with the City of Seattle for 18 years as a web manager, project lead, business writer, emergency first responder, software trainer, and content developer for the Seattle.gov web site. Our team created a citizen service portal, community web calendar, content management system, and web portals for teens, seniors and in 30 different languages. It was good work for our city, and I’m proud I was part of it.

A friend of mine asked me what I do with Elia. I thought about it and said: Well, in the television show The West Wing, someone asks Josh Lyman what he does at the White House, and he says, “Well, the President is the guy, and I’m the guy who helps the guy.”

So, I’m the guy who helps the guy. It is all about collaboration, creativity and commitment.

Also, I like to dance.