Leraldo Anzaldua (he/him)
Fight Master, Society of American Fight Directors
Intimacy Director, Intimacy Directors and Coordinators
Fight Choreographer, Stage Directors & Choreographers
LERALDO ANZALDUA is a Fight Master, Fight Director, and Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), an Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC),) and a Fight Choreographer with Stage Directors & Choreographers society (SDC). Theatres worked with include: Prague Shakespeare Company, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Houston Grand Opera, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse and more. He has been a motion capture performer and fight director with Sony Pictures in Tokyo, Japan. He has been a Motion Capture Fight Director & Talent for video games in Stockholm & Uppsala, Sweden. He is also a Voice Over performer for anime with titles on Hulu, Netflix, Crunchyroll, HiDive, Cartoon Network: Adult Swim
Notable titles include:
Kei Tsukishima – Haikyu!
Ryo Kurokiba – Food Wars!
Noda – Angel Beats
Takashi Komuro – High School of the Dead
Largo – One Piece
and many more!
He has received a Master’s Degree in Acting from the University of Houston. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Movement and Stage Combat with the Dept of Theatre & Dance at Indiana University.
Samantha Kaufman (she/her)
Certified Teacher, Society of American Fight Directors
Intimacy Director, Intimacy Directors and Coordinators
Samantha (she/her) is an intimacy director, fight director, actor, and teaching artist. She is based in Chicago and works internationally. Samantha is a Certified Intimacy Director, teaching artist, and curriculum developer with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators. A Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors. A Jeff Award-nominated fight choreographer. An award-winning actor. A certified Michael Chekhov teacher with the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. She has been a resident artist with Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Prague Shakespeare Company. Regionally, Samantha has worked with theatres such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Cleveland Play House, among others. She has her MFA from Florida Atlantic University.
Amie Root (she/her)
Certified Teacher, Society of American Fight Directors
Amie Root is a movement, stage combat and theater pedagogy teacher, fight director, playwright and actor. She travels across the country teaching and working in theatre. Amie is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) with whom she is an official mentor. Amie has been a guest artist instructor for California State University Summer Arts for over a decade and has been the Fight Director for Unto These Hills for four seasons. She was a teaching artist for The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington DC for four years. Additionally, she is this year's SAFD Teacher Certification Workshop Pedagogy Instructor, as well as coordinates the pedagogy training at the Texas Intensive hosted by the University of Houston and the two-week Central Illinois Stage Combat Teacher Trainer hosted by Western Illinois University. Amie Root has a BA in drama from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and is pursuing her MFA in Directing at Western IL University.
Steve Wei (They/He)
Certified Fight Instructor, Academy of Fight Directors Canada
Steve Wei (they/he) is a Philadelphia-based Certified Instructor with the Academy of Fight Directors Canada, and has been practicing stage combat with the Society of American Fight Directors for over a decade. They are devoted to an artistic culture promoting the ethical production of dramatic violence, and are a passionate practitioner of activism-based artistry. Steve's Philadelphia choreography credits include: The Taming! (Shakespeare in Clark Park), She Kills Monsters: Digital Realms (Temple University), The Night Alive (Inis Nua Theatre Company), Mercury Fur, Crazyface (Brainspunk Theatre Company). Steve recently completed a three-month residency at Washington & Lee University as Lead Visionary Artist on Begets: Fall of a High School Ronin. Steve is also Co-Coordinator for the Philadelphia Stage Combat Workshop.
Taqqee Khabir (he/him)
Instructor, Satria Fighting Arts
Taqqee is a lifelong martial artist and has taught self-defense for a decade in the Ann Arbor and metro Detroit areas. He has a deep passion for helping empower people through martial arts, and movement. His background includes Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Hapkido, Silat, and Kali. He is the head certified Satria silat Instructor in Michigan: as well as the head coach and state representative for the United States Silat Association (https://usasportsilat.org). He has presented self-defense workshops for Concordia University, Toyota, Alpha Gamma Delta, Gamma Phi Beta, U of M, EMU, Penguicon, and at The Barre Code. Currently he teaches classes in Ann Arbor at Close Quarters Combat Academy (https://www.cqcacademy.com).
Patrick Kelly (he/him)
Certified Teacher, Society of American Fight Directors
Stuntman
Patrick is a professional martial artist, fight choreographer, stunt coordinator and performer. He is on faculty at Indiana University-Bloomington where he has served as the Director of the largest academic martial arts program in the United States since 2006.
Over the years, Patrick has studied concepts and techniques from several martial arts including, Jun-fan Kickboxing, Wing Chun Gung Fu, Muay Thai, Savate, Kali/Escrima, Silat, Hapkido, Shoot-fighting, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Fencing, Longsword Fencing (Liechtenauer), and Archery in addition to tactical firearms training. He presented on Martial Arts in Physical Education to the Indiana Department of Education establishing a teaching pedagogy for attribute development and skill acquisition in martial performance in high school physical education programs and taught action performance preparation and training methodology at the Martial Arts and Wellness Symposium at UCLA. He also served as consultant and research designer for The Wick Lab, a metabolic study of the energy requirements and injury analysis for the John Wick movie franchise.
He is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors. He worked on the Stunt/Fight Team for the History Channel's Vikings and Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla television series filmed in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. He has served as Stunt Coordinator for several feature films including the suspense-horror So Cold The River, starring Bethany Joy Lenz, Runner, directed by Marian Mathias, The Duel, starring Dylan Sprouse and We Strangers, starring Kirby and directed by Anu Valia. In addition, he has designed and performed action/violence for docu-dramas, stage productions and other entertainment projects including music video and mo-cap. In what spare time he has Patrick enjoys cycling, hiking with his pack, kayaking, reading, and sleeping... when the coffee wears off.
https://www.myiu.org/stories/arts-culture/stunts-101-with-patrick-kelly/