Bio
Bio
Jennifer Akalina Petuch is the founder and Artistic Director of Luminous Motion, LLC and a multimedia artist, dancer, digital choreographer, and former university educator of Dance and Dance Technology. Originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, she trained for fourteen years at the Academy of Ballet Florida and performed in professional ballets with the Company of Ballet Florida. She graduated magna cum laudé from the University of South Florida achieving a Bachelor’s in Dance Studies in 2011. At USF, she danced in works by Gretchen Ward Warren and Doug Varone and participated in the USF Dance in Paris Program working with Claudia Lavista and Michael Foley. After graduating, she taught at dance studios in the Tampa Bay area as well as performing, choreographing, and teaching with Shoes at the Door Dance Company. She graduated summa cum laudé from Florida State University’s School of Dance with her Master of Fine Arts in Choreography and Performance with a focus in Dance Technology in 2017. While attending FSU, she performed in works by Tim Glenn, Joséphine Garibaldi, Hannah Schwadron, and a Tedx Talk. She initiated a collaborative project for her MFA thesis with the FSU Computer Science faculty and students creating and publishing an interactive Augmented Reality software for the stage called ViFlow. This original open-source AR software utilizes infrared tracking with projection mapping for performance spaces which received global recognition when it was presented at the International Computational Creativity Conference, Paris, France in 2016. Petuch became a certified Pilates Mat instructor by Balanced Body, Inc. in 2017 and taught at local Pilates studios in the Tallahassee area.
Serving seven years as Adjunct Faculty at the FSU School of Dance, she taught courses of Pilates, Contemporary Dance, Ballet, Survey of Dance Technologies, Dance &Video: Projection Design, and Dance & Video: Camera Techniques. In service of the community, Petuch taught in local dance studios, retirement homes, and senior fitness classes for the FSU Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. She was Documentation Director for the FSU School of Dance, responsible for producing their promotional video and for filming and archiving the school performances. In this role, she trained student crew members the steps needed for the professional film industry in the pre-production, production, and post-production process. Her passion for exploring the synergy between body movement and technology into creative works resulted in her appointment as Technology Lab Facilitator, Coordinator and Supervisor responsible for the equipment inventory and the Tech Lab Facilities. Embracing this opportunity, she learned the latest technology as each was acquired and became proficient in various editing programs, projection and camera equipment, drones, and training students and producing work for the 360 3D Dome.
Petuch was an Instructional Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas A&M University School of Performance, Visualization, and Fine Arts for the 2022–2023 school year. She led the creation of multiple interdisciplinary degree programs for the Performance Technology Committee, Film & Television Production Committee, the Dance Technology program and taught Modern Dance, Dance Composition, Dance History, Jazz Dance, and Screendance. Her ongoing commitment to Dance/Motion Technology research has led to interdisciplinary projects with Computer Science, Visual Computing, Computational Media, Theater and Dance professors at Texas A&M University. Her team received two grant awards in support of projects entitled, “Increasing Audience Engagement and Interactions During Immersive Performances Through Augmented Reality,” and “Multi-user, Multi-sensory Augmented Reality Experiences and Workshops to Increase Engagement and Interactions During Immersive Performances.”
Petuch founded Luminous Motion, LLC where she directs, designs, and creates various digital projections, film work, promotional, and sizzle reels for many companies in Performing Arts, Technology, and Universities. Since 2019, she has worked with CORPS de Ballet International, Inc. as their Technical Coordinator, Facilitator, Videographer, and Editor for their annual global conference, was honored by receiving their Outstanding Service Award in 2021, and was an invited guest speaker for their 2023 conference. Petuch has produced multiple large-scale stage projection designs for evening length works for companies such as South Georgia Ballet, Tampa City Ballet, Louisburg College Dance Company, Ballet Florida, Florida Atlantic University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Slippery Rock University, and the FSU Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra. Her large-scale projection installations have been featured at locations such as the ExCineLab in Tallahassee, the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, and most memorably in 2023, her work, Rinse and Repeat was accepted into the International Projection festival, Digital Graffiti in Alys Beach, Florida. Petuch has produced multiple short and feature length films for community and professional companies, festivals, universities, and WaveAI, a generative music AI application. Her film work has been featured on local news stations and in National and International newspapers such as the The Sydney Morning Herald and the Tallahassee Democrat.
Jennifer was Co-Director with Annali Rose, as well as Cinematographer, Videographer, and Editor on their underwater dance film, Liminality. This film has been screened in 63 National and International film festivals including the 50th Annual Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center in New York City, 2022. This work has been honored with 20 awards such as “Best Film Production”, “People’s Choice Award” (Inspired Dance Film Fest Australia), “Most Innovative Dance Video” (Espoo Digi-Dance International, Finland), “Best Cinematography” (Rethink Dance Film Festival, USA), “Best Dance Video” (Fox International Film Festival, Italy), “Outstanding Achievement Award” (Ara Korea International Film Festival, South Korea), among others. As a respected artist in this field, Petuch has been a guest artist/visiting scholar providing technology classes at multiple conferences and universities and was honored to be an invited panelist discussing dance filmmaking in national and international events spanning the globe from Texas to Vietnam. In Fall 2023, she published a book review in Dance Chronicle entitled “Unlocking the Beauty of Screendance: A Journey through History, Curatorial Practice, and Personal Reflections.”