12 Minutes Max

This beloved short-form performance lab for new and experimental works was originated by On the Boards in 1981 and handed off to Base in 2017. Led by a different pair of community curators each round, 12 Minutes Max auditions are open to artists at all career stages working in dance, music, theater and more. For decades, 12 Minutes Max has been a launchpad for new artists and a testing ground for longer works—so much so that it’s inspired similar programs across North America, including Vancouver, B.C., Chicago and Houston.

12 Minutes Max Edition Two will feature works by: Erica Badgeley, Bob Archer, Hexe Fey, Hannah Tiên, Emma Sumanaweera, and Lavender Liqueur. 

Tickets are available here. This edition was curated by Cameo Lethem and Alana Isiguen. 

12 Minutes Max is a low-tech showcase. Selected works can be up to 12 minutes long; each artist/group will receive a $150 fee. Check out our 12 Minutes Max Guidelines for details.

Edition Two Artists

Emma Sumanaweera (she/they) is a dance artist based in Seattle, Washington. She holds a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts, where she developed her creative process and trained in contemporary and ballet techniques, floorwork, and various street styles. This past year, she became deeply curious about the process of translating emotion and creative writing into movement scores and choreography. Her recent project, "Kaleidoscope (memory traces)," was her first investigation into this, and focused on the embodiment of nostalgia and childhood memories. Find Emma next in Evoke Productions' Full Tilt 2026, where she will be performing in a new work by Olivia Evans.

Erica Badgeley (she/her) is a Seattle born & based dance artist. From 2014-2016 she performed in Europe with multiple choreographers. Locally, she's collaborated with: Jessica Jobaris, Cameo Lethem, Lucie Baker, Alisa Popova, Chartreuse Colemxn Pester, Elia Mrak, Daniel Agami / Ate9, Kate Wallich | The YC, Tonya Lockyer, Jeffrey Fracé, and more. Her own work has been presented at: Salt Shake's 3...2...1..., Seattle International Dance Festival, 12 Minutes Max, NextFest NW, as well as venues in Brussels. She holds a BA in Dance from UW, and Postgraduate in Performance from SEAD, Salzburg. She currently teaches youth aikido at Seattle Aikikai, Gyrotonic at Seattle Changing Room, and co-produces Short Shorts Open Stage (next March 10th!) and Jumpsuit (next April 19th & 26th!) at Seattle Open Arts Place (SOAP).

Hexe Fey is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, curator, and interactive fiction writer who works at the edges and confluences of culture, ancestral knowledge, games, movement research and performance, and indigenous futurism. Hexe holds an MFA with a concentration in Indigenous Arts from Goddard College.

Bob Archer (he/him) is a dancer, musician, teacher, and member of Dacha Theater company. He played Mervyn, the wandering accordion player in Dacha’s production of (F)unfair, and appeared in the band for Dacha’s Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Hannah Tiên (she/her) is a movement artist, educator, and bodyworker whose expression is shaped by Vietnamese diasporic lineage and mixed identity, working at the intersection of dance, martial arts, and somatic practice. Drawing from Capoeira Angola, Afro-diasporic movement practices, Balinese dance, contemplative and ritual movement traditions, and Western dance, her work explores embodiment, ritual, and symbology. She holds a BA in Dance and Geography from the University of Colorado Boulder and is expanding her practice into interdisciplinary performance and dance for camera.

Lavender Liqueur (they/them) is an elegant tease, an aromatic apparition, a lush libation to be savored completely - this queer, gender-nonconforming performance artist dabbles deliciously in drag, burlesque, theater, and dance—dripping elegance and desire in equal measure. You're invited to enter a fragrant dreamscape where beauty is fluid, pleasure is political, and sweetness unfurls with luscious transcendence.
They have recently worked or collaborated with Enchanted Ravens, Heap Troupe, Karin Stevens Dance, Ruby A. Moore, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Seattle Rep's Public Works program, ARENA Dances, and have previously presented work at 12 Minutes Max, CO-SHOW10, and S.O.A.P. You can also find them around town as the velvet-cracked whip of desire, Lavender Lasso. Sip slowly, darlings... this one goes straight to the head and will leave you deliciously undone. Serving botanical realness with a rhinestoned wink, please welcome Lavender Liqueur (they/them).

Edition Two Curators

Alana Isiguen (she/her) is a dance artist and educator originally from the East Coast. She currently serves as full time Artist in Residence at the University of Washington Department of Dance, where she choreographs, directs concerts, and teaches jazz, contemporary ballet, contemporary modern, choreography, and somatic movement education. Alana earned a BFA in Dance from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and an MFA in Dance from the University of California Irvine. Her research explores integrating somatic principles into dance education. She trained with Patricia McBride as part of the North Carolina Dance Theatre and Summer Lee Rhatigan at the SF Conservatory of Dance. Alana has performed works by Camille A. Brown, Doug Varone, George Balanchine, Jessica Lang, Alonzo King, and William Forsythe.

Cameo Lethem (she/her) is a choreographer and performer based in Seattle. Her work has been shown at On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Erickson Theater, 12th Ave Arts, Kirkland Performance Center, Base: Experimental Arts + Space, Yaw Theater, Electric Lodge, and more. She has performed works by Alice Gosti, Annie Franklin, Bebe Miller, Beth Twigs, Chartreuse Coleman, Doug Varone, Kate Wallich, Robert Moses, and others. Other collaborators include Rachael Lincoln, Jeffrey Frace, and Quinn Hallenbeck. Her mentors from Ellenore Scott's The Breaking Glass Project (2015-16) were Nia-Amina Minor and Sidra Bell. Additionally, she has served as a panelist/curator for Velocity's NextFestNW, One-on-One's, and SIDF's James Ray Residency. Cameo is a recipient of SeattleDances' 2017 DanceCrush award. She currently teaches at Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University.