All about BRIDGES 2025!
Garage Arts Project in collaboration with Plano International Festival presents BRIDGES 2025 - a festival where stories, collaboration, and community come alive on stage.
This year, the festival takes inspiration from our ongoing initiative Fragments of Us, where people from across the world shared personal stories of relationships that shaped them. These fragments now transform into new artistic creations at Bridges, weaving memory and imagination into performance.
At the heart of the festival are seven remarkable artists from the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, commissioned to collaborate and create an original thirty-minute work. Together, they bring dance, music, and theatre into dialogue, showing what happens when creative voices merge to tell one collective story.
Venue:
Courtyard Theatre,
Collin College of Fine Arts,
Plano Campus
Date:
Saturday, 18th October, 2025
Time:
Doors open 6:15 PM
Pre-show reception 6:30 PM
Show starts 7:00 PM
"Top-notch artistic collaboration and innovative performances" - Bridges 2024 attendee
Meet the 2025 Artists
Aleyna Neivandt-Brown
Music producer, Studio professional, Educator, Musician, and Entrepreneur
Aleyna Neivandt-Brown is more than a music producer; she is a multi-faceted audio professional, educator, musician, and entrepreneur. With her five degrees and versatile production toolbox, Aleyna is an experienced professional with specialties in music, sound design, creative coding, audio engineering, and navigating the modern music industry. Aleyna is the Founder of a full-service production company, Red Pin Productions, providing music, sound design, and label services to a wide range of clients, both local (D-FW) and national. Aleyna’s own music, as both a singer-songwriter and a contemporary avant-garde composer, is available on international streaming platforms in separate catalogs as the artist “Aleyna” and the composer “Aleyna Neivandt-Brown.”
Veronica Pamindanan aka TYC
Spoken word artist and
Community leader
Veronica is a Filipino American spoken word artist and community leader. She is dedicated to uplifting emerging talent and serving as a cultural bridge within the Filipino community. Her work is grounded in themes of healing, identity, and transformation, using poetry as a tool for connection and empowerment. She has been featured at events and institutions including the Dallas 150th Anniversary, the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Lit, Lonestar Palengke, SXSW, Austin Lumikha, and more. Through performance, platform-building, and intentional community work, Veronica’s mission is to create space for others to rise and to impact on a national scale.
Puspa Panda
Odissi Dancer, Founder, Nrityaarati School of Performing Arts & Movement
Puspa Panda is an accomplished Odissi dancer and disciple of Guru Smt. Meera Das, with nearly two decades of training and over 15 years of stage experience. Holding a Master’s in
Performing Arts (Odissi) with distinction, she is a Nritya Visharad, Doordarshan-graded artiste, and empaneled with EZCC, and SPIC MACAY. A recipient of the Ministry of Culture’s Senior Scholarship, she has performed at prestigious festivals in India and abroad, including Konark,
Khajuraho, and ICCR collaborations. Now based in Dallas, she founded NRITYAARATI, a performing arts school dedicated to preserving and promoting Odissi globally.
Hannah Staton
Movement artist, Co-director of Loam Dance Company
Hannah Staton is a freelance performing artist based in Dallas, Texas and is a co-director of Loam Dance Co.. Hannah was born and raised in Thailand, where she first began dancing at a local studio in 2005. In 2021, she graduated from UNC School of the Arts with her BFA degree in Contemporary Dance and minor in Arts Entrepreneurship. After graduating, she became a company member with SUAH African Dance Theatre before moving to Dallas to train with Zion Dance Project. Most recently, Hannah performed in Flies with Bombshell Dance Project and is continuing to grow in various movement spaces.
Auntie Codie
Singer, Song-writer and Producer
A New Orleans native, Auntie Codie is a singer-songwriter and producer with a musical palette as diverse as a pot of gumbo. Disco, soul, pop, and choral influences come together to create a unique and delicious sonic blend that takes listeners to higher heights and deeper depths.
Her unique sound is a reflection of these diverse inspirations, woven together with her own distinctive creative flair.
With a voice that resonates with raw emotions and lyrics that tell deeply personal and universal stories, Auntie Codie has quickly become a rising star in the Dallas music scene.
Darlesha Goggans aka Valkary
Movement artist and Creative dancer - Hip Hop and Popping
Darlesha Goggans, known in the dance world as Valkary, is a movement artist and creative dancer specializing in Hip Hop and Popping. With over 20 years of experience, her credits include So You Think You Can Dance, opening for Drake, and featuring in fashion shows and commercials. She has also collaborated with major brands such as Red Bull—serving as both a judge and performer—and Bacardi as their official dancer. Beyond her performance career, Valkary is a staple in the Dallas dance community and has shared her craft in cities nationwide. Through teaching, mentoring, and community events, she continues to inspire the next generation of dancers while preserving the roots of Hip Hop movement.
Lusterling
Multidisciplinary artist, Producer, Vocalist and Performer
Lusterling is a multidisciplinary artist, producer, vocalist, and performer whose work fuses art, music, and visual storytelling into explorations of identity, rebirth, and transformation. Her expression is both personal and collective–illuminating internal and external experiences we all share, and translating them through color, word, and sound. Currently, Lusterling is creating her debut self-produced music album featuring her first multi-media projects, and recently published a new fashion magazine centered around personal style, self-expression, and authenticity. Through her work, she seeks to ignite and encourage others to embody their own authentic spark.
"Thrilled to witness such a distinct creative performance" - Bridges 2023 attendee
Special Features
STUDENTS, GLOBAL COLLABORATIONS AND MORE!
The evening also includes a special multidisciplinary showcase by students of Collin College’s theatre, dance, and music departments, bringing Fragments of Us stories to life through their own fresh perspectives.
In addition, audiences will experience video highlights of Art Salad winners which include original collaborative works from our global open call, each created in response to the Fragments of Us theme.
Meet the 2025 Artists
Swipe to know more about the artists!
"Amazing Show! I love the mixture of art and culture! I'll definitely be back next year!" - Bridges 2024 attendee
At Bridges Festival, we believe art has the power to bring people together, across disciplines, across communities, across experiences. Whether you’re an art lover or simply curious, join us for a night that celebrates collaboration and the shared stories that make us human.
This event is funded partly by the City of Plano.
We would like to thank our collaborators!
Plano International Festival
Collin College, Plano