THE SWAY

Pulling nostalgia from 90’s and 2k pop rock with stabbing synths, driving guitars, and a littering of contemporary dance hooks, beat-down Los Angeles band The Sway brings you music not meant to be played quietly on iPhone speakers but blasted from your car.

Showcasing double-edged singer Freddy Hale with a sleek yet coarse utterance in your audible focus, Collin Keller’s versatile and dynamic lead guitars, Alex Pitta’s aggressive bass lines and Cadu Costa’s hard hitting drums, the band smashes you over the head with high energy grooves and well-dressed lyrics transforming contemporary pop from its polished, perfected, paradisiac state to a gritty, flaw welcoming, human experience.

CORY PESATURO

Cory Pesaturo (“C Pez”) is on the forefront of the accordion world, pushing the boundaries on multiple fronts of what is possible with the accordion. The only person to ever win the trio of World Championships on Acoustic, Digital & Jazz Accordion, and the only accordion graduate of the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. In 2017, Pesaturo became a Guinness World Record Holder, as RedBull® flew him to Austria to break the Marathon Accordion Record, in which Cory played for over 32 hours. Cory’s main contribution is his visionary thinking of how the accordion should be used, played, taught, and presented in modern music. He has given 2 TED Talk’s and 2 Google Talk’s about this, which are currently the only TED or Google talks in the world about the accordion. Pesaturo is also developing his own electric accordion, and already has made the first ever skinned accordion which includes a symmetric lighting system attached to the keys.  

Pesaturo’s extensive resumé includes appearances at the White House for President and Mrs. Clinton on 4 different occasions, starting at age 12, and 8 other appearances for the Clintons since 2000, along with 14 letters from the first family. On one of those occasions, he became the youngest person to ever perform at a State Dinner, performing with the Marine Strolling Strings for the President of Hungary. Some TV appearances include the Late Show with David Letterman, performing with Johnny Depp, and nationally televised programs in New Zealand, Canada, Italy, Tunisia, France, and Finland. On an NYC broadcast, CNBC/FOX host Maria Bartiromo once said “No one is currently doing more for the Accordion than Cory”. He has judged accordion competitions in the US, Canada, and Europe, in addition to other music competitions, and currently gives masterclasses at various universities throughout the US and Europe on Accordion and Improvisation.  

For his Classical side which is lesser known, a win in a concerto competition at 16 years old gave Pesaturo the rare opportunity to perform with the Brockton Symphony Orchestra as a featured soloist, where he became the youngest accordionist to ever solo with a symphony orchestra in the US back in 2003. Concerning his Jazz side, Cory recorded two CD’s with saxophone legend George Garzone and his known band “The Fringe” at age 19, and has become friends with Jazz and Music Legends Quincy Jones and Wynton Marsalis. His performances at all 3 of his World Championships were played on accordions that were not his, and were generally 90% improvised; both aspects are unheard of in the accordion world.  

The instruments most famous legend in the US, Dick Contino, said when Cory was only 15, “Of all the accordionists I’ve seen over the years, Cory is the one to pass the torch to, the only one who has all the tools to bring the accordion back to its former glory.” Guido Deiro’s son, the “Father of Piano Accordion”, has stated “I’ve worried greatly about the future of the accordion since my father died, but not anymore since seeing and hearing Cory.”  

Pesaturo is also heavily involved and respected with the weather and motor sports worlds as well. He composed the Official list of records set by the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and also wrote the lists for the 2007 and 2008 Seasons as well. Moreover, he has put out reports on Winter Seasons for the US which have been featured on Accuweather.com, HurricaneCirty.com, and others. Cory is known for his FreeSledding work, including his own sledding mountain called “CN Mountain”. He has written sports blogs for sites like Bleacher Report, and has collaborated with members of the Red Sox and the Drop Kick Murphy’s on the “Fenway 100″ album released in 2012. His music has been played on Formula 1 broadcasts on NB

DANIELLE CROOK

Danielle is a multi-disciplinary performing artist with diverse professional qualifications.  She acts on-camera in TV, film and commercial productions; and on-stage in musicals, plays and operas. She is also a choral singer and conductor, private voice teacher, and vocal soloist.  

Currently based in Los Angeles, Danielle was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California. Danielle graduated cum laude from UCLA with a BA and highest honors from the musicology department. She then pursued a masters degree from San Jose State University in Voice Performance, where she was privileged to study with mezzo-soprano Layna Chianakas. Danielle was the vocal winner of the 2010 Concerto Competition at San Jose State and the national anthem soloist at commencement.

Film/TV

Danielle co-starred in two episodes of the Hulu original series Chance starring Hugh Laurie, and has appeared on networks such as The Food Network, the Travel Channel, The Fine Living Network, and MTV, as well as in independently produced films and music videos. See IMDB and Resume PDF for additional credits.

Theatre

Favorite theatrical roles include Morticia in The Addams Family Musical, the Governess in The Turn of the Screw (Jeffrey Hatcher), Maria Reiner in The Sound of Music, Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest, Marian Paroo in The Music Man, and Aeneas (a trouser role, with a beard!) in the Bay Area premiere of La Didone, a baroque opera. Danielle has a special interest in premiering new works, and has been involved in five seasons of the annual short play festival “8 Tens at 8” in Santa Cruz, CA, as well as two world premiere operas and a world premiere musical.

Vocal

A classically trained soprano of Norwegian heritage, Danielle has specialized in art song from Nordic countries and she sings in Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish, Finnish, and Swedish. She also enjoys performing standard lyric soprano repertoire in English, German, French, and Italian, as well as less-commonly performed pieces in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan and Russian. She has received recognition for her art song work by the National Association of Teachers of Singing-Bay Area, and a grant from the Scandinavian Cultural Center of Santa Cruz for her work in Scandinavian song.

She has been a soloist with the San Jose Wind Symphony, Monterey’s Del Monte Brass Band, and San Jose State’s Wind Ensemble, Jazz Orchestra, and Symphony Orchestra. She is available for live performances and special events.

Choral

Danielle has sung in or directed a choir nearly every year of her life since the age of eight. As a choral and ensemble singer, Danielle has performed at Davies Hall in San Francisco; Disney Hall, Royce Hall, and the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles; San Jose City National Civic and St. Joseph’s Basilica in San Jose; and the Santa Cruz Civic and Kuumbwa Jazz in Santa Cruz. She has worked with diverse ensembles such as Areté Singers, Awaken A Capella, Superdevoiche (a Bulgarian women’s choir), and as a choral member and soloist with the UCLA Chorale and Chamber choir, and the SJSU Concert Choir. She served as the choir director at the Congregational Church of Soquel for many years, and has worked with other church, public school and after-school ensembles as a director and voice teacher.

CAMILLA SACRE DALLERUP

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup is an author, life coach and mindful living expert. She is an NLP master practitioner coach, certified hypnotherapist and a popular meditation teacher at the trendy Unplug Meditation studio in Los Angeles.

Before she started her life coaching and motivational speaking business in the UK ten years ago, she spent over 25 years as a successful competitive athlete in the world of ballroom dancing. Camilla was part of the original cast of Strictly Come Dancing (the UK’s equivalent to Dancing With the Stars in the US). After winning the trophy in 2008, she left to focus on her wellbeing business.

Throughout her years of competing and working in the media, one thing became very apparent to her: when the body and mind are in harmony, you are connected and can be the best version of yourself, enabling you to deal with everyday situations from a more conscious place.

Camilla is a popular motivational speaker and her first self- help/memoir was published in January 2015. Entitled Strictly Inspirational in the UK and the US, it is based on the premise: “how I learnt to dream, act, believe to succeed”.

Camilla has founded her own life coaching, hypnosis and meditation practice – ZENME – in Hollywood, where she is the coach to many celebrities, producers and entrepreneurs and where her mission is to inspire the world to meditate and take time for self-care daily.

SPARROW R. HEATLEY

Sparrow Heatley is one of two founders of the nonprofit organization From The Heart Tribe. Sparrow has been organizing events and bringing people together to help the environment in Los Angeles for over 11 years.

In 2009, Sparrow helped organize, along with Sean Jennings and Tim Morris, one of the greatest community events in West Los Angeles—“100 Gardens for Gratitude” where over 800 volunteers installed 100 edible gardens in one weekend across Los Angeles at homeless shelters and boys & girls clubs.  This team-building event transformed lawns into drought-tolerant native species or edible landscapes that improved both the environment and water supply.

In 2010, Sparrow helped Topanga Canyon Earth Day Festival creator Stephanie Lallouz organize an annual weekend event featuring live music and vegan food, and highlighted environmental conservation, community, and healing for over 10 thousand attendees. Sparrow continued to help organize this festival until its finale year in 2013. 

Beach cleanups started in 2011 when Sparrow lived in The Bahamas. She soon realized that Paradise Island wasn’t a paradise after all; its beaches around the tourist centers were covered in plastic trash.  To save life in the ocean and restore beauty to its beaches, Sparrow organized her first “Pick Up for Paradise” beach cleanup ridding the pink sands of Nassau from plastic straws and cigarette butts. After leaving the Bahamas for Los Angeles, she continued the effort and carried on the “paradise” name in hopes that people would consider their world a paradise even if it wasn’t an island.  

In 2019, From The Heart Tribe (FTHT) was officially designated as a 501c3. FTHT became the perfect platform to support and inspire leaders to organize environmental, community, or animal welfare events. 

As an ocean advocate, Sparrow organizes scientific data collection through her beach cleanups in order to advance environmental legislation in California, which contributed to the banning of plastic bags and plastic straws.  As a public speaker, she raises awareness about current environmental issues affecting Los Angeles as she did for Proposition 67 in 2016 and the “Clean Water Act” Measure W in 2018.

Sparrow’s passion and strength is helping people understand that some lifestyle choices are destroying the oceans. She strives to create solutions for our planet through her environmental events. To that extent, she goes beyond the ocean and teams up with organizations like TreePeople (a California 501c3 for mountain and park restoration) encouraging volunteers to take action.

Outside her environmental work, Sparrow is a massage therapist and yoga instructor who works with top athletes and people fighting cancer.  She holds degrees in business and management, and studied permaculture design.  Sparrow is continuing her education for green initiatives and renewable energy. During her spare time she enjoys hiking, paddle boarding, snowboarding, and pottery.