Catch Me Bird (founders C. Derrick Jones and Nehara Kalev) created reality performance that grappled with the lunacy of being in a partnership that exists both onstage and offstage.  The duet-based company fuses dance and aerial daring with madcap scenes from real-life events.  Catch Me Bird debuted in Los Angeles in 2004 with a full-length collaboration; a combination of their actual wedding and an evening of dance, theater and aerial performance. They invited friends, family, and the public to witness an evening of high-powered performance, driven by a story that was true.  

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Anniversary performances inspired by the elements of Paper (2005), Silk (2008), and Iron (2010), continued the chronicles of their evolving relationship, and made them the pioneers of Reality Performance. 

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CMB has been presented by Center for the Arts, Escondido, The Ford Amphitheatre, REDCAT, Jamie Nichols’ Celebrate Dance, LA County’s 50th Annual Holiday Celebration at the Chandler Pavilion, California Institute of The Arts, and New York's Solar One Festival and The White Wave Festival.  Jones & Kalev have been guest artists / instructors / choreographers at Cal State LA, have performed featured roles with Diavolo Dance Theater throughout the US, and as aerial Adam and Eve with Airealistic at Crystal Cathedral’s spectacle, Creation, and have worked with The Los Angeles Opera. 

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CMB has worked with The Segerstrom's Center for the Arts' Arts Teach, Skirball Family Performances, UCLA Dance-Theater Intensive, and The Heart Project serving at-risk youth.  Catch Me Bird has been nominated for four Horton Dance Awards, and has received support from The Durfee Foundation, The Flourish Foundation, Cirque Du Soleil, and The Djerassi Foundation.  CMB is a founding member of LA Choreographer Alliance, has been part of APAP’s Emerging Leaders Institute in New York, and is part of Pentacle’s Help Desk/LA.  C. Derrick Jones and Nehara Kalev met in the MFA dance choreography program at UCLA.