COMPANY BIOS
Nia Austin-Edwards began her dance training in Atlanta, GA at Total Dance/Dancical Productions, Inc. under the tutelage of Terrie “Ajile’ Axam, Dawn Axam, Oginga Love, and a host of other phenomenal instructors. She went on to attend Tri-Cities Visual and Performing Arts Magnet High School and upon graduation received the honor of being accepted into New York University’s Tisch Department of Dance. Nia is an associate member of Total Dance Company and an apprentice of Axam Dance Theater Experience in Atlanta. She also recently became a member of ASE Dance Theater Collective.
Jesse Beck, is finishing up his BFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, as well as completing his double major in Politics. He is the recipient of the Edward Weisik Scholarship as well as the Bill Crosby Memorial Scholarship. He has performed in works by Sean Green, and Tiffany Billings. He is currently dancing with James Martin Dance and a member of Lane & Co Dance.
Elizabeth Beres, a proud Wisconsinite, traveled beyond the Tisch Dance walls last summer to study at Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance and Bates Dance Festival. She currently serves as KEIGWIN + COMPANY’s administrative intern and works as a ballet teacher and birthday party performer at NYKidsClub. Her most recent accomplishment is landing a job (!) with Elisa Monte Dance.
Christina Connerton, trained in California under Ethan Steifel at Ballet Pacifica. At NYU she has been able to train and work with the amazing faculty as well as her talented peers and guest artists. Christina attended programs at Princeton Ballet, Joffrey, and Laban in London. She is looking forward to her own choreographic work to be presented in the Dance[now] RAW Festival in April. She’s kind of a big deal.
Lauren Etter trained at the Ballet School of Stamford where she began teaching and choreographing under the mentorship of Stephanie Marini, along with Michael Vernon and Peter Anastos. She danced children’s roles in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and American Ballet Theater’s Othello and Le Corsaire and spent four summers at Chautauqua Dance. Lauren is currently employed at the Joffrey Ballet School, and after graduating in May with a minor in Computer Applications, plans to continue performing and creating her own work.
Lindsey Ferrier trained intensively at Boston Ballet throughout middle school and high school. She spent her summers at The School of American Ballet (2000-2001), The Harid Conservatory (2002-2003), The Houston Ballet (2004-2005) and her final summer after graduating at Boston Ballet (2006). She has especially enjoyed working with Stanton Welch, during her summers at Houston, and with Ronald K. Brown this past year. She also feels incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work with the talented students and faculty members here at Tisch.
E. Wheeler Hughes, is originally from Paducah, Ky. She has toured the U.S. as an assistant for West Coast Dance Explosion. She was claimed “Dancer of the Year” by Star Systems National Talent Competition, and was featured in Dance Magazine as “Up and Coming Dancer to Watch”. In 2007, E. Wheeler traveled to Vegas as a contestant in Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance”. Upon graduation from NYU, E. Wheeler plans to attend WDM in Italy.
Ramona Kelley grew up in Berkeley, California where she trained at Berkeley Ballet Theater with Sally Streets. She performed in San Francisco with Austin Forbord/RAPT Productions and Terry Sendgraff Motivity Aerial Dance, as well as works by other classical and contemporary choreographers. In 2006 she was a National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA) scholarship winner in contemporary dance. She currently dances with Cherylyn Lavagnino and Sidra Bell.
Marissa Livanna Maislen began nurturing and suturing all of her different dance training at the age of 6, starting with Albee School of Dance and traveling to Cornish College Prep Program. After being accepted at NYU, she has had the opportunity to work with many innovative and provocative dancemakers while at the same time hovering within her own choreographic space. Maislen straddles the world of a performer and choreographer and continues to explore new ways to share the empowerment of art and the beauty it manifests. Her work will be seen in the Fresh Fruit Festival in July 2009.
Alyssa Maksym has trained extensively at Robin Horneff’s Performing Arts Center and In the Spotlight, both in Waldwick, NJ. She has worked with renowned choreographers such as John Selya, Mia Michaels, Tyce Diorio, Dan Karaty, and many other guest choreographers over the past three years at Tisch. Alyssa is also minoring in business through the Leonard N. Stern School of Business in hopes of owning her own dance studio and company after a career in dance performance.
Ashley Marinelli was born in Poughkeepsie, NY where she began her dance training. After studying at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, she was accepted to the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. In the summer of 2008, traveled to the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria, where she performed alongside Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Meg Stuart and the Forsythe Company as part of SommerSzene, an international dance festival. In New York, Ashley has performed with choreographers Matthew Neff, Monstah Black and Ben Dolphin. Her own choreography has been seen regionally and off-Broadway.
Perin Hailey McNelis is from Tucson, Arizona where she began studying Ballet under MaryBeth Cabana. She moved to New York in 2006 to explore non-classical dance and to be surrounded by different cultures and art forms. In addition to continuing to dance after graduation, she aspires to travel to new places and eventually become a permaculture farmer and social worker.
Megan Roup grew up dancing in Santa Barbara, California where she performed as a member of the Festival Ballet. Megan also received training through summer intensives at Pacific Northwest Ballet and The University of Cape Town in South Africa. While living in Los Angeles and New York Megan has worked in television, music videos and has performed with The James Martin Music/Dance Company. While at Tisch, she has had the privilege to perform original works by Gus Solomons Jr. and James Martin. Megan would like to thank her amazing friends and family for their infinite love and support!
Gary Schaufeld began his training in Long Island, New York. While attending the Tisch School he performed works by Ronald K Brown, Renee Redding Jones, James Martin, Brook Notary, and Gus Solomons Jr. He has performed at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, The DUKE on 42nd Street, The Supper Club in Times Square, Merce Cunningham Studios, Dance New Amsterdam, and the National Stadium of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China.
Danielle Schulz grew up in Southern California where she spent ten years training at Ballet Pacifica in Irvine. She spent summers training at the School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theater, the Juilliard School, and Dance New York International in Burgos, Spain. Miss Schulz would like to thank her family and friends for their unconditional love and support.
Saeed Siamak was found in a garbage can outside Dayton, Ohio on April 22, 1988. He was adopted by humans who raised him in a truly free environment. Little did this prepare the alien creature for the ways of wicked men, and he now delves in and out of the slums of New York City. He will dance for food.
Jaquez A. Sims, a Chicago native, began his formal dance training at age 15. He furthered his training at the School of Ballet Chicago. Jaquez performed in the 2006 Illinois All-state production of "A Chorus Line" as Ritchie. He attended the Lines Ballet program in 2008. Mr. Sims has performed in works by choreographers James Sutton, Yannis Adoniou, and Jill Johnson. Jaquez will graduate from TSOA- NYU May 2009!!!
Kristi Smith grew up in Allentown, PA. She began training at Steps in Time Studio for Dance where she was also a member of both the Inner Rhythms Dance Company and The Rhythm Conservatoire. She took classes at The Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Guild and Dolly Haltzman’s Studio for Dance. She has also studied at the Laban Contemporary School in London and with Take Dance Company. She is graduating with a Pre-business minor and is currently an intern at Dance/NYC.
Laurel Snyder is originally from Bluemont, Virginia. Her performance/collaboration experience includes work with Northern Virginia-based Anomosmotion, Heather McArdle's Blueprint Violation, Skybetter and Associates and The Danielle Russo Dance Company. Her choreography has been presented by the Tisch School, the Tank and Mulberry Street Theater's Newsteps Series. Currently, Laurel enjoys learning Japanese and hopes to become fluent one day.
Regina Sobel spent many of her early years watching Baryshnikov’s Nutcracker on repeat. Her early dance training took place at the School of American Ballet, and continued with Maggie Black and Anthony Jones. Soon after, she discovered new approaches to movement and decided to explore them at NYU. She hopes to continue creating in mixed media forms.
Nicholas Strafaccia started his career with the Minnesota Dance Theatre under the direction of Lise Houlton. After completing his second season with the company he went on to purse a B.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch Dance department. While attending school Nick has performed with Gerald Casel, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Gus Solomens, and Sidra Bell. Upon graduation Nicholas will be joining classmate Samuel Wentz in joining the Trisha Brown Dance Company.
Lauren Swanson, originally from Texas, has enjoyed her time here in New York at Tisch School of the Arts and being a part of SADC. She had the honor of performing in a Dancers Responding to Aids benefit at Sadler’s Wells theater, London and has performed a variety of works from the Nutcracker to the La Mama Dance Festival to music videos. She’s danced works by James Sutton, Gus Solomons Jr., Jessica Hendricks, and Peter Chu, and enjoys being a part of the Susan Marshall piece Name by Name.
Dana Thomas is from Centreville, Virginia. She trained at the N.Virginia Center for Dance and Theatre. Dana has studied with Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Brian Friedman/BDC. She has performed in the Debbie Allen/Kennedy Center production of Pepito’s Story, New York top 40 on So You Think You Can Dance?, and the International Children’s Festival at Wolf Trap. She thanks her family and teachers. Dana is excited graduate!
Jaclyn K. Walsh began her dance training near her hometown at Walker's Dance in Lowell, Massachusetts. She furthered her training at the Walnut Hill School in Natick under the direction of Michael Owen, and during this time had the wonderful opportunity to perform in Germany and France. While at Tisch, she has had the privilege to perform as a company member in Patricia Noworol Dance and James Martin Music/Dance. Jaclyn has presented her choreography at venues such as the 92nd St. Y Fridays at Noon series. Jaclyn would like to thank her family for their never-ending love and support.
Emily Watson grew up and trained in a small town in New Hampshire. She has participated in numerous summer programs and festivals including the World Dance Movement in Italy, The Ailey School and American Ballet Theater. Following graduation in May, she plans on continuing to pursuer her dance career in New York City. She would like to thank her family and friends for making it possible for her to be performing here tonight.
Marlene Desiree (Watts) hails from Houston, TX. She was inspired to begin her training at age 14 upon acceptance to the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She continued to hone her skill by attending NYU where she has had the pleasure of dancing for Ronald K. Brown and Susan Marshall. Currently, she has work on the horizon with ASE Dance Theatre Collective.
Samuel von Wentz hails from the land of agriculture, strong Christian values, and monthly livestock auctions. Leaving the ranch behind, he left North Dakota and explored the treacherous, mountainous landscape of Idyllwild Arts Academy. He has danced in the companies of Sydney Skybetter, Mark Morris, and is currently working with Gerald Casel. He enjoys origami and jigsaw puzzles. Upon graduation Samuel will be joining classmate Nicholas Strafaccia in joining the Trisha Brown Dance Company.
Alex West: Prior to attending NYU, Alex had the opportunity to help form a pro-bono clinic for dancers. While at Tisch, Alex has helped to organize material for health related topics at orientation, to make an advanced anatomy workshop, and to organize on site physical therapy. Alex hopes to attend medical school and work with dancers in the future as a physician.
Camille Workman hails from Columbia, Maryland. Training includes Ballet with Cindee Velle, The Kennedy Center Ballet Series, The Dance Theatre of Harlem young artist program, as well as Alvin Ailey and ABT Summer Dance Intensives. While in New York, Camille has participated in Dancers Responding to AIDS, The Choreographer’s Canvas, and Ballet Builders. Camille plans to continue performing in NY upon graduation in May.
