Amy Alt
Amy has been living in Montréal, Québec, since 2004 and became a Canadian citizen last year. Having returned to school several times, her work milieus have included biotech and medical simulation, among others. Amy has enjoyed many years in the company of free-ranging house rabbits, trying my best to educate people about how to properly care for these expressive, and clever creatures. Her current interests are intersectional feminism, social justice issues, the science of bread, and continuing to try to learn French. The biggest challenge of late has been rehabilitating from an unfortunately dislocated ceramic hip. Amy’s partner, “The Crawdad”, teaches 18th century British history at McGill University, and he recently convinced me to invite a rescue cat, Beyoncé, into our homestead.
Years as company member: 1993 – 1996
Sean Baldwin
Sean is a Theater and Education professional in Washington, D.C. He currently teaches Theater at the Washington Latin Public Charter School, coaches aspiring and professional actors, and is a professional actor himself with various stage and television roles.
Years as company member: 1986
Michelle Banks
Years as company member: 1985-1992
Mela Berger
Mela Berger is Director of the Caribbean Institute of Healing and Cultural Arts and a holistic health practitioner.
Michelle Blakely
After her time with Hedwig Dances, Michelle spent a year performing and choreographing with the XGroup under the direction of Anne Theresa DeKeersmaker for the European Cities of Culture Festival in Brussels, Belgium. She returned to Chicago to perform with The Seldoms, Jin Wen Yu, and other talented independent artists. She traveled to Canada to work with Bill James and Atlas Moves Company before leaving dance to start her own personal training company. Blakely FIT, Strength Training Exclusively for Women celebrated it’s 11th anniversary last year. Michelle is a proud mother of two wonderful girls and wife to Patrick Clark. She thinks fondly of the rich and invaluable opportunity with Hedwig Dances, Jan and her fellow dancers. Rehearsals and performances were a meaningful and important part of her career and foundation for other endeavors. Her life came full circle this past year when her husband surprised her with a gorgeous duet performance by Hedwig company members, Edson and Jessie at her 40th birthday party.
Years as company member: 1998 – 1999
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Christine Bornarth
Years as company member: 1995-1996
Ann Boyd
Performer, choreographer, director, writer and teacher. This past year she directed the Sweat Girls in Sweatily Ever After, choreographed Dead Man’s Cell Phone at Steppenwolf, created a 10 person physical theater piece in 10 hours for Collaboraction’s Sketchbook, performed her solo No Time Like the Present at Finch Gallery, directed Maia Morgan’s solo And now, the octopus for Live Bait’s Filet of Solo Festival, directed Arlene Malinowski’s one-woman show Aiming for Sainthood at 16th Street Theater in Berwyn and performed her original contemporary fairy-tale Naguales at Chicago Public Schools as part of Urban Gateways Touring Program. Ann is currently teaching body movement for actors at Columbia College, solo performance at the University of Chicago and drama for 4-9 year olds at Greeley School. Ann’s teaching is influenced by her interdisciplinary approach to making work and draws upon viewpoints and constraint-based composition as generative tools.
Years as company member: 1993 – 1996
Katie Calandra
Katie Kritek (Calandra) is a teacher at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL. She teaches at both campuses, and is one of the directors of Northfield Dance Ensemble. Mrs. Kritek has been an active member of the Chicago dance community as a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and volunteer for organizations such as Dance for Life for her entire adult life. Professionally, she has performed with Mad Shak Dance Company, Hedwig Dances, Cerulean Dance Theatre, Estradanza, and for countless independent choreographers throughout the Chicago. Her choreography has been presented in New York and throughout the Chicago area. Mrs. Kritek also teaches dance at McDonald Dance Academy in Arlington Heights on Saturdays and over the summer to children ages 3-18.
Years as company member: 1999 – 2001
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Alitra Cartman
Alitra Cartman is an artist, teacher, choreographer, and performer who immediately knew dance was her life calling after taking her first dance class at the age of 16. She began training under the instruction of Lisa Johnson Willingham, Nicky Chronopolus, and Joel Hall, and continuedher studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance in May 2008. After graduation Alitra sought to begin her dance career, where she found a home with Hedwig Dances. Alitra leads Hedwig Dances’ outreach program, under the auspices of After School Matters, and works with other youth around the city, teaching dance technique and dance integration. Alitra has also had the opportunity to work with Chicago based choreographers Cindy Brandle, Rachel Damon, and Shirley Mordine.
Years as company member: 2007 – 2013
Chia-Yu Chang
Years as company member: 1994
Lydia Charaf
Years as company member: 1989
Mei-Kuang Chen
Mei-Kuang Chen was born in Taipei, Taiwan and began her dance training in Chinese opera dance and ballet. After graduating with honors from an intensive dance program at Tainan Jounior College, Ms. Chen moved to the United States in 1993. Since then she has earned a BFA in Dance from Ohio State University and a two year scholarship in completing the graduate program from the dance department of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Upon graduating, Ms. Chen danced professionally with Hedwig Dances from 1999-2007. She became the Artistic Associate for the company in 2002. Throughout her dance career, Ms. Chen had the opportunity to perform and create original dances with many of leading contemporary choreographers: Bill Young, Jan Erkert, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Renee Wadleigh, and Jan Bartoszek,to name a few. In 2003, Ms. Chen received the prestigious Chicago Dance Achievement Award and was honored by the Taiwanese Cultural Center for Outstanding Contribution that same year. Ms. Chen enjoys collaborating and performing with many international dance artists as well. The most recent were with Jin-Wen Yu and Chong-Fu Zhang, both former Cloud Gate Dance members of Taiwan, and with Maray Gutierrez and Victor Alexander from Cuba. Presently a faculty member of the Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park and the resident dance company member of MOMENTA, Ms. Chen continues to perform, choreograph, and teach. She is currently on faculy in the dance program at Loyola University Chicago.
Years as company member: 2000 – 2007
Learn more about Mei-Kuang
Darryl Clark
Darryl Clark is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. He received his BA in Dance from Columbia College and his MFA from SUNY at Brockport, New York.
Company member: 1989-1990
Derek Clifford
Guest Artist: 1989
Justin Deschamps
Justin is a licensed massage therapist and performer with Atom-r in Chicago.
Years as company member: 2006 – 2010
Maria DiCinto
Years as company member: 1991
Emma Draves
Emma is an artist and emerging scholar who has worked with a variety of artists including Lookingglass Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, Yo-Yo Ma/The Silk Road Project, & Mordine & Co. Trained in bharatanatyam under Hema Rajagopalan, Emma continues to perform with Natya Dance Theatre as well as create her own work as Kalpana/Draves Dance.
Years as company member: 2002 – 2003
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Pat DuChene
Years as company member: 1989
Brenna Dwyer
Brenna Dwyer began her training in Cary, North Carolina. She later went on to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After completing her degree, Brenna moved to NYC to train on scholarship at The Ailey School under the direction of Denise Jefferson. Brenna has worked with The Francesca Harper Project (NYC) and most recently, Luna Negra Dance Theater. Throughout her career, Brenna has had the privilege of collaborating and performing in works by Robert Battle, Monica Cervantes, William Forsythe, Alonzo King, Fernando Hernando Magadan, Fernando Melo and Gustavo Ramirez Sansano.
Guest Artist: 2014
Eric Eatherly
Eric served as a professional dancer, choreographer, dance journalist and arts publicist in the Chicago area. He graduated from Northwestern University and performed with a number of Chicago companies including Hedwig Dances, Mordine & Company and Thodos Dance Chicago. In 2007, Eric began writing for The Windy City Times and joined the Silverman Group as a performing arts publicist. Eric passed away in December 2014.
Years as company member: 2002 – 2007
Sarah Ebert
Sarah is an instructor of dance at the University of Oregon and is currently faculty at the Eugene Ballet Academy as well and choreographs regularly for the Eugene Youth Ballet. Upon graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she moved to Chicago, Illinois where she danced professionally with wonderslamdance under the direction of Asimina Chremos, and with Hedwig Dances under the direction of Jan Bartoszek. She also worked with numerous independent choreographers, including Lisa Wymore and Bob Eisen. Sarah came to Oregon to pursue an M.F.A. in dance at the University of Oregon in Eugene where her husband, composer Christian Cherry, is the Music Director of the Department of Dance. Her research focused on the role of the dancer in bringing a work of art to life and resulted in an evening of solo performance. The concert included original works created specifically for Ebert by Portland choreographers Linda K. Johnson and Mary Oslund, and featured Ebert’s performance of Yvonne Rainer’s Trio A, which is now considered the seminal work of post-modern dance.
Years as company member: 2000 – 2001
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Philip Edgecombe
Philip is a faculty member in the South Eastern Missouri University Dance Department. Philip has also performed in numerous works choreographed by nationally recognized choreographers including James Clouser, Louis Kavouras, Nina Janik and Douglas Nielsen
and from 2006-2007, he was a company member of Hedwig Dances, the resident dance company for the Chicago Cultural Center. While with Hedwig, Edgecombe danced choreography by artistic director Jan Bartoszek, Beverly Blossom, Bill Young and Colleen Thomas. From 2002-2003, Edgecombe was a company member with Desert Dance Theater in Phoenix, Ariz., performing works by Lisa Chow and Marion Jones. Edgecombe also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in May of 2001. His professional training also includes study with David Parsons in New York City and with Betty Jones (Limon Dance Company) in San Francisco. He is a trained ballroom instructor and has taught at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in downtown Chicago. He has also competed in several Professional/Amateur Great Lakes Regional Dance Sport competitions and performed at numerous conventions and fund raisers in Chicago, Las Vegas and Phoenix.
Years as company member: 2006 – 2007
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Kate Elswit
Kate Elswit is an academic and dancer whose research on performing bodies combines dance history, performance studies theory, German cultural studies, and experimental practice. In 2009, she received her doctorate from the University of Cambridge and joined the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in the Humanities at Stanford University, where she taught in the Departments of Drama and German Studies and in the Division of Dance. She now holds a Lectureship in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Bristol.
Years as company member: 2002 – 2003
Learn more about Kate
Juan Estrada
Juan has over 16 years of fitness teaching experience having built an extensive client base in both Chicago and NYC. Formally a professional dancer in Chicago, Juan was introduced to Pilates while completing his BA of Dance in Choreography and Performance at Columbia College Chicago. Juan has studied with Master Instructors Romana Kryzanowska, Bob Leikens, Susan Moran, and Alycea Ungaro. Juan joined the Power Pilates team in 2005 under Liv Berger and Linda Spriggs in Chicago and then joined the NYC team in 2006 and became a Teacher Trainer where he began to mentor instructors and certify apprentices from all over the world. Since then Juan has taught numerous Teacher Trainer programs and Continuing Education workshops across the U.S. In January 2014 Juan left Power Pilates to pursue Personal Training and Dance Fitness. Aside from training celebrity clients such as Diane Von Furstenberg, Hugh Grant, Mellody Hobson, Alexandra Neil, Regina Spector, Sofia Vergara, he teaches a wide range of client levels including children, pre and post natal, and senior citizens. Juan has been featured on ABC and WPIX morning workout segments, LA Confidential Magazine, and several Pilates workout downloads and DVD’s.
Guest Artist: 2001
Frank Fishella
Frank is currently the Vice President at Suzanne Lovell, Inc., an arcitectural interior design firm in Chicago and New York. Frank has worked with Suzanne for more than 20 years and is an interior design industry business professional specializing in creative services management. He has worked closely with Suzanne to develop the product specifications, procurement and expediting protocol that ensures the efficient proposal, purchasing, tracking, shipping, consolidation and installation of all projects. As a member of the Senior Management Team of Suzanne Lovell, Inc., Frank coordinates global project scheduling and leads the Business and Administrative teams. Frank manages the the firm’s philanthropic and charitable giving efforts and manages the firm’s public relations and marketing efforts. Frank is active as a part of the Chicago Dancemakers Forum, as a consultant to the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and is Past President Emeritus of Hedwig Dances.
Years as company member: 1991 – 1996
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Tari Gallagher
Tari Gallagher Heap is a certified massage therapist, a
certified practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu/self-help instructor, Reiki Master/instructor, Quantum Touch® practitioner and a certified Martha Beck life coach in Evanston, IL
Years as company member: 1986
Learn more about Tari
Orazio Giurdanella
Orazio Giurdanella began his Ballet and Modern Dance education in Venezuela in 1994 at the Zulia Regional School of Ballet, and moved on to study at the Ines Laredo School of Theatre and the Maracaibos Modern Dance School and Company. After moving to Miami, he continued his studies of Modern Dance, Ballet and Jazz at Miami-Dade Community College with Diane Brownholtz and at the Martha Mahr School of Ballet. Mr. Giurdanella has participated in numerous workshops and seminars, including Modern Dance at Taller de Danza Caracas, Flamenco with Rocio Perea at the Contratiempo Flamenco Studios, Capoeira and Contemporary Dance and Jazz technique with Roberto Diaz, Voice and Body at the National Institute of Dance, Dance Therapy with Marlon Barrios and Indian Dance technique at Miami-Dade community college. Since his arrival in the U.S., Mr. Giurdanella has collaborated with Dance Now! Giovanni Luquini and Co., the Rosario Suarez Ballet Company and the Wolfson Dancers.
Guest Artist: 2005
Katie Graves
Katie is a freelance dancer and professional photographer living in Chicago. Graves is currently a member of Kristina Isabelle Dance Company and performs regularly with The Fly Honeys. She has previously worked as a company member with Hedwig Dances and Winifred Haun & Dancers. She has also worked with companies such as Philip Elson Dance, The Dance Team, and Jaxon Movement Arts; productions including Thodos Dance Chicago’s New Dances, and The Inconvenience’s Standing Room Only; and artists such as Victor Alexander, Erin Kilmurray, Brian Hare, Brandon DiCriscio, Jacqueline Stewart, Jessica Miller Tomlinson, Cara Carper, Jeremy Blair, Annie Deutz, and Angela Dice Nyugen. Past performance credits include WBEZ Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, TEDxWindy City’s CONTRAST, and One State Illinois Conference 2013. Graves has choreographed in collaboration with Matthew McMunn for Red Tape Theatre’s Chicago Fringe Artist Networking Night, Laboratory Dancers’ Experiment #3.5, Danceworks Chicago’s Dance Chance and Dance Chance: Redux, Chicago Dance Crash’s Duets for My Valentine (2012 & 2013), Blunt Object Theatre’s Shakespeare, I Love You: Pericles, and Fused Muse Ensemble’s Spring Show 2013. The couple was featured in Time Out Chicago’s Dancers We Discovered 2011 In Review.
Years as company member: 2012 – 2013
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Sarah Haas
Sarah Haas is a movement artist who lives, travels, and performs in a mobile stage built from mostly reclaimed materials. With over fourteen years of choreographic and performance experience, her process has expanded to involve writing, photography, mosaic tiling, and alternative carpentry. She is the co-founder of EcoDance, a grassroots organization that researches, designs, and builds mobile live/work spaces. She is also the artistic director of Raw Art, formed October 2010 to house a collaborative art/work lifestyle. Haas began touring in her mobile stage August 2011. While utilizing her stage as a gathering site for lectures, workshops, brainstorming sessions, rehearsals, and performances, she continues to build upon and investigate the multifarious possibilities inherent in a collaborative mobile lifestyle.
Company member: 2001-2002
Tiina Harris
Tiina is currently the Arts & Culture Director for the City of Marquette in Wisconsin
Learn more about Tiina
Brian Hinkle
Brian Hinkle is an experienced and accomplished dancer. He spent three seasons with Mordine & Company Dance Theater, whose coalition of choreography and theatre has won critical acclaim. Brian also spent three seasons with The Seldoms, a Chicago-based dance and performance company. Brian brings his years of training with artistic directors and choreographers to his teachings. He attended the University of Nebraska and earned a bachelor’s in fine arts from Columbia College before pursuing a career in Pilates. Brian is certified through Core Dynamics, which is a program that focuses on developing the ability to teach the individual versus just teaching the exercises or leading classes. He enjoys working with a wide variety of clientele including athletes.
Company member: 2001
Susan Hoffman Wiberg
Guest Artist
Matthew Hollis
Matthew Hollis is a certified personal trainer aand the creator of Cheerobix, dance fitness class with poms. He trains individuals, teaches various group classes and boot camps. You can find Matthew teaching and training and Cheetah Gyms, Columbia College, Indigo Studio and corporate classes at Google.
Years as company member: 2000 – 2001
Learn more about Matthew
Julie Hopkins
Years as company member: 1994 – 1996
Lisa Howren
Since 2001 Lisa has resided in Barrington, IL, working as a speech and language pathologist in a private clinic.
Years as company member: 1986 – 1987
Jules Joseph
Jules started his dance training at the Gold School in Brockton, Massachusetts under the direction of Rennie Gold. With the Gold School he had the opportunity to perform at the Joyce Theater in New York City as part of a dance-focused anti-bullying program. After training in the Alvin Ailey School’s Certificate Program, Joseph joined Hubbard Street 2 as an apprentice in September 2012 and was promoted in August 2013.
Guest Artist: 2015
Laurie Kammin
Laurie graduated from Columbia College in 1984. She worked with many independent choreographers in the Chicago area, and performed her own choreographic work. She joined Hedwig Dances after she had her first son Taylor and retireded from the company when she had her second son, Justin, in 1995. Laurie resides in the Chicago area with her family.
Years as company member: 1992 – 1994
David Kanouse
David Kanouse currently resides in Paris, France where he is working on a technology project for dance.
Years as company member: 1995
Todd Michael Kiech
Todd Michael Kiech is no longer dancing (except for occasionally in his living room) but he is still choreographing and producing events. He is the co-producer (along with Keith Elliot) of The Tease, an evening of Burlesque and Cirque acts which benefits Chicago House, one of Chicago’s longest standing HIV/AIDS organizations. The event is coming up Feb 28th at Moonlight Studios. http://www.chicagohouse.org/?post_events=the-tease. Previously he and Keith co-produced Chicago Takes Off, which ran for 7 years and benefitted Test Positive Aware Network.He has performed Burlesque himself across the country, and is The Burlesque Hall of Fame’s 2009 “King of Burlesque.”Currently he is pursuing a path in acting. He attended The School of The Steppenwolf and is currently attending Black Box Academy.
Years as company member: 1993-1996
Betty Kass
Guest Artist: 1989-1990
Kim Larimore
Years as company member: 2004
Ben Law
Ben is currently co-director of The SHO, a collaborator with Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak and Kate Corby & Dancers, company member of CDI/Concert Dance Inc., and adjunct lecturer at Northeastern Illinois University. Ben is engaged in an ongoing duet project with Jessie Marasa called Make Ends Meet, which first premiered at The Leopold Group‘s Archipelago. He previously worked with Lucky Plush Productions, Mordine and Company Dance Theater, Julia Rae Antonick, Hedwig Dances, The Dance COLEctive, and James Morrow. Ben performed Tino Seghal‘s Kiss at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 2008 and the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2009. Ben is also a Feldenkrais practitioner.
Years as company member: 2011
Learn more about Ben
Becca Lemme
Becca is an Assistant Professor of Dance at California State University Long Beach, Faculty at California Institue of the Arts. She has been a full-time faculty member at California Institute of the Arts (2013-14), where she also taught during her MFA candidacy (2011-13). Additionally, Lemme has been on faculty at Columbia College Chicago (2010-11), Roosevelt University (2007-11), Hubbard Street’s Lou Conte Dance Studio (2005-present), Visceral Dance Center (2007-present), and Joffrey Ballet Chicago (2010-11, 2014). Additionally, between 2007-11 she guest taught at the American College Dance Festival, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Wake Forest University, Beloit College, and the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters. In 2014, she will be a Choreographer in Residence at Grand Valley State University setting work and teaching master classes within the Dance Department. Through a holistic approach to dance education her classes merge critical thinking processes with skill building and art making.
Years as company member: 2004 – 2006
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Marquita Levy
Marquita Levy is Manager and Sommelier at Lure Fishbar in New York City.
Kirsty Mackellar
Kirsty is a GYROTONIC instructor at the East Bank Club and an arts administrator at the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago.
Years as company member: 2005 – 2008
Learn more about Kirsty
Suet May Ho
Years as company member: 1996
Felicia McBride
Felicia began her ballet training in San Antonio, Texas. She went on to train with North Carolina Dance Theater and attended summer intensives with Houston Ballet, Ballet Austin, The Chautauqua Institute, and Tulsa Ballet. Her professional career started at 18 years old when she joined Ballet Austin 2. Ms. McBride then became a member of Dominic Walsh Dance Theater where she performed works by Jiri Kylian and Matts Ek as well as Mauro Bigonzetti and Dominic Walsh. While dancing with Dominic Walsh Dance theater she performed the lead role of ‘Juliet’ in Walsh’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.” Felicia later joined Hubbard Street 2 where she danced works by Maurya Kerr, Penny Saunders, Alejandro Cerrudo, Edgar Zendejas, Gabrielle Lamb, and Robyn Mineko Williams. Ms. McBride has also guested with Les Grands Ballet Canadiens in their production of “The Nutcracker” in 2009 and 2013. Felicia is currently freelancing in Chicago and has been fortunate enough to work with Chicago Repertory Ballet, Kristina Isabelle Dance and Hedwig Dances.
Guest Artist: 2013-2014
Christopher McCray
Christopher M. McCray is the co-founder and Artistic Director for Corpo Dance Company. Chris completed his fine arts degree from Lincoln College prior to performing with, and choreographing for, local dance companies like Chicago Moving Company, Hedwig Dances, Instruments of Movement, Valerie Alpert Dance Company, Chicago Dance Crash, Red Moon Theater, Deeply Rooted, and Circuit Mom Productions. Through Chicago’s May I Have This Dance program, he teaches ballroom dance at inner-city middle schools promoting social awareness, confidence, creativity, consideration for others, and teamwork to students. Chris has also volunteered his time performing during the 2006 Gay Games Opening Ceremonies and Test Positive Aware Network’s Chicago Takes Off and Aware Affair. Chris was the 2006 recipient of the Katherine Dunham Award for Best Choreography by the Black Theatre Alliance, for his original concept of the movement play Ghost Play.
Years as company member: 2004
Michael McStraw
Michael McStraw is currenty the Executive Director of Giordano Dance Chicago. As a professional dancer, semi-professional musician, arts administrator, dance educator, board member, and arts patron, Michael has been a positive and constant influence in the community for the past 30 years. Raised in Western Pennsylvania, his life includes a BS degree in Geology from Allegheny College, a Master of Fine Arts degree in Modern Dance from the University of Michigan, and a stint as an agricultural extension agent in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa. He danced extensively with the area’s premier contemporary dance companies, including Mordine & Company Dance Theater, an organization he also managed, Jan Erkert & Dancers, and DanszLoop Chicago, of which he is a founding member. Michael was a member of and soloist with Chicago Master Singers for over 12 years, and has performed extensively at numerous area churches and synagogues. Michael’s return to full-time arts administration ends a successful 17-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, most notably with G.D. Searle and Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America. Michael is Executive Director of Jazz Dance World Congress, has twice served three-year terms on the Illinois Arts Council Dance Panel, and was just elected as a Board member for Audience Architects, Chicago’s dance service organization.
Guest Artist: 1991
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Jen Meek
Jen is a dancer and yoga therapist based out of Oakland, CA. She currently teaches contemporary and modern dance classes RoCo Dance in Mill Valley and Bandaloop in Oakland. Jen graduated magna cum laude from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA with a BFA in Contemporary Dance. She’s had the privilege of performing the works of renowned choreographers such as Daniel Ezralow, David Parsons, Sean Curran, Margo Sappington, Lauri Stallings, Lar Lubovitch and Ann Reinking. I’ve been honored to perform with various companies in Chicago: Thodos Dance Chicago, Lucky Plush Productions, Concert Dance, and Hedwig Dances. In the bay area Jen has worked with Kunst-stoff, Capacitor, Moving Arts, and presently with PunkkiCo, Cali & Co, and Blind Tiger Society.
Years as company member: 2008
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Brooke Franklin Miller
Brooke Miller retired her dancing feet back in 2007 and returned to school at Harrington College of Design. She is now an interior designer at Looney and Associates here in Chicago. Brooke resides in Oak Park with her husband and daughter and they are ecstatic to have recently welcomed a baby boy into their family. Although she is no longer immersed in the dance scene, Brooke cherishes every moment she spent dancing and is forever grateful to all those she crossed paths with during those dancing days!
Years as company member: 2004 – 2006
James Morrow
A native of Chicago, IL. James Morrow is the founder and artistic director of james morrow/ The Movement. Coming from an urban background, Morrow yearns to see the classical vocabulary prevalent in concert dance integrated into the hip-hop culture with which he is submerged. His movement has become a fusion of modern, contemporary, and urban dance styles. His choreography can be seen on companies throughout the U.S. and internationally, working in Utrecht, Vienna, Mumbai, Krasnoyarsk, and New Brighton.Morrow was on Faculty at the American Dance Festival (summer 2010). He received a fellowship to Hollins University/The American Dance Festival (2011) where he earned his MFA in dance. He has been recipient of the Artist Ambassador Award to Northeastern Illinois University (2001), The Mordine and Co. Mentoring Project (2006), Chicago Cultural Dance Center’s Dance Bridge (2008), Movement Research at Judson Church (2012), SOLO Commissioned Choreographer for Minnesota’s McKnight Dance Fellow (Stephen Schroeder 2012), Bates Teacher Fellowship (2013), and Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow in Choreography (2014).As a dancer/ performer, Morrow has worked with Chicago based companies: The Joel Hall Dancers, Deeply Rooted Productions, Ascension/The Kirby Reed Project, Ken Von Heidecke’s Festival Ballet, Larry Long’s Civic Ballet, Culture Shock Chicago, Concert Dance, Inc., Mordine and Co., Hedwig Dances, The Tyego Dance Project, Impetus Dance Chicago, MOMENTA, and Nick Cave’s (Soundsuits) of The Art Institute of Chicago.
Guest Artist: 2005
Patricia Mowen
Years as company member: 1988-1989
Christy Munch
Christy is a 4th grade elementary school teacher near Beloit, WI
Kim Nelson
Kim graduated from Western Michigan University with a B.S. in dance emphasizing dance kinesiology and a minor in psychology. After graduation, Kim moved to Chicago to pursue a career as a professional dancer. While dancing and performing in Chicago, she continued her body and movement studies in a multitude of different disciplines such as Yoga, Tai Chi, Feldenkrais, Alexander technique, Massage Therapy, Craniosacral Therapy, Pilates, BMC®, and Authentic Movement. In 2006, Kim pursued her MA in Somatic Counseling Psychology at Naropa University to deepen her understanding of Authentic Movement as a therapeutic practice and to inform her integrative approach to teaching Pilates and bodymind disciplines. Since graduating from Naropa, Kim has continued to integrate and hone her work with individuals incorporating whatever tools are needed to help individuals have access to more of themselves through her Move to Center Pilates and Movement Center in Boulder, CO.
Years as company member: 2001
Joan Pangilinan-Taylor
JoAn Pangilinan-Taylor danced, taught and served as guest choreographer with Hedwig Dances from 1997- 2002. Those were great years of fun, creativity, collaboration, hard work, great friendship and camaraderie. She continues to appreciate Jan Bartozcek as a kind, nurturing, and innovative choreographer. JoAn is grateful for those years of work with Hedwig and is happy to see the company continue to grow and thrive. JoAn now lives in Brooklyn New York with wonderful husband Ben and her two amazing boys Noah and Samuel. She continues to practice and teach Ashtanga Yoga and runs half marathons in New York City. She does community and civil court mediation with the New York Peace Institute and is also pursuing additional training in Divorce and Family Mediation.
Years as company member: 1998 – 2001
Joseph Poulson
Joseph Poulson, originally from Philadelphia, PA, received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the U. of Iowa and Bennington College, respectively. From 2000 to 2010 he was a member of Susan Marshall & Company, David Dorfman Dance, Bill Young/Colleen Thomas and Dancers, Creach/Co and Acanarytorsi, receiving a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award in 2009. He has also performed with Elena Demyanenko, Jeanine Durning, Mark Morris Dance Group, Lisa Race, Susan Scorbatti, Peter Schmitz, Will Swanson and Punchdrunk’s New York production of ‘Sleep No More’.
Guest Artist: 2011
Shannon Preto
Shannon is an active choreographer in the San Francisco area. He currently acts as the event supervisor for the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival and is the author of “20under40.” Shannon Preto is a SF choreographer, dancer, producer and dance teacher. Shannon dances for Scott Wells & Dancers and Smith/Wymore’s Disappearing Acts. He has been seen in performances with Nancy Karp + Dancers, Kim Epiphano’s Epiphany Productions, and has presented his own work at DanceGround Keriac and ODC?s Pilot 51. Currently, Shannon is on the teaching staff at SF School of the Arts Theater Department and has taught at Temescal Arts Center (Oakland), at CounterPULSE, at the ODC/School (SF) and at the SOLA Contemporary Dance Festival (Torrance, CA). Shannon has an MFA in dance from the University of Colorado at Boulder. This is his third year with Deborah Slater Dance Theater. Body-Mind Centering® has heavily influenced his somatic and creative research for the past 11 years.
Years as company member: 1999 – 2000
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Holly Quinn (Rothschild)
Holly Rothschild is a dancer/choreographer/director. She is co-founder of LA’s genre bending super group, String Theory. Her ensemble has performed at venues throughout the US and abroad including The Opening Festivities of The Walt Disney Concert Hall and the 66th Emmy’s in Los Angeles. Holly is the founder of Strange & Elegant Choreography and Performance Installations. She is the recipient of the Annenberg Beach House/Marion Davies site specific choreography grant and in 2012, a grant from the LA Department of Cultural Affairs to create a multi media site work at the Van Nuys Bus Terminal . In 2014, she received a commission from Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division to create a site specific choreography project at Tongva Park. Holly is also a dance filmmaker. Her short dance film “Harlot’s Web” was featured in The San Francisco Film Festival danzscreen festival, Topanga Experimental Film Festival and this summer the film toured extensively in Europe with Choreoscope. Holly spent several years as artist-in-residence in the theatre dept. at Chicago’s Columbia College where she taught movement for actors. Having taught many residencies and performance workshops throughout the US to a variety of individuals including those with disabilities, Holly has worked with senior citizens for a San Francisco performance at the Theater Artaud with Chicago Moving Company, taught movement for actors at Chicago’s Second City, as well as, a correctional facility in Alaska. In 2011, Holly founded the Maine Island Dance Festival. A boutique dance festival focused on new trends in contemporary dance.
Years as company member: 1993 – 1994
Shannon Raglin
Shannon graduated with High Honors from Ohio University. She began her career in real estate in 2006 and quickly gained the reputation among her peers and clients for being meticulous with detail and consistent with follow-up from start to closing. Shannon works as a respected broker for Caldwell Banker in Chicago, earning the Rookie of the Year title in 2007. During her professional dance career, Shannon performed with Hedwig Dances, Jan Erkert & Dancers and The Chicago Repertory Dance Ensemble. She currently serves on the board of directors for Thodos Dance Chicago.
Years as company member: 1991
Susan Richter-O’Connell
Susan is a professional jeweler and designs unique jewelry for the company rocformations in Sheboygan, WI
Years as company member: 1986 – 1987
Michel Rodriguez
Michel Rodriguez Cintra is a Cuban born dancer, teacher and choreographer. He graduated from Escuela Nacional de Arte (National School of Arts) in Havana, Cuba. Upon graduation he was chosen to join Danza Contemporanea de Cuba where he became Principal Dancer and toured internationally. After moving to Chicago in 2008, Michel started dancing with Hedwig Dances, where he performed works by Susan Marshall and Andrea Miller in addition to choreographing his own works on the company. Recently, Michel became an ensemble member with Lucky Plush Productions and The Nexus Project and has been seen as a guest artist in numerous dance companies and projects in Chicago including Khecari and Chicago Moving Company. Michel serves as an adjunct faculty member at The Dance Center of Columbia College, teaching modern dance technique.
Years as company member: 2009 – 2013
Rebecca Rossen
Rebecca is a faculty member at the University of Texas dance department. She is also the author of “Dancing Jewish: Jewish Identity in American Modern and Postmodern Dance.” Rebecca (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is a dance historian, performance scholar, and choreographer whose research interests include modern and postmodern dance, stagings of identity in physical performance, and the relationship between research and practice. She teaches courses in dance history as well as undergraduate and graduate seminars that focus on identity in dance and interdisciplinary performance. In 2013, Dr. Rossen was named the recipient of the Department of Theatre and Dance Teaching Excellence Award and the Lucia, Jack, and Melissa Gilbert Women’s and Gender Studies Teaching Excellence Award.
Years as company member: 1991 – 1993
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Bryan Saner
Bryan is theatre artist currently working in Chicago. He is the founder of his company Saner Productions and an Adjunct faculty member, mentor and advisor in the Interdisciplinary Arts graduate program at Columbia College Chicago. Bryan Saner is an interdisciplinary art practitioner focusing on the creation of performances, activist art events, neighborhood evolution and appropriately designed objects. He teaches workshops, mentors and lectures locally, nationally and internationally on the subject of performance, the body, neighborhood design, movement and
collaboration. From 1995 to 2009 Bryan worked as a performing artist with the recently retired Goat Island Performance Group. During this time, the company toured internationally, performing at venues including the Venice Biennale, Bristol’s Arnolfini Theatre, the Eurokaz festival in Zagreb and the New Territories Festival, Glasgow.
Guest Artist: 1988
Jennifer Savarirayan
Years as company member: 1995
Kirsten Shelton
Kirsten began her professional training at Richmond Ballet in Virginia after attending numerous summer intensives including Ballet Austin and Joffrey Ballet, NY. Upon relocating to Chicago in 2002, she was fortunate to begin working with Luna Negra Dance Theater under founder Eduardo Vilaro (Ballet Hispanico) and began touring nationally and internationally performing works in the company repertoire and teaching dance workshops. In 2010, renowned Spanish choreographer Gustavo Ramírez Sansano (National Dance Company Wales, Proyecto Titoyaya) took over as Artistic Director for LNDT and Shelton had the opportunity to perform in original creations by Sansano, Fernando Hernando Magadan (Netherlands Dance Theater), Diana Szeinblum (Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal), Fernando Melo (GöteborgsOperans Danskompani), Mónica Cervantes Rodríguez (Proyecto Titoyaya), Edgar Zendejas (ezDanza), and others. Since LNDT’s disbandment in 2013, Shelton has acted as a Rehearsal Assistant for Sansano in the restaging of his Carmen.maquia in New York/Ohio and has also served as interim Rehearsal Assistant for Piel Morena Contemporary Dance (Chicago). She is currently on faculty at Visceral Dance Center (Chicago) and instructs contemporary classes for numerous companies throughout the city.
Guest Artist: 2014 – 2105
Shu Shubat
Guest Artist: 1989
Peter Sciscioli
Peter Sciscioli is a Brooklyn-based performer, choreographer, educator and producer whose work encompasses dance, music (voice and violin) and theater. Since 1997 he has been creating interdisciplinary performance works through a choreographic lens with a wide variety of collaborators, for concert, site-specific and theater venues throughout the world. In 2008, he founded Peter Sciscioli Performance Projects, and is currently collaborating on a duet for stage and screen with Serbian actress/vocalist Ana Sofrenovic. Peter is also a founding member of The M6: Meredith Monk Music Third Generation, helping to preserve Ms. Monk’s extraordinary musical legacy, and founder of the International Interdisciplinary Artists Consortium.
Years as company member: 1998 – 2002
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Sandi Sucsy Alguire
Sandi is a Real Estate Broker for Coldwell Banker and owner of mBody Harmony. Sandi has been in real estate sales since 1993 and has consistently been a multimillion dollar producer since the beginning of her career. Sandra has ranked in the top 5% of her office in sales volume each year and her Evanston Central Street office holds the distinction of being the top office in Evanston and the number one producing North Shore office for Coldwell Banker. To expand the marketing ability of The Claire Sucsy Group, Sandra is the Marketing Director for the group, communicating their mission and maintaining the Sucsy standard in all aspects of their business. Sandra is a member of the North Shore Barrington Board of Realtors, Illinois Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors. Sandra has studied yoga for over 20 years, is a certified NIA instructor & JUKARI instructor, and teaches ballet barre classes.
Years as company member: 1989
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Sheldon B. Smith
Sheldon is the co-artistic director of Smith/Wymore Disappearing Act in California along with fellow Hedwig Dances alumni Lisa Wymore. He currently teaches in the Mills College Dance Department. Sheldon has been making dances, music and video art for over 25 years in both the Midwest and California. Originally trained in ballet and french horn his interests have since shifted. A lot. He likes creating things that cross disciplines but movement is usually at the core. He has been interested in technology for many years and with Lisa, regularly makes performance work that skillfully integrates technology and dance in ways that try to allow both elements to speak to common human experience. His current creative interests are focused on developing workable strategies for integrating technology into improvisational performance.
Years as company member: 1989 – 1996
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David Sinkus
In New York City, David served as Master Teaching Artist for two nationally recognized theatres: ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY and LINCOLN CENTER THEATRE. David worked with both organizations to create and present professional development for classroom teachers, as well as develop academically and theatrically integrated curriculum projects for students. For ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY, he was the Project Coordinator for the Brooklyn School of Music and Theatre, one of ROUNDABOUT’S high schools, coordinating all aspects of the performance schedule and creating curriculum to parallel that schedule. Also David has taught in the New York, Chicago and Albuquerque Public Schools. While in Albuquerque, David was the Director of Education and a company member for Mother Road Theatre Company where he also acted and directed. As Director of Education, David created the New Mexico Young Playwrights Project. Also David served as Adjunct Faculty in the Theatre Department at UNM. Recently, David was the Media Arts Coordinator at Albuquerque’s Media Arts Collaborative Charter School.
David is currently the host of the evening radio show and a Voice Talent on Classical 95.5 KHFM.And a faculty member at Menaul School.
Years as company member: 1986
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Emily Stein
Emily Stein began dancing as a child in Buffalo, New York. She holds BA in Dance from the University of Iowa, and an MFA in Performance and Choreography from Smith College. In 1993, she joined Chicago’s Zephyr Dance, and choreographed and performed with the company for eighteen years. She served as Associate artistic Director from 1997 to 2011. Both with Zephyr and as an independent artist, her dancing and choreography have been seen throughout the US, from Florida to Texas to New York City and Toronto. Emily has produced her choreography independently in Chicago and her work has twice been nominated for Chicago Dance Achievement/Ruth Page Awards. Her current artistic work explores the intersections of ballet technique and improvisation as processes that live in the body. While studying at the University of Iowa with Francoise Martinet, she began teaching in the university’s Talented and Gifted children’s program. Before joining the faculty of the Dance Center of Columbia College, she taught ballet and modern technique at Smith College, Hampshire College, the University of Massachusetts and Barat College, and at a wide variety of private studios in the Chicago area. Since 1995, she has been a teaching artist in the Chicago Public Schools, practicing Zephyr’s collaborative model of Arts Integration. Her own dancing journey has taken her from Balanchine to Deborah Hay and everywhere in between, and she strives to use this breadth to train dancers with open minds and intelligent bodies.
Years as company member: 1991-1993
Stone
Guest Artist: 1989
Karen Traxler
Guest Artist: 1989
Wilfried Van Poppel
The former dancer of Susanna Linke’s Bremen Tanztheater and British choreographer Royston Maldoom, Wilfried van Poppel is an established dancer, pantomime player and choreographer active in Holland, the USA and Deutschland. In 1993, he was distinguished at the 1st World Dance Congress in San Francisco, for his contribution to the dance world. Since 2000, he choreographs mainly for children and young people. Wilfried is currently the artistic director of DE LoopERS Tanztheater in Germany, a dance theater ensemble that develops Dance and Movement theatre productions with professional dancers for a young audience, through which he also organizes many community dance projects for all ages in Germany, Spain, Holland and Palastine. He currently resides in Bremen.
Years as company member: 1987
Lisa Wymore
Lisa is the co-artistic director of Smith/Wymore Disappearing Act in California along with fellow Hedwig Dances alumni Sheldon B. Smith. Lisa is an Associate Professor of Dance and Director of the Dance Program as UC-Berkeley and a certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst. She received her M.F.A from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and has twice received Illinois Arts Council grants for her choreography. She grew up in Sonoma, CA and attended UC Santa Cruz for an undergraduate degree in Political Science. Wymore’s other projects include: creating distributed performances utilizing tele-immersion technology within the Z-Lab – a site for interactive real-time collaboration, and working with the Urban Bush Women Leadership Institute on a recent community engagement project around food justice entitled From the Field to the Table.
Years as company member: 2000 – 2001
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Denise Zdenek
Denise Sanchez (Zdenek) is a registered nurse at Rush University Medical Hospital in Chicago.
Years as company member: 2001 – 2002
Raphaelle Ziemba
Raphaelle Ziemba grew up in Oak Park, IL and began her training at the Academy of Movement and Music. From 1995-98, she attended Interlochen Arts Academy where she continued to perform and choreograph and in 2002 she graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance Performance. Since moving back to Chicago, Ziemba has worked with Instruments of Music, Concert Dance, Inc., The Civic Ballet, Tyego Dance, Hedwig Dances, Corpo, apprenticed with River North Chicago Dance, Chicago Opera Theater, Sarasota Opera Theater and The Lira Ensemble. Currently Ziemba is Associate Artistic Director, Program Coordinator, Outreach Instructor, resident choreographer and company member of Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater, performs and choreographs for MOMENTA, and just completed her Masters of Arts in Arts Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Guest Artist: 2005