the people

ADMINISTRATIVE
Alice Bassler Sullivan
Artistic Director
Alice Bassler Sullivan was hired as the Artistic Director of Alaska Dance Theatre, Inc.’s school of dance in 1983 and began the performing company in 1985. She earned her BFA from the University of Utah, graduating magna cum laude, where she performed leading roles, from the classic to the contemporary, as in "Chosen Maiden" from Rite of Spring and the bravura Don Quixote Pas de Deux. Ms. Sullivan has performed with Ballet West, First Chamber Dance Company and the Minnesota Ballet. Prior to her return to Anchorage in 1983, she founded a thriving ballet program at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
 
As Artistic Director for ADT, she has worked exclusively at ADT as choreographer, performer, and instructor.  Ms. Sullivan has had works set on her by nationally renowned choreographers, including Tomm Ruud of San Francisco Ballet, Donlin Foreman of Martha Graham Dance Company, Shelly Freydont of Twyla Tharp Dance Company, Timothy O’Slynne & Brian Jeffery of XSIGHT! Performing Group, Israel "El" Gabriel, and Judy Austin as well as ADT’s artists in residence.

Ms. Sullivan has been a member of the adjunct faculty of the UAA Department of Theatre and Dance and Alaska Pacific University and is a member of Alaska Artists in Education; American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; the National Dance Association. She was a finalist in BP’s "Women of Achievement" awards in 1990 and "Athena" award in 1996.  Ms. Sullivan received a Career Development Grant from the Alaska State Council on the Arts, in 1996, to attend a David Howard Teacher Training Workshop, and in 1998, to teach in Guiyang, China. Most recently she attended the Pacific Northwest Ballet teacher training workshop in July 2006.
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Ruth Glenn
Executive Director
Ms. Glenn graduated with a BFA in modern dance from the University of Utah. She taught dance in Fairbanks at a private studio and at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and was a founding member of Dance Omnium, a company and presenting organization in Fairbanks. She was the former Performing Arts Director of the Fairbanks Arts Association and was hired by the Fairbanks Concert Association as their first Executive Director. She spent 15 years with the Anchorage Concert Association, the last three as Executive Director, and which, under her leadership garnered numerous awards, including the prestigious national ASCAP/Chamber Music of America Award for Adventuresome Programming, the 2003 Governors Arts & Humanities Award for Outstanding Arts Organization and the 2002 Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau Community Organization award.
 
Ms. Glenn served on the board of the Western Arts Alliance, as a Board member of the National Dance Project, a program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, and was the Dance Down Under Ambassador for the Australian Government's Cultural Services Division. She is a member of Dance USA.  She has served as the volunteer head of the state’s performing arts presenters and was formerly a panelist for the Alaska State Council on the Arts Performing Arts Panel.
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Courtland Weaver
Associate Director
Courtland Weaver, raised in Kaysville, Utah, studied ballet at the University of Utah on the Willem F. Christensen Scholarship. He accepted an apprenticeship with the Pacific Northwest Ballet School in 1981 and danced with that company until 1988.  He spent the next three years as a freelance artist, dancing with numerous companies throughout the western United States, such as the Eugene Ballet and Oregon Dance Theater, Lincoln Ballet, Oberlin Dance Collective as well as performing in several musical comedies, most notably a notional tour with Juliet Prowse in Theater Under the Stars’ production of Mame, and as dance captain of Minnesota Opera’s production of My Fair Lady. Mr. Weaver danced as soloist with the Ballet of Los Angeles under John Clifford, then in Ballet Arizona with Donald Daydee.  
 
In 1992, while dancing in a production in Switzerland, Mr. Weaver was offered a job with the Ballet du Rhin, the French national company of the Alsace region where he danced for two years.  He returned to the U.S. and danced for the San Francisco Opera season in 1994, and was a guest artist with the Nevada Dance Theater and the Santa Rosa Ballet. He spent the next two years living between San Francisco and his home in Mulhouse, France as guest artist teaching, working occasionally for industrial shows, and modeling. In 1996 he taught at several different private dance schools in the Basel/Mulhouse/Colmar region and continued dancing and choreographing with a small company called Art’maniac.

Mr. Weaver spent the next three years as Technical Director of Gebel Creation in Mulhouse, involved mostly in the design and construction of decoration for international fairs and conventions. He joined the staff of ADT in September 2002 and was promoted to Associate Director in 2004. He continues to help develop the curriculum of the program, choreograph for the company, provides technical and marketing expertise to the organization and is the creative force behind the Out of the Box Series.
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Michelle Guisinger, Office & School Manager

Sue Joyce, Executive Assistant

Christina Blake, Office & School Assistant

Stephanie Lum-Ye, Front Office

Chelsea Thomas, Front Office

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Mark Musial, President Golder Associates
Carol La Rose, Alliance Foot & Ankle Secretary
Nathelie Landreth, Vice President Native American Rights Fund
Heather Grahame, Past president, Dorsey & Whitney, LLC
Anne Brown, Levenson Brown Consulting
Peter Burke, Advanced Physical Therapy
Maryann Frazier, David Frazier & Associates
Suzanne La Pierre, attorney
Will Veelman, Coffman Engineering
Tanya Weaver, ConocoPhillips

Alaska Dance Theatre's Board of Trustees is a 12-member volunteer body charged with the financial health of Alaska Dance Theatre. The Board of Trustees has been very active over the past three years in developing the planned expansion of the organization. Identifying the need, locating the space and fund raising for the new building have been the focus of this very dedicated group of volunteers.
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FACULTY
Leslie Kimiko Ward
Resident Choreographer, Dancer,
Creative Movement & Jazz Program Coordinator
Ms. Ward has studied, performed and taught various dance disciplines in several countries around the world. Ms. Ward has extensive training in ballet, (including both Cecchetti and Royal Academy of Dance syllabus methods), tap, jazz and modern dance.  In addition, she has studied post-modern/contemporary dance, hip-hop, traditional West African dance, traditional Japanese dance, and several forms of martial arts.  
 
Ms. Ward graduated Magna Cum Laude from The Ohio State University in 1998, where she earned her BFA in Dance Performance. While at OSU, she was a member of the University Dance Company, performing works by guest choreographers such as Joe Chvala and Pat Graney.  Her reconstruction of Ming Shen Ku’s Bamboo Grove from Labanotated score, was featured in the dance documentary Take Note. She is a member of the International Council of Kineotography Laban, (ICKL), and attended the ICKL conference in Hong Kong in 1997.  
 
After graduation Ms. Ward began teaching in Seattle, WA at the Ballet Academy of Performing Arts.  She became Assistant Director of the school two years later.  While in Seattle, she also performed with Seattle Kokon Taiko, a traditional Japanese dance and drumming ensemble. Ms. Ward accepted employment with ADT in 2003 as an instructor. She is currently on the Alaska State Council on the Arts roster for the Artists in the Schools Program. In addition to her teaching responsibilities she is also a paid company dancer.
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Andrea Andresakis
Resident Choreographer, Ballet, Jazz,
Social Dance, Musical Theatre and Adult Tap Instructor
Ms. Andresakis, a native New Yorker, began her career performing at Lincoln Center with the New York City Ballet as a student of the School of American Ballet. She graduated from the High School of Performing Arts and appeared in both the film and television series Fame. Other performing credits include: the Majestic Theatre on Broadway; the Metropolitan Opera, The New York City Opera, Alvin Ailey III; Radio City Music Hall, the Goodspeed Opera House as well as national tours and regional theatre. Ms. Andresakis has toured with shows in Japan, Norway, France and South America. She has worked with George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Franco Zefferelli, Mercedes Ellington and Onna White. Ms. Andresakis assisted Jacques d'Amboise on Dancin'Man, Peter Gennaro at the Broadhurst Theatre and also on Mr. d'Amboise's production of Romeo and Juliet for The National Dance Institute.
 
Ms. Andresakis has worked prolifically directing and choreographing in New York City for the theater, musical theater, and opera.  She has directed and choreographed for a number of regional theaters and touring groups. Ms. Andresakis worked for the New Haven Ballet as Ballet Mistress and has choreographed many ballets to a broad spectrum of music. She was the resident choreographer in Rotterdam, Holland for the project Netherlands 2001 which addressed the racial problems in that country.
 
Ms. Andresakis was on the adjunct faculty at CUNY, Queens College where she directed and choreographed The Fantasticks.  She taught dance and choreographed two revue- style shows at SUNY, Purchase. Other teaching credits include: The National Dance Institute, Jacques d'Amboise, founder; The Main Street Theatre, NYC; Frenchwoods Festival of Performing Arts, NY; Gateway Playhouse, NY; Great Neck Arts Center, NY; PS87, NYC and the Wilton Conservatory of Dance, CT. Her Ballroom Dance experience includes teaching for the Arthur Murray and the Fred Astaire Dance Studios in New York City and studying with Pierre Dulane.
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Brittney Otevrel
Guest Choreographer, Dancer, & Ballet,
Creative Movement, Jazz and Modern Instructor
Brittney Otevrel was born in Houston, Texas and raised in Phoenix, Arizona where she studied ballet and tap at Tempe Dance Academy. As she grew older, her education branched out to include jazz, modern, and hip-hop, acrobatics and tumbling. For ten years, Ms. Otevrel participated in numerous regional and national competitions and received various scholarships and awards for her dancing.
 
Ms. Otevrel moved to Tennessee in 1999 and joined the Bristol Ballet as a member of the school and company. During her time in Bristol, Ms. Otevrel had the pleasure of working with many guest artists including: Anna-Marie Holmes, Lisa Pari, Jeffrey Polston, Roni Koresh, and Gabriel Otevrel. Otevrel, impressed by her strong technique, reliability and work ethic, asked her to work on independent projects and choreography with him. Together they worked a substantial repertoire leading to the creation of Otevrel's company, Dance Theatre Suitcase of Bristol, LTD and its school, the DTS School of Dance. Ms. Otevrel had many responsibilities with DTS serving as the ballet mistress, ballet and tumbling teacher, and as a dancer. Together the Otevrels staged DTS ballets on other companies and performed as guest artists. One of her most amazing, memorable experiences was the evening of The B'nai Shalom Congregation where she shared the stage with Soprano Shira Lissek and the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel.
 
For the past two years she has been living in Augsburg, Germany working for Ballett- und Tanzforum Otevrel. Along with teaching and choreographing, she has continued dancing and performing as a freelance artist. She was invited to join the Company as a dancer and the School of Alaska Dance Theatre as an instructor in 2007.
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Deana Chambers
Creative Dance & Ballet Instructor
Ms. Chambers received a BS in nursing from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. While in college she began her ballet training at Ballet UAB under the direction of Stephan and Melanie Grebel. Deana danced with Ballet UAB for 5 years, performing roles in The Nutcracker and Cinderella. While working as a neonatal intensive care nurse, she met her husband and they began a 22-year journey with the Air Force. Each military move provided Deana with opportunities to broaden and strengthen her ballet training. While in Ft. Worth, Texas she received training from Fernando and Karen Schaffenburg at Schaffenburg Ballet. As a member of the company with North Dakota Ballet in Grand Forks, Deana performed in local ballet productions as well as Fire Hall Theater's productions of Annie and The King and I.
 
The Chambers family has had 3 military assignments in Anchorage providing Deana with many opportunities at ADT. In 1988 she was an apprentice in the company and performed in MOBIUS. Ms. Chambers returned to Anchorage in 1996 and has performed in several ADT activities. In addition to her classes, Ms. Chambers also performs as a company dancer.
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Tracy Nickerson
Ballet Instructor
Tracy Nickerson was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota. She started her dance training at the Pasley Ballet School under the direction of Nancy Pasley at the age of four.  As she grew older, her education expanded to include tap, jazz, pointe, and modern.  Recognizing Tracy’s talent, the director asked her to begin teaching the younger dancers.  In 1992, Tracy began her professional training with the North Dakota Ballet Company under the direction of Mary Ellen Weir.  Tracy was a member of the North Dakota Ballet School and within a few months became a company member.  Soon after, she joined the North Dakota Ballet staff and began teaching the younger dancers, assisting in rehearsals and setting choreography.  As a company member for ten years, Tracy performed in numerous ballet productions, with featured roles in The Nutcracker and in Hansel and Gretel  under the direction of Ronn Guidi, founder of the Oakland Ballet Company, as well as Fire Hall Theater’s productions of Annie, The King and I, Sound of Music, and 1940’s Radio Hour.  While gaining experience in dance, teaching, and choreography, Tracy had the pleasure of choreographing a production of Sesame Street with Bob McGrath. 

In 2002, Tracy took on new roles as Associate Director and School Director of the North Dakota Ballet Company as she continued to dance, perform, teach, and choreograph.

In 2004, Tracy and her family moved to Alaska and she has since been dancing with Alaska Dance Theatre.  In the spring semester of 2005, she joined the staff of ADT as a ballet instructor under the direction of Alice Bassler Sullivan.  During the 2005 – 2006 season, Tracy performed with ADT, as a Project Dancer.  
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Michael King, Ballet Instructor

Ritmovida, Social Dance Instructor

Mary Ellen Kisley Darling, Yoga Instructor

Liana Keller, Belly Dance Fusion

Joyce Mayer
Pilates Instructor, Dancer
Joyce has been a part of the School of Alaska Dance Theatre since 1992; initially, as a parent, and eventually, as a student and Pilates instructor. In 2001 she joined the Company as a project dancer. Dance continues to provide for her an unparalleled opportunity for creative expression that speaks to the pleasures of physicality, mental discipline, musical voice, and visual art. It is her good fortune to be associated with a group that supports those ideals; and to have an amazing family who patiently humors her pursuits--and hardly ever complains when dinner is late.

DANCERS
Walter A. Barillas graduated from East Anchorage High School where he danced with East High Contempo. He is currently a Sociology Major at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. He has danced with the UAA’s Dance Ensemble and has choreographed for UAA New Dances. Mr. Barillas danced as a guest with Alaska Dance Theatre in 2005. This is his first season as a project dancer.

Sarah Madsen, a native of Grand Junction, Colorado, received her early ballet training under the tutelage of Diane Revie at The Institute of Dancing Arts, Inc. Ms. Madsen earned her BFA in ballet at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. While attending Friends University she also trained at Rogers Ballet Inc. under the direction of Sharon Rogers. During her tenure she was a member of the performing company "PointeCounterpointe." Ms. Madsen is looking forward to her first season with Alaska Dance Theatre.

Nicole Maple received her pre-professional training from Nina Marlow School of Ballet and Ballets Etudes in Phoenix. In 2005 Ms. Maple was invited to perform with Milwaukee Ballet 2. In May of 2006 Ms Maple won 1st in the regional and 3rd in the national competition of The National Society of Arts and Letters Association Dance Division. Ms. Maple is thrilled to be here for her first season with Alaska Dance Theatre and is excited to see what this year will bring.

Shannon Bradley, a senior at South Anchorage High School, has been dancing for 6 years at the School of Alaska Dance Theatre and 5 years as a Company member. Ms. Bradley is a member of South’s Swing Choir and has participated in theatre productions including Pirates of Penzance, Grease, The Wizard of Oz and Oklahoma! Currently, she is in the production of Hair with Theatre Artists United. Shannon hopes to continue dancing in college and pursue musical theatre.
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Victoria Campbell, a sophomore at South Anchorage High School, has been dancing since she was three years old after seeing her first production of The Nutcracker. She attended the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in 2005, and the past two summers have been spent at Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Dance Program. This is Ms. Campbell’s 3rd year with the Company, and she hopes to spend the rest of her high school years dancing with Alaska Dance Theatre.

McKenna Ford is a freshman at West High School. She has been dancing at the School of Alaska Dance Theatre for 10 years. Last year, she was an apprentice with the Company and is happy to be a full Company member this year. For each of the last three summers, she has attended Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet's five-week summer program, and has previously participated in the City Ballet of San Diego's summer ballet program. McKenna has danced in the Anchorage production of The Nutcracker with both the Oregon Ballet Theatre and the Cincinnati Ballet.

Sam Franklin is a junior with Family Partnership Charter School and West High. He has been a student at The School of Alaska Dance Theatre for 10 years, and an accompanist for classes since the fall of 2005. Sam has been playing piano for 8 years and is a student of Margarita Merkusheva. He plays for numerous events throughout the year. This is his second year dancing with the Company.
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Corbin Frazier first started dancing at the School of Alaska Dance Theatre at the age of five. He has also performed with other groups such as East High Contempo and Kokopelli Theatre, as well as taking part in the summer programs at Lines Ballet in San Francisco, CA and Rhythm Explosion in Bozeman, MT. Corbin joined the Company in 2004. Continuing his education, Corbin is going to UAA while still performing as a project dancer.

Heather Harvey received her early training at Fern Adair Conservatory of the Arts in Las Vegas, NV, and at the Colorado School of Ballet in Denver, Co. in classical ballet, jazz, and tap. After taking time to start her family, she continued her career in dance as a ballet instructor and dancer. This is Ms. Harvey's second year as a project dancer with Alaska Dance Theatre.

Rebecca Hayes has been a member of the Alaska Dance Theatre Company since 1992. As Miss Alaska 2005 she volunteered with the American Lung Association and performed throughout the State. Every year she thinks it might be her last year performing, but she keeps enjoying it too much to leave. Ms. Hayes graduated Magna Cum Laude from UAA in 2002 with a business degree. She completed an MS in Global Supply Chain Management program at UAA in 2006. Ms. Hayes is currently working for DHL Global Forwarding doing Business Development.
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Carissa Landes is excited to be in her second season with the Company. Carissa is in her 12th year at the School of Alaska Dance Theatre. She has attended the Summer Dance Lab in Walla Walla and Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Dance Program.

Avianna McKee Avianna is a senior in the gifted program at West Anchorage High School. She has been dancing for 11 years at the School of Alaska Dance Theatre; this is her 4th year as a Company member. Avianna is Miss Alaska’s Outstanding Teen 2007 and is the 1st chair alto saxophonist in symphonic band at West. Avianna is planning to continue dancing towards placement with a professional company or a BFA with a focus on dance and design.

Jennifer Mills, a senior at East High School has studied dance since age 5. Jenny begins her 5th year as a member of the Company and has been dancing with the School for 9 years. She has attended the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Vaganova Summer Intensive, and The Royal Winnepeg Ballet School. Jenny hopes to continue dancing, performing in college and pursue new adventures and goals as they come her way.
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Rachel Parlier, a junior at Service High School, has been dancing for 6 years. This year is her first year as a full Company member. Last summer she attended Ballet West; in previous summers she has attended Briansky Ballet Center, and Summer Dance lab in Walla Walla. Rachel is excited for this year and plans to continue dancing well into the future.

Molissa Udevitz, Molissa is enjoying her 2nd Company season. She began her dance training at the age of three and is in her 8th year at the School of Alaska Dance Theatre. Molissa has attended the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and spent two summers at Summer Dance Lab in Walla Walla, Washington where she danced in the ballet For Flora. Molissa is a freshman honors student at Chugiak High School and a member of their Symphonic Band.

Anna Veelman, a sophomore at Polaris K-12 School, has been dancing for eight years. This is her first year with the School of Alaska Dance Theatre and the Company. Anna has attended Walnut Hill, Briansky Institute, and Northwest Ballet summer programs. Anna is excited to be a part of the Company.
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Apprentices
Abby Keller, a home-schooled freshman with Family Partnership Charter School, has been dancing for 11 years. This is her first year as an apprentice with the Company.

Cydney Musial, a freshman at West High School, has been dancing for 11 years. This will be her seventh year with the School of Alaska Dance Theatre and first year as an apprentice in the Company.

Tess Vandiver, is a junior at West High School and has been dancing for 13 years. This is her third year at the School of Alaska Dance Theatre and first year as an apprentice in the Company.
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ACCOMPANISTS
Eryn Alston
Hannah Dompier
Sam Franklin
Anastasia Khadjinova
Liz Malys
Larissa Melnik
Margarita Merkusheva
Ashleigh Nicholson
Richard Poland
Alexander Zlatkovski
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GUEST ARTISTS
Toni Pimble, Artistic Director of Eugene Ballet, Ms. Pimble, born in England, studied at Elmhurst Ballet School and the Royal Academy of Dance in London. Her professional experience includes dancing in three German ballet companies. Since becoming Artistic Director of Eugene Ballet Company in 1978, Ms. Pimble has choreographed over 40 original works for the company. Both Dance Magazine and Pointe Magazine have featured Ms. Pimble's leadership as an Artistic Director and choreographer.

Eugene Ballet is the guest company for this year’s INTERSECTIONS concert, May 2, 2008. Alaska Dance Theatre will perform Romanian Folk Dances and one other piece from its repertoire. The will perform Silk & Steel jointly with Eugene Ballet and Eugene Ballet will perform one other piece from their rep.

Ms. Pimble's creative work has brought her a number of awards and fellowships, including two Oregon Arts Commission Artist Fellowship Awards and a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer's Fellowship Grant. Ms. Pimble's work has been seen with many companies in the United States including Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Omaha, Washington Ballet, Nevada Dance Theatre, Oregon Ballet Theater, State Ballet of Rhode Island and Dance Galaxy, among others.

Annie Arnoult Beserra (Choreographer) holds an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University and a BA in Dance and Comparative Literary Studies from Northwestern University. She was the founding Artistic Director of Striding Lion InterArts Workshop in Chicago, IL, choreographing Daughter of Jacob, The Giver, Ill Met by Moonlight, and Billy the Mountain and Other American Card Tricks. Her work earned critical acclaim from The Chicago Reader, Time Out Chicago, and The Village Voice. Beserra has also choreographed in New York for Toad Productions and in Chicago for Piven Theater Workshop, Roadworks Productions, XSIGHT! Performance Group, T.J. and Company, Lucky Plush Productions, Evanston Dance Ensemble and the Theater and Dance Departments of Northwestern University. She has performed in her own work and for choreographers throughout Chicago and was a member of Billy Siegenfeld’s Jump Rhythm Jazz Project from 1996-2000. She has been a guest artist at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, The University of Alaska at Anchorage, Northwestern University, Southern Methodist University, Western Michigan University, UC Irvine, Louisiana Dance Theater, and Alaska Dance Theatre, and served as adjunct faculty in ballet and jazz at Northwestern University. She was awarded the Ray Travel Award for Scholarship and Service by the OSU Council of Graduate Students and an International Matching Travel Grant by the College of the Arts to present her research at Le Centre National de la Danse in Paris at a joint conference of the Society of Dance History Scholars and the Congress on Research in Dance.

Ekaterina (Katya) Kuznetsova is currently a faculty member at UAA Department of Theatre and Dance. Originally from Magadan, Russia, Kuznetsova began her dance career at the age of eight with Tanzgracia Ballroom Dance Company, focusing on competing in international ballroom dance. Since arriving to Anchorage, Alaska in 1996, she has enjoyed exploring and cross-referencing various forms of social dance with modern dance techniques, history, and methods of dance composition. In March 2005, her choreography "Cruzada" represented UAA at the American College Dance Festival Association’s Northwest Regional Conference at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, and was selected as one of the seven best from a total of thirty five pieces. Having received her MA in Dance and Adult Education in 2006, Kuznetsova is now focused on creating multi-disciplinary approaches to teaching, performance, and choreography.

The Erica Essner Performance Co-Op was founded in 1990 in San Francisco and enjoyed a decade of performing, teaching and touring in the San Francisco Bay Area. For over ten years Essner collaborated with award winning composer Erik Ian Walker. Walker has worked as a principal music and sound design contributor for the Joe Goode Performance Group and the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. Together Essner and Walker created over 20 works and received rave reviews as a partnership. Both the work and the artists were enhanced by the relationship, and the work they created exists as current repertory for the company.

In 2000 Erica Essner moved to New York City and reestablished her company. Since reforming in New York City the company has performed in Dance Theater Workshop's Fresh Tracks, was a recipient of the Union Street Dance Space grant, and most recently was presented by The Puffin Room, NYC.

The company has presented an annual home season at such venues as Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out, Theater Artaud, Dancers' Group, Brady Street Theater, University Settlement, and Joyce SoHo. Essner is the recipient of the Bessie Schonberg Choreographers Residency 2005 at The Yard. Ms. Essner has been a recipient of the CASH grant for her work in collaboration with long-time composer Erik Ian Walker.

Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer have collaborated in choreography and performance since 1978. Their innovative work with video and live performance has been acclaimed for exploding the duet form into a magically populated stage where image and reality collide. Their breathtaking and catapulting partnering, deep sensuality, and surprising humor give their work a physically and theatrically riveting edge. Bridgman/Packer Dance is a 2007 recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Grant and a New England Foundation for the Arts Expeditions Touring Grant. Bridgman and Packer are also recipients of numerous National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowships, NEA Dance Company Grants and Choreography Fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts. For more information visit bridgmanpacker.org.

Robert Een is an acclaimed composer, cellist and singer. The recipient of a 2004 Obie Award for music composition and a 2000 Bessie Award for sustained achievement, Een has performed his music on stages and in unusual venues throughout the world, including the Buddhist caves of Ellora, India; the Shinto shrine in Tsurugi, Japan; a theater above the Arctic circle in Norway; as well as Central Park, Lincoln Center, the Whitney Museum and the Knitting Factory in New York City. His long association with Meredith Monk culminated in their evening-length performance duet, Facing North. For more information, please visit www.Roberteen.com.

Glen Velez is an internationally recognized frame drummer, composer, scholar and teacher. Velez has created his own musical style inspired by both Western percussion and frame drum performance styles from around the world. A member of the Paul Winter Consort 1983-1998, and of Steve Reich & Musicians, 1972-1987, Velez's own music has recently been featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, John Schaefer's New Sounds, and in feature articles in the New York Times, Village Voice, Christian Science Monitor, and Down Beat Magazine For more information, please visit his website at www.glenvelez.com.

Eiko & Koma, United States Artists Fellow
Eiko & Koma dance about what matters to them. Their subjects are elemental; their message pitiless yet humanistic. Both their choreography and stagecraft are characterized by bold, highly theatrical strokes. In their desire to present an organic, conceptual environment on stage, they have often chosen to design and execute their own costumes, sets and sound scores. The result is stark, infused with a relentless stillness that subverts and transcends our everyday notions of time and space. Eiko & Koma want the vulnerability of their own dancing bodies to invite the audience’s empathy. Each viewer brings his or her own emotions and associations to the experience.

Eiko & Koma were named John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellows for 1984. They were awarded one of the first "Bessies" (the New York Dance and Performance Awards) in 1984 for Grain and Night Tide, and were honored again in 1990 for Passage. They were named MacArthur Fellows in June of 1996. This was the first time in the program’s fifteen-year history that the foundation awarded a so-called "genius" fellowship to be shared by collaborators. In 2004, they received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for “lifetime contributions to the field of modern dance.” Recently, they received the 2006 Dance Magazine Award and were awarded one of the first fifty United States Artists fellowships.

Eiko & Koma have been permanent residents of the United States since 1976. They currently live in New York City, where they perform regularly and offer occasional Delicious Movement Workshops.

The North Star Ballet Company combines exciting dancing and exceptional choreography with the rich creative talents of Alaskan artists and composers making a vibrant entity in the cultural resources of Fairbanks. Norman Shelburne, the Artistic Director and primary choreographer for the company, ensures that the productions are both appropriate and challenging for each dancer’s ability. Under his direction the Company produces a full-length Nutcracker to enhance the holiday season and a gala program of classical and contemporary works to celebrate spring. Mr. Shelburne is assisted by guest choreographers, North Star Ballet School faculty, and professionals for lighting, costuming, sound, and set design.

Underground Dance Company is Alaska's first Hip-Hop and Street Dance Studio. Underground Dance Company's main goal is to have fun through the education of dance. We strive to expose all of our students to a diverse mix of Hip-Hop & Street style dance, while keeping in mind the fundamentals of dance technique and discipline.

Anchorage Classical Ballet Academy was established in the fall of 1997 to preserve the art of classical dance while providing professional instruction to aspiring professionals and recreational dancers in the community of Anchorage, Alaska and beyond. The curriculum, based on the Vaganova Method, includes lessons in ballet technique, which includes pointe, pas de deux, character/historical dance, and repertoire.
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