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Alumni News

JULIA KATCHER (BFA 06) is currently dancing for Axxiom Dance Company, a Hip-Hop/Modern company based out of San Diego, California.

DIEGO CARRASCO (MFA 05) is currently working and living in Minneapolis, teaching at Dancers Edge dance studio as a full time faculty member. His new work "Passage," choreographed for Milwaukee Ballet, premiered on March 23, 2006 at the historic Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee.

ALISSA HAMER (BA 04) accepted a teaching position in Des Moines, IA at Capital City Dance Center teaching modern, Pilates, and all levels of their jazz classes. She has taken a few modern classes with a small professional modern company in town called Kathleen Hurley Dancers.

MAGGIE (RUPPRECHT) MOORE (BFA 04) has moved to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. She teaches dance and has recently started her own company in St Cloud Minnesota. MOUVERE, a contemorary ballet company will have its first performance August 2006 at the Paramount Theater in St Cloud.

DEBORAH ANDERSEN (BFA 2003) earned a certificate in Hatha Yoga from Yoga Vidya Dham in Nasik, India in 2006. She is currently in San Antonio working with choreographer Britt Keel, preparing for the September 2007 premiere of Saint Lorraine Dance Company.

CINDY HUSTON (BA 2003) has been freelancing in Chicago since 2004. She just finished dancing in the production of Halka at the Sarasota Opera House in Sarasota, FL.

KRISTEN SCURLOCK (BFA 03) recently moved from Chicago where she was teaching and choreographing for several schools. She performed and choreographed several pieces for a small modern non-for-profit company, "Freespace." Kristen now teaches at Belliston Academy of Ballet in Denver, CO. She teaches, ballet, modern and was recently certified by The Cechetti Council of America.

KATHY BURNETT (MFA 02) is living in Louisville, KY, and teaching at the Youth Performing Arts School.

KRISTIN MCCOMAS (BA 02) recently accepted a job teaching dance in Geneva, IL at State Street Dance Studio, now undergoing renovation from its former life as a movie theatre. She will be teaching intermediate, advanced, and teen/adult ballet, as well as some jazz classes.

CAROLYN GRACE MOSES ROZSA (BA 02) recieved her Pilates certification in March of 2003, and has since been teaching group classes at several Gold's Gyms in the northern Virginia area.

PENNY ASKEW (MFA 01) is currently director of the Western Oklahoma Ballet Academy and artistic director of Western Oklahoma Ballet Theatre in Clinton, Oklahoma. This season's choreographed ballets include "The Firebird," "The Nutcracker," and "The Wizard of Oz." In addition, a work entitled "Songs of the Sea" to traditional sea shanties has been selected by adjudicator Alun Jones for the Gala performance of the Regional Dance America/Southwest Festival in Houston. Three students had works selected for the Emerging Choreographers Showcase performance at the upcoming RDA/SW Festival. Nine students have been accepted, many with scholarships, to high-profile summer intensives, including ABT New York, Joffrey New York, Joffrey Midwest, Washington School of Ballet, Ballet Austin, Orlando Ballet, and Atlanta Ballet.

E.E. BALCOS (MFA 01) accepted a position at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte as assistant professor of dance after four years as assistant professor at Missouri State. In May 2005 he choreographed and performed with Rebudal Dance at Danspace Project at St. Marks in NYC and guest taught at Tisch School of the Arts with the Sean Curran Dance Company. He recently attended the Mid-Atlantic Regional ACDF at West Virginia Wesleyan College where his work Moon Spell which was adjudicated and selected to be presented again at the Gala Concert. The work also was selected as the alternate to be performed in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center in May.

ALESSANDRA HERSZKOWICZ (BFA 01) is back at her home town in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and dancing for her second season with Cisne Negro Cia de Danca (Black Swan Dance Company). With them she has toured around Brazil,Argentina, Paraguay,South Africa and Mozambique, and performed pieces by Patrick Delcroix, Itzik Galili, Mark Baldwin, Valco Wellemcamp, Rui Moreira, among others. She is also teaching English and Pilates.

ALISSA ANN PLUDEMAN (Handelsman) (BA 01) is currently directing her 4th season of the "Nutcracker" for a Student Company in Dallas, TX. She also is a Certified Pilates instructor through the Physicalmind Institute and is teaching Pilates at a Pilates studio in Dallas. She also is the Wellness Prime for Nortel in Richardson, TX where she delivers Health and Wellness Programs.

PATRICIA RENZETTI (MFA 01) is in her third year of the Masters program at the University of Colorado at Denver in Counseling Psychology. She is also coaching and teaching dance in Denver and volunteering at Namaste Hospice.

CHRISTINE GOLDMANN WELSH (BFA 01) started a professional jazz dance company in Milwaukee called Elation Dance Theatre. She plans to open a school this fall, Elation Dance Center, specializing in dance for children and adults. Over the past three years, she has performed and choreographed for Six Flags St. Louis, danced at Six Flags-Los Angeles and Busch Gardens-Tampa Bay, was a member of Rasa Dance Theatre in Chicago, and a member of the Milwaukee Buck's N.B.A. Dance Team.

SOMMER AUSTIN (BA 00) received her MFA in Acting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003. Recent acting work in Austin, TX, includes the Zachary Scott Theater Center and Esther's Follies comedy troupe. She will be relocating to Chicago in Summer 2006.

SARA (Turner) FISHER (BFA 00) dances for various choreographers around the city and is on faculty at Columbia College and the School of Ballet Chicago. She is also a certified personal trainer, and last year she designed and implemented a number of postnatal exercise classes for moms and babies. Currently, she is writing a chapter on postnatal fitness for an upcoming book on women’s fitness, to be published by Evan Osar.

SHOUZE MA (MFA 00) started his own performing group "The Visionary Dance Company" based in Minneapolis, and is recipient of choreography fellowships awarded by several orgnizations including the Walker Arts Center, Minnesota State Arts Board, Minnesota Dance Alliance and Jerome Foundation. As Cowles Artist at University of Minnesota for 2002, his choreography has been performed along with Jerome Robbins, Shapiro & Smith, Paul Taylor and Bill Young. His solo "The Secret of the Fan" also been presented at the "In The Company of Men 2002" in New York and praised as "An intensity so strong that is seemd at a brreaking point" by The New York Times. Presently he is assistant professor and dance coordinator at Elon University North Carolina.

JENNIFER (MOORE) BAULT (BA 99) is currently teaching dance at West Millbrook Middle School in Raleigh, NC. She teaches 6th-8th grade students and has a 15 student member dance company called Dance Explosion. Additionally, she coaches cheerleading, and in her spare time, enjoys parenting her 4-year-old son.

JILL EMERSON (BA 99) currently lives in Berlin, Germany and works with the dance company Constanza Macras/Dorky Park. Last summer we were a part of the prestigious dance/theatre festival in Avignon, France, and continue to travel around the world (all over Europe, India, soon Australia, Korea, and Japan). The company will be touring to New York City, Minneapolis (Walker Arts Center), and Seattle in Fall 2006.

MATTHEW KEEFE (MFA 99) left the James Sewell Ballet in April 2005 to pursue his interests as a freelance dance artist. In September 2005, he went to Rapid City, SD to direct, choreograph and dance in a Nutcracker production for Black Hills Dance Theater. The production, with a cast of 117, was a major success. He has now assumed the position of Associate Artistic Director of Minnetonka Dance Theater in Minnesota, beginning a two-year transition to the Artistic and Executive Directorship of this 19-year-old non-profit organization.

SABETHA (CLARK) MUMM (BA 98) owns and operates a dance studio in Johnston, IA. The studio teaches more than 300 students, and employs seven instructors, plus many guest artists including current UI professor Armando Duarte.

SABRINA MADISON-CANNON (MFA 98) Currently an assistant professor in the Division of Dance at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. She has recently presented choreography for the International Association of Blacks in Dance conference, the International Choreographer's Showcase in Madrid and Barcelona and a paper for the Society of Dance History Scholars conference at Duke University.

CECIL SLAUGHTER (MFA 98) is beginning his sixth year as dance lecturer at Washington University, St. Louis, MO. This is his fourth year as artistic director of Washington University Dance Theatre. He is also the Founding Artistic Director of THE SLAUGHTER PROJECT, a two-year-old, 20 member pick-up company that combines the talents of local professional and pre-professional dancers performing works representing the diversity found in the Greater St. Louis community.

JAMES HANSEN (BA 97) is an assistant professor at SUNY Brockport's Department of Dance where he teaches modern technique, partnering and composition. His choreography has been produced by several prestigious dance festivals including Jacob's Pillow, Toronto Fringe, and in both 2004 and 2005 at the International Dance Festivals at the Doris Duke Theater and Citicorps Theater in NYC. He has been commissioned to create works for several universities and professional dance companies across the country including Ohio University and Pennsylvania Dance Theater.

KELLY HAYES (BFA 97) is co-artistic director of RedShift Dance. The company is producing its second New York season in April 2006. Kelly is also dancing with Dixie Fun Dance Theatre and Jody Sperling Time Lapse Dance, and is on faculty at The Ailey School and Peridance in NY.

CHRISTY (GUTH) ROSS (MFA 97) recently choreographed a modern piece for Brighton (MI) City Ballet as well as a modern solo that were both performed in their spring concert. She also performed the role of Snow Queen in their December performance of The Nutcracker. Christy is also on the faculty at their ballet school.

LESLIE ANSTEDT (MFA 94) is the new Customer Service Operations Leader for the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines in Des Moines, Iowa.

LISA (Kneller) MOREIRA (BFA 93) attended Graduate School at New York University in New York City, studying Arts in Education and Performing Arts Administration. Upon moving to Minneapolis, MN in 2001, she began working with an experimental theatre company called 15 Head: a theatre lab. She also met and married Bruce Moreira in Minneapolis. In 2005, Lisa and three fellow theatre artists founded Sandbox Theatre. Sandbox produces original, collaborative performance work through combining theatre, movement, text and design.

SUZANNE (STRAYER) KIRSCH (BA 92) lives in the Detroit area and teaches at two suburban dance schools and for the Summer Dance Performing Arts Camp held near Flint, MI. She and her husband, Tod, welcomed Lily Monique in August of 2003. Suzanne enjoys taking classes in ballet and modern as well as scrapbooking and rubber stamping in her free time.

TODD ALAN KERSH (BA 88) was recently seen in the role of Indio in an equity production of West Side Story. He is currently an office manager for the Chicago law firm of Gleason & Schroeder and is plays flute/piccolo for the Lakeside Symphonic Band, Tremont Winds and Lakeside Flutes - Chicago's premiere flute choir.

EMILY STEIN (BA 87) continues to dance, teach and choreograph as Associate Artistic Director of Zephyr Dance in Chicago. In the course of touring this season, she has visited a wide array of places including NYC, Chattanooga, Buffalo and Atlanta, where she reconnected with fellow alum, Dean Williams. Zephyr has also been home to UI alums Kelly Hayes, and currently, Sara Fisher. Emily is also on the faculty of the Dance Center of Columbia College.

JON TRAVIS (BA 71) is the Assistant Graduate Dean and a professor of Higher Education at Texas A&M University-Commerce. The recipient of the 2003 Paul W. Barrus Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching at A&M-Commerce, Travis is beginning his 15th year at the institution.

Contact Our Alumni

Phone: (319) 335-2228 or (800) 553-IOWA

Fax: (319) 335-3246

E-mail: dance@uiowa.edu

Mailing Address:

Department of Dance
E114 Halsey Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242-1000

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