OF DANCE ARTS

Alumni


  • Summer Morgan - Summer holds a BFA in dance from S.U.N.Y. Purchase. She has been creating work in California, New York, and Portland since 1992. Her work has most recently been presented at the Center Stage Theatre in Santa Barbara, the Old Creamery Dancenter and John Van Duzer Theatre in Arcata, the Astoria Dance Center, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Williamsburg Art Nexus, the Merce Cunningham Studio, "New Steps" at the Mulberry Street Theatre, and Dixon Place at University Settlement in New York.

    Toby Tobias of the Village Voice writes of Summer Morgan's work at New Steps, "...its performance was striking, all ravaged beauty and morbid sensitivity .... all things considered, I'm placing my bets on Morgan."

    Summer performs in "Ten Tiny Dances, One Very Small Stage" in Portland and Tacoma to benefit the homeless. Get more information at tentinydances.org.

    Summer Morgan Dance presented "Evolver" at The Historic Firehouse Theatre, 1436 SW Montgomery St., Portland Oregon
    November 9 - 11, 2007.
    Choreography: Summer Morgan
    Performers: Summer Morgan, Arti Boyd, Sonya Barker, Robyn Conroy, and Matthew Ellis

    In November, 2008, Summer was invited to perform in the Upper Silesian Art Festival at the Hipnoza Club in Katowice, Poland. Visit the Festival's web site at http://www.cameralis.art.pl/ .
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  • Michelle Knudsen - Michelle holds a BFA in dance from UC Santa Barbara. She is currently a member of the Colorado based company The Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble.


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  • Tabitha Sisson- Tabitha is a member of San Francisco based dance companies The California Contemporary Dancers and Zooz Movement Mosaic Dance Company.


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  • Jessica Swanson - Jessica earned her BFA in dance performance from the conservatory at SUNY Purchase. From 1989-1999 she choreographed for and performed with Shaken, Not Stirred Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble, after which she created Planet Caravan Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble, which performed in New York for six years. Swanson has worked with Doug Varone and Dancers in New York, Doug Elkins in Amsterdam, and Capacitor in San Francisco. Currently she collaborates with Zooz: a live mosaic of dance and music from the Middle East and North Africa, and performs around the world in the Joe Goode Company of San Francisco. The photo above right shows Jessica performing "The Live Billboard Project," a site- specific dance on an original billboard in San Francisco.

    Jessica performed with the Joe Goode Performance Group's "Wonderboy" in June, 2008 in San Francisco. For more information visit www.joegoode.org .
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  • Chelsea Retzloff - Chelsea is originally from Eureka, where she began dancing with Jane Morgan. She continued her training at University of California, Santa Barbara, graduating in 2007 with a BFA in Dance and a BA in Chemistry with Distinction.

    Chelsea has studied with the California State Summer School for the Arts, the Kirov Ballet Academy, LINES Ballet, and Christine Wright. Her professional credits include performing with Santa Barbara Dance Theater, David Dorfman Dance, Duran Dance, as well as in the works of Nancy Colahan, Stephanie Nugent, Tonia Shimmin, Austin McCormick, Keith Johnson, and the historic solo Harmonica Breakdown by Jane Dudley. She currently dances with the MacArthur Dance Project in New York City.

    Check out more info about Chelsea's science and dance training at www.sciencehouse.com .
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