PERFORMANCE

CHOREOGRAPHER:

Creating and witnessing live dance performance inspires and connects people, an idea that motivates my drive to create new work. My creative work emphasizes groove, interaction and improvisation, and is inspired by both social and concert dance movement while driven by jazz music. My work has been presented across the U.S. and Canada in theaters and non-conventional performance spaces, and across the world through film. For more on my creative approach, see my Artist Statement. For more on past projects, see my Curriculum Vitae. 

Tune (2015 – Photo by Jillian Bell)

Social Animals (2019 – Photo by Zach Nguyen)

PERFORMER:

My long-held interests continue to blossom into training in various approaches to jazz, tap, house, Appalachian clogging, Haitian, Ghanaian, Guinean and Brazilian traditional forms, body percussion and many other kinds of dance styles. I have performed for, worked and trained with creatives as varied as urban dance artist Teena Marie Custer, Ballet of the Dolls, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, the Eclectic Edge Ensemble, house and hip-hop artist Rennie Harris, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, transnational fusion artist Donna Mejia, contemporary performance company Off-Leash Area, St. Paul Ballet and the Wild Goose Chase Cloggers Appalachian clogging company. I’m currently performing with my own company Rhythmically Speaking, as a member of Contempo Physical Dance, an Afro-Brazilian contemporary company, and as self-created character entertainer “Nerdette” for the St. Paul Saint’s Baseball Entertainment Team. My curiosity remains unquenched as I continue pursuing training and performance opportunities within my interests!

Balacobaco by Contempo Physical Dance (2017 – Photo by Bill Cameron)

“Nerdette” & “The Nerd” with St. Paul Saints Baseball (2016 – Photo by Stephanie Szeremeta)

RHYTHMICALLY SPEAKING:

Rhythmically Speaking is the non-profit 501(c)3 dance company I co-founded with Heather P. Westerlund in 2008, for which I now serve as Artistic and Executive Director. Our mission is to spark vibrancy and connectedness through staged works inspired by jazz and American social dance ideas. I’m grateful for this platform to present and perform my own new work and that of other local and national artists while building community around these forms of dance.