Keira Hart lives in Charlottesville VA where she teaches dance at the University of Virginia. She holds an MFA in Dance from Arizona State University and BA’s in Dance and Media Arts & Design from James Madison University. Keira is the artistic director of UpRooted Dance Theatre Co., a contemporary dance company currently based out of Charlottesville. Working interdisciplinary and collaborating with artists in all fields is an essential aspect of Keira’s work. She has worked with musicians, filmmakers, engineers, actors, motion capture technology, and fashion design. Keira’s choreography and Dance for the Camera work has been shown in Arizona, Washington, Virginia, and Washington DC. She also won “Best Student Work” for her video piece entitled “Seeing is…” at the American Dance Festival’s Dance for the Camera Film and Video Festival 2005. Keira has had the opportunity to attend numerous dance and film festivals including the American Dance Festival in Durham North Carolina, Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston Maine, Breaking Grounds Dance Festival in Toronto Canada, an Independent Dance Summer Study in London England, The M.E.L.T. Festival in NYC, and the Dance for the Camera Film and Video Festival in Salt Lake City Utah.
Tanja London started dancing at the age of 22 exploring improvisation and New Dance concepts with Keriac. Later on she received her BA honors in Contemporary Dance from London Contemporary Dance School, University of Kent, UK in 2001. Since then, she has been freelancing in the UK, Germany and the US. Tanja has collaborated with musicians, visual artists and choreographers including Scott Wells during his skateboarder-dancer project. Since 2002, Tanja has also been performing her own choreography and co-founded an independent platform for improvisation in Düsseldorf, Germany. In 2004, she co-founded the choreographer collective EXakt in Germany. Most recently she was granted the Space Grant Award at Green Street Studios and was invited to show her work at the Cambridge Multicultural Center. Tanja has been collaborating with inFluxdance since last season and enjoys herself immensely! Best thing next to my husband Aaron who makes all of this possible!
Camille Beckman 2nd year Anthropology major, Dance Minor. She has performed in the ‘Final Step’.
Mary Catherine Saunders is a first-year in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. She hopes to pursue biomedical engineering to be pre-med, while minoring in dance. She hails from Fredericksburg, VA, has been dancing since before she could walk, fifteen of those years at the Fredericksburg Ballet Center.
Kristina Meshelski studied dance and philosophy as an undergraduate at UCLA. During that time she performed in Collage Dance Theatre’s Governing Bodies and Kristen Smiarowski’s The Last Big Event. Since moving to Charlottesville she has performed with Miki Liszt Dance Company and is excited to work with InFlux! She is currently pursuing her PhD in philosophy at the University of Virginia, and is Viceroy of the Institute for the Study of Art and Philosophy at UVa.
Julia Diaco grew up outside of Chicago and received her BA in Dance and Journalism at the University of Iowa. Her dance professors at Iowa included Lan-lan King, Francoise Martinet, Alan Sener, Beth Corning, and David M. Berkey. She received full scholarships to attended summer intensive programs with David Parsons Dance Company, which led to performing dates with company member Gail Gilbert in New York City. After returning to Chicago she studied with Hubbard Street Dance, Giordano Dance. She performed and studied with the Joel Hall Dance Company. She returned to Iowa after marrying her husband Bobby and became the Promotions and Marketing Director for an equity theater company in Amana, Iowa. Since then most of Julia’s time has been spent happily following her husband’s career around the country and raising her three incredible children Angelo, Josephine and Michael. Her most recent move to Charlottesville has found Julia excited to be dancing and performing again.
Megan Eliot graduated from Columbia University in 2000 with a B.A in English Literature and is currently persuing her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia. In addition to dancing with inFluxdance, Megan has performed in Charlottesville as a guest artist with Prospect Dance Company, Miki Liszt Dance, and Uprooted Dance Company.
April Pollard
Autumn Proctor holds an M.F.A. in dance performance and choreography from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.She received her B.F.A. in dance with a concentration in modern from Marymount Manhattan College. She most recently finished a year of teaching in the School of Theatre and Dance at East Carolina University. She has spent time studying abroad and has worked with various artists including: Bill Young, Cheryl Therion, Rodger Belman, Bridget L. Moore, Kyle Abraham, Merle Holloman, and Milton Myers. She has also performed works by Preljocaj, Pina Bausch, Merce Cunningham, Jose Limon, and others. She is currently teaching and choreographing for Ann Catherine Cross School of Dance and serving as an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is also very excited to be currently working with Rose Pasquarello Beachamp as part of InFluxdance. Aside from teaching, Autumn is also co-director of we are artists, which is a newly established program that works to enahance the young artists experience in creating individual artistry. She is grateful for the gift of movement and for the ability to use her body as her living instrument in life and in art forms.
Rachael L. Shaw is a local choreographer and founding member of R Squared. For the past several years Rachael has been the Director of Operations of Miki Liszt Dance Company in Charlottesville, Virginia. She has produced and choreographed for many Miki Liszt Dance Company performances. She has also danced with Starr Foster Dance Project, Prospect Dance Group, Zen Monkey Project and Ground Zero Dance Company. This past summer, Rachael directed the aerial piece and performed in the firedance in Shentai, an arts carnival organized by local artists, dancers and actors.
Kelly Silliman studied ballet for ten years before falling in love
with modern dance at age fourteen, after which she promptly began her own company. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Stetson University, where she implemented and taught the modern dance program for the Academy of Dance in DeLand, FL. After college, Kelly moved to Boston, where she co-founded Royal Jelly, a performance ensemble for dancers, musicians, and artists. In 2000, she moved to Tucson, AZ, where she danced with NEW ARTiculations Dance Theatre. Since moving to central Virginia in 2004, Kelly has danced with Prospect Dance Group, performed in Wunderkammer and Shentai, and is currently working with inFluxdance and UpRooted Dance Theatre. Kelly and her husband own The Dance Barn, a new studio in Greene County, VA. They live on a farm with their three daughters and
many animals.
Lori Wilson studied Dance and Entrepreneurial Studies at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. She graduated with a B.A. in 2005. After graduating, Lori moved to Orlando, FL to work for the entertainment department at Walt Disney World. Lori is now currently living in Charlottesville and has been a member of Miki Liszt Dance Company for the past year. She also performed in Charlottesville’s Shentai in June 2007. In addition to performing with inFluxdance this year, Lori will also be dancing with UpRooted Dance Theatre Company and R Squared.
Lindsey Turner is a 3rd year majoring in Arts Administration, with minors in Dance and Spanish. She has participated in “Multiplicity of Movement,” “Dimensions: An Experimental Dance Concert,” and “The Final Step” through the UVA Dance Program. She is also a member of Virginia Dance Company.
Erin White is a fourth year student majoring in Commerce, with a concentration in Marketing, and a minor in Dance. She has performed in past UVA dance shows “Multiplicity of Motion” and “The Final Step.” She is Artist Director of the University Salsa Club and was also a member of the Bellydance Club Student Troupe.
Rye Zemelsky, NIC-A, is a nationally Certified ASL/English Interpreter. Currently she is a full time staff interpreter for Greenfield Community College’s Outdoor Leadership Program. Her experience in the performing arts began as a child and continued as a visiting student at Gallaudet University where she served as stage manager. She has been involved in the performing arts at Deaf conferences as well as her senior thesis of theatrical interpreter at Smith College. Rye worked at The Learning Center for the Deaf where she began collaborating with Alysia. This will be Rye’s 3rd season with inFluxdance where she is ASL consultant, interpreter, organizer, tutor and occasional stage manager. Her future plans include completing a timber framing apprenticeship this summer and creating a specialized Outdoor Leadership training program for Deaf students.
Kate Gilchrist is a 4th year Political Philosophy, Policy and Law major. She has been dancing with Rhapsody Ballet Ensemble since 1st year and has been involved in several Drama Department Dance performances as a director, choreographer and dancer.
Megan Eliot graduated from Columbia University in 2000 with a B.A in English Literature and is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia. In addition to dancing with inFluxdance, Megan has performed in Charlottesville as a guest artist with Prospect Dance Company, Miki Liszt Dance, and Uprooted Dance Company.
Deanna Fernandez is a third year dance minor at UVA. She has been involved with the department of drama’s dance shows and the Rapsody Ballet Ensemble at UVA.
Kasey Johnson, 4th year Biology Major, Dance Minor, is a member of Rhapsody Ballet Ensemble at UVA. She has performed in “Multiplicity of Movement” with the Drama Dept and performed and choreographed in “Dimensions: An Experimental Dance Concert” and “The Final Step”.
Maya Kumazawa is a UVA student from Roanoke, VA. She will graduate with a B.S. in Commerce and a major in German Literature this May. At UVA, Maya has danced with the Rhapsody Ballet Ensemble, Virginia Dance Company, and is a Dance Minor.