Velocity Dance Center

// Teaching Artists //

Aiko Kinoshita has been involved in contemporary dance for the last 22 years as a choreographer, performer, teacher, and administrator.  She creates and performs as ½ of UMAMI Performance, collaborating with Aaron Swartzman and also directs acornDance (www.acorndance.org).  She has toured nationally and internationally in her own work and as a member of Lingo Dancetheatre (2002-2007).  Her work, which utilizes both set and improvisational material, has been presented nationally and in Canada, Korea and Japan, and in local festivals including On the Boards’ Northwest New Works, Bumbershoot, and Velocity’s NEXTFest.  Aiko currently teaches at Velocity where she was Managing Director until 2005.  She has also taught at the Universities of Washington and Oregon, Cornish College of the Arts, and other universities nationally.  Aiko holds a MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois and is also a Resident Artist and at Open Flight Studio.  Her teaching and performative work, reflect her interest in improvisation, natural physicality, dynamic partnering, somatic forms, classical technique and community.  She is inspired by this community of artists and her students of all levels.

Amy O’Neal  is a performer, choreographer, and dance educator, sometimes making work under the name AmyO/tinyrage. From 2000-2010, she was the co-director of locust (music/dance/video). Over the past decade, she has taught and toured nationally and internationally and choreographed for theater, commercials, and music videos. Amy has been an artist in residence at Bates Dance Festival, Headlands Center for the Arts, the US/Japan Choreographer’s Exchange/DTW, and Velocity Dance Center.  She is an Artist Trust Fellow, Creative Capital/NPN/NDP/Mid Atlantic Arts Grantee, DanceWEB Scholar, and Stranger Genius Shortlister with a BFA from Cornish.

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Douglas Ridings is a Yoga teacher, a dancer, an actor and a singer.   He approachs these various disciplines as  integrated arts of the body.  Like Bharata, legendary author of the Natya Sastra, performance is a kind of Yoga sadhana or discipline with the ideal being mokshya or spriritual liberation for both the performers and their audience. He is happy to stand in this lineage and feel immensely grateful for the oppurtunity to transmit this vidya of the body, mind and emotions through performance and teaching. douglasridings.com

 

Ellie Sandstrom is a choreographer, performer and dance educator, who is fueled by movement in many forms. She is a 2013 Velocity Dance Center Creative Residency recipient, a Seattle Magazine “Spotlight Award” winner  and can be seen in a book entitled “Seattle 100″ by photographer Chase Jarvis.  Since receiving her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts, she has worked with many dance makers and artists, including Scott/Powell Performance and locust (from 2000-2010), as well as Seattle Dance Project, Amy O’Neal, Mark Haim, Dayna Hansen, Reggie Watts, Lynn Shelton with Karn Junkinsmith, Corrie Befort and countless others, both in live stage and film work.  Her choreographic work, under the name SANDSTROMMOVEMENT, has been funded by the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and has been presented by organizations such as On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Perpich Center for the Arts and Creative Dance Center.  She has created new work through commissions from Seattle Dance Project, Stone Productions, Washington Ensemble Theater and Evoke Productions, among others. She has taught a variety of dance forms at many schools and studios in the city and beyond, including the University of Washington. She currently teaches Ballet and Modern technique @ Velocity and Contemporary Dance, Hip Hop and Dance Performance to middle and high school students at the Northwest School. She is also on faculty for Seattle Theater Group’s Dance This! Program for youth. sandstrommovement.com

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Gwendolyn Payton came to yoga from a dance background, and began studying yoga in 2000 and has completed numerous intensive trainings and teacher trainings with SloBody and other schools. Drawing from extensive studies in classical and modern dance, Pilates, Gyrotonics®, and other modalities, Gwendolyn brings her love of movement to teaching conditioning-infused yoga in a clear, effective and efficient way.

Jaret Hughes has 14 years of dance experience, with Hip Hop being his specialty along with training in Modern, Jazz, Ballet and African. Jaret has 11 years of choreographing and teaching experience with all ages, including 8 years at Elizabeth’s Dance Dimensions in Bellevue, Washington. Jaret’s choreography credits include the L.A. Clippers Spirit Dance Team (guest choreographer), Seattle Supersonics Dance Team for 5 years, founder of 2wisted Elegance from Seattle and LA’s debut of 2wisted Elegance with the help of his good friend Joey Cooper, Modazz Competition Teams at Elizabeth’s Dance Dimensions, co-choreographer and dancer for EVE in LA, and assistant choreographer / assistant Artistic Director for the “Invitation Feedback” video contest submission for Janet Jackson. Jaret Competed on Destination Stardom in Hawaii. Jaret’s performances include: Seattle’s Kube 93′s Summer Jam for 3 years with Twisted Elegance, which included sharing the main stage with artists such as Destiny’s Child, Ginuwine, Busta Rhymes, Blackstreet, Naughty By Nature and many more; various Hip Hop shows throughout Seattle including Daniel Cruz’s Battle of Seattle Remix 3 and 4 and, most recently while living in LA for 2 1/2 years, performances with Breed OCLA for numerous dance competitions and guest performances for the DVD Release Party for “Step Up 2: The Streets”. Jaret has shared his choreography expertise with various high school and college dance teams throughout Washington, California and Idaho.

Jason Ohlberg, originally from Fresno, CA, received his formal dance training at the State University of New York at Purchase.  Professionally, Jason has danced with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Dance Kaleidoscope, Jan Erkert and dancers, and Wade Madsen and Dancers.  In 1997, Jason founded Same Planet Different World Dance Theater in Chicago where he acted as artistic director and head choreographer for four years.  Jason’s choreography has been seen throughout the country and locally on the apprentice company of Spectrum Dance Theater, Men in Dance, Cornish Dance Theater, Dance Fremont, The Seattle Children’s Theater and Arc Dance Productions.  Jason has been on faculty at Barat College, the school of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Cornish College of the Arts, University of Washington, Spectrum Dance Theater, Arc Dance Productions, Dance Fremont and the Y.A.I. program of the Seattle Children’s Theater.  Jason is a certified authentic Pilates instructor and a level one teacher trainer with Metropolitan Pilates in Seattle, WA.

Jody Kuehner is one half of drag dance duo The Cherdonna and Lou Show, performing regularly around Seattle at venues including On the Boards, Century Ballroom, The Triple Door and various other clubs. Jody joined the Pat Graney Company in 2008 following her internship with PG Company’s prison project, Keeping the Faith in 2007. She is also recently performed with Mark Haim and dance/sound performance company Salt Horse. From 2003-2009, Jody was a member of d9 Dance Collective. She has presented choreography at On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, and the Joyce SoHo NYC. When Jody’s not performing or rehearsing, she is teaching at Velocity Dance Center. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance from the University of South Florida. Visit www.cherdonnalou.com for more information.

Karn Junkinsmith has taught for over 25 years. She is primarily a modern dancer, choreographer, dance filmaker and performance artist. Her ballet pedagogic mentors include; Francoise Martinet (Joffrey), Hannah Wiley (Ballet West), Jocelyn Lorenze (NYC). She has a MA in dance from the University of Iowa and BA in dance from Mount Holyoke College. A scholarship student at workshops by Twyla Tharp, Alwin Nikolai, and Mark Morris; Karn was an award winning R.A.D. (Royal Academy of Dance) student when she was a child.
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Kate Wallich duos as both choreographer and dance artist creating works that are generated in collaboration with concept designer/dancer Lavinia Vago (SEA/NY) and multi-instrumentalist/pop singer Lena Simon (SEA/LA). She has presented her work as part of the Seattle International Dance Festival/ Beyond the Threshold, The BOOST Dance Festival, On the Boards/12 Minutes Max, and Velocity Dance Center/Founder’s Theater. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Cornish, Kate has worked with and been mentored by artists Tonya Lockyer, Zoe Scofield, KT Neihoff, and Olivier Wevers. Her teaching style has been influenced by the teachings and practices of Ohad Naharin (Gaga), Zoe Scofield (zoe|juniper), Rudolf Van Laban, Wade Madsen, Louse Bedard, Margie Gillis, William Forsythe, and many others.

Kristin Hapke has recently relocated back to Seattle from PA, where she was on faculty at Slippery Rock University Department of Dance during 2011. Her choreography and performance work has been produced in Seattle at On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Erickson Theater, as well as in New York City at Joyce SoHo, Ailey Citigroup, DNA and WAX works, in Columbus, OH; Portland, OR; Philadelphia, PA and at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Hapke has performed work internationally in Canada, Amsterdam, Germany and Poland with various media artists and musicians.  Her teaching experience includes technique, somatics and improvisation at The Ohio State University, Cornish College of the Arts, Hunter College, Columbus Dance Theater and Velocity as well as many festivals such as Strictly Seattle, SFDI and Silesian Dance Festival in Poland.  Hapke received her MFA in Dance from Ohio State and has danced works of Bebe Miller, Zvi Gotheiner, Scott/ Powell Performance, Maureen Whiting, Aiko Kinoshita, Crispin Spaeth and many others.

KT Niehoff was the 2007 dance artist of the Year by Seattle Magazine. She was also a featured artist in Dance Magazine’s April, ’08 issue, “International Women in Dance” and is a 2006 Fellow at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC). In 1998, KT created Lingo, a roving band of artists, brave hearts and lunatics, which has since been the major platform for her work. Lingo’s work has been presented in Canada, Germany, Japan, Ecuador, and Cuba, and throughout the U.S. including On the Boards (Seattle), SUSHI (San Diego), Joyce SoHo (NYC), Alverno Presents (Milwaukee), Jacob’s Pillow, Inside/Out (Mass), The Southern Theater (Minneapolis) and others. Lingo’s artistic integrity has been recognized by The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Dance Project, The National Performance Network and Arts International. KT has been teaching worldwide for over 15 years at institutions including the SNDO (Amsterdam), The Hong Kong Arts Academy, Oberlin College, Cornish College of the Arts, Tisch School of the Arts, and others. She was the co-founder/director of Velocity Dance Center in Seattle from 1996-2006. Press Quote:“These seven dancers (including Niehoff) were virtuosos. Movements whipped through their bodies, an impulse starting at one foot and traveling to a shoulder with such clarity and articulation, you could see it hit each joint along the way.” -Janice Steinberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, April 2006. For more information about KT, visit lingodance.com

Lila Hurwitz is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner who has been teaching since 1987, including one of Seattle’s longest-running weekly Feldenkrais classes since 1995. She’s performed with Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders, Nina Martin, Karen Nelson, Lisa Nelson, Oslund & Co./Dance, Stephanie Skura, Crispin Spaeth Dance Group, Linda K. Johnson, Bebe Miller, Ann Carlson and many others. More at www.feldenkraisteachersinseattle.com
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Mark Haim is a Choreographer, Teacher & Dancer. Formerly Artistic Director of Mark Haim & Dancers and Companhia de Danca de Lisboa. Commissions include Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet Frankfurt, the Limon Dance Company, the Joffrey II Dancers, the Rotterdamse Dansgroep, the Silesian Dance Theater, Companhia de Danca Contemporanea, Companhia de Danca de Lisboa, Cornish Dance Theater, CoDanceCo. Restagings include The Joffrey Ballet, the Bat-Dor Dance Company of Israel, Djazzex, the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, Cornish Dance Theater. Grants from the NEA, New York Foundation of the Arts, National Performance Network, ArtsLink, Harkness Foundation and the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. Work has been presented at the Kennedy Center, American Dance Festival, Danspace Project, On The Boards, among others. Faculties of the American Dance Festival (1993- present), NYU- Tisch School of the Arts (1995-6), the UW Dance Program (2002-08) and Reed College (2009). BFA from The Juilliard School and an MFA from Hollins University.

Markeith Wiley is a California native now living in Seattle WA. He is a dance maker, performer and instructor or many styles in the greater Seattle area. He holds a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts. Markeith has studied under Mark Haines, Wade Madsen, Jason Olberg, Sofia Careras, Daniel Cruz, KT Niehoff and many others. He has performed with Cruz Control, Sandstrom Movement, The Seatown Allstars, The Sho, Saint Genet and DeLaRue Presents. Markeith is co-founder of Stitch Movement Collective as well as the Artistic Director of The New Animals. Markeith is currently a Lingo company member and the choreographer of Washington Ensemble Theater’s first musical, The Callers.

Maya Soto has been creating/performing/teaching dance in Seattle since 1999. She earned her BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts and draws inspiration from integrating a wide variety of movement styles. Maya teaches and directs the dance program at the Arts and Academics Academy, a public high school of arts and sciences; and co-directs NWDS, a collaborative modern dance company. Her work has been shown at On the Boards, Bumbershoot, the Firehouse Performing Arts Center, Tacoma Museum of Glass and the JFFA Festival. NWDS has received support from Allied Arts Foundation and Walrus Performance Productions. Maya has worked with LeGendre Performance Group, Big Red Dance Company, Amy O’Neal and SANDSTROMMOVEMENT. Her most recent project, Soto Style was featured in the BOOST Festival, BAM Artsfair, Annex Theater, Arts In Nature and the Pink Door. For more info: sotostyledance & nwdancesyndrome
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Melanie Skinner danced professionally with the Pacific Northwest Ballet for 15 years touring all over the world and performing principal roles in works by George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Peter Martins and Paul Taylor. After retiring from her long career as a ballerina, she could not seem to find a workout that was fun and inspiring until she took a ZUMBA class! After getting certified as a ZUMBA instructor, she started teaching at the Mount Baker Community Clubhouse and Velocity Dance Center. She loves to watch people get joy from her ZUMBA workout and loves the outlet that ZUMBA provides. She lives in Madrona with her husband and young daughter.

Natascha Greenwalt Murphy is a performer, teacher, choreographer and certified GYROTONIC® trainer who has called Seattle home for the past 12 years. After earning her BFA from Cornish as a Kreielsheimer Scholarship recipient, she had the pleasure of guesting for numerous regional classical ballet companies, and performing for DASSdance and Spectrum Dance Theater before ultimately embarking on the adventure of creating Coriolis Dance Collective with Christin Call. She’s had the honor to perform work by notable choreographers such as Zoe Scofield, Donald Byrd and Rainbow Fletcher among many others.  Her own choreography has been presented by Coriolis, Ballet Bellevue, Whitman College, Western Washington University (and others) in venues such as Chop Shop: Bodies of Work, Spotlight on Seattle, numerous Coriolis Productions and Open Flight (Flight Deck Residency).  For more info please visit www.coriolisdance.com.

Ratna Roy, Ph.D., started her training in Odissi dance in 1972 under Guru Fobinda Chandra Pal, and from 1977 until his death in 2003, she trained under Adiguru Pankaj Charan Das. One of his most senior disciples, she has performed extensively as a soloist in India, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Great Britian, the Baltics, South Africa, Indonesia, Singapore, the Phillipines, China and Japan. In the U.S., she is well-known for her own choreography based on her dual heritage as an Indian and an American. Ratna has published several articles in both Indian and U.S. journals as well as a well-reviewed book, Neo-Classical Odissi Dance, and has received fellowships and awards for her dance and scholarship, including the Advanced Fulbright Fellowship (1985), American Institute of Indian Studies Fellowship (1988), National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship (1988), Summer Fulbright Fellowship (1988), Arts International Award (2001), Fund for Folk Culture Award (2005), Washington State Arts Commission’s Master Apprenticeship Award (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010), the Gordon Ekvall Tracie Memorial Award from Ethnic Heritage Council, WA (2008), and Washington State Art Commission’s Fellowship Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (2008). Currently, she is a Senior Faculty Member in Dance at The Evergreen State College and Artistic Director of Urvasi Dance Ensemble. Her company was featured, widely broadcast, and hailed as record-breaking in preserving the most ancient choreographies in the tradition of Guru Pankaj Charan Das in December 2011 International Festivals in Orissa, India. Ratna has developed her own choreography on historical themes as well as socio-political themes, based on her graduate work in American Literature and Ph.D. in African American Literature, and her present work as a South Asian specialist.

Ricki Mason has been living and working in Seattle since 2003. From 2003 until 2008 Ricki directed contemporary performance group LAUNCH dance theater, which was presented by On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Bumbershoot, and Century Ballroom. Ricki’s favorite commissions include The Yard at Martha’s Vineyard and Velocity’s Bridge Project. Her work has been supported by 4Culture, Artist Trust, The Bossak Heilbron Charitable Grant Foundation, and Open Flight’s Flight Deck Residency. Ricki currently collaborates with dance artist Jody Kuehner as The Cherdonna and Lou Show.  She also performs as Lou Henry Hoover in various cabaret venues, including in such productions as The Swedish Housewife’s House of Thee UnHoly and Lily Verlaine’s Land of the Sweets and Through the Looking Glass. Lou is one third of Seattle’s pop movement Dance Belt, a trio that performs such favorites as Beyonce’s Put a Ring on It, and teaches at Century Ballroom. Ricki also teaches Embodied Movement for Performers at the Academy of Burlesque and Ballet and Modern at Velocity Dance Center. Since graduating from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Dance, she has danced for choreographers Laura Curry, Alex Martin, Karl Frost, and Corrie Befort. She was also a member of d9 Dance Collective. Currently, Ricki dances with Lingo dancetheater under the direction of KT Niehoff. More info at www.rickimason.com

Rosa Vissers (NL/US) is a Seattle-based dance artist. For the past 10 years, she has performed internationally with over 20 companies/artists, and presented her own work in the Netherlands, Hungary, Utah, Idaho, Chicago, NYC, Portland and Seattle. Together with theatre artist Hatlo, she forms PE|Mo, an experimental performance company. Rosa completed conservatory dance training at ArtEZ and holds an MFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah. She has taught at Idaho State University, University of Washington, University of Oregon, University of Utah, ACDFA and teaches at Velocity. In addition to her dance career, Rosa is a nonprofit fundraiser and certified permaculture designer. www.rosavissers.com

Sarah Lee graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Wellness (Exercise Science, Public Health, Youth Studies and Nutrition) from the University of Minnesota. She has been a member of the University of Minnesota Repertory and Hamanah Don Dance Companies, managed the Fitness Program at the West Seattle YMCA, and is currently a Personal Trainer and Life Coach. When Sarah Lee first discovered West African Dance in1993, she was hooked immediately, and spent the next decade studying with dozens of well-known instructors from various parts of West Africa. In 2004, she went to Senegal and then Guinea West Africa on a dance intensive with her primary instructor: Master Dancer Youssouf Koumbassa. She has since returned to Guinea seven more times for multiple months at a time to dance and learn from some of the best West African dancers and instructors in the world. In June 2012 Sarah Lee completed eight months of intensive personalized study in various parts of Guinea with Alseny Bangoura, Mamadama Camara, Aly Mara and Sorel Conte, all of whom are Principal Dancers with West Africa’s finest performance company Les Ballets Africains.  While there, she also danced with Wassa So, an all-African 50 member high level performance company. For more information visit:  www.oneworlddance.com.

Shannon Stewart, currently based in Seattle, is a dance artist that has taught and performed in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, New York, Boston, Helena, Oakland, San Francisco, Berlin, Budapest and Amsterdam.  Classically trained from a young age, and then (like many) struggling with that experience, Shannon found her way back to dance through balancing ballet and modern training with yoga, qi gong, somatic embodiment and contemplative dance practice; building strength through breakdancing, capoeira, the Gyrotonic Expansion System®; and opening creative channels through improvisation. Shannon makes work under the moniker The Real Shannon Stewart which includes collaborating on film performance works with Adam Sekuler.  She teaches contemporary technique, improvisation, is certified in Gyrokinesis®, and is a Teaching Artist with the Mark Morris Dance For Parkinson’s program.  Shannon is currently practicing and adapting a solo by Deborah Hay that is included in a suite of work entitled David and Deborah, putting Hay’s work in proximity to work inspired by filmmaker David Lynch.   Shannon also dances with tEEth (2011-12), Salt Horse (2010-12), and has danced for Sebastian Matthias (2012), Dayna Hanson (2010), zoe | juniper (2008-2010), Paige Barnes (2010), Kathleen Hermesdorf (2006-2008), and many others. feetlikebirds.blogspot.com

Shirley Jenkins As a mature 3-year old, Shirley knew she wanted to be a dancer and never veered from that path.  Ms. Shirley Jenkins received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Utah, majoring in Modern Dance with an emphasis in Performance, Choreography and Teaching. Immediately following her graduation in 1975 she was asked to be a founding member of the celebrated Bill Evans Dance Company. She toured nationally with BEDCo as a principal dancer and partner with Bill Evans an average of 42 weeks a year through the Dance Touring Program via the National Endowment for the Arts. This extensive touring took her to the Kennedy Center, NYC, Spoleto Festival in Charleston, Arco Sante, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Boston, Baltimore, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Bloomington, Ames, Portland, Minneapolis, Anchorage, and many and rural communities throughout the entire US, including Alaska and Hawaii. Ms.  Jenkins eventually formed her own company, Strong Wind Wild Horses, and her choreography collaborated with many musicians, including Denny Goodhew, James Knapp, Scott Cossu, Michael Cava, Steve Kim, Tom Bergersen, Fred West, the Kinetics and many others. Ms.  Jenkins also founded a nonprofit organization, Dance On Capitol Hill, for the Seattle community. As Artistic Director, she developed dance education programs for the novice to the professional, a performance venue featuring local and international choreographers and a home for her dance company. Ms.  Jenkins also established out-reach programs by producing summer dance camps for homeless children. Ms.  Jenkins was an Artist-In-Residence at scores of universities and dance communities throughout the U.S., as well as internationally. Her choreographic, teaching, performing residencies included the University of Washington, Cornish College of the Arts, American Dance Festival, Bill Evans Summer Institutes of Dance, Penn State, University of Alabama, Middlebury College, Tennessee Arts Council, Columbia College, Kentucky Out-Reach Programs and international festivals in Bonn, Germany and Taipei, Taiwan. During her career as primarily a ‘classical modern’ dancer, Ms.  Jenkins performed and continued to hone her tap skills. Performing solos of Brenda Bufalino and many duets by and with Bill Evans. Ms.  Jenkins continues to choreograph for soloists & companies & teaches  Modern Technique & Rhythm Tap Class for the Seattle community and is a well-respected Pilates Instructor specializing in athletic injury.

Wade Madsen was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he attended the University of New Mexico. Wade has been in Seattle teaching, performing, and choreographing since 1977. He has toured nationally with the Bill Evans Dance Company (1978-1980) and with Tandy Beal & Company (1981 -1982}. He has performed with Amy O’Neal and Amii Legendre dance groups along with Dayna Hansen, A.C Petersen, and Long Nguyen. Since 1979 Wade has been producing work with his own company, ’Wade Madsen & Dancers’ along with various tours nationally and internationally.
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