FEATURED ARTISTS

æmp:dance

Bridge for Dance Company.in.Residence
Amiti Perry |Artistic Director/choreographer| a native Texan received her BA in Dance from the University of North Texas. She has produced, choreographed and performed original works consistently over the years as well as co-founded DIP|dance company with collaborator Coco Loupe with which she has presented and performed works in New York, Texas, Louisiana and Ohio. Professionally, she has performed as a guest artist with Rachel Lampert and Dancers (Ithaca, NY) and for four years she performed, taught, assisted and designed nationally and internationally with Skip Costa/CORE movement Project-NYC. Amiti recently returned to NYC after a three-year hiatus during which she received her MFA in Choreography from the Department of Dance at The Ohio State University. This past October, she presented works with InnerLandscapes Dance Theater at the Merce Cunningham Studio.

Dualdance

Allison Vinal |choreographer/performer| is a graduate of the H.S. of Performing Arts and has a B.F.A. in dance from Marymount Manhattan College. She received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College in choreography. Allison is currently a teacher of dance and movement at the Nightingale-Bamford school in Manhattan. Allison dances and collaborates with Kelly Donovan and Dancers as well as co-directing Dualdance.

Kelly Collins |choreographer/performer| is a dancer, teacher and choreographer from Long Island. She received a B.F.A in dance from Adelphi University, an M.A in dance and dance education from NYU, an M.F.A. in dance from Sarah Lawrence College and is certified to teach dance in NYS public schools. Kelly currently resides in NJ and teaches at various dance studios in both NJ and NY. Along with Dualdance, Kelly dances for Dany Holdstein Dance Company and Circle of Dance Repertory Company of which just completed a tour of Italy.

Kristin Hapke/tindance
Kristin Hapke |Artistic Director/performer| investigates the dynamic performance potential of the body within the genres of dance theater, visceral physicality and improvisation. Her work has been produced in New York venues including The Joyce SoHo, Dancespace and Movement Research, in Seattle's On the Boards and Velocity's Mainstage, in Portland, Eugene, OR, as well as internationally in Vancouver and Amsterdam. Her recent collaborations with multi-media artist Marlon Barrios, under the platform of Unstablelandscape have received international recognition for its emergence of improvisation and interactive technologies. Last summer, Hapke was awarded a full scholarship to Jacob Pillow's Choreographer's Lab. Her quartet, Tracking, was presented at the
Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. nominating her for the ACDFA /Dance Magazine Award for Outstanding Choreographer. For over ten years, Hapke has danced professionally with many companies including Mary Sheldon Scott/Jarred Powell Performance, The Maureen Whiting Company and more recently with choreographers Bebe Miller, Zvi Gottheiner, and Marlon Barrios-Solano. Kristin received her Master's of Fine Arts in Dance from The Ohio State University, her BA from the University of Oregon and her Laban Movement Analysis certification from the Integrated Movement Studies Program in Seattle.

Nicole Holst
Nicole Holst |choreographer/performer| originally from Lodi, California, graduated Magna Cum Laude from California State University, Long Beach in May of 2005 with a B.A. in Dance, and a certificate in Pilates. She has danced professionally with Del Leon in L.A. and Linda Diamond and Dancers in New York, and has performed in works by Martha Graham, Paul Taylor and Anna Sokolow. Her work has been seen at such spaces as Dance New Amsterdam, Greenpoint Performance Salon, the Frying Pan Barge/Fielday, and the Merce Cunningham Studios.

Kristina Isabelle
Kristina Isabelle |choreographer/performer| is a choreographer, stilter, dancer, teacher, aerial performer, fire spinner and burlesque artist. Currently living in Columbus, Ohio she is the artistic director of HighJinks Dance Company and regularly collaborates with Eoin O’Brien of Grimaldi Circus. Isabelle and O’Brien co-direct an entertainment company for various corporate events, nightclub, and private parties called HighJinks / Grimaldi. She earned her BFA in dance from The Juilliard School and an MFA in dance and choreography from The Ohio State University. She has performed with The Stephen Petronio Company, Earth Circus Productions, John Jasperse, Stanley Love and Jordan Fuchs. For the last ten years she has been developing dance on stilts combined with dancers on the ground and even in the air. Her choreography has been performed in Columbus, New York, California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Texas and overseas in England and Ireland. She has been a guest artist at The Ohio State University, Kenyon College, Bowling Green State University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Alfred University in New York, and The College of Lake County in Illinois. She was the artistic director of the Dublin Dance Centre & Gymnastics and continues to teach in numerous dance studios in the Columbus area. She occasionally performs with Barbara Thatcher & Company and is currently working with Bebe Miller. Check her website for more info: www.high-jinks.org.

Heather Mims Kaczmarek/HMK Dance

picture from "Gift" photo credit Chris Kaczmarek
Heather Mims Kaczmarek |Artistic Director/choreographer/performer| received her MFA in Choreography from the Ohio State University and BFA in Dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she danced with the Jan Van Dyke Dance Group and the John Gamble Dance Theater. Since moving to NYC, she has performed as a member of the Heather Harrington Dance Company and also in the work of Daniel Charon, Natalie Desch, and Amy Beth Schneider. Her own work has been performed in the Peekskill Festival, the DUMBO Dance Festival, at Greenspace in Long Island City, and in the Performance Prefix at Teatro La Tea.

SuriCo
Cara Surico |Artistic Director/choreographer/performer| (Dayton, OH) received her B.F.A. from the Ailey/Fordham Program in 2003. Her choreography has been performed inside and outside of NYC through such festivals/venues as Battery Dance Company’s Annual Downtown Dance Festival, Harry DeJur Playhouse, the Cunningham Studios, and Martin Luther King High School. Cara was also the recent recipient of R.D.A.’s Choreography Connections Award for 2006. Thanks to my fabulous dancers both inside and outside of the studio!

Ruth Anselm, Eve Chalom, 
Kelly Collins, Emy Consula 
Lauren Griffin, Kristin Hapke, Nicole Holst, 
Shomeiko Ingham, Claudia MacPherson, 
Rebecca Magazine, Nicole Mannarino, 
Ashley Mikal, Kathy Padberg, Dana Reed, 
Tanja Schwedt, Cara Surico, Lauren Valentine,
Allison Vinal, Lauren Wenning