This grainy photo is from a piece by Limón alumni Laura Glenn at the White Mountain Summer Dance Festival, where I had the adventure of partnering with the fantastic dancer, composer, and all around loose cannon that is my dear friend, Joe Simeone (Joe has been touring with the National Tour of West Side Story as Riff.)

My dance home in New York was the Merce Cunningham Studio, where I completed the International Program Certificate. I danced in work by Anita Cheng, Brian Hayes, Hiske Dooper, Himiko Minato, and Gabriel Zaragoza. I was a teaching assistant for two summers in the SWEAT Musical Theatre Intensive at the New School -- making the leap between contemporary and theatre dance styles (more smiling, more heels).

My inspiration to move to New York and dance here came from my time in Peterborough, Ontario where Bill Kimball and Public Energy/Peterborough New Dance produced my pieces, taught me how to write grant proposals, and brought in amazing touring dance companies. I had the chance to collaborate with local artists including Anne Ryan, Kate Story, Ryan Kerr, Martha Cockshutt, Susan Spicer, and Susan Newman, and am included on the Market Hall Theater's Peterborough's Greatest 100 in the Performing Arts. It's possible that this is the only time I will be on the same list of anything as Neil "There is a town in North Ontario..." Young.