Dance Alumni

Our dance grads work in a diverse array of positions with major performing companies and schools. Their well rounded and rigorous training prepares them for the profession.

Clark Ausloos

Clark is owner of Next Stage Studio in Perrysburg, OH, teaching musical theatre curriculum that includes acting, singing, dancing and private voice/acting and piano study for students of all ages. Clark graduated with a BFA (2008) in Musical Theatre and Dance Minor. National performance credits include the role of Sparky in Forever Plaid, Linus in You’re A Good Man..., Andy Lee in 42nd Street, Marius in Les Miserables and Rolf in The Sound of Music. He was Dance Captain and Choreographer for Crazy For You; Footloose; Aida; Urinetown; Big, The Musical; and My Way, A Frank Sinatra Review. Clark’s choreography was showcased at the American College Dance Festival Association.

Gerald Avery

Cast in four city tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat currently performing as a back-up dancer with pop artist Inaya Day in NYC, representing Harlem Boy Productions. Gerald is currently appearing in Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark on Broadway.

Jamie Beckland

Jamie graduated with degrees in International Studies and Spanish Language, and minors in Economics and Dance. Previously, he worked at Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, the oldest dance festival in the United States. Jamie also worked in South Korea and Honduras doing fundraising for think tanks, universities, and environmental organizations. Currently, Jamie is Emerging Media Specialist at White Horse, a digital marketing agency, where he provides thought leadership on how to effectively use Web 2.0 technology. After living and working overseas, in Massachusetts, and in Washington D.C., Jamie now resides in Portland, OR.

Jennifer Berres

Performance credits include: Don Arden’s Jubilee, and Showgirls of Magic (Las Vegas) and in many high-end events, including the opening of the Wynn Hotel with Emmy award-winning choreographer Kenny Ortega, THRILLUSIONS (New Orleans), Matters of the Heart (NYC). Currently based in Miami, FL working as an educator with lululemon athletica.

Amy Beversdorf

Amy earned an MFA from UW-Milwaukee, and Graduate Laban Certificate in Movement Analysis (CMA) from Columbia College Chicago. She is the Director of Studio B Pilates, a somatic movement studio in Stevens Point. Since returning to Stevens Point, she has founded and directed the bi-annual fundraising performance Dance For Cancer, featuring professional dance from throughout the country and donating a generous amount of proceeds to cancer service organizations in Wisconsin. Amy has taught dance and movement theory courses at UW-Stevens Point, Lawrence University (Appleton, WI) and UW-Madison. She has been a guest teacher at Beloit College (Beloit, WI), and Long Island University (Brooklyn, NY) as well as at The Pilates on 10th Studio in Seattle, WA.

Andrew Cao

Andrew Cao graduated with a BFA and double majors in Musical Theatre and Dance.  He is currently playing "Luke" with Sutton Foster and Joel Grey in the Tony Award winning Broadway Revival of Anything Goes, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.   Following Anything Goes, Andrew will play "Huey" under the leadership of Casey Nicholaw, also a Tony Award Winning director and choreographer, in the new Broadway Musical Robin and The Seven Hoods. Andrew originated the role of "Huey" at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Currently, Andrew is working with the National Asian Artists Project on a re-imagining of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma with an all Asian cast. He is playing "Curly" and is directed by Broadway's Baayork Lee. Multiple West Side Story credits include: "Bernardo" in at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival; "Chino" at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera; "Bernardo" at the West Virginia Public Theatre; and "Indio" and the "Tony u/s" in the 50th Anniversary National Tour. Other multiple show credits include Annie Get Your Gun: "Tommy Keeler" at The Goodspeed Opera House and The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera; and Kiss Me Kate: "Paul" at The Orlando Shakespeare Theatre and "Hortensio" at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Other credits include: "Romeo" in Romeo & Juliet and "Puck" in Midsummer at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; appeared in Cyrano de Bergerac at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Choreographically, Andrew has done Beauty & Beast, Annie Get your Gun, Joseph..., You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Footloose, and Seussical at The Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre in Colorado. He's done a few independent films in NYC along with a handful of national and international commercials and print ads. Andrew created the movement for "Tyrone" in the 3rd season of the Nickelodeon television show The Backyardigans.

Adrian Fang

Adrian graduated with honors with a double major in Dance and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. She was a member of Doug Varone and Dancers from 1996-2006 and has taught and staged the works of Doug Varone for various universities and companies, including North Carolina School of the Arts, CityDance Ensemble, BalletMet Columbus, George Mason University, Ohio State University, and the University of Minnesota. She has had the pleasure of working with several other choreographers including Wally Cardona, Colleen Thomas, Bill Young and Penny Vercelline. She has taught at the ADF Winter Intensive, the Open Look Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia and in NYC at Movement Research, Dance New Amsterdam and the 92nd St. Y. This coming summer she will be on faculty at the American Dance Festival. She recently presented her choreography in a shared concert with Colleen Thomas at Danspace Project and is the recipient of a 2007 New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award for her performance with Doug Varone and Dancers.

Aaron Felske

Aaron Felske began his professional career on a high note as a featured performer in the Broadway and national touring companies of the hit musical Fosse. He has performed with Cirque du Soleil and in Celine Dion's A New Day production at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, NV. He is currently one of eight featured dancers in Celine Dion’s Taking Chances World Tour, having already performed in South Africa, Dubai, Australia, China, Malaysia Europe and now the US. He has just been hired as co-creator and dancer in the new Cirque show at New York’s City Center.

Maria Hackbarth

After graduating from UWSP joined Wisconsin's premiere jazz dance company, Elation Dance Theater. She currently teaches at Lake Shore Dance and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Maria has presented her choreography as part of the DanceIt! Benefit concert in Cedarburg, WI. Maria’s non-profit organization, Warped Dance Company, has performed for the Denver Independent Choreographers' Project, in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland), the Uptown Performance Series (NYC) and with Danceforms Productions (Biel, Switzerland).

Jessica Hallam

Companies included Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Studios Florida, Hardrive Productions in Atlantic City, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Dream Cast Entertainment (a Cirque de Soleil-style corporate production), and as a dancer for the Los Angeles Avenger Pro Arena Football Team in L.A. Television credits include, NBC’s Suddenly Susan, Lagrimita and Costel, Caliente, Mercury Insurance commercials, Disney’s 50th anniversary special with Julie Andrews, and premieres for the Disney movies Herbie Fully Loaded, Brother Bear, Finding Nemo, Emperor’s New Groove, Monsters Inc., and the DVD release of the hit movie CHICAGO. Jessica has appeared as a back up dancer in music videos with Christina Aguilera on her hit song "Come on Over", and with Julio Iglesis and Harry Connick Jr. Modeling credits include Redken NYC, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and BEBE SPORT in Beverly Hills. Jessica was a soloist in Hart Pulse Dance Company in Los Angeles during their 2008 season. She is a certified in Pilates and Gyrotonics. In 2009 she began studies with Columbia College Chicago's Graduate Laban Certificate in Movement Analysis (GLCMA) program.

Molly (Holm) Rusich

Molly (Holm) Rusich, Primarily a choreographer, her powerful choreography includes, Windmill on a Waterfall, Ireland Calling, Through the Thunder, Two, and Live Action Space Balls. Venues that have presented her work include in Minneapolis, Patrick’s Cabaret and Zenon Dance Company and School, and in New York City, the Bowery Poetry Club, Dance Forum, The Puffin Room, the Field, and Dance New Amsterdam. Molly currently lives and works in New York City, engaged to Michael Rusich, and continues her work through her dance company, Open Floor Dance, or OFD. OFD performs engaging post-modern and cultural diversity outreach performances in New York City.

Chad Harlow

Chad Harlow (BFA Musical Theatre and Dance Major) National Tours: Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella, The Music Man (Oliver Hix), Show Boat (Frank Schultz), and 42nd Street, where he had the opportunity to perform the role of Billy Lawlor in the US and Japan. Regional: 42nd Street and Singin' in the Rain (Goodspeed), State Fair (Walnut Street), Of Thee I Sing (Bard Summerscape), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Barter), and Irving Berlin's White Christmas (Ordway, St. Paul; Wang, Boston; Fox, Detroit).

Candace Jablonski

Candace relocated to New York City after graduating from UWSP with a BA in dance. Since living in NYC Candace has choreographed for various ToyBox Theatre productions and performed with many small dance companies including Extended Dance Co. and, most recently, The Next Stage Project, with touring performances in Amsterdam. Candace has also been a Radio City Rockette for the past five years where she has had the opportunity to perform in commercials, television appearances, print ads, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and dance at the famous Radio City Music Hall.

Megan Jasurda

After graduating with a BA in Dance, Megan moved to Portland, Oregon where she is a certified Pilates and Yoga trainer and teaches dance at Lower Columbia College. At LCC she pioneered Pilates classes for Physical Education credits for the students as well as introductory dance classes for Humanities credits as first time offerings at LCC. In January 2009 she was the Choreographer for LCC’s Theater department in Much Ado About Nothing. Megan mentors the Student Dance Organization for Lower Columbia College and is contributing to starting a dance coalition for WA community college dance educators. She continues to dance in the Portland area with Kinetic Images and Conduit Dance companies. In 2009 she will begin teaching Modern dance workshops for high schools, funded by a Washington State Arts Grant.

Maeghan (Sullivan) Johnson

Maeghan was with the Beloit YMCA for three years, in her last year she started the dance program at the Rockton-Roscoe, IL branch. Maeghan currently is the Dance Program Coordinator for the Neenah-Menasha YMCA of the Fox Cities and has been for the last three years.

Katie Kinyon

Director Performing Arts Limited, Chicago, IL

Carrie Lande

Carrie was a part of the Zenon Dance Company in Minneapolis and participated in the school's scholarship program. In the Summer of 2004, she was an adjudicator of a World Dance Competition in Germany. While she was there she taught workshops in several dance schools in Munich. She is currently the Assistant Director for the Metro Academy of Dance Education in Minneapolis.

Amy Larson

Amy Larson (2010) is working in New York City with Rena Shagan Associates, Inc., one of the leading arts management firms in the world. Amy performs with RE|Dance Company, Emily Faulkner/Wind-Up Dances, and is an intern with Movement Research.

Kaita Lepore

Kaita Lepore, received a degree in Dance and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Her works, Beneath the Surface and To See with Two Eyes, To Seek with One Heart were both selected for the Afterimages student dance concerts in 2004 and 2005. Following her graduation, she went to Thailand under The Thailand Project to help develop a dance program for children who had been victims of human trafficking. Upon moving to Santa Barbara, she performed both nationally and internationally as a company member with the Sonneblauma Dancz Company. Locally, she has worked with Misa Kelly, Robin Bisio, Erin Martinez, Cybil Gilbertson, Emily Wheeler, and Marco Pinter. In 2011 she made her choreographic debut, Face Value, to the Santa Barbara community after her work was selected for the Kinesis Dance Concert. She is a certified Pilates instructor through Body Arts and Science International and is currently Assistant Director of In•teg•ri•ty Pilates as well as a Yoga instructor at the Santa Barbara Athletic Club. She performs with the Bird Tribe Collective of Santa Barbara.  In July 2011, the Bird Tribe completed a residency at the Art Monastery in Labro, Italy.  In February, 2012, she debuted a multimedia work, "Gravitational Forces" in collaboration with Marco Pinter at the AC Institute in NYC. Kaita is currently dancing with Nebula Dance Lab in Santa Barbara, CA.

Marika Loftman-Davis

Marika received a scholarship to train with the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project in Chicago. She also joined the Chicago Bulls Dance Team, The Luvabulls. She has toured nationally with the NBA.

Jennifer Mack

Jennifer eared a BA degree at UWSP with double majors in Dance and Arts Administration. She is currently living in St. Paul, MN and performing in her 5th season with the Continental Ballet Company http://www.continentalballet.com in Bloomington, MN. Performance credits include: Rosy Simas Dance Project (Montreal), Debra Jinza-Thayer's Movement Architecture (Montreal), with up-and-coming MN jazz ensemble, Eclectic Edge Ensemble http://www.eclecticedgeensemble.com, and as a guest artist with Minneapolis companies Spandrel, Vox Medusa Dance Company, and choreographers Joseph Bingham, Kari Jensen, Anna Resele, Dawn Strom, Sharon Varosh, Vanessa Voskuil, and Cathy Wright. Jennifer’s choreography has appeared on various stages in MN in collaboration with local musicians, 'Ada Jane' and Ben Siems. She currently teaches at Metro Academy of Dance Education, Summit Dance Shoppe, Janet Lang Dance Studio, and Tonka DanceWorks. From 2004-2008 Jennifer danced with Ray Terrill and Dancers, and was Assistant to the Director of Rochester Dance Company (MN).

http://www.eclecticedgeensemble.com

Pilar Martinez

Pilar Martinez (2008) is Donor Services Coordinator with Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, Appleton, WI.

HIlliary Murphy

Hilliary Murphy Vaccarello (2002) lives in Chicago where she was a company member with Thodos Dance Chicago (TDC) for five years performing works by Ann Reinking, Lar Lubovich, Melissa Thodos, and many local choreographers.  Hilliary is an active choreographer with work in the repertories of TDC, universities and high schools. Hilliary continues to perform in industrial work and is an established teacher in studios throughout the Chicago land area.  She can be seen in the role of ballroom dancer in the movie "Public Enemies," starring Johnny Depp.

Sam Nolte

Sam Nolte graduated with a BA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point in 2011. She is currently living in Chicago, IL where she studies tap dance under Mark Yonally at Gus Giordano Dance School, and performs as an apprentice for the Chicago Tap Theatre company. She is also performing in interactive theatre venues such as the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, WI and Fear City Chicago.

Maura Novak

Maura moved to Milwaukee, WI and participated in a performance entitled Bucketworks. She also joined a brand new company called the MKE Jazz Co. Now Maura is performing with Elation Dance in Milwaukee.

Morgan O'Brien

Morgan O'Brien's resume of North American credits includes Hello, Dolly! (Carousel Dinner Theater), Swiss Family Robinson (National Tour), Some Like It Hot (Derby Dinner Theater) and Cirque Sensacional (International Tour). Morgan moved to Germany in 1998 with the musical Grease!, and has since been seen in productions of Ms. Saigon, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Hair, A Christmas Carol, Van Gogh (World Premier Cast), Little Shop of Horrors, and as an original cast member and dance captain of Mamma Mia, for which he also received a platinum album award for soundtrack sales. He currently lives in Berlin.

Nicole Olson

Nicole Olson (1994) is Assistant Director and Principal Dancer with Scorpious Dance Theatre, Phoenix, AZ

Eddie Oroyan

Eddie, a 2001 UWSP graduate, currently dances with companies Black Label Movement, Shapiro & Smith, Arena Dance, and Zenon. He also performed with Creach/Company, Keith Johnson, Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum, Minnesota Opera, Nautilus Music Theatre, Metropolitan Ballet. He was featured as "Dance Artist of the Year 2006" in City Pages and given honorable mention in the Star Tribune’s 2006 Artist of the Year. More recently Eddie was given Metro Magazine's first annual "Keeper Award" and received a 2008 Sage Award for his outstanding performing. Eddie’s choreography has been recognized and performed in ACDFA Gala concerts and at the Bryant Lake Bowl, Phipps, Varsity, Southern, and the McGuire theatres in the Twin Cities area. His work has also been commissioned in several Twin Cities Arts schools, UW-River Falls, St. Olaf, and Hamline University. His piece, “Melisma,” was presented at the 2006 Choreographer’s Evening, while his latest work, "Brown Rocket," was performed at the 2008 Momentum Series commissioned through the Walker and Southern Theater.

For further updates visit www.oroyan.com

Martin Ortiz

Martin Ortiz (2008) is a featured dancer with Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago.

Christine Rohde

Christine currently dances with Thodos Dance Chicago. During 2004-05 she was apprentice with Gus Giordano Dance, Chicago, IL.

Erika Ruegemer

Erika Ruegemer (2004) performed in Minneapolis with ARENA Dances and in Rochester, NY with PUSH Physical Theatre and Dance Mosaic.

Kristina (Kasper) Saldarelli

Kristina has been dancing and making rhythm for over twenty five years. As a student of traditional dance, she broadened her education at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, earning a B.A. in Theatre Arts - Dance. She is presently working toward her M.A. in Communication, Media, and Theatre at Northeastern Illinois University.

Kristina is an active dance educator, performer and choreographer in the Chicago area. Her work has been adjudicated at the American College Dance Festival, produced in numerous concert venues, and ranked highly in national youth dance competitions. Kristina has danced professionally with JUMP RHYTHM Jazz Project since 2005, performing in Chicago as well as on tour. She received an Emmy Award as “Outstanding Achievement for Individual Excellence On Camera: Performer” for her work in the multiple-Emmy-Award-winning documentary Jump Rhythm Jazz Project: Getting There, produced by HMS Media and aired on PBS.

Kristina served as an adjunct lecturer of Jump Rhythm Technique® at Northwestern University, while also setting her tap piece Same Old Shaggy Dress on the NU students in Danceworks. In 2011, Shaggy was invited to be a part of the JUMP RHYTHM repertory and in 2012 she had the pleasure of remounting The Sumptuous Screech of Simplicity, choreographed by JUMP RHYTHM Artistic Director Billy Siegenfeld. 

In December of 2012, Kristina will be performing at the Kennedy Center in JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance Presented by Chicago Human Rhythm Project.

Andrea Skurr

Andrea Skurr found her movement voice at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where she earned a BA in Music & Dance in 2003. Since 2006 she has lived and performed in NYC with Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance, Patrice Regnier's "Terpsichore" experiments, and developed work under Nathanael Buckley. Andrea has returned to her gymnastics roots while branching into the aerial arts world learning silks and bungee. She is currently collaborating with Chriselle Tidrick/Above & Beyond Dance who aims to fuse modern dance with aerial arts. In 2009 she will present work with Molly Rusich in "60x60" produced by Vox Novus in DUMBO.

Adam Sonnenberg

Adam Sonnenberg graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point where he received his BA in dance in 2008. He has studied in the pre-professional programs of American Ballet Theatre (NYC), Alonzo Kings LINES Ballet (San Francisco), and Milwaukee Ballet. He is currently dancing with Kelley Donovan and Dancers in New York and performed at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studios, NYC, and The Dance Complex, Cambridge, MA.  Adam has performed with Ellison Ballet and The Lexington Ballet, KY.

New York Times Article

Elizabeth Sturgis

Elizabeth Sturgis (2001) performs with Caroline Calouche & Co, a contemporary and aerial dance company in Charlotte, NC.

Sarah Tan

Sara Tan (2010) trains and performs at the prestigious Performing Arts Research and Training Studios (P.A.R.T.S.) in Belgium.

Amanda Telischak

Amanda Telischak has been living and dancing in Chicago since June of 2006. Since moving to Chicago Amanda has been fortunate to work with such companies as Chicago Dance Crash, Corpo Dance Company, Chicago Opera Theatre, Ballet Legere, Weave Soundpainting Orchestra, and currently, The Everypeople Jazz Workshop and Project606 Dance. Amanda was also fortunate to appear in the film, "Public Enemies", as well as in an NBC television pilot, "The Forgotten."

Within the past year, Amanda has been collaborating with fellow dance graduate, Katie Eberhardy in forming Art.Is, a choreographic project aiming to create original works that incorporate the use of various other art forms such as, visual art, media and live music, to name a few. Amanda also teaches yoga and dance at several Chicago area schools and is Director of Admissions at the Roycemore School in Evanston, IL.  Amanda is currently is currently a member of the non-profit dance group Project606 Dance.


Jessica Vokoun

Jessica Vokoun graduated from UW-Stevens Point in 1998 and completed her MFA at UW-Milwaukee in 2008. Jessica is an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Tulsa. She has performed internationally with the new genre dance company NC5 (Tulsa, OK), and has performed as a featured company dancer with Li Chiao-Ping Dance, Kanopy Dance (Madison, WI) and Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company (NYC). Jessica has curated Dance on Camera festivals in Tulsa, OK and Madison, WI. As a video artist, she has worked with Alexandra Beller, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Tulsa Ballet, and Ko-Thi Dance Company

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