UWSP Theatre and Dance | Dance Alumni

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DANCE alumni

Eddie Oroyan - 2001
Eddie graduated from UWSP in 2001 and is currently performing with the Shapiro Smith Dance Company in Anytown. This show recently performed in New York where he "jumped like a flea" according to the New York Times. He is also performing at the Southern Theatre in Minneapolis with Spring Board Dance. The Minnesota Star Tribune highlighted Eddie in 2006 with a closer look at dancers who consistently please critics with "signature dance personalities". In the fall of 2006, he performed in Melisma, at the Walker Art Center's 2006 Choreographer's Evening in Minneapolis, MN. Eddie was also recently featured in the "City Pages" Artists of the Year edition.

Kristanne Connolly - 1994
Kristanne graduated from UWSP with a BFA in Dance. In 1994, Kristanne co-founded the Connolly Dance Company in Madison, WI.

Adriane Fang - 1994
Adriane graduated from UWSP with BA degree and majors in Dance and Psychology. She moved to New York and joined Doug Varone and Dancers in 1996. In spring 2004 Adriane performed with the company at the Metropolitan Opera, in Varone's choreography Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps.

Aaron Felske - 2000
Aaron earned a BFA degree in Musical Theatre and BA degree Dance. He 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 is currently a member of Celine Dion's A New Day production at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, NV.

Christine Rohde - 2002
Christine currently dances with Thodos Dance Chicago. During 2004-05 she was apprentice with Gus Giordano Dance, Chicago, IL.

Marika Loftman-Davis - 2005
Marika received a scholarship to train with the the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project in Chicago. She also joined the Chicago Bulls Dance Team, The Luvabulls. She will now be touring nationally with the NBA.

Molly Holm - 2002
Molly Holm, 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.

www.theaterscene.net

Andrew Cao - 2004
Andrew graduated with a BFA double major in Musical Theatre and Dance. He was cast as "The Soldier" in the Cedar Lake Ensemble's production of Raw, a dance, theatre, and multi media event. He recently appeared in two national commercials and a national print ad. Andrew understudied and will be the future replacement host for a primetime television show on IATV (ImaginAsian Television). Recently Andrew accepted an offer from the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival to play Romeo in Romeo & Juliet and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Maura Novak - 2004
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 Theatre in Milwaukee.

Morgan O'Brien - 1995
Morgan O'Brien studied with the UWSP Musical Theater and Dance Department from 1992-1995. US productions include "Hello, Dolly!" (Carousel Dinner Theater), "Swiss Family Robinson" (National Tour), and "Cirque Sensacional" (International Tour). Morgan moved to Germany in 1998, where he has been seen in productions of "Grease", "Ms. Saigon", "Disney's Beauty and the Beast", and as an original cast member and Dance Captain of the Hamburg production of "Mamma Mia". He is currently playing the role of Seymour in a new production of "Little Shop of Horrors". www.gutenmorganproductions.com

Ryann Nelson - 2002
Ryann is graduate teaching assistant in the MFA Dance program at University of Utah. She is currently working on her thesis Art as Activism. The culmination of the research will be put into a Dance for Camera work.

Megan (Northrup) Fitzgerald - 2002
Megan performed with the Minnesota Opera in La Traviata as a gypsy dancer. In May of 2003 she made her first performance with the Chanhassen Dinner Theater in Camelot. She has continued to perform with there in Cats, Annie, Anything Goes, and West Side Story.

Laura Lin (Schlimgen) - 2000
Laura earned a BA degree in Dance, For the past three years she taught English as a Second Language to adults, teens and children in Taiwan. Now, in the US, she is working at Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival in Lee, Massachusetts, interning for the Education Department. This summer she will create and teach a dance program for Camp Lenox, in Mass.

Elizabeth England - 2002
Elizabeth began a contract in August of 2005, with the American National Ballet in Duluth, MN.

Leslie A. (Gungor) Skorzewski- 1998
Following graduation Leslie joined the University Wisconsin-Green Bay Theatre and Dance Department faculty. She completed study of the Russian Vaganova Method with Mr. John White in Bryn Mawr, PA. She currently is Director of the Main Street Conservatory of Dance Classical Ballet Program in Marshfield where she instructs children ages 8-18.

Jamie Beckland - 2000
Jamie graduated with degrees in International Studies, Spanish Language, Literature, and minors in Economics, and Dance. He has lived in Seoul, South Korea, teaching English as a Second Language. He was also the Manager for Individual Support at Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, the oldest dance festival in the United States. Currently Jamie is Gift and Database Coordinator at The Brookings Institution, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C.

Garrett Jones - 2001
Garrett recently performed with Instruments of Movement in Lifted a world premiere multi-media ballet choreographed by James Morrow and Raphaelle Ziemba, at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL.

Colleen Coy - 2002
Colleen performed for three years with Li Chiao-Ping Dance in Madison, WI. She is now living in Vancouver, British Columbia. Colleen has recently performed with the Madison Opera in their performances of 'The Pearl Fishers' in April of 2007.

Hilliary Murphy - 2002
Hilliary is currently performing with Thodos Dance Chicago in Chicago, IL.

Candace Jablonski - 2002
Candace has been choreographing for the Toy Box Theatre, a performance group in New York City founded by UWSP alumni, Jonathan Barsness, Scott Delacruz and Mike Holms. Candace's choreographic work, Sounds of the City, debuted in May 2003 and featured UWSP alum Ryann Nelson. In December 2004 she joined the Rockettes, Denver Company.

Jennifer Mack - 2003
Jennifer earned a BA degree with double majors in Arts Administration and Dance. Jennifer is currently living in St. Paul, MN and performing with the Continental Ballet Company in Bloomington, MN. She is performing in Continental Ballet's April 2005 Sleeping Beauty. She has recently worked with Vox Medusa Dance Company and choreographer Ray Terril. She collaborated with jazz musician Ben Siems on a dance project, and was the Assistant to the Director of Rochester Dance Co. in Rochester, MN, and taught at Janet Lang Dance Studio from 2003 - 2004.

Carrie Lande - 2003
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.

Michelle Vollmer - 2004
Michelle is currently teaching at Kehl's School of Dance and the Madison Professional Dance Center in Madison, WI.

Kristina Kasper - 2004
Kristina received a scholarship to train with the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project in Chicago. She is also teaching in two Chicago dance studios and in a Danswear store.

Maeghan (Sullivan) Johnson - 1999
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.

Rebecca Lang - 2002
Rebecca is currently teaching 8th grade Science at Wisconsin Hills Middle School in Brookfield, WI, and teaches dance at Mirror Image Dance Studio.

Maggie Kornely Marquardt - 2001
Since graduating with a BA in Arts Management and a minor in Dance, Maggie has worked in non-profit fundraising and is currently pursuing an MBA degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Bolz Center for Arts Administration. Her focus is on the role of arts in economic development, particularly for smaller communities, and she aims to assist visual and performing artists and organizations through entrepreneurial supports and capacity-building efforts. Outside of her academic studies, Maggie is a teaching apprentice with Core Awareness Pilates Studio in Madison.

Kaita Lepore – 2006
Kaita earned degrees in both dance and psychology. She is currently performing with the SonneBlauma Danzc Company in Santa Barbara, CA, and teaching dance in Goleta, CA.

Amanda Telischak – 2005
Amanda graduated in December of 2005 with a degree in dance. She currently teaches at Bubbles Academy, a multi-disciplinary arts school for young children, in Chicago, IL. Amanda is performing with Chicago Dance Crash as well as dancing with the Weave Sound Painting Orchestra, a multi-disciplinary orchestra that utilizes musicians, actors, and dancers in its productions.