State Dance Company Spring 2024 Concert

Amy Love Beasley holds a B.A. in Studio Art from the College of Charleston and a M.F.A in Choreography from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She brings her experiences as an artist, choreographer, and performer in the field to her teaching. Beasley has had the good fortune of performing across the country for many influential choreographers, including John Gamble, Susan Haines, Gerri Houlihan, BJ Sullivan, Sean Sullivan, Talani Torres, and Jan Van Dyke. Her own work has been performed at several universities, the North Carolina Dance Festival, UNC School of the Arts, Art-o-Matic in Washington, DC and through Triskelion Art’s Waxworks and the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, NY. Beasley’s research in dance-making and education merges her studies and considers how visual art-making and processes intersect with dance-making, training, and performance. Inspired by her Yoga practice and teaching, her research in each classroom looks at how mindfulness intersects with learning, moving, and self-agency. Before joining the faculty at North Carolina State University, she was on faculty at Elon University, UNC Greensboro, Wake Forest University, and the UNC School of the Arts’ Summer Intensive.

Monica Bill Barnes is a dancer and choreographer. Since MBB&CO’s founding in 1997, her choreography has been seen in many places, such as New York City’s Bowling Green public fountain, on stage at Carnegie Hall, throughout the galleries of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and in Greta Gerwig’s film “Little Women.” The company has been presented in over 50 cities and internationally in venues ranging from The Kennedy Center to the Sydney Opera House in a collaboration with Ira Glass in Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host. Barnes began collaborating with Robbie Saenz de Viteri in 2013 at which point the company adopted the motto of “bringing dance where it doesn’t belong.” Recent collaborations include a national tour of The Running Show; a site specific show in a mall – Days Go By; and two online works created during the pandemic – Keep Moving and It’s 3:07 Again. The company is currently on tour with their new show, Many Happy Returns.

Savanah is an undergraduate student majoring in biochemistry with a minor in Dance Performance and Choreography. This is her third year as a member of the State Dance Company, although she has been dancing for many years. Savanah was a recipient of the 2023 Creative Artist Award in dance for her work titled Could you hold the line? This is her first independent choreographic work, which takes the audience on a journey through the memory, reality, and dreams of a person who has just lost the comfort of a codependent relationship. This work was selected to attend the ACDA’s Mid-Atlantic Conference, where it was further selected to be performed in the Gala concert, representing NC State.

Eric Alexander Collins (Sound Designer} has worked in professional audio for over 35 years where he has designed and mixed shows across the U.S., Europe, and Australia, including in the iconic Sydney Opera House! Eric’s theatrical designs number in the hundreds of successful shows, and have been awarded Best Sound Design by BroadwayWorld.com five times: Billy Elliot: The Musical (2015), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2016), Smokey Joe’s Cafe (2017), Once (2018), and Peace of Clay (2021).  Recent credits include: Pittsburgh Musical Theatre (PA): Million Dollar Quartet, Once. Tuacahn Performing Arts Center (Utah): White Christmas, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. North Carolina Theatre: Elf – The Musical; Beautiful – The Carol King Musical, The Color Purple, Sister Act, Songs for A New World, Mamma Mia.Theatre Raleigh: Jersey Boys, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, City of Angels, Once, The Secret Garden, Urinetown (awarded 2013 Best Sound Design), University Theatre (N.C.S.U.): Pedrito Martinez (in Concert), Jekyll and Hyde, The 39 Steps. Carolina Ballet: MacBeth (2016 world premier ballet – Robert Weiss Choreographer), Dracula and The Little Mermaid (both world premier ballets – Lynn-Taylor Corbett – Choreographer). North Carolina Symphony: The Music Man, Idina Menzel (in concert), Natalie Merchant (in concert), Renée Fleming (in concert).  Playmaker’s Rep. Co. (U.N.C.): She Loves Me, The Crucible, Peter and the Starcatcher, Theatre In The Park: Godspell. Thank you for supporting live theatre. The adventure continues! 

Tracey moved to Durham from Portland, Oregon where she was an integral part of the Portland dance scene for over 25 years. Tracey trained under Eugene Louis Faccuito “Luigi” one of the most famous international jazz teachers of his generation. The Luigi technique and philosophy of fluid movement, expression, community and individuality became the foundation of her teaching. Tracey currently teaches and choreographs at NC State, North Carolina Central University, Ninth St Dance, American Dance Festival and continues with her zoom classes.

Morgan Embry is a production designer, creative director, and dancer currently based in Los Angeles, California. She received her BA in Dance from The University of Alabama and her MFA in Lighting Design from the University of California, Irvine. She designs for dance and theatre, acting as resident lighting designer for Willing Kompany and Festival Ballet Theatre, and projection designer for CounterBalance Theatre. She is also a production designer for live music; Vance Joy, Bryce Vine, Beabadoobee, Ashnikko, and SWISS being among the list of wonderful collaborators she gets to regularly create with. Morgan is excited for this opportunity to collaborate with fellow artists and creators.

Flannery Gregg is a performer and movement director based in NYC. She has rehearsal directed and performed in Monica Bill Barnes & Company’s productions of The Running Show, Day’s Go By, Keep Moving, It’s 3:07 Again and Many Happy Returns.. She has also worked alongside Barnes as associate choreographer/dancer on the Greta Gerwig-directed film “Little Women.” Flannery has worked as a movement director for NYU, staging student performances at the Barclays Center, Radio City Music Hall, and NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. She was the assistant choreographer to Sam Pinkleton on the Broadway musical Natasha Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 and the associate choreographer to Sonya Tayeh for Sing Street, a new musical. Born and raised in San Diego, Flannery got her BA in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA. She is thrilled to be performing and teaching with MBB&Co.!

Madison is a State Dance Company and NC State alum. She is currently working as a freelance dance artist and production associate in New York City. Returning to her alma mater to share this work has been such a joy and she can’t wait to see the dancers shine in the performance.

Madison Kotyra is majoring in Fashion Development and Product Management and plans to graduate in December 2024. Throughout Maddy’s years in the company she has become heavily involved in costuming and tailoring for the State Dance Company and student choreographers. Some of Maddy’s favorite projects have included working closely with a legally blind choreographer, DJ Robinson, to create and execute the vision he had for his piece, Inner Beauty vs Outer Beauty: A Redemption (Fall 2022), and collaborating with SDC’s director, Tara Mullins, on creating custom costumes for her piece, Don’t Let a Good Thing Die (Spring 2023) and documenting this process to include  in her research study titled, “Intersectionality of Dance and Design: Utilizing dance as a method of in depth exploration of the costume design process and how it differs from traditional fashion design”. Recently she customized costumes for another piece by Tara previously created in 2019 and now reset on dancers in the company, A Portrait of Two Women. Madison hopes to continue her work costuming for the company in the future and help create more opportunities for others to explore costume design.

Tara Z. Mullins is an Associate Teaching Professor in the department, where she choreographs for the academic companies, teaches courses, facilitates the Master Class Series, and creates interdisciplinary projects.  She recently founded the Lunchbox Series, a virtual lunchtime conversation series that uses dance as a springboard to delve into pertinent topics such as Arts and Public Health and the intersection of STEM with dance. 

While at NC State, Tara produced Operation Breadbasket, a mixed-media modern dance honoring the civil rights movement, which was featured on WUNC’s The State of Things. She also created Against the Railing, a digital platform and mixed media dance piece that tells the immigration stories of the NC State community 

Before working at NC State, Tara developed the education and service-based Z Mullins Dance Company. The company founded and facilitated such events as the Virginia Dance Symposium, which brought together high school dancers and professors from dance programs, and the Summer Dance Intensive, a ten-day program for high school and college dancers. Tara has a B.A. in dance from James Madison University and an M.F.A. in dance from Arizona State University, where she received the Faculty Women’s Association Distinguished Master Degree Candidate Award for her work developing arts programs for homeless youth, as well as the inaugural Herberger College of Fine Arts Fellowship.

Josh began work with University Theatre in 2011 as the lighting and sound designer before being named associate director in 2014. He obtained his MFA from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and his BFA from UNC-Greensboro. Before arriving at NC State, Mr. Reaves taught at Campbell University and the University of Cincinnati. He continues to actively freelance as a lighting designer for local theatre and dance companies.

Jennifer Scully-Thurston, performer, choreographer, filmmaker, curator, installation artist and journalist. Her writing caught the attention of Dance Critics Association receiving their Emerging Writer Award.

Serving the global dance community, she is director of ADF Movies By Movers & FilmFest by Rogue Dancer. Curation and adjudication credits include EnCore, James River FilmFestival, Movies by Movers & Screen Dance International.

An award-winning filmmaker, she has been featured in Artfields SC, Core Dance presents… REEL ART, DanceBARN ScreenDANCE Fest, Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival, Dance Camera Istanbul, DANCINEMA, Cinedance, Frame X Frame, ScreenDance Festival, Greensboro Dance Film Festival, International ScreenDance, Screen.Dance Scotland, DanzaTTack, Tarheel Shorties, enCore, Golden Earth Film Award (Best Female Director), DMOFF (Best Female Director), DepicT! (Special Mention). 

Her personal artistic goal is to make a film a year, collaborating with husband, composer Christopher Scully-Thurston.

Thinking global and working local, she has worked with Core Dance (Houston and Atlanta), in public schools with NC Arts in Action and today is Manager of Studio Programs and Community Engagement at American Dance Festival (ADF) and dances with the Bipeds & Big Red Dance Project under the Direction of Gerri Houlihan.

Kloe Tucker is a junior at NC State with a major in Fashion Textile Management and a concentration in Fashion Development. She is a second-year member of the State Dance Company and holds the title of creative co-director of PLATFORM magazine. She assists in costume design and styling for the State Dance Company.

Cailee Bennett is a junior majoring in psychology. In addition to psychology, she plans to start the Art + Design program in the upcoming fall semester. This is her first year as a member of the State Dance Company. Cailee has enjoyed getting to know her teammates while furthering her knowledge of dance and expression. She feels grateful for the program and community, as it has provided a supportive transition during her time at State.

Savanah Buck is a junior from New Bern, North Carolina majoring in Biochemistry. This is her third year as a member of the State Dance Company. She has trained in a multitude of styles for over 15 years. Her favorites include jazz, contemporary, and improv. When she is not working as an assistant in one of the university’s biochemistry labs, she enjoys choreographing, reading, making art, and thrifting.

Bridgette Corpus is a senior standing student at NC State majoring in Communication (Media) and minoring in Art and Design and Dance. For her, dance is a creative outlet and a way to produce art from her thoughts and feelings. Her favorite styles of dance are contemporary, jazz, and ballet. She is so excited to be a returning member of SDC and to continue pushing herself creatively and physically.

Layla El-Khoury is a graduate student from Wake Forest, NC working on her PhD in Biological Engineering with a Water Resources minor. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Biological Engineering from NC State. She has been dancing since she was three years old, training mainly in ballet and modern. Starting in 2016, Layla has taught and choreographed for local studios.

Ariana Fajerman is a senior from Davidson, North Carolina. She started dancing at age 2 and began competing at age 5. She spent the majority of her time training at Lake Norman Dance Gallery (LNDG). As a competition dancer, she was a part of many national winning pieces, one of which was taken to the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood for America’s Got Talent season 10. Ariana has performed as a Showstopper All-Star in the national finals opening number. She is now completing her 4th year with the State Dance Company and appears as a guest teacher at LNDG.

Caroline Foy is a graduate student in the master’s of physiology program. She plans to begin her Doctorate of Physical Therapy program in the fall and become a licensed physical therapist. This is her fifth year in the State Dance Company. She enjoys the community, lifelong friendships, and opportunities the company has given her. Caroline is thankful for how the company has educated and challenged her as a dancer and performer.

Athena He-DeMontaron is a senior studying Animal Science with a minor in Chinese Studies. From the age of five, she has been involved in various dance forms such as Traditional Chinese Dance, Modern, Ballet, and Graham, as well as Circus Arts and Figure Skating. Upon graduation, Athena will continue her studies in Animal Science as a Graduate Research student.

Kellsie Jennings is a senior majoring in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Economics. From Fuquay Varina, she has been dancing for 10 years, with a focus on modern, contemporary, and jazz.

Madison Kotyra trained at Fitzsimmons Dance Factory, a competition company in Rochester, NY, before attending NC State. She choreographed a piece for the Fall 2022 concert, The Stories We Will Tell. She also serves as the Costume Assistant for the company. In spring 2023, Maddy worked with the director, Tara Z. Mullins, for her independent study where she created a set of costumes for Don’t Let A Good Thing Die. Maddy, with other tappers, co-choreographed a piece for the Fall concert.

Rachel Morris is a senior in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Dance. She has been dancing since she was 4 years old, and participated in competition dance throughout middle and high school. Her favorite styles of dance include ballet, jazz, and modern. This is her fourth year in the company, and she is excited to continue exploring new dance styles and choreography with the company this year.

Kara Pawlowski is a junior working towards a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. She has been dancing since the age of 12 and joined the State Dance Company during her freshman year of college. She is grateful for all she has learned through the company and is excited for the semesters to come.

Alexa Simeonsson is an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Computer Science with a minor in Dance. She has been dancing since she was 12 years old, training mostly in ballet and modern. She has been a member of the State Dance Company for four years and is very excited to choreograph for the first time at a collegiate level this year!

Tiana Smith is a senior at Meredith College, getting a bachelor’s in chemistry, and is currently in the NC State bridge program for chemical engineering.

Kloe Tucker is a junior at NC State with a major in Fashion Textile Management and a concentration in Fashion Development. She is a second-year member of the State Dance Company and holds the title of creative co-director on PLATFORM magazine.

Sydney Zimmerman is a senior double majoring in environmental science and biology. She has been dancing since she was three years old and is so happy to continue as her fourth year with State Dance Company!