Guest Artists

GUEST ARTISTS

Sean Howe, born and raised in Toledo, Ohio graduated as Valedictorian from Toledo School for the Arts in 2013. That year, he was also named a YoungArts Winner in Modern Dance and a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Sean graduated from The Juilliard School in 2017 with a BFA in Dance, receiving both the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreography and the Juilliard Career Advancement Fellowship. While in school, Sean participated in community outreach and arts education that took him to New Orleans (with Habitat for Humanity) and to Botswana, Africa. From 2017-2018, he danced for both Gallim Dance and MADBOOTS Dance in NYC. In 2018, Sean joined Batsheva - The Young Ensemble in Tel Aviv, Israel and has been dancing there since.

Shaina was born and raised in Victoria, Texas and received her BFA in Dance at the University of Iowa. She completed her certification as a Movement Analyst at the Laban Institute of Movement Studies, and completed studies in religion and philosophy at the New York All Faiths Seminary International. She has performed and taught in Haiti, Israel, Italy the UK, Belgium, and through the USA. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister and member of The Feath3r Theory. Currently Shaina is teaching dance at Wayne State University, is a Detroit based Wedding Officiant and actively serves as a mentor for young dancers.
Originally from Carleton, MI. Bryan graduated from Wayne State University in 2011 with a B.F.A in dance. He has danced with Nicholas Leichter Dance, Brian Brooks Moving Company, David Dorfman Dance and ThirdRailProjects. He has performed and taught in places such as: Colombia, South Korea, Turkey, Tajikistan, and Armenia; as well as throughout the USA. Bryan is an active sound designer/musician, a member of The Feath3r Theory and is honored to have been selected as one of Dance Magazine's 'Top 25 to Watch' for 2013.

Matthew Farmer is currently the Chair of the Dance Department at Hope College and the Dorothy Wiley DeLong Professor of Dance. He is the Co-Artistic Director of R.G. Dance Productions, Co-Artistic Director of H2 Dance Co., and the Co-Author of the book Introductory Modern Dance: A Teaching Manual. Matthew received his MFA from the University of Michigan in Dance Performance and Choreography, and his BA in Theatre and Dance from Hope College. Matthew was a company member of The Peter Sparling Dance Co., and company member and Associate Director of LehrerDance. As a soloist and guest performer he has had the pleasure of performing works by Avi Kaiser, Sergio Antonino, Merce Cunningham, Laura Dean, Matthew Thornton, Doug Varone, and many more. He has danced for multiple companies in the United States, Germany, Belgium, and the U.K. His teaching credits include directorships, professorships, and residencies at multiple colleges and universities in the U.S., as well as a faculty member and judge for multiple national dance conventions and competitions. Farmer’s choreography spans the field of dance, and can be seen on college campuses, professional dance companies, international festivals, theaters companies, competitive dance teams, and musical theater venues throughout the U.S and abroad.

Kelsey Paschich is a dancer, choreographer, educator, interdisciplinary artist and an Assistant Professor of Dance at Western Michigan University. She views dance as a language that can be shared across many mediums and generations. Her work often utilizes multi-media elements inspired by surrealism as the theoretical and conceptual framework. Paschich holds an MFA in Dance from the University of New Mexico and was the recipient of the National Dizzy Feet Foundation Gene Kelly Legacy Scholarship in 2016. She holds a BFA (Cum Laude) from Point Park University. Paschich received her Countertechnique® Teacher Certification in Melbourne, Australia, with founder Anouk van Dijk, in 2016.
Paschich has performed extensively with: The Moscow State Classical Ballet, DCDC2, Thodos Dance Chicago, River North Chicago Dance Company , the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Interdansa Dance Festival 2010, Keshet Dance Company, ARCOS Dance, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Lawine Torrèn (Dance Theatre Machines Media) in the Hannibal Project in Sölden, Austria. She has performed the repertory of choreographers: Robert Battle, José Limón, Ann Reinking, Lucas Crandall, Lar Lubavitch, Tamir Ginz, Margo Sappington, Johan Renvall, Kevin O’ Day, Alan Heinline, Joanie Smith, Frank Chavez, Melissa Thodos, Zac Whittenburg, Curtis Uhlemann, Robert Moses, Gail Gilbert, Donna Jewell, Erika Pujic, Lawine Torrèn, Tomaz Simatovic, and others. Paschich continues to choreograph and perform independently.
Paschich uses movement as a language that makes transparent the space between dream and reality with spontaneity, juxtaposition, and the element of surprise and challenges the preconceived understanding of real versus surreal. Aside from her choreography for live performance, she experiments with filming, editing, dance for film, and choreographic installations. She is a Co-Founder & Co-Director of SHIFT | DANCE. In 2017, she created several dance films in collaboration with University of New Mexico, Assistant Professor of Dance, Amanda Hamp, for the northern sky, a westward facing window, a performance/installation at the CFA Downtown Studio. In 2016, Paschich created a documentary film on the making of the large scale, site specific dance performance of Golden Migration at the Valle de Oro Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. This project was choreographed by lisa nevada and a was part of the 516 Arts Decade celebration. Paschich is passionate about education for the next generation of artists and facilitating professional, artistic opportunities for the community. Paschich uses movement as a language that makes transparent the space between dream and reality with spontaneity, juxtaposition, and the element of surprise and challenges the preconceived understanding of real versus surreal. Aside from her choreography for live performance, she experiments with filming, editing, dance for film, and choreographic installations. She is a Co-Founder & Co-Director of SHIFT | DANCE. In 2017, she created several dance films in collaboration with University of New Mexico, Assistant Professor of Dance, Amanda Hamp, for the northern sky, a westward facing window, a performance/installation at the CFA Downtown Studio. In 2016, Paschich created a documentary film on the making of the large scale, site specific dance performance of Golden Migration at the Valle de Oro Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. This project was choreographed by lisa nevada and a was part of the 516 Arts Decade celebration. Paschich is passionate about education for the next generation of artists and facilitating professional, artistic opportunities for the community.

Anthony Milian graduated magna cum laude from The Ohio State University with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance with Honors Distinction and a minor in Integrative Approaches to Health & Wellness in May 2018. After graduation, Anthony attended Springboard Danse Montreal, working with Shannon Gillen of Vim Vigor (2019), & performing work by Alejandro Cerrudo (2018). In Montreal, he was selected by Alexandra Wells to receive a full scholarship to Hubbard Street’s Professional Training Program, where he worked with a plethora of choreographers like Peter Chu, and Adam Barruch. After completion of the training program, Anthony accepted an apprenticeship with world renowned Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. During his time with Hubbard Street, he worked as an understudy for work by Crystal Pite, Rena Butler, Alejandro Cerrudo, among others. Anthony was scheduled to perform as an ensemble member in Ohad Naharin’s DecaDance Chicago, with the main Company of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Anthony has also worked as a freelance artist with different choreographers and groups throughout the United States; performing with Stephanie Martinez in Las Vegas, & Phoenix, & Daniel Roberts in Columbus, Seattle, and tentatively Iceland in Summer 2021. During University, he had the pleasure of accepting an International Research Grant to travel, perform, teach, and tour through many cities in Denmark and Lucca, Italy in Summer of 2017. With extensive experience in performance, repertory, and creation, Anthony is looking forward to working with Jodie Randolph for the first time, a long awaited experience as an Ypsilanti Native.

Monique Haley (Springfield, VA) is a graduate of The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in performing arts, specializing in jazz dance. Monique honors nine memorable years with the prestigious River North Chicago Dance Company, as the first African- American female to join the company in 2001. She has also been a member of the Bermuda Dance Company and the Eleone Dance Theater of Philadelphia. In Chicago, Monique was a frequent teacher for the Lou Conte Dance Studio, the Visceral Dance Center, and the Joffrey Academy of Dance Trainee Program. Monique participates yearly as part of the Chicago Dance Connection Jazz Camp Faculty and has taught for the former River North Chicago and Inaside Dance Company Summer Intensives. She has set choreography for high school, collegiate, and professional companies on a national scale. As a dance educator, Monique has been a guest teacher in 2016, 2017, and 2019 ACDA East Central Conferences.
In musical theater, Ms. Haley was featured as a dancer and ensemble member in the Disney musical The Jungle Book, directed by Mary Zimmerman and choreographed by the Tony Award-winning Christopher Gattelli. In Chicago's regional theater seen, she was dance captain/ensemble member, and associate choreographer, for the Drury Lane Oakbrook Theater's production of Aida, and the associate choreographer of Paramount Theater Aurora's inaugural production of My Fair Lady. Additional theater credits include HAIR, Joseph, and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Mrs. Potiphar). Chicago (June), On the Town, amongst others.
Monique has choreographed for American Midwest Ballet, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Nomi Dance Company, Visceral Dance Company, the Chicago Repertory Ballet Company, and the collaborative works with the Chicago - based companies Muntu African Dance Company, and DanceWorks Chicago. In 2010, she created the entertainment segment for the Danny Clark Foundation Annual Celebrity Gala: Le Moulin Rouge, a Night in Paris, to help raise money to promote advocacy, education, and outreach programs to those in need. Haley's choreography has been featured in Dance for Life Chicago, the annual aids benefit concert. In 2015, she premiered a collaborative theatre/dance piece Still Life with Drumming at the Myron S. Szold Music and Dance Hall at The Old Town School of Folk Music. Collegiate commissions include work for the former Marygrove College, Western Michigan University, and the University of the Arts, to name a few.
Monique's career and creative works are recognized in such publications as Dance Spirit and Dance Magazine. Haley is one of the first artists to receive a 3Arts Award (2012) for choreography and dance, as well as her contribution to the arts community in the city of Chicago.
Ms. Haley holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She began to devise her dance process research, the Diasporic Encounter Method (DEM), which centers African cultural values and rituals in jazz dance pedagogy. Monique has been invited to the prestigious American Dance Festival (ADF), to be a part of their summer 2020 dance faculty. Haley will use DEM as a foundational teaching tool to inspire an authentic ethos and connection between participants in their daily jazz practice. Pending COVID-19 restrictions, she now looks forward to bringing this opportunity to fruition in 2021. Concerning future endeavors, a multi-authored book of jazz dance educators and experts, "21st Century Jazz Dance" by editors Lindsay Guarino, Carlos Jones, and Wendy Oliver features Ms. Haley's DEM research. Her chapter, Cultivating African Diasporic Ethos and Cultural Values in Contemporary Jazz Dance, to debut sometime in 2021.
In addition, she is a resident choreographer for Chicago's, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, and will soon begin virtual rehearsals on her work, ROOT (2019), as well as a new music and dance collaboration working with three other Chicago artists in the performance work, Mood Swing. CRDT Artistic Director, Wilfredo Rivera will lead us and composer Joe Cerqua in developing duets between musicians and dancers that respond to the current pandemic crisis and social justice movement, to be debut later in the 2020-2021 season.
In Kalamazoo, Monique continues to inspire and passionately educate her students at the Western Michigan University Department of Dance, teaching jazz dance curriculum and working with the musical theater performance students as an Assistant Professor of Dance.

Shannon Gillen has had an extensive career as a dancer and choreographer in NYC and Europe. She was a member of the Johannes Wieland company based at Staatstheater Kassel in Germany; won commissions from Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, the International Solo-Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, the TIF theater in Kassel, and was also selected as a THINK BIG choreographer-in-residence at Staatsoper Hannover. Upon returning to the states, Shannon founded VIM VIGOR as the home for her collaborative choreographic and educational endeavors. Her work has been commissioned across the USA, Canada, Central America, South America and Europe. Additional projects include commissions by fashion label PHELAN for NY Fashion Week, DANCEworks at the Lobero Theatre, Hubbard Street 2, Gibney Dance Company, Boston Dance Theater and de Danseurs in NL; notable festivals and venues where her work has been seen include NYLA, Prisma Festival, Judson Church, Springboard Danse, PULSE Art Fair/Art Basel, Bryant Park, NYC's River to River Festival, The Joyce, and Jacob’s Pillow. In 2018, Shannon was a choreographer in residence at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton and recently had works premiere at the ICA in Boston, UNCSA, Rutgers University, University of Utah, Gibney Dance, Over het lj in the Netherlands and will return to the b12 Festival in Berlin in 2021/2022. Dedicated to educating the next generation of artists, Gillen has created a physical dance theater education platform with VIM VIGOR with annual winter and summer programming. She is an Associate Professor of Dance at The University of Michigan and a graduate of The Juilliard School (BFA) and Tisch School of the Arts at NYU (MFA). Visit www.vimvigordance.com to learn more.

Kara Brody is a native of Detroit, Michigan and received her BFA in dance from Wayne State University. She spent the last four years in Chicago working with companies Khecari, Lucky Plush Productions and The Cambrians, and has worked with artists Erin Kilmurray, Amanda Maraist, Ayako Kato, Kevin Iega Jeff, Shannon Alvis, and Alice Klock. Brody teaches frequently guest teaching at University of Chicago and has been on faculty at Virtual Dance Lab, Visceral Dance, Dovetail Studios, The Cambrians’ Winter and Summer intensives, Lucky Plush Productions, Brighton Dance Festival, and The Actors Gymnasium. Brody just relocated to the Seattle area and continues to pursue her work through a virtual platform. She is currently working with Danceable Projects with Erick Montes.

Seyong Kim is originally from Seoul, South Korea and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI). He holds an MA in Dance Education from New York University and an MA in Dance from Sung-Kyun-Kwan University in South Korea. He is a CMA (Certified Movement Analyst) from Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, a RSME (Registered Somatic Movement Educator) at ISMETA (International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association), and a PBT (Progressing Ballet Technique) Certified Teacher. Seyong is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 of the American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum. Additionally, he earned Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University. Seyong has taught for Rutgers University, Kent State University, Randolph College, Peridance, World Dance Alliance (WDAA), Americas, American College Dance Association (ACDA), Brighton Dance Festival, Michigan Youth Arts Festival (MYAF), Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, National High School Dance Festival, Alabama Dance Festival, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, and Charlottesville Ballet.
As a professional dancer, Seyong has danced with Metropolitan Opera Ballet at Lincoln Center, Albania Opera Ballet Theatre, Staten Island Ballet, Baltimore Ballet, Traverse City Dance Project, Neglia Ballet, TAKE Dance, and Oakland Ballet Company. In addition, his choreographic works have been internationally invited at Landestheater Coburg Germany, Dance in ITALY Festival, Dzul International Dance Festival in Mexico, Taiwan JueDai Taipei International Dance Festival, ProArteDanza in Canada, Seoul International Dance Festival in TANK, Battery Dance Festival, Lindenwood University, Cleveland Dance Festival, Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival, Chicago International Dance Forum, Detroit Dance City Festival, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, KYL/D Inhale on Camera, Jazz in Lincoln Center, and Nimbus OFFLINE+ at the BAM Fisher.

Jeremy Blair is a choreographer, performer, and educator based in Kalamazoo, MI. His creative research addresses culturally sensitive pedagogy and gender performance in dance. His choreography has been presented at Jacob’s Pillow, City Center, Gibney, Harris Theatre, and other venues throughout the United States. Jeremy has performed with Thodos Dance Chicago, Lucky Plush Productions, Chicago Moving Company, Khecari Dance Theatre, Aerial Dance Chicago, and with Friches Theatre Urbaine in Paris. Jeremy received an MFA in choreography from the University of Iowa and a BA in theatre from Millikin University. Jeremy currently is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Western Michigan University and is a 500-hour registered Hatha yoga teacher.