Dancers
Lauren grew up in Maryland and received her early training at the Washington School of Ballet from Mary Day, Pat Berrend, and Lupe Serrano. She then embarked on a life as a ballet dancer working with Washington Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet and other companies around the country. Lauren then attended college and graduate school in New York City and began taking modern dance classes there. She studied with Saba in Graham technique and at Dance New Amsterdam in Simonson technique, as well as Steps and Alvin Ailey and performed choreography by Saba and Isabel Gotzkowsky. While dancing in Phoenix, Lauren worked with Ann Ludwig, Desert Dance Theatre, and Center Dance Ensemble. Now living in Houston, Lauren is excited to be able to enjoy her third season with Ann Ludwig".
Kailey Johnson received her BFA in dance in 2002 from the University of Arizona in Tucson. She spent the next three years dancing in San Diego for Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater, Patricia Rincon Dance Collective, Mojalet, and Alicia Peterson Dance. From 2005 to 2007 she danced in New York City for Heidi Latsky and Lori Belilove as well as produced her own works in Brooklyn. She is excited to be back in Arizona dancing with A Ludwig Dance Company as well as teaching Pilates at Moving Breath Pilates in Tempe with Virginia Nicholas. Kailey is also a licensed massage therapist.
John Leonard, a native of North Carolina, began his dance studies at the North Carolina School of the Arts and received his Bachelor of Arts in dance, with honors, from Columbia College of Chicago. Leonard has performed with the national and Japan tours of the Broadway show Blast. A teacher and choreographer for nearly fifteen years, his work has been seen in most of the fifty United States and Canada. In Chicago, he has choreographed for some of the city¹s most renowned performing arts centers such as TimeLine Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre. In 2006, Leonard created a piece set on seventy performers which was featured at the opening ceremonies of the Gay Olympic Games, held at Soldier Field in Chicago, for a crowd of over 32,000. In addition to dance, Leonard is extremely active in the marching arts field. He teaches and choreographs nationally competitive, award-winning marching bands, drum corps and winter guards. This summer Leonard designed for the Santa Clara Vanguard drum and bugle corps from Santa Clara, CA and currently designs for the Marcus High School Marching Band from Flower Mound, TX. Leonard is currently pursuing his MFA in Dance at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. When he¹s not in the studio or teaching somewhere in the world, he enjoys swimming, running and biking, and actively participates in races and triathlon events.
Professor Emerita of Dance at ASU, joined the ASU faculty in 1969 and served as Chair of the Department of Dance from 1977 to 1994. She holds a BS Ed in Mathematics, an MA in Dance and a Ph.D. in Biomechanics and Dance. She was honored in 1985 by the Governor as one of Arizona’s Women Who Create.
Dr. Lessard was named the 1990 Outstanding Dance Alumna of Texas Woman's University. With A Ludwig Dance Theatre, she has performed in New York City, along the East Coast, in West Germany, and on a ten-week US Embassy tour of Portugal. She was guest teacher in Espirito Santo, Vitoria, Brazil 1987; Salvador Bahia, Brazil, 1988; and Puebla, Mexico 2001.
Beth has been rehearsal assistant for Kelly and Babs. Currently, in addition to performing with A Ludwig Dance Theatre, Dr. Lessard studies Pilates ,Yoga and Meditation.
Yeong Wen Lee is a member of Tsukayama Dance Collaborative and FLUX Dance Project. For the past years, as a freelance dance artist, he had performed internationally in NYC international Fringe, Perth Fringe Festival, the Asia Arts Festival in Tokyo and Arizona Dance Festival. In 2001, Yeong represented Singapore in the Realizing Rama tour to Europe by the ASEAN Flagship Voyage. In 2002, with support from the National Arts Council (Singapore), he enrolled himself in the Arizona State University to further his studies in dance, successfully graduating in 2004 with a BFA in Dance (Choreography). In Fall 2007, Yeong had returned to Arizona to pursue MFA in dance at ASU. Yeong is very grateful to Ann Ludwig Dance Theatre for including him in this production. www.gentleapproach.net
Heather Lewis received a Masters of Fine Art in Dance from ASU 2003. She teaches modern and jazz dance, yoga and Pilates at many levels to diverse populations from high school to university level. She directed the Dance Department at Westview High School for 2 years and taught as adjunct faculty at Mesa Community College, Glendale Community College, Scottsdale Community College and Faculty Associate at ASU. Currently Heather is passionately busy as owner/operator of Maximum Pilates in Phoenix. She remains active in the dance community and has performed locally with Center Dance of the Herberger Theatre, Footworks Dance, and is a founding member of Flux Dance Project. Heather is pleased to return to perform for a third year with A Ludwig Dance Theatre. She happily resides in North Central Phoenix with her husband and son. www.maximumpilates.com
Angelina Lin trained in the ballet department at the Beijing Dance Academy and at the Princess Grace Academy of Dance. She has performed throughout the US as well as internationally, most notably in Monaco, Jerusalem, and China. She’s worked with Hosanna Sacred Arts, Jose Mateo’s Ballet Theatre, Jerusalem Dance Theatre, and the Beijing Contemporary Dance Theatre. In recent years she has expanded into more choreographic roles. Her works have been performed in Boston, NYC, Jerusalem, Beijing, and Shanghai. In 2009, she was invited by Beijing’s Xin Ya Kong Qi Orchestra to choreograph a staging of Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale; an excerpt from this production was selected to be a part of Guangzhou Modern Dance Festival’s Youth Dance Marathon Showcase. In Beijing she produced ILLUME, a monthly multi-disciplinary arts performance that focuses on bringing artists from various disciplines together to experiment and to inspire audiences to embrace individual creativity.
Nicole Touzien, a Florida native, recently relocated to the Phoenix area after receiving her M.F.A. degree in Dance at Texas Woman's University. In 2005, she received her B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and journalism minor with highest honors from Columbia College in South Carolina. She currently teaches at Glendale Community College as an adjunct Dance Instructor. While in Texas, she served as the Soma Fitness Studio Coordinator, Production Coordinator, and Online Teaching Assistant for the Department of Dance at TWU. Nicole has worked with the Kinetic Artists Collective, a network of independent choreographers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area; DanceWorks, a DFW community outreach-based company; Ghost Town Arts Collective, a network of independent visual, print, and performing artists in the DFW area; and South Carolina-based companies such as Sapphire Moon Dance Company, the Power Company, Columbia Classical Ballet Company, and Djoliba Don African Drumming and Dancing Ensemble. Nicole’s artistic interests include the exploration of non-traditional performance spaces and the continuum of performance and observation.
Originally from Taiwan, Jia Wu received her B.F.A. in Dance from the Taipei National University of the Arts (formerly called National Institute of Arts) in Taiwan, and M.F.A. in Dance from Arizona State University. During her studies at ASU she began exploring the technology in dance education and performance. She continued pursuing computer technology application and later received her second master degree -- M.S. in Technology from Arizona State University East. She has performed with Guest artists Kevin O' Day and Art Bridgman, and danced with Cliff Keuter, Elina Mooney, Young-Aei Park and Ann Ludwig.
She has been in the dance field as a performer, choreographer and teacher since 1990. Jia is currently a faculty member at South Mountain Community College. She is also the A Ludwig Dance Theatre website developer and graphic designer. She began dancing with A Ludwig Dance Theatre in 2001. Jia is the rehearsal assistant for ..the cheese stands alane...
Guest Dancers
Samantha Basting is a native of Northwest Ohio, where she received her BS in Broadcast Journalism at Bowling Green State University. She also completed her MFA in Dance at Arizona State University with an emphasis in performance and choreography. Her scholarly work has been presented at the National Dance Education Organization conferences in Baltimore and New York City. As a performer, Sam has worked with choreographers Mary Fitzgerald, Karen Schupp, Nora Chipaumire, Willi Dorner, Nancy Bannon, and Elina Mooney while also serving on the board for CONDER/dance and the Arizona Dance Education Organization. Currently, Sam teaches both theory and studio courses at Glendale Community College.
Melissa Canto is a performer, choreographer, teacher and lover of dance. She will be completing her Master’s of Fine Arts from the School of Dance in May of 2010. Melissa received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in 2003 from the University of Florida. Currently at Arizona State, Melissa serves on the board of the University Graduate Council, Arizona Dance Education Organization, the graduate dance student organization ‘Junk Drawer’, and is teaching non-major dance classes. Melissa is thrilled to be performing for and beside such incredible artists.
Jean Kelley, born and raised in Arizona, graduated in May 2006 from Arizona State University, receiving her B.F.A. in Dance where she had the privilege of working with guest artists and faculty such as Sang Cheul-Choe, Mary Fitzgerald, Jennifer Tsukayama, and Shouze Ma. Upon graduating, she joined CONDER/dance and performed with them for three seasons. Most recently she obtained her personal trainer and group fitness certificates from the Glendale Community College Fitness program and has been teaching fitness classes at local gyms in the Valley. Jean is currently taking a break from teaching to focus on spending time with her daughter who was born this past July.
Jenna Kosowski, originally from Rochester, NY, was awarded her MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography at ASU in 2008. Jenna received her undergraduate degree in Studio Art and Dance from New York University. Throughout her dance career, she has performed for many dance artists including Timothy Draper, Gerard Ebitz, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Shouze Ma, and Jennifer Tsukayama. She has performed with the Rochester City Ballet, and most recently with CONDER/dance. Her scholarly work has been presented at the National Dance Education Organization conference in Long Beach in 2006. Jenna currently teaches dance at Higley High School and has been happily performing for Mary Fitzgerald over the past year. www.jennakosowski.com
Jessica Mumford, a native of Kalamazoo, MI, recently received her MFA in Dance and Interdisciplinary Digital Media at Arizona State University. Jessica currently dances with both Aaron McGloin Dance and CONDER/dance, and runs a video documentation and editing business. During her dance career, Jessica has had the opportunity to perform with artists such as Nora Chipaumire, Ashleigh Leite, Mary Fitzgerald, Todd Ingalls, and Steven Iannacone. In efforts to bring her work to the greater Phoenix community, Jessica is collaborating with four fellow artists to direct and manage a non-profit organization for media art called urbanSTEW. The mission of urbanSTEW is to create art and innovative technology for use by communities.
Leslie Roth is on the Dance Faculty at the College of Southern Nevada, and tours as a performer with Kelly Roth and Dancers which she has done since 1981. Having received her BA in Dance from the State University of New York College at Brockport, and her MA in Humanities/Dance from Arizona State University, she was invited to be on the faculty at ASU before meeting and marrying Kelly Roth. Ms. Roth has also taught and choreographed at Mesa Community College, Texas Woman’s University, Coker College in South Carolina and has been a guest teacher at numerous dance workshops around the country. Companies she has performed with include A Ludwig Dance Theatre, Kei Takei, Laura Dean, Richard Bull, and Erroll Simpson and Dancers. In addition to her responsibilities at CSN, Leslie has been a guest choreographer with Las Vegas Civic Ballet.
Jennifer Walker currently is member of Contemporary Dance Wyoming and the School Director of Dancers’ Workshop in Jackson Hole, WY. She brings a varied background of professional dance performance, choreography, teaching, and certified Pilates training to her work. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in Dance with a concentration in education and choreography from Arizona State University and was actively involved in the Arizona arts community taking initiative in such research as: PAST: Women Survivors of Torture community outreach, Interactive Gateway: Yvonne Rainer Project, Moving Inventors Children’s Programs, and Programs for Talented Youth. She was an associate professor at Glendale College, Arizona. Prior to Arizona she established Jennifer Walker & Company in New York. Jennifer is the co-founder and co-director of the collaborative FLUX Dance Project. She has toured nationally and internationally with A Ludwig Dance Theater, Modern Repertory Dance Theater and Jacksonville Ballet Theater.