Company dancers

Jon Wells discovered ballet his freshman year at the University of New Hampshire and began studying jazz the year after. He danced principal roles in both the Ballet and Jazz companies his junior and senior years. He also helped develop a unique aerial dance program at the University on his way to completing his BA in theatre, which he received in 2006. Since then he has lived and trained in Vermont where he has performed with the Nimble Arts circus troupe. Jon added modern dance to his resume in 2008 and soon after joined Luminz Dance Theatre where he is happy to be sharing the stage with a wonderful cast of dancers.

Leah Mutz is the co direcor of Luminz Studio. She graduated with a degree in dance and movement studies from Antioch College. She has performed with Sandglass Theater, The Company of Strangers, and The Hibakusha Peace Project and performed and directed for Luminzcircus. She has taught movement to children and adults with a focus on core strengthening and lengthening of the body into space. Inherent in her work is the understanding that in order to approach our world with generosity and positivity we must first understand ourselves and our bodies as deeply good and intrinsically beautiful.

Aurora Corsano is a graduate of Marlboro college and has completed guest student training at the European Dance Development Center in the Netherlands and a six month residency at STIEM in Amsterdam. She has danced in the choreography of Yoshiko Chuma, Mary Fulkerson and Angus Balbernie in Europe and New York and has toured Europe as a solo aerialist with the improvisation electronic music group, “Kreepa”. She has performed through out the United States and New York City with the New York based spectacle entertainment company, “Pink Inc”. Currently, Aurora is the founding director of Luminz Studio dance & performing arts center and the Artistic director of “Luminz Dance Theater” company based in Brattleboro, VT.

Carrie Towle began her dance training in Brattleboro, Vermont and went on to study at the Boston Ballet, the New York School of Ballet, was a dance major at SUNY Purchase and performed with the Purchase Dance Corps. Carrie taught for several studios in Albuquerque while also dancing and teaching for the New Mexico Ballet Company. Carrie has taught ballet to all ages and levels for over fifteen years. In Vermont and Massachusetts, she has taught for Deerfield Academy, The Stoneleigh Burnham School, The Brattleboro School of Dance, the Perfoming Arts/Dance Program of the Windham Regional Career Center, Vermont Academy, Marlboro College, The Williston North Hampton School, and Kelly’s Dance Academy. She holds a MA in Counselor Education from the University of New Mexico and lives in Dummerston with her three beautiful children.

Meg Van Dyck has taught, choreographed and performed throughout New England and New York City over the past ten years. She recently moved to Vermont and served as the artistic director of dance for the Journey East Program at Leland and Gray High School. She accompanied 23 students as they performed her choreography throughout China and Inner Mongolia. Meg has danced with Dodge Dance Company in New York City and Sorvino Dance Project in Western Massachusetts and is a graduate of Smith College. She has also taught dance at Foreign Language School International at Tufts University, Theater of Dreams in New York City, and Deerfield Academy. She enjoys sharing her love for dance with others

Kristin Horrigan has taught contact improvisation across the East Coast and Midwest at festivals, jams, dance centers, and universities. She is a modern dancer and choreographer, and has recently come to Brattleboro to serve as an Assistant Professor of Dance at Marlboro College. She remains the Artistic Director of the Dance Generators, an intergenerational dance company in Northampton, MA. Her latest adventure was a five week journey dancing across Europe, attending along the way several international contact improvisation festivals.

Cyndal Ellis is currently finishing her bachelors degree at Smith College in dance and anthropology. She’s been studying and performing dance for 15 years with particular emphasis on modern dance, ballet,
and most recently, belly dance and tribal fusion. She has choreographed and performed Tribal Fusion for numerous haflas in New England and at Smith College.

Brooke Paige has studied a wide range of dance including a recent passion for Graham technique that has led her to intensive studies with the Martha Graham company. She has also studied and loves the invigorating Afro Cuban styles that are done according to poly rhythm and drum breaks. Brooke’s enthusiasm lies in creating any space and feeling with imager that the audience can join her in. She has dancer with Luminzcircus since 2003 and now with Luminz Dance Theater.

Joan Sanchez has been teaching modern dance and performing for over 20 years. She studied extensively with modern dance great Erick Hawkins and his company in New York and was a visiting faculty member at the Erick Hawkins School of Dance from 1993-95. She was a guest teacher in dance at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine and served as adjunct faculty in dance there from 1988-90. As a founding member of Motion Collective Dance Company in Ellsworth, Maine, she brought the fun and excitement of improvisational dance to the community. During her years in Maine, she also taught at the Town Hill Dance Academy and the Maine Dance Center. In New York she performed in the dance companies of Nancy Mehan, Beverly Brown, Nancy Zendora, and Phyllis Rose.

Sarah Shepard started off dancing in her mother’s womb at contra dances around the Pioneer Valley. Growing up in Ithaca, NY, she studied ballet, modern, jazz, and tap at the Community School of Music and Arts. Later she taught and choreographed for the studio and studied modern at Cornell University. At Smith College, Sarah took classes in ballet, modern, and West African dance. Her senior year, she co-choreographed and performed the piece “Hay for three” for the Spring 2005 dance concert. Recently, Sarah has joyfully rejoined the dance world, taking classes at Brattleboro School of Dance and Luminz Studio. She holds a B.A. in Biology from Smith College and is currently pursuing a nurse-midwifery degree at UMASS Amherst.

John DiGeorge grew up in rural Georgia, studied filmmaking at Harvard, and has performed as a dancer & puppeteer. Among other artistic ventures, he is currently finishing up an independent feature film (www.redbelly.net) and runs a multimedia design company.

Vida King
Ryan Campbell