Dance Company : Company Bios

Photo: Larry Hanelin

Nancy Mellan, ZUZI! Co-Founder, obtained her BFA in dance from Temple University. Before moving to Tucson, Nancy had established her own school and collaborative dance company in the Philadelphia area. She has served as artist in residence in synagogues locally and nationally and teaches Modern Dance at Pima Community College and ZUZI! Dance Lab. Nancy continues to develop her artistry through intensive study with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.  Nancy is the proprietor of  the Casa Luna Bed and Breakfast in Tucson.

Beth Braun is the former ZUZI! Associate Artistic Director. Beth has been performing professionally and teaching since 1982 in Tucson, throughout Arizona, in New York, California, and internationally. Originally from New York, Beth received her MA Degree in Dance from State University of New York at Brockport and has studied at the Alvin Ailey Contemporary Dance Center. Beth has worked with just about every modern company in Tucson, starting back with Territory Dance Theatre, and while in NY she worked with Randy James Danceworks for their first season. She has taught every age student from 13 month old babies to 60 year old differently-abled adults. Currently Beth directs the dance program at Rincon/University High School. Beside her work with ZUZI!, Beth created and produced her own work with musician/composer/husband, Arthur Miscione. Beth was the 2005 recipient of the Buffalo Exchange Arts Award.

Alison Hart started performing and choreographing for ZUZI! in 2005. She is also the director of the ZUZI! Youth Company. Alison's involvement with dance and performance began at a young age and continues to be her life's focus and work.  In 2004 Alison graduated from Arizona State University with a BFA in Dance Education. For 4 years she was the artistic director of the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Dance program, teaching classes and choreographing for children of all ages. Alison has had the privilege of working with many choreographers and companies including Mary Fitzgerald, Jennifer Tsukayama, Brad Garner, David Dorfman, Lisa Race, Yvonne Rainer, Dance Arizona Repertory Theatre, CONDER/dance, and Flam Chen. In 2008 she had the wonderful opporutnity to choreograph and perfrom at the American Dance Festival. From 2005 to 2011 Alison taught dance full time at Utterback Middle School.

Emily Willard

Zan Savage

Bridget Gunning

Yumi Shirai

Nathan Dryden holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in art from U.C. Irvine and is a Certified Skinner Releasing Teacher. Along with his own choreography, Nathan has danced and performed with John White, Stephanie Skura, ORTS Theatre of Dance, Zenith Dance Collective, and New ARTiculations Dance Company. Nathan has served on the staff at the Florida Dance Festival and with Robert Davidson at the University of Washington where he taught Aerial Dance. Nathan has been teaching, choreographing and performing with ZUZI since its beginnings in 1998.

Lia Greisser began dancing at the age of three.  She has studied modern, jazz, aerial, tap, ballet, hip hop, and step. Lia has been dancing with ZUZI! since its beginning, starting in the youth aerial company. Outside of ZUZI! Lia has danced competitively on A Tucson Dance Company’s dance team and has performed with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and the Moscow Ballet

Wendy Joy has an MFA in dance from the University of Arizona and a BA in Dance from Douglas College at Rutgers University. She has extensive training in both classical ballet and modern dance. Wendy was the owner and Artistic Director of dance images by Wendy joy in Ventnor, NJ. Currently, she is a teaching artist with TUSD’s OMA program as well as the director/developer of PROJECT:connect, a dance program linking TUSD and the University of Arizona. Wendy has been teaching, choreographing, and performing with ZUZI since its beginnings!

ZUZI is delighted to present its Youth Aerial Company - unique to Tucson begun in 2004 by Nanette Robinson and Emily Willard! This company is currently composed of 9 youth ages 9-14, who have made a commitment to working together and performing for the Tucson community. We are honored to work with these beautiful, creative and promising youth.

Through this program ZUZI hopes to provide the challenges necessary for growth as a dancer and an individual –through choreography, performances, and aerial and modern technique classes.

Much of the choreography is the creation of the youth themselves under the current facilitation of Alison Hart.

Many Limbs Youth Aerial Company Members:

Maddie Brown is 11 and attends St. Michael’s Parish Day School as a sixth grader. When she’s not dancing, she enjoys cycling, drawing, beading, loom knitting, snorkeling in the ocean, playing in the desert and spending time with her family. This is her first season performing with ZUZI! and she is loving every minute of it!

Olivia Bartholomaei is 12 and goes to Utterback Middle School in the 7^th grade. She takes Advanced Dance at school and two classes at ZUZI!. In addition to dancing, she sings in the Tucson Girls Chorus in the second to last chorus and takes Advanced Drama at school.

Grace DuFresne goes to Tag Middle School and is in the 6^th grade. Grace is 12 years old and she has been dancing since she was 3 years old. In her free time, she does homework and goes shopping. This is her first season with Youth Company.

Jasmine Romanov is 12 years old and attends Green Fields Country Day School. She has been dancing for 9 years and is the setter for her varsity volleyball team at school. This is her first season with Youth Company.

Eris Shaver is 12 and is a seventh grader at Paulo Friere Freedom School. She has been dancing at ZUZI for one and a half years, and been in Youth Company for only 4 months. In her free time she loves to play with her four dogs.

Erin Sorensen is 12 years old and is in the 7^th grade at Paulo Freire Freedom School. She has been dancing at ZUZI for roughly 3 years, and this is her first season in Youth Company. Erin loves Rainbow Lollipops.

Megan Sorensen is 12 and in the 7^th grade at Paulo Friere Freedom School. She joined the youth company this year and has been dancing for about three years. In addition to dancing she loves to draw and volunteer her time to help animals.
 

Ross Sounart is in the 7^th grade and goes to Orange Grove Middle School. He is 13 years old and has been in ZUZI’s Youth Company for three years. Besides dance, he likes swimming and hanging out with his friends.

Leila Wiberg is 11 years old, and is in the 6^th grade at Green Fields Country Day School. Leila has been in the Youth Company for just over 1 year. When she’s not dancing, Leila likes to hang out with friends and talk.

Winter Solstice Performance, 2010 Photo by Larry Hanelin.

Photo: Larry Hanelin

Zamora Baldwin is in the 9th grade and has been dancing with ZUZI! for 4 years.  Some of her favorite things to do are to read a good book, watch movies with friends and ride her bike.  Along with dancing she plays the clarinet in her school band.

Amanda Boyd was in the youth company for 3 years before joining the Apprentice Company. She has been dancing with ZUZI! since she was six years old.

Kelia Gallagher is 14 and a freshman at CDO.  She has been dancing with ZUZI! for 6 years.  Her interests include reading, drawing, painting and learning German.

Amelia Marsh is 16 years old and is a junior at University High School. She enjoys dancing.

Celia Patania is 14 and in 9th grade.  She was in the Youth Compnay for three years before joining the Apprentice. In addition to dance, Celia loves music and animals.  She went on her first backpacking trip over the summer, in the Colorado Rockies.  She is looking forward to the birth of her new baby brother.

Jordan Ruiz. Bio forthcoming...

Molly Stack is 13 and an 8th grader at Tucson Hebrew Academy where she is the house choreographer. She is a veteran ZUZI! Youth Company member and loves aerial dance. Last year she lived in center city Philadelphia where she saw many amazing and inspiring professional dancers perform.

Galyn Sumida Ross started trapeze at the age of two, and came to ZUZI a few years later. At ZUZI she started with tap and trapeze, then in third grade got invited to join the youth company. Galyn is now a freshman at UHS and is taking dance there, as well as at ZUZI. Besides dance Galyn enjoys drawing, cooking, playing the harp and swimming.