School : Teacher Bios

	Nanette Robinson, choreographer, educator and dancer is ZUZI! Co-Founder and Artistic Director, holds a BFA in Dance from Temple University and is an introductory and ongoing certified instructor of Skinner Releasing. She has travelled internationally teaching and performing and has extensive experience as an aerial dancer and teacher having worked with Robert Davidson and Terry Sendgraff. Nanette’s choreography has been showcased locally with O-T-O, Zenith Dance Collective, Arts for All, University of Arizona Dance Department, Rick Wamer, “Mythos” Project, NEW ARTiculations, Funhouse Movement Theater, The Tucson Poetry Festival, the ADAA Showcase and the Flagstaff Summer Dance Festival. Nanette is currently teaching at Paolo Freire School, with Mirasol Recovery Treatment Program and ZUZI! School. She is thrilled to be a part of ZUZI!. It has been her home and artistic toolbox for creating dances, flying, teaching and working with all levels and ages of dance lovers.


	Melissa Buckheit is a poet, dancer/Dance teacher, choreographer, English professor, photographer, and massage therapist. She began dancing at the age of 5, studying primarily classical French and Russian Ballet/Pointe, until she became an undergraduate at Brandeis University, and discovered Modern Dance and Martha Graham. Melissa has continued her study of multiple dance/movement modalities, studying Modern Dance, Choreography, Aerial Trapeze, Contact Improvisation, Mind-Body Centering, Dance Therapy, Hakomi, Authentic Movement and Skinner Releasing Technique. She holds a B.A. in Dance/Theatre, English & American Literature/Creative Writing and French from Brandeis University and an M.F.A. in Poetry from Naropa University. Melissa has danced and performed her original choreography in Boston, Boulder and Tucson, as a member of Brandeis Dance Collective in Boston, with Zuzi! Dance Company and through New Articulations Dance Theatre. Recent work includes, Maitri with Karen Reim, Dos Bracos with Maria Villa, when it is night, an island, Fall (repertory by Susan Dibble of Susan Dibble Dance Theatre), and This or That Life, an Aerial solo. She is a recipient of a 2007 Tucson-Pima Arts Council grant in Dance, has served on the TPAC Dance Grant panel for the last couple years, and has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, a Best of the Net Award, and a Best of the Web Award through Sundress Press, for her poetry. Her poems, photography, and other writing have appeared or are forthcoming in nth position, Blue Fifth Review, The Drunken Boat, Taiga, Cutthroat, Pirene’s Fountain, Bombay Gin, and Sonora Review, among others. Her first manuscript, On the Back of the Animal Is the Mouth of the Vase, has been a finalist for several prizes and her chapbook, Arc, was published online through The Drunken Boat in 2007. Melissa has taught Creative Writing and Modern Dance at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Writing at The Art Center Design College and currently teaches Literature, Writing and Creative Writing at Pima College and Aerial Trapeze, Creative Movement and Creative Writing at Zuzi. She also founded and curates the Edge Reading Series for Younger and Emerging Writers, through Casa Libre, in Tucson.

	Aja Knaub is the assistant school director for O-T-O Dance and has been teaching and performing with them for four years. She started her performance training in the theatre arts and moved to dance when she discovered the aerial apparatus, flying and suspending movement in the air. She began 9 years ago on the low flying trapeze under the tutelage of Patti Lopez and the Arivaca Arts Council. In Tucson she expanded this skill with Annie Bunker, Charles Thompson and Nate Dryden. She has taken workshops with Robert Davidson, Nancy Smith of Frequent Flyers Productions, Terry Sendgraff, the trapeze twins Elsie and Serenity Smith, and French aerialists Jacques Bertrand and Frédérique Debitte. She is excited to be teaching for Zuzi!
	Ekida Laurie is from Korea but also grew up in Japan. She's been dancing since she was nine, participating in numerous modern dance competitions. When she was 20, she went to the Netherlands to dance with the NDT Company, and also traveled and danced in Europe. After returning to Korea, she met her husband and moved to Canada. While there she taught modern dance for three years at the Canadian School of Ballet. When her husband finished his PhD Program, he got a job at the U of A, and that brought her to Tucson. She is the mother of two young boys and they’ve been training her every day to run really FAST...so Ekida considers herself a runner too.
	Carie Schneider discovered her lifelong passion for dance in a creative movement class at age 5, and has been dancing anywhere and in any way she can ever since. She first encountered aerial dance when ZUZI! dancers visited her high school in 1999. Since 2001, Carie has worked with ZUZI! in many capacities, as a teacher, company member, theater manager, marketing coordinator and more. Currently Carie works intermittently with Movement Salon, a compositional improvisation group, and she has just begun studies toward her PhD in English Literature at the University of Arizona.
	Sara Anderson Stewart graduated summa cum laude at Arizona State University in 2004 and was the recipient of the Herberger College of Fine Arts Distinguished Graduate Award and the Outstanding Dance Educator Award. At ASU Sara performed with Dance Arizona Repertory Theater (DART), and in over a dozen works choreographed by ASU faculty, students, and guest artists Vicki Schick and Yvonne Rainer. Apart from ASU Sara performed in Phoenix and Minneapolis with GGG Dance Company. Upon graduation, Sara directed the dance program at Skyline High School. In 2008 she made the move to Tucson, to pursue a career teaching with the Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) program as an Arts Integration Specialist (AIS). Among many music AIS, Sara was the first OMA AIS with a dance background, pioneering the way for other dance educators. As an OMA AIS, Sara collaborates with classroom teachers to develop lesson plans that use the performing and visual arts to teach, support and reinforce academic objectives. Sara is a former teacher at ZUZI!, but is regretfully taking a hiatus to pursue her graduate degree with the Language, Reading, and Culture program at the University of Arizona. However, during most nights Sara can still be found at ZUZI! Dance Company, where she attends class, performs, choreographs, and also directs with Apprentice Company--that goodness for late-night rehearsals!
	Mechelle Flemming grew up in London, England and began dancing in 2004. She received her B.A. in dance/theatre at the University of Houston (Texas). She has worked with Becky Valls, SUCHU, Psophonia Dance Company, Teresa Chapman (including Cunningham Dance Studio, NYC, 2007), Toni Leago Valle, Douglas Dunn, Laban Center (London), Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, and remains a current member of Travesty Dance Group, and Vault. Mechelle has presented solo/collaborative work in Texas at ACDF, Big Range Dance Festival, Diverseworks, Offshore Technology Conference and Merging Modes. This is her first year with ZUZI!
	Hailey Sounart first came to ZUZI! when she took the High Flying Arts Camp and afterwards, she started taking trapeze classes. She joined the Many Limbs Youth Company and has been dancing at ZUZI! for nine years. She is currently in ZUZI! Apprentice Company, part of ZUZI!'s modern Dance Company. Hailey attends Catalina Foothills High School, which unfortunatly doesn't have a dance program. Hailey is mainly an aerial and modern dancer, but is now broadening her horizons with ballet, jazz, lyrical, and hip hop. Hailey started assisting trapeze classes a few years ago, and will now be teaching her own aerial classes.
	Shelley Smith- I have been dancing since the age of 7 years old, where I strongly trained in ballet, jazz, lyrical, and hip-hop from Saddleback Dance Center to West Coast Dance Academy and Jimmy DeFore. During those years, I intensively competed in ballet, lyrical, and jazz. Prior to going on Pointe, I took intensives in Cecchetti, American Ballet, Russian Ballet, and was then certified by The Cecchetti Society of Dance. I continued my training while attending Tesoro High School where I was on the Varsity Song Team for 4 years, and was awarded captain my senior year. I then attended Saddleback College where I performed and choreographed in the dance department. I continuI have been dancing since the age of 7 years old, where I strongly trained in ballet, jazz, lyrical, and hip-hop from Saddleback Dance Center to West Coast Dance Academy and Jimmy DeFore. During those years, I intensively competed in ballet, lyrical, and jazz. Prior to going on Pointe, I took intensives in Cecchetti, American Ballet, Russian Ballet, and was then certified by The Cecchetti Society of Dance. I continued my training while attending Tesoro High School where I was on the Varsity Song Team for 4 years, and was awarded captain my senior year. I then attended Saddleback College where I performed and choreographed in the dance department. I continue to take from well-known dancers and choreographers such as, Donyelle Jones and Sonya Tayeh. From 2008 - 2010, I was dedicated to Architecture Dance and Emotus Dance Company. With these companies, I was able to expand my repertoire of dance through modern and contemporary. In various genres, I have had the opportunity to choreograph for shows and performances through Saddleback College and "The Next Level" Performing Arts. I found my passion for teaching while working at The Tumble Center, teaching preschool gymnastics and dance for 3 years. I continued my teaching through OC All-Stars Cheer & Dance, Dance Palace, and most recently The Little Gym.e to take from well-known dancers and choreographers such as, Donyelle Jones and Sonya Tayeh. From 2008 - 2010, I was dedicated to Architecture Dance and Emotus Dance Company. With these companies, I was able to expand my repertoire of dance through modern and contemporary. In various genres, I have had the opportunity to choreograph for shows and performances through Saddleback College and "The Next Level" Performing Arts. I found my passion for teaching while working at The Tumble Center, teaching preschool gymnastics and dance for 3 years. I continued my teaching through OC All-Stars Cheer & Dance, Dance Palace, and most recently The Little Gym.