Company Danzante Contemporary Dance
Guest Artist.
Dancers & Choreographers.Read more about their work and the influences that have shaped their styles and choreographic methods.
Erin began her training at the Carroll County Dance Center in Sykesville, Maryland, studying principles of the Vaganova method under Sandra Woods, jazz and modern dance. She attended several summer intensives including Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Erin graduated magna cum laude from Elon University in 2011 receiving a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and a minor in Communications. At Elon, Erin had the privilege of working with guest choreographers Jon Lehrer, Leslie Scott, and Liz Maxwell, former dancer with Laura Dean. Her choreography was presented in the Informal Concert at the American College Dance Festival.
Erin started her professional career in North Carolina dancing for TERRANOVA Dance Theatre, Natalie Marrone and The Dance Cure, and Chris Burnside. There, she performed in conferences and festivals such as the North Carolina Dance Festival Tour, the Greensboro Fringe Festival, and the North Carolina Dance Alliance Annual Event. Since moving to the DC metro area, she has danced with Ballet ADI, Moveius Contemporary Ballet, DancEthos, Metropolitan Ballet Ensemble and local choreographers, Eleni Grove and Matina Phillips. She has performed in the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival, the Capital Fringe Festival, and Baltimore's Artscape.
Rachael Mauney holds a BFA in performance and choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She trained in classical ballet with Charlotte City Ballet, Raleigh Dance Theater, and North Carolina School of the Arts until her senior year of high school when she began training in modern dance techniques. She continued her dance education in college at UNC Greensboro, the American Dance Festival, and the Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts.
She has worked as an independent artist as both a performer and choreographer in the North Carolina dance community. She has choreographed for several festivals and art installations including the Greensboro Fringe Festival, the Green Hill Center for NC Art, and a site specific work for the American Dance Festival. Her work was also shown in Perth, Australia as a collaboration between artists whose work investigates dance and social justice.
Also while studying in Australia, Rachael performed work by Melanie Lane that explored culture and imagery from the country’s Aboriginal history. She also performed with Gaspard and Dancers at the American Dance Festival in 2010, and as a part of Peter DiMuro’s Future Preludes at Dance Place in Washington, DC with Christopher K. Morgan.
Rachael currently is a full-time teacher at Adagio Ballet and Dance School and is the Project Manager for their outreach program.
Rachael has been a company member with Company Danzante since 2012, where she has performed, taught company class, and has been a choreographer’s assistant in setting repertory on a summer dance intensive program in Chicago.
Kyoko Ruch began her dance training at Classical Ballet Academy of Northern Virginia under the direction of Cynthia Donavin and attended summer programs at The Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Miami City Ballet, School of American Ballet with an honorary scholarship and Richmond Ballet on full scholarship.

Kyoko worked with Richmond Ballet as a Trainee and an Apprentice. She also worked with choreographers such as Malcolm Burn, Jessica Lang, William Soleau, and Susan Shields.
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Kyoko earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University where she studied with Christian Von Howard, Judy Steel, Scott Putman, Martha Curtis, Melanie Richards and James Frazier. She performed works by Christian Von Howard, Stefanie Batten Bland, and Malcolm Burn. She attended American College Dance Festival Regional Conferences with VCU and in 2010 performed at the Kennedy Center for the National Conference Gala.
Elizabeth Burr grew up in Falls Church, Virginia where she studied dance at Ballet Nova and the Creative Dance Center. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance from Indiana University. While at Indiana University she danced under the direction of Elizabeth Shea, Selene Carter, and Dr. Nyama McCarthy-Brown. During her four years at University, she had the privilege of working with companies such as Hubbard Street 2, Keigwin & Company, Girodano Dance, Abraham.in.Motion, Gallim Dance, and choreographers Jaclyn Walsh and Angie Hauser.
She has spent summers studying in New York with Parsons Dance; in Italy with Stefanie Nelson, Andy Noble, Cristiano Fabbri, and Netherlands Dance Theatre’s Bruce Michelson; and at the American Dance Festival, where she performed Beth Gill’s choreography in Footprints.
Elizabeth spent a semester abroad in Israel where she studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. While studying at the Academy, she had the privilege of training extensively in gaga technique and Batsheva repertoire with former company members of Batsheva Dance Company including Aya Israeli. She also studied technique class, improvisation, and repertoire with Noa Wertheim and Vertigo Dance Company.
Olivia Jordan, from Jacksonville, Florida, received her early training from the North Carolina School of the Arts. She graduated cum laude from the Jacksonville University BFA dance program in 2011, where she had the opportunity to perform works by Jennifer Muller, David Parsons, Také Ueyama, Adrienne Clancy, and Christian Von Howard. Ms. Jordan was recognized as Student of the Year for the College of Fine Arts.
She performed as a company member with Jennifer Muller/The Works in New York City from 2011 to 2013, Surfscape Contemporary Dance Theatre in Florida from 2013 to 2014, and ClancyWorks Dance Company from 2014-2015. Most recently, Olivia had the opportunity to work with Candace Bushnell, author of Sex & the City, on her ‘Killing Monica’ music video.
Madison Horwitz grew up and began her dance training in Lakeland, FL. She attended Rochelle School of the Arts middle school and then later Harrison School for the Performing Arts high school where she got to perform works by Jose Limon and Peter Pucci. She then moved to Woodbridge, VA where she continued her dance training at Metropolitan Fine Arts Center under the direction of Melissa Dobbs and Sara Hart. Within that time she attended the Orlando ballet summer intensive under scholarship and studied under Peter Stark and Julie Kent.
Madison received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors from George Mason University. She studied under Susan Shields, Christopher D’Amboise, Karen Reedy, Jim Lepore, Dan Joyce, Erika Pujic, Kathryn Pilkington, and Durell Comedy. She received the Outstanding Freshman Year award and scholarship, and the Kevin Campbell scholarship to study at the Parsons Dance summer intensive where she performed the work Nascimento Novo. In her senior year she also had the joy of learning Alejandro Cerrudo’s work Lickety Split. This is her first season with Company Danzante.
Beth Griffin is a native of Maryland who trained classically under former New York City Ballet dancer Suzanne Erlon. She graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Dance Performance from Towson University where she studied with Runqiao Du, Catherine Horta-Hayden, Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, and Susan Mann. As a member of the Towson University Dance Company, Beth had the opportunity to perform principal roles from classical ballets as well as works by Alvin Ailey, Sir Frederick Ashton, Robert Battle, Nicole Martinell, Troy Powell, Vincent Thomas, and Timothy Veach.
Beth has trained with Paul Taylor Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, American Academy of Ballet, The Rock School, and American Ballet Theatre. She was twice awarded scholarships from the Nancy E. Romita Travel Endowment to facilitate professional out-of-town study.
Beth lives in Washington, D.C. She has performed at The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Dance Place, American Dance Institute, Baltimore Theater Project, and throughout the United States. She is excited to be a member of Company Danzante this season!
Glen Lewis received his B.F.A in 2009 from Virginia Commonwealth University in Dance and Choreography. While studying, he worked with many artists such as Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban BushWoman, Heidi Weiss, Miguel Gutierrez, and Robert Battle. He trained and performed for faculty members including Dr. James Frazier, as well as training at the Ailey Summer Intensive. After graduating from VCU, Glen also trained on full scholarship at the Virginia Beach Ballet Academy and with Albert Watson in Norfolk, VA. Since graduating, Glen has worked as a freelance artist in Western Europe. In 2010,
Glen was offered a full scholarship to attend the Richmond Ballet summer intensive and was then invited to be a trainee with the Richmond Ballet. While at Richmond Ballet he was an assistant teacher with Minds in Motions, a dance program designated for the public school system in Richmond, Virginia. During his traineeship,
Glen also became a member of the Island Moving Company, a contemporary ballet company in Newport, Rhode Island under the artistic direction of Miki Ohlsen. Currently Glen is in his third year with the Island Moving Company. There, Glen has worked and performed with artists such as Spencer Gavin Herring, Colin Connors, John-Mark Owens, Joe Celej, Scott Putman and Marta Renzi. Glen also has the opportunity to choreograph on the company, in addition to working as a freelance choreographer for various projects in Virginia. Along with being a member with Island Moving Company, Glen collaborates as a guest artist with Ian Colless artistic director of Untitled Collective. He looks forward to this residency with Company Danzante and to performing with the company for their Inside the Box series this March.
This is his first time guesting with CO/DA.
Alex MacLean, from Halifax Nova Scotia, is a graduate of the Ailey/Fordham BFA program with a minor in English. As a student she had the opportunity to work with Darrel Moultrie, Jennifer Muller, Camille Brown, Robert Battle and Larry Keigwin.
Since graduating she has worked with Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre in NY, Regina Nejman and Company and Teresa Fellion and Dancers. Currently Alex dances with Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company and is a teacher at Adagio Ballet and Dance School. Alex joined Company Danzante in 2013 and is very excited to be part of this artistic process.
Anastasia Mihalovna Welsh from Albany, NY, participated in various summer programs, including Briansky Saratoga Ballet Center, New York State Summer School of the Arts Ballet (NYSSSA), Boston Ballet, Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive (SSDI)/ SSDI-Vail and also returned to some of them as a counselor and teacher.
She received her B.A. at Mercyhurst University with a concentration in Dance- Choreography and a minor in Arts Administration. Choreographer, Teacher, and performer, she has performed with the prestigious Moscow Ballet and has danced with the Albany Berkshire Ballet Company, Lake Erie Ballet Company, Mercyhurst Ballet Theatre and currently dances and choreographs for The Manassas Ballet Theatre.
This is her first time guesting with Danzante.