Dancers
TARA MCARTHUR is a Canadian-American dance artist. She has been a dancer with NOW-ID since 2015. She holds a BFA in dance from California State University Long Beach, where she then went on to dance with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in Salt Lake City, UT from 2008-2014. While in RWDC, she had the opportunity of performing original roles by Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Johannes Wieland, Daniel Charon and a diverse repertory from choreographers including Bill T. Jones, Susan Marshall, John Jasperse, Doug Varone, Alicia Sanchez, Alwin Nikolais and many others. She was awarded a Salt Lake City Arty Award for her performance contributions to the company, and was also featured in an improvisational dance work/film as part of the Do It Exhibition at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art. Tara currently dances with Keith Johnson/Dancers (LA) and Katie Faulkner (SF) and is a certified Yoga and GYROTONIC ® instructor.
KATHERINE LAWRENCE, a native of Fairfield, Connecticut, began her ballet training at Connecticut Dance School and furthered her training at The Harid Conservatory where she graduated as Valedictorian in 1998. She joined Ballet Internationale, Indianapolis in 1999, and quickly rose to the rank of Soloist. In 2004, Ms. Lawrence joined Ballet West where she is currently a Principal Artist. She has also performed with The Universal Ballet of Korea, The Hartford Ballet, Dance Grand Moultrie, Canyon Concert Ballet, Dance Wisconsin, Peoria Ballet and Metropolitan Ballet of Topeka, as well as in The Gala of International Dance Stars and Harid’s 15th Anniversary Gala. In 2007 she appeared at Perry-Mansfield’s New Works Festival where she performed in new choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie. Her career has taken her around the globe to some of the world’s most renowned theaters including The Kennedy Center in our nation’s capital, New York City’s Lincoln Center, City Center and Summer Stage, The Dorothy Chandler Music Pavilion in Los Angeles, and internationally to stages across China, Taiwan, Scotland, and South Korea.
Katherine has performed with NOW-ID since 2013.
JOSEPH BLAKE, M.F.A. recipient from the University of Washington (2017), received his B.F.A. from the University of Utah in 2003. His experiences as a performer, choreographer, and teacher have led him to an interest in the transformative capacity of dance in people’s lives. jo strongly believes that dance and the arts contribute to the enhancement of the “whole self.” He is interested in the impact that dance has on students’ development and personal growth. In his professional career he bonded dance with his personal growth allowing him to develop self-awareness, establish personal goals and create bonds with diverse communities. Prior to traveling the world solo for the last eight months, his research interests included teaching with Dance for PD (Parkinson’s Disease)/Seattle Theatre Group and Yoga Behind Bars.
YUMELIA GARCICA was born in Venezuela and received her professional training in Caracas at the Escuela de Ballet Gustavo Franklin. She joined the National Ballet of Caracas at the age of 15 under the direction of Vicente Nebrada and was promoted to soloist one year later.
Ms. Garcia began her U.S. Career with Heinz Pohl at Ohio Ballet. She then performed as a principal dancer with the Milwaukee Ballet.
Her remarkable versatility, technical prowess and intensity have led her to perform classical roles in full length ballets such as Kitri in Don Quixote, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Giselle and Carmen in their title roles. Ms. Garcia has also performed contemporary lead roles in pieces by George Balanchine, Alonzo Ving, Cho San Goh, David Parson, Jean-Paul Comelin, Lar Lubevich and Christopher Weeldon. She was invited to be a part of The Trey McIntyre Project at White Oak in 2006, and has performed at prestigious festivals such as Jacob’s Pillow, Vail International Festival and Wolf Trap.
Ms. Garcia danced with The Joffrey Ballet for four seasons and has performed with NOW-ID since 2013.
TED JOHNSON has danced with Liz Lerman since 2001, performing in and around D.C. in many works, including Small Dances About Big Ideas; Ferocious Beauty: Genome (as Gregor Mendel); and The Matter of Origins. He spent over two years in Punchdrunk's off-Broadway sensation Sleep No More at the McKittrick Hotel. A fixture in the downtown dance scene in NYC for more than two decades, he performed in the companies of Bebe Miller and Ralph Lemon, as well as many independents including David Alan Harris, Sarah Pogostin, Laurie DeVito, Eun Me Ahn, Cheng Chieh-Yu, Colleen Thomas and Bill Young. His improvisational work has been featured in collaborative ventures onstage with Kirstie Simson, Gabriel Forestieri and Kayoko Nakajima. He has been a student of Klein Technique with Barbara Mahler and Susan Klein for over two decades and maintains a practice in contact improvisation.
Ted has a background in visual arts (drawing, painting, and design), theater and voice. He has been a student of Klein/Mahler Technique with Barbara Mahler and Susan Klein for over two decades, and continues a practice in contact improvisation. He first worked with Charlotte Boye-Christensen at The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard in 1997, and another project in Denmark in 2000.
JENN FREEMAN is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer based out of New York City. Professionally, she has danced in works by choreographers: Kyle Abraham, Larry Keigwin, Brook Notary, and many others. Jenn has appeared in live performances for The MTV Video Music Awards, The Jimmy Fallon Show, Comedy Central's The Comedy Awards, and The Rolling Stone's 50th Anniversary Tour. She has assisted in the mounting of large scale productions for Florence and the Machine, Madonna, and Cirque du Soleil. She is currently a faculty member for The Dance Sessions and Broadway Dance Center.
Sydney Sorenson is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, where she received her training with Utah Regional Ballet’s pre-professional program, later transitioning into modern and contemporary dance via Ririe-Woodbury’s Step-Up Program. Sydney graduated Cum Laude from the University of Utah in 2013 with a BFA in Modern Dance and then had the pleasure of working with L.A. Contemporary Dance Company for two years under the direction of Kate Hutter. In 2017 Sydney received her MFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. While in school she was hand selected to create work as a part of the Masters Performance Workshop in place of the faculty concert. She also had the opportunity to dance alongside Kidd Pivot at City Center led by Crystal Pite. Sydney has worked with choreographers such as Alan Hineline, Alex Little, Bonnie Story, Jaci Royal, Ori Flomin, Ricky Palomino, Sidra Bell, Talia Favia, and Tokyo Inouye. She is known for her role in The Mistle-Tones, has been seen on A Chance to Dance, and has previously toured with Helene Fischer, performed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Grimes, and the Utah Jazz. Currently, Sydney guests as a performer with NOW-ID under the direction of Charlotte Boye-Christensen and is an Associate Professor of Dance at Allan Hancock College in California.
Bashaun Williams is a freelance dance artist & Choreographer. He started his formal dance training at the age of 16 in Lubbock, TX. In High school, he was captain of his Varsity Basketball team and a member of Ballet Lubbock’s pre- professional Company. After graduating in 2007, Bashaun moved to Salt Lake City to attended the University of Utah on both academic and artistic merit scholarships in the department of ballet. While at the U, he danced Principal and Soloist roles in the department’s resident company and graduate with honors in 2011.
Upon graduation, he joined Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in Salt Lake City. During his ten year stent with the company, he had the privilege of touring throughout the United States, Africa, France, Japan, Mongolia and South Korea as a performer and educator. Bashaun is currently a performer with SB Dance in Salt Lake City, a teacher at Ballet West Academy, and an Adjunct Professor at Utah Valley University. He is forever grateful for the opportunity to perform, choreograph and collaborate within the wonderful community of Salt Lake City.