Ghost Dance

Sacagawea, 2009

Choreography by: Jen Archer

Photo by: Mrs. K

Ascential Dance Theatre Colorado

Jennifer Fagan Archer 

                                                                               Click here for Jen's biography

Tobi Johnson Compton

(Executive Director, Performer, Educator)

          Click here for Tobi's biography 

 Photos by Theresa Anton and David Andrews

(Performer, Producer, Administrative Assistant & Costume Designer)

Jessica Garica has been a professional dancer with Hannah Kahn Dance Company since the summer of 2007 and joined Ascential Dance Theatre Colorado in the fall 2008. She studied Dance Pedagogy and Arts in Education with notable artists such as Lucilena de Geus and Debra Knapp at New Mexico State University from where in 2005 she graduated with Honors and a B.A. in Dance.  During her college career, Ms. Garcia trained with Paco Antonio and she attended the American Dance Festival in 2004 to study with Robert Battle, Gerri Houlihan and Michelle Boule.  She has an extensive background in Anatomy, Kinesiology, Biomechanics, Bartenieff Fundamentals, as well as stretch and strength techniques using thera-bands. Graduating with Honors from Boulder College of Massage Therapy 2008, she embarked on another wonderful career as a Certified Massage Therapist at Broomfield’s FIT Wellness Center. 

Jesse has enjoyed guest artist opportunities with Bill Evans and Friends, Sol y Arena and Evolving Doors Dance Project. Her current endeavors include teaching creative movement for Colorado Ballet's ‘Dance Renaissance’ after-school program and growing as a consultant, designer and costume builder for Ascential Dance where she has designed original couture costumes for works such as Sacagawea and a new project called The Con-A Steamphunk Reverie which will premiere in December 2010.

Bailey Harrison

(Performer)

Bailey Harrison began dancing at the age of four.  She trained for 14 years at Peak Academy of Dance then attended the University of Northern Colorado where she earned a degree in Exercise Science.  Bailey performed in various student and faculty concerts at UNC, and attended the American Collegiate Dance Festival in 2006, 2007, and 2008. She helped produce and choreograph for a number of different student showcases and most recently co-produced an original production in Northglenn.  Bailey has taught at dance schools throughout Colorado and currently works for a Physical Therapist in Denver.  She has danced with 8^th Street Contemporary and Danse Etoile Ballet, and is excited to be a part of Ascential Dance this season.

(Bailey as 'Dread' in The Con, December 26, 2010)

Barbara Javors (Choreographer, Performer)

Photo coming soon...

Barbara Javors began her dance training in San Antonio, Texas at the Vladmir Marek Ballet Academy.  She danced with the San Antonio Youth Ballet at the age of 14. After a summer dance intensive at the North Carolina School of the Arts, she returned to Texas to attend Houston ISD's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She attended summer intensives at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York and the Boston Ballet School in Boston, MA.  She went back to North Carolina School of the Arts and graduated with a concentration in dance. While attending NCSA she trained in Ballet with Melissa Hayden of the New York City Ballet, Frank Smith and Franchon Cordell of the American Ballet Theater, and Gula Pandy of the Hungarian National Ballet. She received her Modern Dance training with Brenda Daniels of the Cunningham Dance Company, Trish Casey, and Dianne Markham of Hanya Holm and Murray Louis.

Barbara attended the University of Texas and received her BFA in Dance. While attending the University she danced with the Dance Repertory Theater Company. While with the company she had the opportunity to work with the following: Holly Williams of Laura Dean and Dancers, Yokov Sharir of the Cunningham Company and Sharir Bustamante Dance, Lynn Wiltshire of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and Harlem Ballet, Andy Scott of David Dwarfman Dance, Delfos Contemporary Dance out of Mexico, and David Justin of San Francisco Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Shortly after graduation her choreographic multimedia work “graveshift” was displayed at the Stanford School of Music.

Barbara developed a four year pre-professional dance program at the McCallum Fine Arts Academy in Austin Texas before moving to Colorado. She is developing a new dance program at the Manhattan Middle School for Arts and Academics in Boulder, CO.  A company member since March 2010, she is happy to be creating new work and dancing with Ascential Dance Theatre Colorado.

Leslie Merrill 

 (Educator, Choreographer, Video Artist, Writer, Producer, Performer)

Leslie Merrill is a choreographer, performer, teacher, and video artist. She has been happily dancing for over 25 years and teaching for 12. She received her MFA in Dance from the University of Colorado in 2007. At CU, she taught modern and jazz technique and directed the Contemporary Danceworks Touring Company. She has also taught at Dynamic Expressions, Traci Stone’s Dance Connection, Mosaic Movement Arts, and Jefferson High School, and is currently on the faculty of Ballet Noveau Colorado. Leslie recently completed a guest artist residency at her alma mater, the University of Kentucky, where she pursued her BA in Art History and directed the University Dance Ensemble. She has enjoyed performing with Haan Dances, Move On Dance Company, and Louder than Words Dancetheatre, and dancing and choreographing for Interweave Dance Theatre. In 2000, she co-founded and directed the Kentucky-based company, RADAR: Dance in Reverse, for whom she taught, choreographed, and performed before relocating to Colorado.

In Colorado, she has presented work as part of the Bliss Festival, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the Denver Independent Choreographer’s Project, the Boulder International Fringe Festival, the Installation Innovation exhibit at the UMC Art Gallery, and with Haan Dances as part of Beyond the Comfort Zone and Blessed and Broken. Leslie’s work has also been shown in North Carolina, Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio, Nevada, and California as part of the American Dance Festival’s Dancing for the Camera Series, the TARLA Dance for Camera Festival, the Holland Project, and the Intangible Bodies Conference. Internationally, her work has been presented in British Columbia as part of the Collision Symposium on Interarts Practices and on tour with the Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema in Mexico and Germany. Leslie has enjoyed sharing her scholarly research in conference presentations and publications, including the National Dance Associations’ quarterly Spotlight on Dance. She is currently working collaboratively on the project, Sole Stranger Blues, which will premiere as part of Femme Fatale Four at Denver’s Bluebird Theatre.

Leslie has been fortunate to study with a variety of teachers, including Rayma Beal, Connie Baynum, Cara Glesson, Jennifer McCain, Mary Haan, Katie Elliot, Lyra Mayfield, Tanya Goodwin, Katie Atkins, and Chris Harris. At CU, she was blessed to study with faculty David Capps, Nada Diachenko, Onye Ozuzu, Michelle Ellsworth, Robin Haig, Neri Torres, Nancy Cranbourne, and Toby Hankin, as well as Guest Artists Susan Marshall, Gabriel Masson, Patricia Renzetti, Kevin Wynn, and Rennie Harris. Workshop, Festival, and Residency teachers have included Wade Madsen, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Savion Glover, Alan Lomasson, Anastasia McGlothlin Ronald K. Brown, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, David Dorfman, Bill Evans, Robin Wilson, Tammy Cheney of ODC, Nina Watt and Rafael Boumailla of the Limon Dance Company, Gaspard Louis of Pilobolus, and April Berry of Alvin Ailey. A member since July 2009, this will be Leslie’s second season with Ascential Dance.   She wishes to thank Jen Archer for her love and support, and the entire company for welcoming her into their family!                  

Photo by Heather Gray Photography                    

Diana Tobias (Performer)

Diana Tobias is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to Denver in 1991.  For several years she danced and trained on scholarship at Ballet Denver Academy under Rieke Love.  Diana is a former member of the Hannah Kahn Dance Company and has taught dance for several outreach programs including The Colorado Ballet.   She received abundant praise for her thoughtful role as Sacagawea in the company's original work, Sacagawea, the woman who guided US west in the Spring of 2009.  Diana joined the company in August 2008.

  

Artistiya

l:Begin Ag@in:l 2008

Choreography by: Jen Archer