Emily Haussler (she/her) is the Artistic and Executive Director of RESILIENCE Dance Company (RDC), founded in 2019 in St. Louis, MO. Overall, her work centers on building healthier, more sustainable dance communities by equipping dancers with resources for their mental health, physical wellbeing, and artistic success. She believes in the power of collaboration and in challenging the toxic norms of the dance world, seeking to create high quality, insightful dance works inside of healthy dance spaces. Her full-length choreographic works for the company include Instead of waiting, they weave (2025), Falling Forward (2024), Come With Me (2023), All Times At Once (2022), Making Room (2021), and Stanzas & Sculptures (2020). Her notable short works have been shown in St. Louis, MO (Washington University, The Link Auditorium), Kansas City, MO (The Gem Theater), Detroit, MI (Detroit Institute of the Arts), Cape Girardeau, MO (Southeast Missouri State University), Nashville, TN (The Looby Theater), and Durham, NC (American Dance Festival). Furthermore, her dance film, There Are No Rules, was shown at Exchange Choreography Festival 2020. She has danced professionally with Common Thread Contemporary Ballet (2017) and Emily Duggins (2020), and as a trainee with Nashville Ballet (2018) and The Big Muddy Dance Company (2019) prior to founding RDC.  She has taught master classes at St. Louis University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Washington University, Southeast Missouri State University, Missouri Dance Organization Conference, and American College Dance Association Conference. Emily holds a B.A. in Dance and Biology from Washington University in St. Louis where she was the recipient of the Ian D. Cramer Prize for Dance (2018) and the Marcus Artist in Residence Award (2022).

Alice Anders is originally from Fort Smith, AR. After completing her Bachelor’s Fine Arts in Dance and minor in Technical Theatre she came to Saint Louis. She was a trainee for Saint Louis Dance Theatre and started working as a theatre electrician for COCA, Touhill Center for the Performing Arts, and the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts. She is also the production manager for Ballet 314. This is her third season working with Resilience Dance Company and she’s looking forward to another great season.

Renée Austin (she/her), a Chicago native, began dancing in 2004 at Mayfair Dance Academy under direction of Peggy Sutton, receiving further training with Diverse Elements Dance Studio, Arizona School for the Arts, Velocity Dance Center, and Spectrum Dance Theater’s Academy Program. Graduating from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Dance and minor in Psychology (2023), Renée explores connecting dance with other art forms, merging various dance styles, and how human experiences inform her movement. A multifaceted performing artist, she has learned from and worked with many artists and organizations, including Donald Byrd, Antonio Douthit-Boyd, Anthony “Redd” Williams, Cecil Slaughter, David Marchant, Dr. Joanna Dee Das, Christina Morrison, Kyla Kikkawa, Tiala Taylor, MJ Imani, Aaliyah Weston, Ashley Tate, Melanie George, Eva Stone, Keyes Wiley, Erin Morris, Maria Majors, Caroline Gonsalves Bertho, Ryadah Heiskell, Elinor Harrison, Kendra Key, Heather Beal, COCA, Keshon Campbell Films, STL Rhythm Collaborative, Anheuser-Busch, Pack Dance, Utopia Experiences, The Black Rep, and St. Louis Artist’s Guild. She has worked with music artists Jasmin Savoy, Keshon Campbell, Hana Canhasi, and Faith Miller. Recently, Renée performed at the triennial ELCA Youth Gathering for over 16,000 people at Smoothie King Stadium in New Orleans.

Anna Bauer and Jairus Carr are dancers and choreographers living in Austin, Texas. They dance for the KDH Dance Company while producing their own work. Anna and Jairus began collaborating in 2022. Their pieces have performed at events across Texas: Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Barnstorm Dance Fest, Austin Dance Festival, Aimed Dance Summer Fest, and RAD Fest. Together, they have completed residencies with Bellingham Repertory Dance, Keshet Makers Space Experience, and Homeport Art House. What keeps dance interesting, for both the mover and the viewer? The duo’s recent choreographic collaborations attempt to answer this question with nuanced movement languages, humor, and bizarre spatial composition. In dance and in life, Anna and Jairus are trying their best. They also make coffee, read books, and hold hands.

Mady Buerck is 22 years old. She has trained in multiple styles of dance throuhgout her life, including Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, African, Acrobatics, and others. She graduated in May of 2024 from the Conservatory of University of Missouri- Kansas City with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography. She's worked closely with and performed works by a variety of professionals, including Gary Abbott, Kam Sanders, Ray Mercer, Nicole Clarke Springer, Christopher Huggins, among others. She's traveled throughout the state, teaching and choreographing for both creative and competitive projects. She's fueled by creativity and hopes to inspire others throughout all her current and future endeavors.

Lily and Meghan are both Columbus-based movement artists who explore movement as a part of Whirlwind Dance. Lily is a recent graduate of the University of Utah. She focused on creating and exploring movement by getting a BFA in Modern Dance alongside a BS in Business Marketing with a management minor. Besides moving and grooving, Lily loves exploring the outdoors, spontaneous adventures, and reading all of which remind her of the magic that is everywhere.

Alexandria "Alex" Kinard (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, and yoga instructor from Louisville, Kentucky. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Alex’s dance training includes ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, contemporary, Africanist forms, and hip hop. Professionally, she currently tours with Red Clay Dance Company. As a choreographer, Alex is deeply influenced by her identity, exploring how it shapes both her movement and creative process. Recently, she showcased her choreography at the Trifecta Dance Festival and the Links Hall Choreography Showcase in Chicago.

Caroline McNinch (she/her) is a lighting designer and undergraduate studying neuroscience and dance at Washington University. Recent lighting design credits include Stephanie Martinez’ work, World of Another, and Elinor Harrison’s new work, Dune Alpha (selected for American College Dance Association’s National Festival at the Kennedy Center), for Washington University Dance Theatre: It’s Time. Other design credits include the Performing Arts Department’s Pride and Prejudice, works in Washington University Dance Collective: Glimmers, Lunar New Year Festival: Interwoven, and Diwali: Rang and Rhythm. Caroline is excited to work with RDC for the first time on Collective Realities!

Emily Small (she/her) grew up in Newport, RI training at The Academy at Newport Contemporary Ballet. She holds a BFA in Dance and BS in Public Health from University of Massachusetts Amherst (2019). Emily is currently performing as company dancer with Resilience Dance Company and Ballet 314. Additionally, she has performed with the St. Louis Dance Theatre and Newport Contemporary Ballet. She’s had the pleasure of performing choreography by David Dorfman, Cassie Wang, Maria Blanco & Yariana Baralt Torres of LOUD BODIES, Mike Esperanza, Rosanna Tavarez, Miki Ohlsen, Danielle Genest, Emily Duggins Ehling, Emilia Sandoval, Thomas Vacanti, Barbie Diewald, Goeff Alexander, Paul Dennis, Betsi Graves, Jackie Nowicki, Johnnie Cruise Mercer, Staycee Pearl, and Ted Thomas & Francis Ortiz. In the spring of 2022, Emily choreographed a duet titled "Just Now" which premiered at the Chapel Venue. In February of 2024, Emily’s piece “Role Reversal” premiered on the St. Louis Dance Theatre trainees. She is also the social media coordinator at Resilience Dance Company.

Matthew Sommers is an Austin based dance artist making silly little dances that often float, squiggle, trip, and fly. Matthew graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and then went on to study at the University of South Florida, where he graduated with with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance. Matthew received the opportunity to work with some awe-inspiring choreographers such as Charles O. Anderson, Alex Jones, Joshua L. Peugh, Marc Brew, and Bliss Kohlmyer during his time at USF. After moving to Austin, Matthew has gotten to work with some badass companies including Spaces of Fontana, Kathy Dunn Hamrick, Early Era Collective, BLiPSWiTCH, Point A, and Dance Waterloo.

Faith von Atzigen is a Chicago-based artist originally from Southern California. She graduated from Oral Roberts University in 2020 with a B.A. in Dance Performance. Faith has been with South Chicago Theatre for three seasons where she has worked with Terrence Marling, Noelle Kayser, Jackie Nowicki, Frank Chavez, Kate Weare, Joshua Blake Carter, Monique Haley, Tsai Hung, and Donald Byrd. As an freelance choreographer she received the 2023 Chicago DCASE Individual Artist Grant to produce a new evening-length work entitled “HER” and was selected to perform an excerpt at the 2024 Harvest Contemporary Dance Festival in Chicago.

Holly Seitz Marchant  is a dancer, performer, educator, choreographer and co-founder of Zo Motion Arts with collaborator, David Marchant. She is currently on faculty as an Assistant Professor of Dance in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Theatre and Dance Program at Saint Louis University.  Holly is thrilled to be serving on the board of directors for RESILIENCE Dance Company and to support their mission of putting the health and well-being of the dancers at the center of their work.  She believes that empowering dancers will foster creativity in artmaking processes and authenticity in performance practices which is evidenced in the stunning work she has already seen from RESILIENCE Dance Company.

Full Circle Dance is comprised of dance educators, dance artists, and choreographers seeking to bring the highest level of artistic expression to our audience by making it accessible and approachable. Artistic Director, Tiffanee Arnold is an educator, choreographer and dance advocate. The company is celebrating its sixth season this year. Full Circle Dance has earned selection and performed at the {254} Dance Fest, Aimed Summer Dance Fest, Brazos Contemporary Dance Festival, Big Rig Dance Collective, Dance Plano!, Dance Fusion, and Barnstorm Dance Festival.

Born and raised in Istanbul, Türkiye, Seda Aybay is the Artistic Director/Choreographer of Kybele Dance Theater founded in 2003 in L.A. Named Cultural Trailblazer by L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs, Aybay has won numerous choreography awards, held residencies at USC and Washington University in St. Louis and taught master classes from NYU, LMU to ACDA. Aybay is part-time Tenured Adjunct Professor at Santa Monica College. Her work has toured California, Chicago, Seattle, New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Seoul. Aybay choreographed for Universal Pictures’ motion picture THE KILLER directed by John Woo starring Omar Sy and Nathalie Emmanuel.

Will Brighton is a dancer, choreographer, and writer based in St Louis, MO. Will graduated Summa Cum Laude from Western Michigan University with a BFA in Dance and a BA in English, where he performed in works by Yin Yue, Christian Denice, BAIRA, Paul Taylor, and George Balanchine, as well as in concert alongside Peridance Contemporary Dance Company. Since graduating, Will has performed as a guest artist with Saint Louis Ballet, and is currently in his 5th season performing with Saint Louis Dance Theatre (formerly The Big Muddy Dance Company). Through SLDT, Will has originated roles in works by Joshua Peugh, Bradley Shelver, Norbert de la Cruz III, Sidra Bell, Brian Enos, Omar Roman de Jesus, Kirven Douthit-Boyd, and many others. In 2020, Will was selected as the winner of Young Dancers Initiative’s Emerging Choreography Project, and in 2021 was selected as an Emerging Choreographer for Eisenhower Dance Detroit’s NewDANCEfest. His choreography has also been presented through Space Station Dance Residency, The Big Muddy Dance Company’s Elevate Student Project, Chamberlain Dance, American College Dance Association, and MADCO’s Dare to Dance Festival. In addition to his work in dance, Will has been commissioned as a playwright by Queer Theatre Kalamazoo and The Kalamazoo Short Play Reading Series for their virtual play festivals.

Darvin Dances was started in 2023 by artistic director Mariah Eastman. We were chosen to participate in Winifred Haun and Dancers “First Draft” production then Resilience Chicago’s Breaking the Silence Café. In July 2023, New City Magazine designated our piece “Inclined to Decline” in the Top 5 Dance performances in July. In early 2024, we were added to the performance roster of Urban Gateways aiding us in our mission of bringing dance to the community. Our artistic director was then awarded the Individual Artist Grant for her production “Halloween Creepy Crawlies” (HCC). With HCC, we were able to provide one free community performance at Chase Park and two ticketed performances at Dovetail Studios. Darvin Dances also participated in Wave Walls; a free performance series produced by See Chicago Dance. This past December Darvin Dances participated in Thwack Dance’s Christmas Oratorio performances, further engaging the community with more financially accessible productions.

Winifred Haun & Dancers was founded in Chicago in the 1990’s by award winning choreographer and dancer, Winifred Haun. In the two and a half decades since its founding, the Company has garnered numerous awards, accolades, features, and reviews from many major local and national media outlets.The Company received an award from the prestigious MacArthur Foundation (2016), won two "Best in Class" awards by the Oak Park Area Arts Council (2019 and 2015), was chosen to participate in the Martha Graham Dance Co.’s “Lamentation Variation Project,” (2013) and in 2022, Ms. Haun won the coveted 3Arts Award for her choreography and artistic achievements. The Company was chosen by New City as one of 2025’s “50 Players” in the Chicago Art scene

Lily and Meghan are both Columbus-based movement artists who explore movement as a part of Whirlwind Dance. Meghan is a recent graduate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. There she studied to attain her BFA in contemporary dance and a minor is Arts Management. Meghan is excited to further her potential and push boundaries through learning new ideas from dancers all over, as well as push her creativity through choreography!

Mandy Milligan graduated from University of Cincinnati Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in Ballet performance. She received additional training at the Graham School for Contemporary Dance, Beijing Dance Academy, Dance Works Chicago, Interlochen Center for the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and Perry-Mansfield. She has worked with companies from all over the midwest such as Mamluft & Co., Dance Kaleidoscope, Winifred Haun & Dancers, Simantikos Dance, Cocodaco Dance Company and Kanopy Dance Company. Mandy is currently Rehearsal director and dance artist with Darvin Dances. She is also the founder/director of Mandy MIlligan Movement Project. Since moving to Chicago in 2017 her choreographic work has been shown at the Links Hall, Pleasant Home, Dance Chance, Going Dutch Festival, First Draft, The Garage at Dovetail Studios and the Simantikos Choreographic Competition.

Lia Smith-Redmann is a Wisconsin-based artist, dancer, and writer. She studied dance and theatre throughout the Five College Consortium in Massachusetts and received her BAs in Dance and English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is a collaborating artist with Hyperlocal MKE and the Catey Ott Dance Collective, a guest choreographer for Fable Dance Company, and a Research Fellow under the direction of Maria Gillespie. Her work has been performed at Still Inspired Future Artists (Chicago), the American College Dance Association, Hampshire College, Peck School of the Arts, Danceworks MKE Get It Out There, and the Wisconsin Interscholastic Theatre Festival.

Sophia is a choreographer, and resident company and teaching artist with Pack Dance. Sophia began her training at award winning studio Indy Dance Academy, then continued her studies with the prestigious Gregory Hancock Dance Theater and Expressionz Dance Center. She then went on to receive her B.F.A. in Contemporary Dance as well as a B.A. in Psychology from Indiana University in 2024. During her time at IU Sophia realized her passion for choreography and story telling. Her Senior Capstone piece The Plants are Talking, which tells her story of being diagnosed as autistic, will soon be transformed into a children’s book. She is also currently creating American Nightmare, a satirical critique of the current political landscape in the United States to be performed at the upcoming Pack Dance concert Disruption. Much of her work is rooted in activism and representation for the disabled community.