@jade_solomon_ 

Jade Solomon Curtis is the founder of Solo Magic, a non-profit arts initiative that collaborates with innovative artists to create socially relevant work, “Activism is the Muse”. She is also the creator and curator of the Radical Black Femme Project, a global residency program that supports creative work in the realm of resisting racism, subverting transphobia, and supporting justice, safety, and equity with an emphasis on counter culture conversations. 

Solomon Curtis is a recipient of the 2018 New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project. She is a 2018 Artist Trust Fellow and a 2017 University of South Carolina Inaugural Visiting Fellow. Curtis received the 2017 Seattle Office of Arts & Culture CityArts Project Award, and the 2017 4Culture Artist Project Award. Her work has received support from the Bossak-Heilbron Charitable Foundation, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Artist Trust, Central District Forum for Art & Ideas and 4Culture. Curtis is a 2019 artist-in-residence at SLIPPAGE Lab at Duke University and a 2018 Base Experimental + Art artist-in-residence. 

A celebrated soloist of Donald Byrd’s Spectrum Dance Theater for four seasons, Curtis is the subject of an Emmy Award-winning short film, Jade Solomon Curtis directed by Ralph Bevins. She received SeattleDance’s first Dance Crush Award for Performance/Choreography in the riveting workshop of Black Like Me that lead to further development and funding from the National Dance Project. 

  MARISELA FLEITES, is a Cuban born dancer of Spanish descent, Marisela Fleites started dancing flamenco and Spanish dances at the age of 5, and has studied in Cuba, Spain, Mexico and the USA with masters like Olga Bustamante, Orlando Vargas, Stella Arauzo, Mari Carmen Guerrero, Oscar Nieto, Timo Lozano, Teo Morca, Citli Ocampo, Patricia Linares, Adriana Maresma, María Chacha Bermúdez, Belén Maya, and many others.

 Ms. Fleites directs the performing group Sabor Flamenco. She holds a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literature and teaches Spanish and Latin American Studies at Green River College. Ms. Fleites has been teaching flamenco at several studios in the Northwest like Washington Contemporary Ballet, Puget Sound Dance Academy, Metropolitan Ballet of Tacoma, Harbor Dance, and TUPAC since 2001. She also taught for the Tacoma Metro Parks Recreational and Educational programs from 2003-2007. 

Ms. Fleites is the choreographer and director of Sabor Flamenco and has produced many shows including shows at Tacoma Little Theater, the Tacoma School of the Arts and Alma Mater theater, among others. She has done volunteer work with Public Schools, Guadalupe House and other non-profit institutions, teaching and performing Flamenco for educational and fundraising purposes. Fleites-Lear is also the chair and founder of the Tacoma-Cienfuegos Sister City Committee.  Customers have questions, you have answers. Display the most frequently asked questions, so everybody benefits. 

 Jennifer currently teaches Pilates for ballet to students ages 9 and above at Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center. Her approach to teaching ballet and Pilates is with an eye for detail.  In November 2004, Jennifer received her Romana’s Pilates teaching certificate from Romana Kryzanowska through Metropolitan Pilates in Seattle. Since then, she’s taught throughout the United States, in the greater Seattle area, the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, Oregon, the Florida Keys, New York City, and Paris, France. At Pilates Seattle International, Jennifer, as a senior instructor supervised Romana’s Pilates apprentices to prepare for their practical and written exams. She has worked with many of the senior teachers and teacher trainers, and master teacher trainers of Romana’s Pilates and other classical/authentic Pilates schools. While teaching in the Florida Keys, she taught in the capacity of a Level IV teacher trainer for Romana’s Pilates International. She has since created her own Pilates teacher training program that's offered through her business Original Pilates Washington.  

@robbi_a_moore.dance

 From Hamden, CT, Robert Moore began dancing at New England Ballet and continued at Dee Dee’s Dance Center and New Haven Ballet. He is an alumnus of Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, the Ailey Summer Intensive, Cunningham Trust Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow’s Commercial Dance Program, and the Complexions Intensive. Robert graduated magna cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and has danced with Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre, The Steps Repertory Ensemble, AATMA Performing Arts, Whidbey Island Dance Theatre, Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, Karin Stevens Dance, the Guild Dance Company, Kinesis Project Dance Theater, The Gray, PRICEarts, Coriolis Dance, Khambatta Dance Company, and Spectrum Dance Theater.      

Heather Arneson is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and actress, working mainly in the South Sound. Ms. Arneson has been teaching dance for several years and has extensive training in ballet, contemporary, jazz, modern, and tap. Dance credits include Handel's Messiah and The Nutcracker with Ballet Northwest and Ballet Bellevue, as well as performances with Katy Hagelin Dance Project and Relay Dance Collective. She has performed in many shows at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, including The Little Mermaid. Ms. Arneson holds a Masters in Education and loves sharing her passion for the performing arts with the community.  

Awal Alhassan (born 1980 in Tamale, Ghana), is a master dancer from the West African nation of Ghana. Born and raised by a traditional drumming and dancing family, Awal has worked throughout Africa both independently and with some of Ghana's performance groups such as the Ghana Dance Ensemble, the National Theatre of Ghana, and the Center for National Culture Dance Troupe.

In addition to acting as the artistic director and lead dancer of the performance group Sohoyini, Awal teaches ongoing classes, workshops, and residencies regularly throughout the world.

Donald Byrd, a TONY nominated (The Color Purple) and Bessie Award winning (The Minstrel Show) choreographer, became Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater in December 2002. From 1978 – 2002, he was Artistic Director of Donald Byrd/The Group, a critically acclaimed contemporary dance company, founded in Los Angeles and later based in New York, that toured extensively, both nationally and internationally. He has created over 100 modern and contemporary dance works for his own groups as well as for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco), among others; has choreographed for classical companies, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, Aterballetto, MaggioDanza diFirenze, and Oregon Ballet Theater 

Amanda Morgan is from Tacoma, Washington. She studied at Dance Theatre Northwest and Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and she attended summer courses at Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Boston Ballet School, and the School of American Ballet. She participated in PNB School’s exchange with the Palucca University of Dance in Dresden, where she also performed with Dresden Semperoper Ballett. Amanda joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2016 and was promoted to corps de ballet in 2017.

Amanda has danced a leading role in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® (Hot Chocolate, Coffee), Ulysses Dove’s Red Angels, Alexander Ekman’s Cacti, Ronald Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty (Fairy of Beauty), Crystal Pite’s Emergence, Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite (Rosalia), Eva Stone’s F O I L, and Kent Stowell’s Cinderella (Stepsister). She originated leading roles in Donald Byrd’s Love and Loss, Nia-Amina Minor’s And yet here we are, and Dani Tirrell’s Suckle.

As a choreographer, Amanda has created works for PNB’S NEXT STEP, including Pages (2018) and The Argument (2019). She has choreographed for the Seattle International Film Festival and created her own show at Northwest Film Forum through a residency with Northwest Film Forum and Velocity Dance Center (2019). That same year, Amanda launched “The Seattle Project,” an artist collaborative that creates new works, focusing on eliminating barriers in the community. In 2020, “The Seattle Project” premiered two works; The How of It Sped at Northwest Film Forum and Musings as part of Seattle Dance Collective’s Continuum Program. In 2020 Amanda choreographed and directed This Space Left Intentionally Blank for PNB’s digital season.

Amanda was named one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch in 2020. 

Born: Salt Lake City, Utah.

Training: Dallas Dance Academy with Lyndette Galen and Fiona Fairrie, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Springboard Danse Montreal, The Juilliard School, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, and Houston Ballet Academy.

Professional experience: Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Francesca Harper Project, ARC Dance Seattle, Complexions Contemporary Dance Company, Ballet Black, and Texas Ballet Theatre.

LAUREN DuPREE, Actor, Singer and Dancer

Originally from Seattle, Lauren has been involved in the arts since childhood. Her senior year of high school she had the privilege of joining the cast of the PBS nationally syndicated show Biz Kid$. After graduating high school Lauren moved to Washington, D.C. to study theatre at Howard University. Upon graduating, Lauren began her professional career in Washington, D.C. with the musical revue Ain't Misbehavin'. Since then she has been blessed to work consistently in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area at theaters such as Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Ford's Theatre and the Kennedy Center. One of her most memorable roles was Orphie in Orphie and the Book of Heroes at The Kennedy Center. Since moving back to Seattle Lauren has been seen as Deena Jones in Dreamgirls and Kanika in My Heart Is The Drum at Village Theatre and Antonia in Man of La Mancha at 5th Avenue Theatre. You can catch her next in Ragtime at 5th Avenue Theatre.

 
Born: Ft. Riley, KS. Raised in Rahway, NJ.

Training: Rahway Dance Theatre, Boston Ballet, Jacobs Pillow, American Ballet Theater, The Ailey School.  Education: BFA in Dance, Fordham University, MFA in Dance/Arts Administration, Hollins University.

Professional Experience: Dance Theatre of Harlem, Collage Dance Collective, Oakland Ballet, Alvin Ailey II, Black Iris Project. Repertoire includes: works by Ulysses Dove, Robert Garland, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Dwight Rhoden, John Alleyne.  Daphne was crowned the 2017 Miss Black  America. 

Marie Chong Master Teacher

Marie Chong spent over ten years dancing and performing professionally with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Spectrum Dance Theater, Atlanta Ballet II, and Eugene Ballet. Since retiring from performing in 1995, Ms. Chong has been an active member of the NW dance community. She has served on the faculty of the University of Washington, Cornish College of the Arts, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Eugene Ballet School, Blue Heron/Vashon Allied Arts, Spectrum Dance/Madrona Dance Studio, and many other schools in the area. She is a sought after Master Teacher and Coach, teaching and coaching for professional companies, schools, competitions (YAGP), and dancers around the world.

Ms. Chong is a ballet master, movement specialist, and coach. In addition to directing and teaching in her own dance school, she works with elite athletes, musicians, actors, and dancers to design individually tailored performance improvements. She has certification in Pilates, Gyrotronic,  Gyrokenis, and is safety certified through USA Gymnastics and US Figure Skating. She is a Certified Teacher with American Ballet Theater, who has successfully completed the ABT Teacher Training in Primary through Level 5 of the American Ballet Theater National Training Curriculum. And was a Teaching Artist for Disney Theatrical Group.

In 1999 Ms. Chong founded ARC Dance Productions, a professional non-profit 501(c)(3) company. ARC Dance Productions maintains and supports a 9,000 square foot facility in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. ARC presents dance education programs, performances, and a resident professional dance company (ARC Dance Company). Since 1999, under the artistic direction of Marie Chong, ARC has produced performances seen by over 50,000 people in standard theater venues with seating capacities of 300 to 2500. The professional ARC Dance Company, presents a regular performance season at the Bagley Wright/Leo K Theatre at the Seattle Center along with ARC Youth Dance Company, the performing company of Arc School of Ballet.

Ms. Chong continues to choreograph and direct for ARC Dance and other professional dance companies, as well as Cirque du Soleil and Disney Theatrical Group globally. She is currently bicoastal working between Seattle and New York as Ballet Master and Rehearsal Director for Dance Theatre of Harlem.

She is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, National Dance Education Organization, Dance Educators Association of Washington, US Figure Skating and USA Gymnastics.

In 2004 ARC School of Ballet (ASB) opened its doors. The school is a training ground for dancers of all levels and ages, including those aspiring to a professional career. ASB offers four coordinated programs to meet students' varying interests and commitment levels. The syllabus and curriculum created by Ms. Chong focus on elements of both classical and contemporary ballet technique and are complimented by other dance forms and fitness exercise such as Modern, Jazz,  Body Movement Works, Pilates, Gyrotonic®, and Gyrokinesis®.