ARTISTS
FOUNDER, FACULTY ARTIST + CHOREOGRAPHER:
Tracy Fuller
is a Colorado native who has lived and danced in the PNW for three years. She began her professional career with the Colorado Ballet and danced in the studio company for three seasons performing in productions from “Swan Lake” to George Balanchine’s “Serenade”. From there she danced soloist roles at Ballet Fantastique and other regional companies. She will be joining San Jose Dance Theatre for the 20-21 Season.
Tracy has been fortunate to train with many amazing teachers in Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Oregon. She is passionate about teaching ballet to all ages and abilities and finds her students to be an unending source of joy and inspiration.
A self confessed “bun head”, she loves reading any and every ballet book she can get her hands on and loves to incorporate what she learns from them into her own dancing and classes.
Dance is an unending journey of learning and growing and she feels very grateful to pursue what she loves.
FOUNDER + FACULTY ARTIST + CHOREOGRAPHER:
Native to Eugene, Oregon, Alaja Badalich or “Laj”, first studied at Oregon Ballet Academy at the age of 4. Throughout her years at OBA, she also studied at many summer ballet programs in and outside of the United States. Alaja trained in classical ballet for many years, and in her teens began to find a great interest in improvisation and contemporary technique.
At 16, she moved across the country to study at the University of North Carolina School of the Art’s modern program, where she studied Graham, Limón, Cunningham, and counter technique. That spring, she studied at flex Studios in her home town, while finishing her junior year and competing for NAACP ACT-SO National Convention.
In 2018, she began her dance studies in San Francisco at the Alonzo King Lines Ballet training program. She is now a recent graduate of the program, and guest teaches at flex Studios. She has choreographed competitive soloists, training program works, and for San Francisco public school programs.
She enforces in her technique classes that “Everything you do will be the right thing” a quote from Christian Burns, one of her mentors from the LINES program. She also believes that as long as you trust the process, surrender to serenity and find your balance, you will find that everything you are looking for is right inside of you, there is nothing to prove but everything to share.”
MEMBER, FACULTY ARTIST + CHOREOGRAPHER:
Zaria Jackson
, native of Hoover, Alabama first found dance at Alabama Dance Academy at the age of three. Once graduating from high school, they attended the Alonzo King Lines Ballet Training Program under the direction of Karah Aboig. Through their 2 years attending, they were able to perform works by Sidra Bell, Greg Dolbasian, Robert Moses and Christian Burns. After graduating in 2020 they joined Fermata Ballet Collective while also maintaining a contract with SALT2 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are excited to create, explore, and expand with Fermata Ballet Collective and the Eugene Community.
FOUNDER + FACULTY ARTIST:
Jim Ballard
is a local performer in the Eugene, Oregon area. He started his dance and performance training at Lane Community College in 2007. Jim has danced with the LCC Dance Company, Ballet Fantastique, and DanceAbility International. In 2009, he attended the American Dance Festival at Duke University on scholarship.
Jim regularly performs at The Shedd Institute for the Arts. His first performances included “Babes in Arms” and “South Pacific” in 2008. Since then he has continued his work with the Shedd’s theatricals, as well as teaching for the Shedd’s musical theater camps. Jim has also appeared in local T.V. commercials and has performed in PNW-based music and dance videos.
Jim is passionate about improvisation in acting and dance — creating something from scratch and not knowing what comes next is a skill that strengthens adaptability and creativity. He enjoys seeing the spark that lights up when a student or artist finds something in them that they never knew was there...
MEMBER EMERITUS:
Isaac Lee was born in Billings, Montana and started dancing with Oregon Ballet Academy when moving to Eugene, Oregon at age 12. He left to pursue dance at the Houston Ballet Academy where he trained for two years in the pre-professional program. After Houston, he spent a year as as a company member in Syracuse, New York. Isaac is excited to return to the place where his dancing journey began, forming community, researching with local artists, and creating a positive workspace.
FOUNDER, FACULTY ARTIST + CHOREOGRAPHER:
Jessica Jaye Mackinson
received her training as a scholarship student at the Milwaukee Ballet School. She attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet, Boston Ballet School, the Vail International Dance Festival, as well as with the Chautauqua Institution in New York where she was invited to dance with Charlotte Ballet (then NCDT) for their summer season. Mackinson won first place in the Carey Rose Dance Competition, and received scholarships to the Rock School for Dance Education, Blue Lake Fine Arts, and Orlando Ballet.
She
has performed professionally with Milwaukee Ballet, BalletMet, Rockford Dance Company, Madison Ballet, and Elements Contemporary Ballet. She guested for Indiana Ballet Theater and Innervation Dance Chicago, and worked as a back up dancer for Weird Al Yankovic and Hannibal Buress. Mackinson earned a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Rockford University, where she also served as an adjunct professor of dance. Over the past 12 years, Mackinson has excelled in managerial and directorship roles for numerous arts-based organizations in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Oregon.
With a passion for teaching, Mackinson taught extensively for over 20 years, developing dance curricula for all ages and abilities.
Mackinson lives in Oregon with her partner and two children.
FOUNDER + FACULTY ARTIST:
Angela Dunham is the 2012 co-founder and co-owner of flex Studios, with the amazing Lindsey Shields. A wife to her husband Joel and mother to her 2 beautiful sons Max and Samuel, she is currently pregnant with her third child, a little girl, Dolly Lu. Director of Pointe Performance Group of flex Studios, Dunham is a highly educated dancer, mentor, instructor and choreographer in the genres of Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Tap, Jazz, Improvisation, Mixed Abilities Movement and Musical Theater .
Angela pursued a Dance Major with a Business Minor at Arizona State University, Lane Community College and the University of Oregon. Angela graduated with academic fine arts honors, earned academic/performing arts scholarships and accolades including an excellence in leadership award from NDAA.
Angela was enrolled in ballet class at age 4, that moment she knew she would dance until her death. Angela Dunham proudly danced as a company member for Foundation, The Lane Dance Company and University of Oregon Repertory Company. Angela is a D.E.A nationally certified educator having completed the highly recognized Dance Educators of America training certification program. Teaching 20 plus years she has established roots nationwide and in the local dance community she loves. Angela’s journey spans Eugene, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Nevada, Texas, London and Paris. Angela has trained beside such greats as Mia Michaels, Al Gilbert, Nan Giordano, Charles Kelley, Mandy Moore, Joe Tremaine, Jackie Sleight, Jason Parsons, Cincinnati Ballet and more.
Upon the fruition of her childhood dream of being a dance educator, she is thankful to be continually giving back to a community that has embraced her. Pointe Performance Group along with Flex Performance Group has co-produced 8 annual local benefit concerts, contributing over $25,000.00 in donations to local performing arts and Nonprofits in Eugene and the surrounding areas.
Dunham is the current dance columnist for The Register Guard Cafe 541, contributing a monthly column. She is a mentor and judge for the NAACP ACTSO competitions in the the dance category. She has proudly judged for the NAACP's Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics year long achievement program designed to recruit, stimulate, and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students for 4 years.
Dunham is a Co-founder of the new Fermata Ballet Collective, a group of dancers in the Pacific Northwest who have found their careers and projects on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In accordance with the Fermata mission, all of Dunhams work and projects will not tolerate or condone discrimination against any individual regarding race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, appearance, religion, age, or ability.
Recent projects include: guest Alumni choreographer for Lane Community College “The Works”, flex Studios 8th annual benefit concert for The Trauma Healing Project “Flexionaries” and City of Eugene parks blocks “2020 Beam”.
Angela Dunham would like to share, “as an artist I will always work for a greater good, inspire those around me to come together, create and share. The dance community should be a community, not a division of territories or genres, but a shared passion for the arts. At this time dance and art are more important than ever. I am passionately committed to being a voice of advocacy and wellness for my dance community. As an artist determined to create social justice and contributive content through the performing arts at this challenging time.”
FOUNDER, FACULTY ARTIST + CHOREOGRAPHER:
Sophia MacMillan, originally from California, has been dancing in Eugene, OR for the last two years. After spending time studying various classical ballet and modern forms, improvisational techniques, contemporary forms, traditional and social dances, history, environmentalism, Buddhism, visual arts, and many other things at Purchase College in New York, she returned to the west coast to focus on a ballet career. She is passionate about the world of dance and the universality of bringing movement, breath, and sound together, the moving body and releasing ourselves from ingrained pedestrian forms, storytelling, using our bodies to express and evoke the deepest parts of our souls. She believes that dance is a language of the heart.
MEMBER, FACULTY ARTIST + CHOREOGRAPHER:
Sara Stockwell was born in Rochester, MN and trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and Ellison Ballet. She has danced with Eugene Ballet Company since 2011 where she has been featured in diverse repertoire, including the Yew in Suzanne Haag's The Large Rock and the Little Yew, solo girl and trio in Gerald Arpino’s Italian Suite, trio in Val Caniparoli’s Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino, the Rose in Toni Pimble’s The Snow Queen, and in works by Sarah Ebert, Shannon Mockli, and Dennis Spaight. In The Nutcracker you may have seen her as the Mechanical Doll, Arabian, Spanish, and Harlequinades. Sara has also performed with Siri Vik as Anna 2 in The Seven Deadly Sins and in the Lonely Town Pas de Deux in On the Town at the Shedd Institute, as well as in numerous #instaballet events. She is interested in creating location-based dance experiences and opportunities for a more collaborative arts community in Lane County.
MEMBER, FACULTY ARTIST + CHOREOGRAPHER:
Carmelli Maria Hess
Maria "Carmelli" Hess began her dance training at age 14 in jazz and hip-hop at Xcape Dance Academy. After one year, she auditioned and was accepted into Xcape Dance Academy’s award-winning Hip-hop and Jazz competition Senior teams. Her team's performances at different venues included the shows of Xcape Dance Company at the Hult Center. That same year, she started Ballet and Pointe at West Valley Dance Studio and the Dance Factory. She went on to continue her training at Eugene Ballet Academy, where she had a chance to perform with the Eugene Ballet Youth, attend the EBA Summer Intensive and the Northwest Dance Festival. Carmelli will be transferring to the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance & School of Journalism and Communication this fall from Lane Community College Dance program, where she studied Group Choreography and Dance Composition, won the Spotlight Award, and was a participant at the Oregon Dance Educators Organization Conference. She hopes to someday obtain a Master’s Degree in Dance, and give back to the community the technique, artistry, and passion her dance teachers instilled in her throughout her training.
MEMBER, FACULTY ARTIST + CHOREOGRAPHER:
Kendra Lady: Kendra Lady started dancing at age 8, and has since trained in studios in Oregon, Virginia, and Illinois. She attended Von Heidecke’s School of Dance for three years in Naperville, Illinois, where she studied Balanchine and Vaganova techniques under the instruction of Kenneth Von Heidecke. In 2014, she transferred to the University of Oregon to major in dance. At the U of O she studied modern, ballet, jazz, improvisation, and West African dance. She was a part of Dema, a West African dance performing ensemble led by Habib Iddrisu, for three years, and also performed in several modern dance concerts. Kendra graduated from the U of O in June 2017 with a BA in dance and earned the Outstanding Dance Major award. Since then she has been teaching ballet, contemporary, and lyrical classes at Xcape Dance Academy, as well as performing with Lou Moulder’s Rebelle Ballet troupe, and participating in other projects with local dancers. She has a passion for teaching and sharing her love of dance with both children and adults. Kendra deeply appreciates the collaborative nature of the Fermata Ballet Collective, and has loved having the opportunity to take classes and dance with other performing artists who find themselves in limbo during this uncertain time.
MEMBER + FACULTY ARTIST :
Safia Suboohi is a dance practitioner based in Eugene, Oregon where she creates her own work and leads movement classes. Safia started her dance training at the age of sixteen in New Delhi, India. After spending eight years learning, teaching and choreographing all over India, Safia moved across the globe to Toronto, Canada where she focused on modern dance. In her two-decade journey as a dance artist, she developed her passion and expertise for teaching various dance techniques. Safia is a firm believer in the way of dance as being a way of life.
FOUNDER + FACULTY ARTIST:
Lindsey Sheilds, bio coming soon
MEMBER, FACULTY ARTIST + CHOREOGRAPHER :
Originally from Eugene, OR, Ellie Weinman received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in choreography and performance from the University of Montana, where her choreography was selected to be performed at the Northwest American College Dance Festival gala. Along with her training in modern dance, contemporary, and contact improvisation, Ellie has extensive training in hip-hop and acrobatics. She has performed professionally with Bare Bait Dance, Headwaters Dance Company, and MASC ARTISANS circus troupe in Missoula, MT. Ellie has spent the last five years in New York, where she attended the Joffrey Ballet contemporary intensive, Vim Vigor summer workshop, and Gaga summer program with the Batsheva Dance Company. She also had the honor of performing at the Boston Contemporary Dance Festival with Depth Dance. Ellie loves sharing her passion for dance and has been teaching children’s dance at various studios and schools for the past 9 years. She values collaborating with others, and investigating one’s own intent and message behind physical movement.