INTENSIVE TEACHER BIOS
Sara Rohs - Artistic Director MCD, Professional Dancer, Former Brewers Diamond Dancer, Dance Competition Judge, Teacher A Step Above Dance, Madtown Hip Hop Crew, Choreographer
Raised in Minnesota, Sara trained at many Twin Cities dance studios including Zenon Dance Company, Ballet Arts, Stage Door Dance for Performing Arts, The FIRM, Dance Spectrum, and the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts. She continued her dance education by becoming a member of the Augsburg College Dance Team, later becoming its captain for three years and then its coach for four years. She was a member of the Swarm Performance Team with the Professional Lacrosse League in MN.
Sara started the Ascending Star Dance Team in 2004 and was the director and dancer 3 years. Sara taught for Just for Kix summer camps and hosted workshops with the Augsburg College Dance Team. She was hired to dance professionally for various events.
After moving to Madison, Sara took courses with the UW Madison Dance Department. She danced with the Milwaukee Brewer’s Diamond Dancers for two seasons and was a member of the Madison area SweatShop Hip Hop Crew.
Sara founded the Madison Contemporary Dance Company (MCD) in 2010. In 2011 Sara started the monthly Madison Community Dance Newsletter to connect dancers with local opportunities.
Sara completed Lisa Howell’s Teacher Training Workshop in 2015. Sara has guest taught dance and choreographed for many dance studios and dance teams including college and professional dance teams and professional dance companies. She currently teaches at A Step Above Dance in Monona, WI and judges dance competitions throughout Wisconsin. Sara also directs the Madtown Hip Hop Crew.
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Papa-Kobina Brewoo - Professional Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher - Express Yourself, Teacher - A Step Above Dance, Founder, and Director of the Hitterz Collective
Papa-Kobina Brewoo, or Kidd Blaze, was born and raised in Accra, Ghana and moved to Madison, WI in 2001 with his family, in hopes for better education and more opportunities to help his family back home. It was in the 8th grade that he found his love for hip-hop upon stumbling across the TV show America's Best Dance Crew. Inspired by how the dancers expressed themselves through movement and music, he began watching YouTube videos as a start on his journey to becoming a hip-hop dancer. Since then, Kobby has appeared on MTV's Made, auditioned for ABDC, AGT, WOD and signed with DanceOn Network. On top of that, Kobby continues to win countless awards at competitions throughout the midwest. He feels blessed by all the opportunities he has had and continues to work towards earning his stripes as a dancer. Kobby co-teaches the Madtown Hip Hop Crew with Sara Rohs.
Kobby is the founder and CEO of the Hitterz Collective whos mission is to provide a positive atmosphere where creative minds at all levels can learn, teach, network, and express themselves freely through artistry while being mindful of cultural history and to support the development and growth of the local art communities. The goal is to offer a platform and resources for educational growth, as well as to expand on the advanced repertoire of Performance, Music and Visual Arts.
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Kate Huskey- Assistant Director MCD, Professional Dancer, Pharmacy Tech Certification, Personal Training Certification
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Kate is in her fifth year dancing with Madison Contemporary Dance Company. She has been dancing since 4 years old at A Step Above Dance and Music Academy studying all styles of dance: Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Tap, Hip Hop, Lyrical, and Modern. She also attended several dance intensives throughout those years: Inaside Dance Chicago, River North Dance Company, and has done the MCD summer intensive 4 times.
Kate is currently working at Walgreens as a Sr Certified Pharmacy Technician. She is also following her passion of fitness and getting certified with the American Council on Exercise as a personal trainer to help others learn to love fitness and build confidence in themselves along the way.
Kate looks forward to continuing her dance career with Madison Contemporary Dance.
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Birdy Brzezinski- Assistant Director MCD, BA Dance, Psychology BS, Pilates Certification, Choreographer
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Breanna first began dancing at the age of three and immediately found her greatest passion. She trained at Green Bay School of Dance for a few years but later moved on to train under Jeanette Makaroff of Makaroff School of Ballet in Appleton, WI. While with MSB, she was also a company member of the Makaroff Youth Ballet and performed roles including the little match girl in “The Little Match Girl” and Arabian in “The Nutcracker” at the Appleton PAC. She spent her summers going to summer intensive programs with the American Ballet Theater and the Rock School of Dance where she was trained by former professional dancers such as Ted Kivit, Robert La Fosse, and Alaine Haubert.
After high school, she attended UW-Stevens Point and received her BA in Dance, BS in Psychology, and a Pilates teaching certification through Balanced Body. While at UWSP, she was able to expand her dance education under the direction of Jeannie Hill, Joan Karlen, Pamela Luedtke, and Michael Estanich. She has also had the opportunity to participate in master classes led by Aysha Upchurch, Nick Pupillo, Eddie O'Campo, Katherine Kramer, and Gerald Avery. She graduated in May 2020 and currently teaches at Madison Professional Dance Center.
Breanna is a descendant of the Menominee and Potawatomi tribes of Wisconsin. Growing up, she danced at pow-wows as a fancy shawl dancer and has a great cultural tie to dance. Breanna understands the cultural significance of dance around the world and aims to bring that knowledge with her into the studio and to the stage.
Outside of dance, Breanna loves to make Native jewelry, ride her horse, read, hike, and play with her cats, Nyx and Pumpkin!
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Molly Gehrmann - MCD Company Member, Dance BA, Recipient of Loyola University's Provost Fellowship in 2017, Choreographer
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Molly Gehrmann is a dancer, performer, choreographer and educator based Madison, WI and New York City.
Born and raised near Madison, Wisconsin, she received her training locally at Virginia Davis School of Dance and continued her training at Loyola University Chicago's Dance Program where she graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in Dance and minor in Musical Theater.
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Molly recently graduated from the Professional Semester at Broadway Dance Center in New York City where she trained with world renowned choreographers such as Matthew Steffens and Andrew Wilson, and performed works of Emily Greenwell, Marc Kimelman, and Maleek Washington.
Molly has performed with New York Theater Barn and in numerous concerts and festivals in the Chicago area. She is an ambassador for Chicago The Musical with theaterMAMA and is an artist of RAW: Natural Born Artists in Chicago. Additionally, Molly trained and performed with the Mandala Dance Company in Rome, Italy.
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Along side performing, Molly has a love for fashion and styling and spending time with her family and friends.
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Ashton Florence - MCD Company Member, Choreographer
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Raised in Madison, WI, Ashton Florence started dance training as a freshman in High School. He has taken private lessons with Beth Piccolo (A Leap Above Dance Company) and Coleen Kehl (Kehl School of Dance). In High School, he participated in The Nutcracker as the Spanish King, and attended multiple intensives throughout the years studying under: William Earle Smith, Abigail Henninger and Ally Figiel. He was also seen in the Premiere of Flip Side with Magnum Opus Ballet Company.
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Ashton is very involved in the musical theatre community here in Madison. He has been seen in On The Town and Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 with Capital City Theatre, performing with Andrew Keenan-Bolger in Concert, performing with The Jerry Ensemble at Overture Center for the Arts, and various community theatre productions such as: Hairspray (House Theatre), Titanic the Musical (OSHP and SVP), Hello, Dolly! (OSHP), Jesus Christ Superstar (SBP), and Big Fish (OSHP and SBP). Other than being onstage, Ashton likes to work behind the scenes as a Dance Captain and Stage Manager. He has been the Dance Captain for several Choreographers such as: Victoria Kemnetz, Ally Figiel, Tracy Hines, Coleen Kehl, and Sabra Michelle.
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While not dancing, Ashton is working towards his BS in Dance and BA in Communication Arts. Ashton is excited to continue his dance journey with Madison Contemporary Dance Company for his third year.
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Jarrell Homesly - MCD Company Member
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Jarrell was born and raised in Madison, Wi. He has been dancing since the age of 13. Jarrell attended UW-Stevens Point, and got his Bachelors of Arts degree in dance. In his free time, he enjoys rollerblading, bowling, hiking, taking care of his puppy, and traveling.
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Sonteé Duncan - MCD Guest Artist
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Bio TBA
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Lilly Crochet - MCD Company Member
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Lilly Crochet grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and began her dance journey at three years old. She trained at West Side Performing Arts and later continued her training at Synergy Dance Academy. She studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, contemporary, pointe, and musical theater. Lilly competed in dance for many years, and this allowed her the opportunity to travel around the country to learn from many different instructors. Also, in high school she competed for her high school “poms” team. Lilly graduated in 2019 as a four year member of the school dance program, captain of that team, and assisted in most of the choreography.
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During her time on the competition stage, Lilly fell in love with one convention in particular, Tremaine Dance Conventions and Competitions. She auditioned a handful of times to be on their performance company of assistants, and she finally made it when she was 15. She spent one year as an apprentice, but was quickly moved up to company member her next year in the program. She spent the rest of her high school career as a member and even completed two more years after as an alumni member traveling with the company as well.
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In the fall of 2019, Lilly moved to New York City to attend college at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She studied there for two years to complete the conservatory program in Dance Theater. While in school, she specialized in dance, but also studied singing and acting to help her pursue her dreams of one day dancing on Broadway.
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Nowadays, you can find Lilly teaching almost every day at Synergy Dance Academy. She teaches all styles of dance to all ages of students; however, she specializes in jazz, contemporary, tap, ballet, and musical theater. This passion for teaching and choreographing, albeit newly discovered, is not one that Lilly sees going away anytime soon. She channels her passions by helping run the same dance team that she used to compete for. She choreographed many of their dances ranging from solos to large production numbers. She loves traveling with the team to all of their competitions and is enthused and motivated in growing the next generation of young artists.
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Taylor Manney - MCD Company Member
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Originally from Las Vegas, NV, Taylor received her classical ballet training through the Royal Academy of Dance and studied Modern, Contemporary, Tap, Jazz, and Musical Theatre at the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts.
In 2014 Taylor graduated from Point Park University with a B.A. in Dance. Her professional experience includes performing and being dance captain in multiple musicals including “Hairspray”, “West Side Story”, “Cats”, “How To Succeed In Business”, and “Beauty and The Beast”; working for Spirit Productions/Dublin Worldwide in “Dance Inferno”; and performing as a Dancer/Aerialist for Royal Caribbean Productions.
More recently she performed as a soloist in "The Nutcracker" and "Drakula" for StageWorks Productions. In the past, Taylor has been fortunate enough to perform in pieces choreographed by Kirby Reed, Christopher Huggins and Blake McGrath, and toured with Dance Olympus as a teacher’s assistant.
Transitioning out of the professional dance world and into the fitness/rehab industry, Taylor is certified in P.M.A. Pilates Mat and Apparatus, Bootybarre, Fascial Stretch Therapy and Neuro Kinetic Therapy.
For the last seven years she has worked at Life Dance Academy in Janesville teaching all styles of dance to children and adults. Taylor also co-directs and choreographs for LDA's award-winning competition team.
She is so honored to be a part of Madison Contemporary Dance where she can be further inspired as an artist, dancer, and teacher.
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Antione Williams - MCD Guest Artist
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I am a street style dancer that specializes in multiple styles like Krump, hiphop, popping, tutting and etc. I’ve been dancing for almost 6 years and I love to battle, showcase, and share energy in the dance world!!! Outside of dance I enjoy anime, traveling and eating great tasting food.
I’m most excited About being a part of a very talented group this season and having a consistent schedule of growing as a professional dancer in my career
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