Artist Biographies

Tsarra Bequette (dancer) is from Boise, Idaho where she was trained by and apprenticed with Ballet Idaho. She is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory with a BFA in dance. As a member of the Boston Conservatory Dance Theater, she performed various works including Martha Graham’s Primitive Mysteries, and Diversion of Angels, and Murray Louis’ Schubert Suite. She also performed José Limón’s Nuptial Flight duet in The Winged, and had a leading roles in Luis Fuente’s Con Temperamento, and Michael Uthoff’s Galleria. In her senior year at the Conservatory she was awarded the Ruth Sandholm Ambrose Scholarship Award.

Jennifer Chicheportiche (dancer) was born in Bordeaux, France. She trained at the Academie Besso Ballet de Toulouse and completed her studies in Paris. At the age of 19, she joined the Jeune Ballet International de Rosella Hightower in Cannes before becoming a member of Balletto Teatro Di Torino for two years. While in the Italian company, she toured Europe and performed at the International Ballet Festival de Miami. In 2004, she moved to Scotland to dance with The Ensemblegroup where she performed contemporary works by international choreographers. Jennifer continued her career in the UK with Opera North, doing the national tour of "One Touch Of Venus". After coming to NYC last year, she performed with Chamber Dance, International Ballet Theater, Lydia Johnson and New Generation Dance. This her first season with the Adam Miller project.

Peter de Grasse (dancer) studied at San Francisco Ballet, and is a graduate of the Julliard School. He went on to dance with American Repertory Ballet, where he performed solo and principal roles by Graham Lustig, Kirk Peterson and Dominique Dumais. He has also been a member of Sacramento Ballet and has performed for John Passafiume, Phrenic/New Ballet in Philadelphia, PA, and at the Madrid en Danza Festival in Spain. Peter currently dances for Donald Byrd at Spectrum Dance Theatre in Seattle, WA.

Allison Jay (dancer) is from Lakeland, Florida, trained with Florida Dance Theatre and the Harrison Performing Arts School. She spent summers on full scholarshipat The Joffrey Ballet School and Hartford Ballet School. She has danced professionally with Hartford Ballet, Smuin Ballets, and Ballet Met: where she had the oppurtunity to dance many featured roles. Allison most recently finished touring with the Broadway show 'Movin Out'. This is her first season with the Adam Miller Dance Project.

Natalie Koons (Associate Director/dancer) received her training from the Harid Conservatory, Virginia School of the Arts, and Boston Ballet School. As a dancer for Cincinnati Ballet, American Repertory Ballet and Nashville Ballet, she performed works by George Balanchine, Lila York, and Septime Webre. In 1999, she appeared with the Hartford Ballet and continued on in Hartford as a member of Dance Connecticut in 1999-2000 and appeared in works by Adam Miller and Tim Melady, as well as The Nutcracker and Jean Grand-Maitre’s Romeo and Juliet. Natalie has worked for Omaha Theatre Ballet as a soloist and Connecticut Ballet. She also works as a freelance dancer in New York City and is a student at NYU.

Justin Peck (dancer) Originally from Vancouver, Canada, he danced with Alberta Ballet and Ballet British Columbia after graduating from the National Ballet School of Canada. In 2003, he moved to New York City to join Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and later, the casts of Movin' Out and The Phantom of the Opera. Justin has performed at The Metropolitan Opera, The Kennedy Center, on Broadway, on national television and in feature films. He has performed the works of George Balanchine, Alonzo King, James Kudelka, Jiri Kylian, Crystal Pite, Twyla Tharp, and Christopher Wheeldon, and Ron De Jesús, amongst many others. This is Justin’s first season with AMDP.

Avichai Scher (dancer), was born in NYC and raised in Israel. He studied primarily at the School of American Ballet, as well as Miami City Ballet. Professionally he has appeared with 9 ballet companies, including The Joffrey Ballet, European Ballet and Ballet British Columbia. Highlights have been principal roles in works by Ashton, Lubovitch, and Morris, as well as full length classics. Also a noted choreographer, he has worked with ABT Studio Company, San Francisco Ballet Trainee Program, Festival Ballet Providence, The Washington Ballet and Ballet Builders. In 2005 he was feautured in DANCE Magazine's "Top 25 To Watch," and received the Strassler excellence award from Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

Naomi Solomon (dancer) was born in San Francisco, and has studied at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet and American Ballet Theatre School. Naomi lived in London for three years, where she trained at the Central School of Ballet. Ms. Solomon toured with Ballet Central throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, performing a variety of works, including the creations of William Forsythe, and Chris Hampton. She has danced in the United States with Omaha Theatre Ballet, Upstate New York Ballet, and Ballet Aspen. This is Naomi’s fourth year with the project. She lives in New York City, where she is also a student at Columbia University.

Antonio Lytle (dancer) is from Temple Hills, Maryland and is a graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, where he studied with Sandra Fortune Greene, Charles Augins, Katherine Smith and Peter Romero. Antonio has also studied on scholarship at the School of the Washington Ballet. During his time with the Washington Ballet, Mr. Lytle performed in the Nutcracker with choreography by Septime Webre and Rudolph Kharatian. He has just completed his junior year as a student at the Hartt School of Performing Arts, where he is studying for his degree in Dance Education. While at the Hartt School, Antonio has performed in Kirk Peterson’s Nutcracker, La Bayadere and Sleeping Beauty, as well as contemporary works by Katie Stevinson and Susan Marshall. This marks Antonio’s second season with The Adam Miller Dance Project.

Daphne Zneimer (dancer) has just graduated from the Hartt School Dance Degree Program, where she studied Ballet Pedagogy. Daphne comes from Los Angeles, CA, where she has danced with Los Angeles Classical Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet. She appeared in “A Folk Tale” with The Royal Danish Ballet. Ms. Zneimer has also studied at American Ballet Theatre School, the Kirov Academy, Boston Ballet School and the Joffrey Ballet School. Daphne has been featured in many works at the Hartt School, including major roles in La Bayadere, Le Corsaire and The Sleeping Beauty. She also performed the title role in Jean Grand-Maitre’s Romeo and Juliet.

Gianna Russillo (dancer/costume designer) Ms. Russillo is from New York and has studied at the Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts. As a member of American Repertory Ballet, she danced roles in works by Balanchine, Pilobolus, Matthew Nash and Septime Webre. She has danced leading roles in Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Gianna was a founding member of Terra Firma Dance Theatre under the direction of Stuart Loungway. She has toured throughout the US, Europe, Russia and Asia. Gianna is currently in the Broadway cast of Phantom of the Opera.

As a costume designer, Gianna began her career in 1995. She has created costumes for many dance works. She has designed costumes for Carolina Ballet’s full-length Dracula, as well as costumes for the North Carolina School of the Arts, American Repertory Ballet, Terra Firma Dance Theatre, Dance Connecticut and BalletNY (formerly DanceGalaxy). She is currently creating new costumes for Eastern Connecticut Ballet’s full-length production of the Nutcracker.

Damien Johnson (dancer) began his training at the Etgen-Atkinson School of Ballet in his native Dallas, Texas, under the direction of Ann Etgen and Bill Atkinson. He later moved to New York to attend the School of American Ballet as a full scholarship student. Since leaving the School of American Ballet, Damien has danced with American Repertory Ballet and The Dance Theatre of Harlem. Mr. Johnson is also currently a member of Ballet Black UK and New Chamber Ballet. When not dancing he enjoys Pilates and Gyrotonics.

Jessi Ehrlich is from Texas where she received her training from Susan Olson, Brynar Mehl, and Joy Xu McCarthy. She also studied with San Francisco Ballet and American Ballet Theatre receiving the National Training Scholarship (2000, 2001) and the Coca-Cola Scholarship (2000, 2001). She performed in Stephen Pier’s Brilliant Sky and Liz Keen’s Dream Fragments. Her theatre credits include Fraulein Kost in Cabaret directed by Jason Little and Cha-Cha in Grease directed by Burgess Clark. She also worked closely on an experimental piece choreographed by Pat Birch. She is on leave of absence while touring as Meg in the national tour of the Phantom of the Opera.

Reona Yonezawa (dancer) began her training at the Mitaka Ballet Academy in her native Japan. Reona was finalist at the Saitama National Ballet Competition and the Nippon Ballet Academy Competition. Ms. Yonezawa performed in The Nutcracker with the Nippon Ballet Academy Company and in Copelia with Miyako Yoshida and Kevin O’Hare of the Royal Ballet Company. She has studied at the Boston Ballet School and is currently a performing major at the Hartt School of Performing Arts, where she has completed her sophomore year. At the Hartt School, she has been featured in The Sleeping Beauty, Spring Waters pas de deux and as the Dew Drop in The Nutcracker. This is Reona’s first season with the Adam Miller Dance Project.

Jenna Dannenberger (dancers) is from New Jersey, where she was trained by Maxine Chapman. She was a soloist with the Vineland Regional Dance Company, where she got to perform in The Nutcracker Ballet, as well as Le Sylphide. Jenna was a Regional Scholarship winner at the Regional Dance America/ Northeast Festival for two years. She has also studied with the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Currently a performance major at The Hartt School of Performing Arts, she has been featured in Le Sylphide. This is Jenna's first season with AMDP.

Stuart Loungway (choreographer) Stuart Loungway is the Founder and Artistic Director of Terra Firma Dance Theatre, a rapidly rising contemporary ballet company located in Central NJ. As a member of San Francisco Ballet and American Repertory Ballet he appeared in a variety of soloist roles in works by Forsythe, Bintley, Kudelka, Balanchine, Webre and others. He has served as a Professor of Dance at Rutgers University, and maintains an active schedule as a master teacher and choreographer. Most recently, he was the recipient of the Individual Choreographic Fellowship, from the New Jersey State Council for the Arts in recognition of the high artistic merit of his work.

Sara Sweet Rabidoux (choreographer) founded Hoi Polloi in 1997. She received her BA in choreography from Hampshire College ('93) and her MFA in choreography from Smith College ('98). Sara has been the co-director at the Bates Dance Festival Youth Arts program since 1995 and has been guest artist at Hampshire College, Mesa State College, Emory University, Bates College, Phillips Andover Academy, Keene State, and Mount Holyoke College. Sara was an artist-in-residence at the Djerassi Foundation where she spent a month creating new work. In the past 3 years Sara has been awarded 2 grants from the LEF Foundation both for $10,000 for the creation and presentation of new work. Sara was recently commissioned by Opera Boston to choreograph their production of South Pacific, and she also created movement for the pilot of a children's television program called Lil' Iguana. Sara is a guest member of Ryan Landry's Gold Dust Orphans and tours with Aeloise and the Savoir Faire Dancers when she's not making drinks at the West Side Lounge. More information about Hoi Polloi can be found at www.hoipolloi.org.