My goal as a choreographer is to make work that empowers participants and engages audiences, providing an opportunity for both groups to see themselves, their communities, and the world in a new and more thoughtful, positive way. My work focuses on abstract story-telling, using movement, words, and design as the tools to convey a message. My approach to choreography is collaborative, and I value the dancers’ creative contributions to each project. When creating dances for students, I actively involve them in the creative process, teaching them about dance making as we choreograph together. Throughout my career, I have had the privilege and joy of working with many musicians, actors, writers, and other creative people. I am committed to making accessible, engaging work for a variety of audiences, most especially those who would not normally seek out concert dance.

With 15 years of experience choreographing concert dance and musical theatre, I am at home working with with student dancers, actors, adult beginners, and professional performers. My choreography has been presented at Dance Place and The Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia FringeArts Festival, Baltimore Theatre Project and The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in Maryland, and The Phoenix Art Museum, DanceWest Festival, Tucson Museum of Art, and Tempe Center for the Arts in Arizona. I was the founder and co-director of New Street Dance Group, a collaborative modern dance company in Philadelphia, and went on to co-found erNACHMO/D.C., a hub of the National Choreography Month initiative, with Glade Dance Collective. In 2021, I choreographed my first full-length musical, West SIde Story, for Arts Express Theatre Company in Tucson, which played to sold-out crowds and rave reviews. In 2022, I am looking forward to serving as choreographer for Oliver! and Titanic, both for Arts Express.

Work Samples

10-57

Inspired by the 2300 Americans that are reported missing each day, 10-57 uses movement and design to shed light on this staggering statistic and the struggle of families to bring their missing loved ones home. In this collaboration with soloist Lauren Benner, we researched real-life missing persons cases, from which we created a series of vignettes that explores what may have happened to these missing individuals, and how people cope with the mysterious loss of a loved one. Music by Alexandra T Bryant

Video credits: Created in collaboration with the cast - Lauren Benner, Lauren Fanslau, Catherine Fischer, MaryKate Selby, Jackie McCreavy; Music performed by Jessica Albrecht, Paul Bagley, Kristin Bakkegard, Alexa Cantalupo, Jon Clancy, Nora Lee, Troy Pryor, Shabria Ray, Jonathan Cain; Set Design: Mike Armbruster

Superluminous

Superluminous explore ties that bind and tangles that entrap as the dancers twist one another up in kinesthetic and emotional webs, but just as quickly they release, recoil and rebound into new relationships or solo explorations. Music by Jon Adams. Choreography by Shannon Dooling and Krista Armbruster with the cast. Commissioned by DeSales University for the 2013 Dance Ensemble Concert.