THE PC } Dancers
2010 PROJECT COMPANY DANCERS
Vilte Bacinskaite
Vilte Bacinskaite was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of six. She began her dance training with the Sebastopol Ballet School in Sonoma County, California, and later with Santa Rosa Dance Theater. Vilte studied with the Alonzo King LINES Ballet School for two consecutive summers. After graduating from high school, she joined the LINES year-round training program where she danced for two years. Vilte has performed with the Mark Foehringer Dance Project and has danced original roles by Maurya Kerr, Yannis Adoniou and Kathleen Hermesdorf. Vilte has taught throughout the San Francisco bay area and has set numerous choreographic works on ArtQuest Dance Company. In addition to dancing, she is continuing her studies in graphic and web design, which she began last year. Vilte participated in Northwest Dance Project's LAUNCH: 4 project and is very excited to be working with the Project Company.
Samantha Campbell
Samantha Campbell is from Salt Lake City, Utah. She attended the University of Utah as a Ballet major and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in May 2007. She was a member of Utah Ballet for three years while at the University, danced with Alabama Ballet and danced on scholarship at the Lou Conte Dance Studio (Hubbard Street Dance Chicago). In her first year with the Northwest Dance Project, Samantha was featured in Donald McKayle's jazzy "Syncopated Gambol," and has danced original roles in Northwest Dance Project works by Lucas Crandall, Sarah Slipper, James Canfield, Wen Wei Wang, Andrea Miller, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Edgar Zendejas and Maurice Causey. This is Samantha's third year as a Project Company member.
Lex Dones
Lex Dones hails from Portland where he began his dance training at the age of five. He trained with local dance schools and for four years he was a key dancer in Portland's celebrated Jefferson Dancers, performing and touring both nationally and internationally. Lex also worked with leading names in dance while participating in the Northwest Dance Project's 2006 summer Project. In July of 2007, he relocated to New York City to work with MOMIX Dance Theatre under the artistic direction of Moses Pendleton. He recently worked with Luna Negra Dance Theatre of Chicago under the direction of Eduardo Vilaro, as well as a guest artist with the Salt Creek Ballet under the direction of Sergey Kozadayev. Lex has danced original roles in Northwest Dance Project works by Sarah Slipper, James Canfield, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Andrea Miller, Edgar Zendejas, Aszure Barton, Donald McKayle, Maurice Causey, Lucas Crandall and Alejandro Cerrudo. This is Lex's second year as a Project Company member.
Patrick Kilbane
Patrick Kilbane is from Bainbridge Island, Washington. He began his dance training with Vera Bullen at the age of 14 and studied at Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, School of American Ballet, Alonzo King LINES Ballet and with Suzanne Farrell at The Kennedy Center. Patrick also served as an apprentice with Oregon Ballet Theatre for two seasons where he performed in works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Patrick has danced original roles in new works by Maurya Kerr, Gregory Dawson, Yannis Adoniou, Anne Mueller and Josie Moseley. Patrick participated in the Northwest Dance Project's first and second LAUNCH Projects as well our summer Project in 2008 where he was featured in Cayetano Soto's "Last But Not Least." He has also danced original roles in Northwest Dance Project works by Andrea Miller, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Edgar Zendejas, James Canfield, Maurice Causey, Wen Wei Wang, Donald McKayle, and Carla Mann. This is Patrick's first year as a Project Company member.
Lindsey Matheis
Lindsey Matheis grew up in Colorado before moving to North Carolina. She began dancing under Kirstie Tice Spadie at the NC Dance Institute and later at the North Carolina School of the Arts under the directorship of Susan McCullough. After graduating from the modern department in May 2008, Lindsey trained for a year at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet School in San Francisco. In addition, she has studied at the Alvin Ailey School, the American Dance Festival, and with the Northwest Dance Project. Lindsey has appeared in original new works by Alonzo King, Amy Raymond, Robert Moses, Yannis Adoniou, Patricia Casey, and Keelan Whitmore, and she has danced original roles in Northwest Dance Project works by Maurice Causey, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Andrea Miller, Lucas Crandall, Sarah Slipper, Edgar Zendejas and Wen Wei Wang. This is Lindsey's first year as a Project Company member.
Franco Nieto
Franco Nieto was born and raised in Vancouver, Washington. Franco was an athlete playing football for seven years before making his choice to dance. Franco began his training at Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, and Columbia Dance, later studying under Tracey Durbin as a student and an assistant in Portland. Franco graduated from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a B.F.A. in Jazz in 2009 and danced as a member of ezdanza in Montreal. He has danced original roles in Northwest Dance Project works by James Canfield, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Maurice Causey, Wen Wei Wang, Edgar Zendejas and Andrea Miller. This is Franco's first year as a Project Company member.
Andrea Parson - 2010 Princess Grace Award Winner
Andrea Parson began her early dance training in Hillsboro, Oregon, at Northwest Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Anita Mitchell. She received her B.A. in Dance from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2008. Andrea has taught dance throughout Oregon and Washington and has participated in workshops with the Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and the Northwest Dance Project. She has worked with Chad Hall and danced original roles in Northwest Dance Project works by Aszure Barton, Sarah Slipper, James Canfield, Luca Veggetti, Andrea Miller, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Maurice Causey, Wen Wei Wang, Alejandro Cerrudo, Cayetano Soto and Edgar Zendejas. In June 2010, Dance Magazine named Andrea their dancer "On the Rise." Read the article HERE. The following month, Andrea received her biggest career honor to date, winning a 2010 Princess Grace Award for Dance. This is Andrea's second year as a Project Company member.
Viktor Usov was born in the Ukraine and raised in Portland, Oregon. Viktor has trained extensively with Northwest Dance Project's Artistic Director, Sarah Slipper, and with Steve Gonzales, Director of The Jefferson Dancers. Viktor has danced original roles in Northwest Dance Project works by Donald McKayle, Sarah Slipper, James Canfield, Lucas Crandall, Edgar Zendejas, Alejandro Cerrudo, Wen Wei Wang, Maurice Causey, Lauri Stallings and Gioconda Barbuto. Viktor is currently attending The Juilliard School. This is Viktor's third year as a Project Company member.
Kaitlin Van Rossmann graduated from the Eugene School of Ballet and went on to become an apprentice with Eugene Ballet Company/Ballet Idaho. Kaitlin trained with Maria Vegh, formerly ballet mistress of Harkness Ballet, and at the Lou Conte Studio in Chicago. She spent a year in southern Florida dancing with Busch Entertainment, took part in the Northwest Dance Project's summer project in 2008 and most recently danced for Nevada Ballet Theatre under the direction of James Canfield. This is Kaitlin's first year as a Project Company member.
Ching Ching Wong was born in Manila, Philippines, but calls southern California her home where she began her dance training at the age of three at Allegria Dance Theatre under the artistic direction of Alia Harlan. She received her B.F.A in Dance Performance and minor in Education and Psychology & Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine. During her UCI days, she was a member of Donald McKayle's Etude Ensemble and also performed works by Jodie Gates, Molly Lynch, Lisa Naugle, Rennie Harris and William Forsythe's "Artifact Suite". Ching Ching participated in Northwest Dance Project's LAUNCH: 3 & LAUNCH: 4 projects, and is thrilled to extend her stay in Portland for her first season with the Project Company.
Joni Tuttle
Joni Tuttle is from Holden, Utah. She began her ballet training under the direction of Jacqueline Colledge, and later received her Bachelors in Fine Arts at Utah Valley University. During that time, Joni joined Utah Regional Ballet and danced professionally for five season performing principle roles such as Sugar Plum Fairy in "The Nutcracker", and Swanilda in "Coppelia". She has participated in many workshops such as Nederlands Dans Theater, Alonzo King LINES Ballet and San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under Summer Lee Rhatigan. She has studied Jirí Kylián works with Fionna Lumis, William Forsythe improvisational techniques with Alessio Sylvestri, and Ohad Naharin "gaga" technique and repertoire with Bobby Smith. Joni's favorite experience is working with renowned choreographers such as Alex Ketley, Robert Moses, Loni Landon, Heather Gray and James Gregg. She participated in Northwest Dance Project's LAUNCH: 4 project and is so excited for her first season with the Project Company.
Viktor Usov
Kaitlin Van Rossmann
Ching Ching Wong
Project Company portraits by Paul Thacker