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                     Canyon Movement Company, Inc. 
 
Photo by Brian Klimowski

Our Mission: Canyon Movement Company, Inc., is a modern dance ensemble dedicated to sharing our passion and excitement with a growing audience by creating and presenting the art of dance through performance, education, and community and collaborative projects.

We can be reached at 928-774-3937, 5680 E. Sunset Drive, Flagstaff, AZ 86004,
email: cmcgina1 at gmail dot com

BIOGRAPHIES


Gina B. Darlington is the executive director of Canyon Movement Company and Canyon Dance Academy. Gina has traveled to Ireland, Italy, and the Southwest where she and the company performed for and taught hundreds of people. She has performed in dance companies in Utah, Missouri, Nebraska, and Arizona. She has been an Artist-in Residence for Arizona where she conducted numerous residencies. Gina is on faculty at Coconino Community College and has been a guest teacher at the American College Dance Festival. She recently choreographed for NAU Theater including "Rivals" and "The Grapes of Wrath." She received her dance degree from BYU. Gina served on the Arizona Department of Education (DOE) Committee to re-write the Arts Standards in 2005-06, and is currently on the Arizona DOE National Content Review Committee for Arts Assessments. Gina keeps busy with her growing family including her grand-daughter and grand-son.

Erin Glockner was born and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona. She began dancing at age twelve. She studied dance at the Flagstaff School of Ballet as well as NAU Preparatory Academy. She is a graduate of Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, where she studied dance, and has also studied dance at Coconino Community College. She danced with the West African dance performance troupe Kuma Tunyale. Outside of dancing, she has two beautiful children ages 3 and 6 and a wonderful and supportive husband of 7 years.

Amanda Kapp has enjoyed dancing with Canyon Movement Company since 1995 and became a member of the Company in 2000. She has performed in many productions including The Quiltings, Hanging in the Balance, Ephemeral Architecture, and the Vertical Relief performance Paradigm Shift. Thus far, two of her choreographic efforts, including Falling Water Too, have involved copious amounts of water and extensive stage cleanup. She looks forward to dancing more with Canyon Movement and future choreographic projects.



Barbara Klimowski earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Theatre and Dance, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and English Education from the University of Wyoming. She then earned a Master of Science degree in Counseling with a major area of study in the unique needs of dance majors. Post college, Barbara has enjoyed choreographing and performing with several regional dance groups and has taught master classes in dance as it relates to worship arts. She was owner/director of the Prima School of Dancing, in Rapid City, South Dakota, where she taught ballet, modern, jazz, tap, and musical theatre to kids from 2 to 92 years of age. Barbara relocated to Flagstaff four years ago. This is her fifth season with CMC. She is an associate faculty member at Coconino Community College. She has three great kids and a really groovy husband.

 Jayne Lee has choreographed more than 100 dances for companies worldwide. Trained as a dancer in London and at Julliard, she danced and choreographed for London Contemporary Dance Theatre for 10 years and toured internationally. Jayne co-founded and co-directs both Human Nature Dance Theatre and Canyon Movement Company. Jayne is an associate faculty member at Coconino Community College and she choreographs regularly for NAU's theatre department. Jayne is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner® with a private practice in Flagstaff. She has served on the board of Grand Canyon River Guides and still works on the river in the summers.


Kristi Long currently teaches drama, dance, and Pilates at CHS and Full Circle Pilates. She is an outdoor enthusiast and enjoys spending time with her dogs and her incredibly supportive partner Wade. This is her third year dancing in "Nutcracker". She is one of the newest members of Canyon Movement Company. When not in the dance studio, Kristi enjoys being outside with her four dogs and her incredibly supportive partner, Wade.



Amanda Moore has enjoyed choreographing and dancing with Canyon Movement Company for nine years. She danced through high school, increasing her interest and technique while receiving her Bachelor's in Psychology at the University of New Mexico. When she moved to Flagstaff in 1997, she created "Tippy Toes" Children's Creative Dance program, which still continues to fill her weeks with incredible classes full of imaginative dancers. She hopes to bring a new flavor to her movement with Canyon Movement Company as she is now a proud mama of a beautiful little girl.

Melissa McMaster began dancing at a very young age and found her passion for modern dance while attending Utah State University where she danced and taught for several years. While taking a break from Utah, she danced in Albuquerque with the Keshet Dance Company and performed at the University of New Mexico. After college she spent some time in Bozeman, Montana where she and six other women formed a dance collective performing at local venues. Currently she is working on her master's in forestry at NAU and enjoying the time spent dancing; thinking less linearly and more creatively.

Originally from New Hampshire, Sarah Thomas has been dancing in Flagstaff since the age of 3. She is a graduate of NAU and CCC but is still a student of life. She has studied and recieved honors from the Royal Academy of Ballet through NAU's Prep School, and studied and performed at several American College Dance festivals.She has had the honor and pleasure of dancing with CCC's Encore for 3 years, and is new to Canyon Movement Company. She is currently in love with Flagstaff and the people in it even though she grew up here. 


Cori Wall began dancing at the age of 2 at Darlene Nosworthy's   Academy of Dance in Paradise, California. She began dancing with ENCORE Dance Company when she moved to Flagstaff in 2006 and has been enjoying working with Canyon Dance since 2007. While Cori loves performing with these groups she also enjoys the art of teaching dance to students at Canyon Dance Academy.

History of Canyon Movement Company (CMC):

CMC was established in April of 1993, and was incorporated in July of 1995. CMC has produced and performed in numerous venues in the past 15 years. We have an annual Spring Concert, we work in the schools through lecture/demonstrations and residencies, and travel throughout the region. Our project, "The Quiltings", a dance interpreting women and quilts of the pioneer migrations" (2000) has been toured throughout the region. CMC traveled to Cesena, Italy to perform in a festival in June 2004.

CMC completed a residency in Wexford, Ireland in October 1996. The company conducted lecture/demonstrations, performances, and community classes during a 16 day tour. They concluded with a fringe event performance at the Wexford Festival Opera. CMC worked again in Wexford Ireland in 2006. Myriad Dance of Ireland were guests at DanCelebration in June 2005, and June 2006, and CMC traveled to perform again in Ireland in April 2006. 

CMC is listed as a company on the Arizona Commission on the Arts roster for community and school based residencies through 2008.
 
http://www.azarts.gov/roster_display.asp?namekey=80&Submit=Go
Director Gina Darlington is an instructor of modern dance at Coconino Community College.

Prior to incorporation, the company traveled to Aspen, Colorado in March of 1994 to participate in a residency and performance. They taught 300 students in public and private schools. They have also performed for residencies and lecture demonstrations in Flagstaff Unified Public Schools, charter schools, Tuba City schools, and Grand Canyon Schools. The company was commissioned by international conductor Maestro Irwin Hoffman to perform with the Flagstaff Festival of the Arts Orchestra in 1994, and was asked back in 1995 and 1996. CMC and it's director have received grants from the City of Flagstaff since 1992. CMC also received funding from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. CMC frequently collaborates with other artists including choreographers, musicians, sculptors, visual artists and writers/poets. The company has performed in numerous venues including Wheeler Park in Flagstaff, NAU, outdoors at Lowell Observatory, Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Coconino Center for the Arts, Las Vegas, MAD BAD festival in the Bay area, the Kerr Center at ASU in Scottsdale, The Herberger Theater in Phoenix, Pima Community College in Tucson, and Tuacahn Center for the Arts in St. George, Utah. The company has performed with Arizona Contemporary Dance Festival from 1996- 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009.



Sara Frain is honored to have the opportunity to dance with Canyon Movement Company. Sara recently discovered her love for dance when hired to teach with "Tippy Toes," creative movement four years ago.

Carol Hart (emeritus) has been performing with Canyon Movement Company since its inception in 1993. She served as CMC's President of the Board of Directors and is an instructor with Canyon Dance Academy. Her dance background began in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1980's and continued at Oberlin College performing with Oberlin Dance Company. She has a Masters Degree in microbiology. She is married to Prof. Stephen Hart. They have two dancing children: Lukas, 9 and Kira, 12.


Kristen McBride (emeritus) is a founding member of Canyon Movement Company. She has danced with several modern dance companies and choreographers: Funhouse Movement Theater, Semaphor, ZUZI! Move IT!, and Liz Casebolt and Carly Condor. She was a guest choreographer for "Poetry in Motion" in Wexford, Ireland in 1997. Kristen received a Masters in Range Science and Management from the U of A in 2001 and now works with her husband Scotty for the Tonto National Forest. Kristen has taken the last year off from dancing to focus on her 3 year old son Liam Scott.


        © 2009 Canyon Movement Company   

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