Loren Groenendaal (dancer) is delighted to be dancing for the Naked Stark, continuing an artistic relationship that was built in North Carolina. Loren met Katherine at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she earned her MFA in Choreography. Now based in Philadelphia, she is choreographing under the new moniker, Vervet Dance.  She also teaches creative movement, modern dance, hip hop, and contact improvisation to youth and adults in the region. Her practices of dancing, teaching, improvising, and choreographing are being further informed by her studies of Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals. Loren also dances with Lacy James’ Mereminne dancers, Swarthmore’s Balinese, Gamelan Semara Santi, and the Indonesian Cultural Club. She is co-facilitating a weekly contact jam at Philly PARD. 

Photo by Bilwa

Colleen Hooper's (dancer) choreography has been presented since 2002 and New York venues include Danspace Project, Dixon Place, BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and The New Dance Alliance Performance Mix Festival at the Joyce SoHo. She collaborated with Kate Garroway as The Roosters from 2003-08 and they performed in Dance Theater Workshop's Fresh Tracks series, DanceNow/NYC Festival, at The Bushwick Starr, and Dance New Amsterdam. She received a 2010 TOPAZ ARTS Dance Residency, made possible by New York State Dance Force with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts. Hooper has danced for Red Dive, a Bessie Award-Winning site-specific creator of multi-sensory tours and events and she has recently performed for Beau Hancock and Merían Soto. She graduated from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Dance and English and she received her Dance M.F.A. from Temple University where she is currently a Dance PhD candidate. Hooper is presenting "Revolving Spaces," an outdoor dance and live music performance, with Frances Gremillion September 9-11 at South Philadelphia's Bardascino Park.

Photo by Bill H

Jody Obeid (dancer) is obsessed with movement of all kinds. She is a choreographer, dance educator, and performer. She arrived in Philadelphia in 2003 from Brussels, Belgium but is a native of Pennsylvania. In her work, Jodi explores the pitfalls, emotions, and quirky stories of life. She is very interested in writing human stories through strong movement and quirky gesture. Jodi believes in creating art for community outreach and cross cultural purposes. Jodi has taught and created work for: Peace College, Enloe Arts Magnet School, Louvain la Neuve Brussels, West Chester University, Drexel University, and Rowan University where she is currently an adjunct faculty member. Her choreography has been presented at numerous festivals in Washington DC, North Carolina, Belgium and in Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia she has performed with: Kosoko Performance Projects, Anne Marie Mulgrew and Company, Ring Dance Theater, Scrap Performance Group, Anonymous
Bodies, and Ready Set Go. Jodi received her MA in Dance from the American University, and her BA in French and Dance from Goucher College and the Sorbonne University in Paris. Jodi is currently a resident artist with the nEW Festival.

Megan Wilson Stern (dancer / director of development) earned her B.F.A. in performance and choreography from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2009.  She has also studied and performed at The University of Angers in France, Earthdance in Plainfield, Massachusetts, and the American Dance Festival. Her work has been shown in various venues in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, NC including the Greensboro Fringe Festival for three years. Megan has performed with the Jan Van Dyke Dance Group, the John Gamble Dance Theatre, and The Naked Stark. Megan now lives in Philadelphia and was thrilled to perform the work of Justin Tornow in One Space, Three Dances as part of the Philly Fringe Festival.

Photo by Steve Clark  

Barbara Tait (dancer / director of research and administration) is a long, tall Texan who relocated to Philadelphia in 2009 after graduating from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with a B.A. in Dance and minors in English and Psychology. She has studied modern dance and contact improvisation with B.J. Sullivan, Gerri Houlihan, John Gamble and others, and has performed in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, New York, and Philadelphia with The Naked Stark, John Gamble Dance Theater, and Lacy James Dance. Her work has been performed in Greensboro, Philadelphia and Winston-Salem, most recently at the Inhale Series in Philadelphia and Patchwork in Winston-Salem. She enjoys being around children, pretending to not have the use of her legs, pondering witty messages with which to adorn her gravestone (hopefully a long time from now), blowing gigantic bubbles and generally nurturing herself and others.

Photo by Steve Clark

Amy Love Beasley (dancer) is an artist working in visual and moving mediums. She received a BA in Visual Arts from the College of Charleston in South Carolina as a printmaker, painter, and photographer. In Charleston, she danced with The Robert Ivey Ballet and as a guest with Anonymity. Locally, Amy has had the good fortune of performing in works by various choreographers, including Gerri Houlihan, Niki Juralewicz, BJ Sullivan, Sean Sullivan, and Jan Van Dyke. She is currently a member of John Gamble Dance Theatre and performs with kearnsdanceproject. In the spring of 2007, she received her MFA in Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and teaches as an adjunct faculty member at Elon University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Wake Forest University. Amy continues to practice her crafts, creating, teaching, and performing in North Carolina.  She is grateful for the inspiration and continuous support of her family, friends, dancers, students, and mentors.

Photo by Steve Clark 

Erin Casanega (dancer) is earning her BFA in dance along with a teaching licensure for K-12 public education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  She has enjoyed working with Ann Dils, Loren Gronendaal, Helen Simoneau, Katherine Kiefer Stark, Megan Stern, and Justin Tornow, and collaborating with Maria Maggi and Lauren Drake.  Erin performed her solo, Aria: Works in Progress, at ACDFA in Athens, Ohio in March 2010.  She will be student teaching at a performing arts middle school in the fall.  After graduating, Erin plans to utilize her creative self as a teacher, dancer, and choreographer in Philadelphia.

Photo by Justin Tornow 

Nicole Christman (dancer) grew up in Ridgecrest, a small town within the California Mojave Desert. She danced away receiving a BA in Dance and a BA in Drama from the University of California Irvine in June 2010. Nicole has trained with a variety of people including Loretta Livingston, Donald McKayle, former Joffrey Principal Françoise Martinet and Jodie Gates. She performed with BAW in Paris, France, as well as with Anaheim Ballet and the Laguna Playhouse in California. She recently moved to Philadelphia and has enjoyed the opportunity to dance in Katherine’s piece 'Goodnight War'. She is also enjoying her recent engagement to Shahriyar. 

Marialena Maggi (dancer) grew up in Cortona, Italy and came to the United States in 2000. She is currently pursuing a BFA in dance from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. While at UNCG, Marialena has studied choreography with Jan Van Dyke, Larry Lavender, and BJ Sullivan. She is currently studying contemporary and ballet techniques with BJ Sullivan. In the last three years, Marialena has performed throughout North Carolina dancing for Robin Gee, Jen Guy Metcalf/Terranova Dance Theatre, Justin Tornow, Madeleine Reber, and Larry Lavender. She has collaborated on choreographic explorations in and out of class with fellow dancer and performer Erin Casanega. In the summer of 2008, she participated in a workshop led by Italian dance artist Raffaella Giordano in Cortona, Italy, and took classes at Dance Gallery in Perugia, Italy under the instruction of Rita Petrone. This is Marialena's third year dancing for Katherine Kiefer Stark, and her first year as a member of The Naked Stark.

Photo by Justin Tornow 

Margaret Moncure (dancer) graduated from UNCG with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a North Carolina Teaching License in K-12 Dance. This summer, she traveled to Kona, Hawaii to be certified as a Yoga instructor through the Yoga Alliance. She is currently seeking a teaching Job in North Carolina as a dance educator and looking forward to performing for Choreographer BJ Sullivan at a dance festival in NYC in October. She would like to thank Katherine Kiefer Stark for providing meaningful and empowering dance experiences. 

Photo by Steve Clark 

Philadelphia native Mary O’Brien (dancer) started dancing two steps after learning how to walk.  Twenty years later, she graduated from Temple University with a BFA degree. Four years of college reaffirmed her belief that dancing brings the greatest amount of joy to her life. Following her passion led her, along with fellow graduates, to participate in ‘SHRUG’; a choreographic exploration that was part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in 2009. Wanting to explore the administrative aspects of dance led her to an internship at Summer Stages Dance in Concord, Massachusetts in the summer of 2010. At present, she is trying to rekindle her relationship with the Philadelphia dance community to discover people and places to continue her love of this art form.  Mary has studied at Philadanco and currently focuses on her technique at Koresh School of Dance. She hopes to one day perform as a “murderous mistress” in a rendition of the Cell Block Tango. Mary will be staying in the Philadelphia area for a while, should anyone agree that he had it comin’.

 Photo by Bill H

Will Stimpson (dancer) will graduate in December with a BA in dance from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  In addition to dancing in various student works, he has danced with the John Gamble Dance Theatre, Ashley Ramsey, Megan Stern, and The Naked Stark.  Will is also active in the Contra and Contact Improvisation communities in the Triad.

Eliza Zeevalk (dancer), a native of the British Virgin Islands, discovered her love for dance at the St. Thomas School of Ballet at the age of four and has not stopped dancing since.  Eliza was introduced to modern dance through the UMF Dance Company and traveled the east coast and Canada for four years performing modern and improvisational company pieces.  She graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia with her BFA in Dance Education and a major in modern dance.  During her four years in Philadelphia, she was honored to study under such notable choreographers and dancers as Gabriel Masson, Kim Bears, Ronen Koresh, Brian Sanders, and learned and performed the famous Trio A under Yvonne Rainer.  Since then, Eliza has taught lecture demonstrations, choreography, and classes in ballet, modern, improvisation, and choreography in venues such as preschools, high schools, camps, after school programs, and studios on the East and West Coasts.  Eliza’s numerous award-winning choreography has been seen in competitions and productions through out Southern California and Las Vegas.  She also completed her MFA in Education at the University of Phoenix in 2008.  Eliza has recently rejoined the Philadelphia dance community is happy to be performing with The Naked Stark and is proud to be a part of Sharp Dance Company.