Faculty

Fonda Hamilton-Insley, Tribal Belly Dance Instructor

Fonda has performed as a professional Cabaret and Tribal Style Belly Dancer for over a decade before she made the transition to instructor. She has her General Skills Certification through Carolena Nericcio of FatChanceBellyDance (www.fcbd.com) and has completed all levels of Tribal Fusion instruction in the Domba style. Fonda has traveled to dozens of workshops and festivals studying with Unmata, Rachel Brice, Ultra Gypsy, Gypsy Caravan, Fahtiem, Morocco and many others. Fonda is a founding member of Midriff Crisis Belly Dance Troupe and the Director of the Tucson Tribal Dance Collective.

Erika Astrid Farkvam, Beginning Jazz Instructor

Erik was born and raised in Oak Park IL., just outside of Chicago where she began her dance training at the age of the 3. She hasn't stopped moving and grooving since. In 2005 she moved to Tucson where she received a B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Arizona in May of 2009. Erika's dance education was continually nourished through her summer experiences dancing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance in 2006 and 2008, American Dance Festival in 2009, and during a month in Ghana, West Africa in 2008. Erika is grateful and delighted to be dancing in her first season with NEW ARTiculations.

Megan Kehl, Jazz Instructor

Megan began dancing in Milwaukee, where she trained in ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, ballroom, modern, and African & Asian American dance. Megan first taught at Anita's Dance Center in 1997 where she was a company dancer with the nationally performing Midwest Connection Dance Company. She was a SPLASH dancer for the Milwaukee Wave National Indoor Soccer Team and was one of five to win the L.A. Dance Excellence Competition Scholarship out of 850 dancers worldwide. In 2005, Megan graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Marketing while maintaining a strong focus on dance. She performed as a singer/dancer with the UW-Madison Wisconsin Singers, a group that entertains more than 50,000 people across the nation with Broadway style choreography, vocals and instrumentals. After college, Megan moved to NYC and trained with top choreographers at the Broadway Dance Center. She was a NFL Professional Cheerleader with the Arizona Cardinals from 2007-2008 and performed at Super Bowl XLII hosted in Phoenix. Currently, Megan is a hip hop dancer with The Human Project.

Tammy Rosen, Modern Instructor, Awareness Through Movement(R) Instructor

Tammy has taught adults and youth for years. In 1997, she co- founded the professional modern dance company NEW ARTiculations Dance Theatre for which she choreographs, dances and teaches. In addition to her performances with NEW ART, she has performed with FUNHOUSE movement theater, Tenth Street Danceworks and O-T-O Dance (all in Tucson). She was a 2002 finalist for the Buffalo Exchange Arts Award for emerging artists and is a a certified Fieldwork facilitator, a method which offers choreographers the opportunity to develop their craft within a community of peers. She is in her fourth year of training to become a Feldenkrais ® practitioner and is mother to Katie Rose (age 4) and Owen (age 1).

Katie Rutterer, Ballet and Modern Instructor

Katie is originally from St. Louis and has a BA in dance from Washington University and an MFA in dance from the University of Arizona. She has danced with the Mid-America Dance Company, ATREK Dance, O-T-O Dance, Funhouse Movement Theatre, Thom Lewis Dance, and Acorn Dance. She has danced with NEW ARTiculations Dance Theatre since 2003 and is currently the Artistic Director. Katie has been teaching at the DanceLoft since 2003. She believes that dance should be hard and sweaty and always fun.

Darrell Wilmore, Hip Hop Instructor

Darrell Wilmore is a recent college graduate from the University of Arizona. He has been dancing for as long as he can remember, however, spent the past 7 incorporating Jazz, Modern, and African dance with Hip Hop. Darrell is currently the artistic director of the Hip Hop after school program at Rincon/University high school and is continually learning movement with the urban dance company Human Project.

Gayl Zhao, Lindy hop, SavoyFit

Gayl Zhao, owner of the DanceLoft, has a fierce passion for dance, especially Balboa (the dancer's dance!) and lindy hop, she can't stop moving her feet to Traditional Jazz music. In addition to her passion for lindy hop, she has eighteen years of training in ballet with her mother and long time instructor Hanneke Lohse. Her lindy hop journey began in 1999 and she has managed to visit and dance with lindy hop communities wherever she has traveled throughout the United States and other countries such as China and the Netherlands.

Gayl and her husband have coached and choreographed swing routines for the local dance troupe, Troupe 66, and have worked on collaborative projects with groups such as the UA Artie Shaw Legacy Band. Together they have been local instructors for the past five years for the Tucson lindy hop community, continiously seeking to spread the joy of the vintage dance, lindy hop.

Nick Moor, West Coast Swing I

Nick is a fixture in Tucson's swing dance scene and has a special passion for expanding the local dance community with new generations of dancers. He has studied regularly under many of the world's top professionals emphasizing improvised lead and follow techniques. He has two years of competition experience at various international WSDC events and has been placing in Jack and Jill and ProAm competitions.