Claire Bechard
Claire Bechard is a dancer, educator, choreographer, and presenter from Southeast, Michigan. She began her early training at the River Raisin Dance Academy. She has taught for Eisenhower Dance Detroit, Detroit Country Day School, River Raisin Dance Academy, Jordan Mack Dance Studio, and Monroe Public Schools. In 2019, Claire began working professionally with Suttle Dance under the direction and choreography of Sylvia Suttle. During her time with Suttle Dance, Claire performed soloist roles for Detroit City Dance Festival, Michigan Ballet Festival, and Brighton Dance Festival. In 2020, she began her career in arts administration at the historic River Raisin Centre for the Arts. In 2022, she received a BFA from Wayne State University as a Maggie Allesee Scholar. In the fall of 2022 Claire was voted onto the board of the Michigan Presenters Network where she has supported the performing arts on statewide and national levels. In 2023 Claire performed with Terpsichore Collective under the influence of Aimee McDonald. She is also an active member of the Ann Arbor Dance Network. Claire has also presented her solo and collaborative choreographic work at Collage Dance Festival, Detroit Culture Mash, and Shape//Matter.
Atelier Dance Company is excited to welcome Claire as a guest artist for our 2023/2024 season!
Currents Dance Theater
Currents Dance Theatre was founded in 2022 by Kendra DeFazio in order to provide more opportunities for professional dancers in West Michigan and bring contemporary dance to the Grand Rapids arts community. Currents strives to inspire and empower dancers to grow their artistic voice, integrate our local community into the art of dance, and create innovative, engaging choreography.
Atelier Dance Company is excited to welcome Currents Dance as a guest artist for our 2023/2024 season!
Fara Ling
Fara graduated in May from Hope College with a B.A. in Dance and Minor in Exercise Science. She received the Kurtze-Wickersheimer Dance Performance Award and DeLong Senior Dance Award in recognition of her achievements in dance. Fara creates with words as well as movement. Her poem "Best of Everything" won an Academy of American Poets University and Colleges Prize in 2022. She won the Hope College William B. Eerdmans prize in prose twice for creative nonfiction during her college career.
Atelier Dance Company is excited to welcome Fara as a guest artist for our 2022/2023 season!
Christina Catanese
Christina grew up as a ballerina, but discovered her love for modern and contemporary dance in college. She loves nothing more than blending her training in environmental science with her love of movement. She is currently a co-lead artist on Future Fields, a dance investigation of climate change and agriculture with Dance Exchange. She is also the Education Specialist at the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University, where she leads aquatic science education and outreach programs. She has held residencies at Santa Fe Art Institute, Signal Fire, Works on Water and SciArt Center, and presented her work widely in the Mid-Atlantic region. She was also the Director of Environmental Art at the Schuykill Center for Environmental Education for six years. In her spare time, she knits feverishly and gardens novicely. Christina is a native Pittsburgher and relatively new Michigander, and enjoys learning all she can about the Great Lakes. She was a company member of Atelier in its first two seasons and is grateful for this community of movers!
Atelier Dance Company is excited to welcome Christina as a guest artist for our 2022/2023 season!
Aimee McDonald
Aimee McDonald is Artistic Director of Terpsichore Collective, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Previously, she headed Terpsichore's Kitchen from 1998-2009, producing the annual Dancing in Summer choreographic showcase, as well as a series of showings and performances.
Her work has been shown in the United States, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Montreal. After an extended hiatus from the stage due to motherhood and recovery from an auto accident, she returned as both choreographer and dancer for live stage work and screendance projects.
She is also co-founder with Sean Hoskins of the new organization Ann Arbor Dance Network, which supports professional contemporary dance performance, collaboration, and higher level class opportunities for the Ann Arbor area. Aimee received her BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan.
Atelier Dance Company is excited to welcome Aimee as guest choreographer and dancers, Lauren Bobo, Amy Cadwallader, and Mackenzie Kalinowski, for our 2022/2023 season!
Breakin’ Ballet
Breakin' Ballet is an all styles dance company in Kalamazoo, Michigan, founded and directed by Joy Morris-Burton and Aerick Burton. As an all styles dance company, Breakin' Ballet shares stories of the human experience while bringing awareness to the artistry of a multitude of dance styles.
Atelier Dance Company is excited to welcome Joy Morris-Burton, Aerick Burton, and Alisa Lindsay as guest choreographers and dancers for our 2021/2022 season!
Stephanie Rankin
Stephanie Rankin is a dancer, choreographer, educator, and arts administrator currently based in Chicago. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Performance & Choreography and Communications from Hope College, Holland, MI and a Masters of Science in Arts Administration from Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.
Her own choreography draws on art, history, and literature to create relatable audience experiences. She incorporates pedestrian movement, somatic modern principles, and her collaborator’s experiences and styles with the attempt to convey honest and authentic works.
Her work has been presented in Chicago, Philadelphia, California, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Arizona, and at the International Dance Village in Israel.
Atelier Dance Company is thrilled to be performing an original work by Stephanie for the 2020/2021 season!