RTGPC : Dancer/Performer Bios - 2020 Season
Tasha Taylor
Tasha Taylor has performed extensively with many choreographers including Pat Cremins, Steve Gross, Dean Moss, Lynn Shapiro, Matthew Brookoff, and RoseAnne Spradlin. She received a "Bessie" Award for her performance in Spradlin's Underworld. Tasha is excited to return to dance with Rachel and RTGPC . A Feldenkrais® practitioner since 2006, Tasha teaches classes at Movement Research and maintains a practice on the Upper West Side focusing on performing artists interested in improving their self-use. Tasha delights in improvisation and poetry and is curious about the relationship between movement, feeling and learning.
Kirsten Reynolds
Kirsten Reynolds of Harbor Springs, Michigan, began her early training in classical ballet under Heather Raue. She graduated in 2017 with BFA degrees in Ballet and Modern Dance from Texas Christian University's School for Classical and Contemporary Dance. Since moving to NYC, Kirsten has performed with Rachel Thorne Germond Performance Collage, [insert dance company title here], Ninja Ballet, Nuo Spiritual Dance Company and appeared in Jacqulyn Buglisi's Table of Silence and Regina Opera's Aida and Hansel and Gretel in addition to working as a freelance dancer.
Anna Zekan
Anna Zekan is from Newport, OR where she began dancing under the direction of Nancy Mittleman. She continued her training at Colorado College under the mentorship of Patrizia Herminjard, Tsui-shuang Lai, Yunyu Wang, Debra Mercer, and Casey Avaunt. After graduating with a B.A. in Dance and Creative Writing, she relocated to NYC to attend the Martha Graham School Professional Training Program. Since then, she has performed with Coyote Dancers (dir. Maher Benham), Alice Klugherz, Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre, Carlos Fittante, and Fooju Dance Collaborative. Anna is also a published writer, barre fitness instructor, and teaching artist.
Ashley Carter
Both internationally as well as in the U.S., Ashley is passionate about her work as a dancer, teacher and choreographer. Primarily
trained in New York, she has studied and worked in many different styles from ballet to lyrical, modern, tap, hip-hop, contemporary, and
musical theatre. She has had the opportunity to perform and/or choreograph at venues such as Jacob's Pillow, Teatro Madrid, The Gerald Lynch Theater, The Barrow Street Theater, SummerStage, The Highline Ballroom, Webster Hall, BB Kings and the Ailey Theatre.
Ashley is also on faculty at Ballet Academy East, and Joffrey in New York, various schools in Mexico and Spain; former faculty at Peridance, and has taught at Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, and Ballet Arts in New York City, Lines Dance Center in San Francisco, Tony Williams Dance Center and Green St Studios in Boston; Punahou, University of Hawaii, Kailua Dance Academy and the Mid-Pacific Institute in Hawaii, and Tarrytown Dance in Austin.
She can be seen working alongside artists such as Ricky Martin, NeYo, Lady Sovereign, Nicki Minaj, Cam'ron and Mila Kunis, for companies
like Pilobolus, Derek Mitchell, Daniel Gwirtzman, Hanna Q Dance, Germaul Barnes/Viewsic Expressions, Ruddur Dance, Momentum Dance
Theater, Variations Theatre Group, the Little Opera Theatre of NY, Moochaloo and Balasole, and for brands such as Netflix, Nike, Athleta, Nokia, Pixar, Microsoft, Heineken, Yahoo, Ameriprise, the Rachel Ray Show and Lush Cosmetics. She has been seen off-Broadway in shows like West Side Story and 3 to 1. She was invited to Madrid to teach at the Association of Dance Professionals and choreograph for Spanish recording artist Nuria Elosegui. Ashley performed in Sia's music
video "Soon We Will Be Found", in Central Park Summerstage, in a Boost Mobile commercial, danced in a feature film with Justin Timberlake,
and is credited with choreographing independent feature film "The Ride of Tom and Valkyrie". She has performed with the European show
"Compradores de Sueños", premiered the Legendary Dance Project at the
Museo del Barrio and has completed her fourth season of New York City's Summerstage. Recently, Ashley was featured in the original
dance film "Here We Go Again" (dir. Nathan Cohen), has performed two seasons as Fritz/Rat King/Russia in "DIY Nutcracker", danced in "The
Barber of Seville" with the Amore Opera, and worked on a production of "Peter Pan" for Broadway Asia. This past year, she collaborated with the Taiwanese artist Yutien Chang to choreograph and perform in the NYC
premier of his latest exposition.
Ashley has choreographed several full-length shows for the company DoubleTake Dance (www.DoubleTakeDanceCo.com) that she co-directs with Vanessa Martínez de Baños, and is very proud of DoubleTake's performance in the City Parks Summerstage festival, Battery Dance
Festival, the ACLU's 100th birthday celebration, Carnival Choreographer's Ball, etc. Additionally, with the company, she is credited with directing/choreographing a benefit for Japan and the latest commercial for Fuse TV and Dropps laundry detergent; and routinely traveling to the West Coast, Europe and Mexico to teach contemporary workshops. Recent credits include choreographic commissions for the world-renowned Dancing Wheels Company, HT Chen's
NewSteps, JPAC's Next Stage Residency, and the Montclair Performing Arts program; choreography for the new musicals "Dragula" and "Parallel Lines", and was also a choreography grant recipient from Eryc Taylor Dance.
Ashley's choreography has been featured in the YAGP finals 2 years in a row, has won many awards at regional and national competitions, and
is in high demand in New York, throughout the US, and abroad.
She is excited to begin her first season with Rachel Thorne Germond!
Larissa Asebedo
(CURRENTLY ON LEAVE OF ABSENCE FROM RTGPC in WINTER/SPRING 2020)
Larissa Asebedo is a dancer, creator, and educator based in New York City. Originally from the Denver area she attended the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College where she completed her B.F.A. with a psychology minor while also studying abroad in Perth, Australia. Larissa has worked professionally with Lisa Fagan, Daniel Gwirtzman, Megan Mizanty, Kensaku Shinohara, Mei Yamanaka, the Merce Cunningham Trust, and various peers. She has presented her choreographic work with Triskelion Arts, Dixon Place, The Craft, Fooju Dance Collaborative, & Spitball. Larissa has experience teaching dance and Pilates to children and adults. She values the mind-body connection, creative expression, and lifelong learning. Larissa has been dancing with Rachel Thorne Germond since 2017.
RECENT/ PREVIOUS PERFORMERS WITH RTG DANCE, NFP & RTGPC
New York, NY (2014-Present)
February, 2019 - RTGPC at University Settlement House
Safety Dance: Jacqueline Calle, Sally Rhoades, Irene Siegel, and Jessica Winograd
Roni Gross - Performance Collage #3: Safety Dance (duet version)
Norfolk, VA (2010-2014)
Megan Thompson - Under the Rainbow and Rejoinder
Jennifer Stone - Rejoinder
Ashley Budy Whitlinger - Precious Unfolding
Students at Old Dominion University - 2010-2014
1990 - 2014 List of Dancers/Performers with RTG Dance, NFP and 2014-2018 with RTGPC (aka RTG Dance).
Archiving:
Norfolk VA 2010-2014
Megan Thompson, Jennifer Clark Stone, Ashley Budy Whitlinger (ODU Faculty)
Chicago, IL (2001-2010)
Johannah Wininsky (company member RTG DANCE), Esteban Cruz (company member RTGDANCE) , Jennifer Thompson (company member RTGDANCE) , Natalie Bogira, Christopher Knowlton, Cecilia Bambara, Lucy Verusic Riner, Jeannine Salemi, Tabitha Faes, Julie Ann Graham, Renata Sheppard, Grace Whitworth.
…more coming soon.
New York, NY 1990-2004
