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Ensemble
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Julia Welch
Julia comes to us with a joy for dance and a joy for the Lord. Julia has been a trained dancer from the age of four. She was a Golden Girl at the University of Missouri-Columbia, a Kansas City Chief’s Cheerleader, and danced for the Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse team. She has also received several dance-achievement awards over her 20+ year career.
Julia embraces the mission of The Movement Dance Co. and knows her family and friends do too. She currently teaches Montessori education to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students in Denver, CO. Julia recently earned her Master’s in Nonprofit Management degree at Regis University. |
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Michelle Ballard
Michelle started dancing at the age of five years old, and it didn't take long for her to realize that she had a true passion and love for dance. She has been trained in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Lyrical, Modern, Poms, Character, and Hip Hop. She first danced professionally in 1999 with the Blue Moon Dance Company in Boulder, CO. She has been with the Movement Dance Company since they very first started out.
Michelle is a twenty-seven year old single mother of a handsome four-and-a-half year old little boy named J.D. She was born and raised in Denver, CO, and now lives in Aurora, CO. Michelle works full time as an administrative assistant for a steel building company in Denver, and teaches ballet, pointe, lyrical, and modern for Aurora Dance Arts part time
in the evenings.
Looking forward to performing in the Company's third annual show in April, Michelle is excited to touch the hearts and souls of the audience by letting God shine through her like a ray of sunshine. Michelle feels so fortunate that God
has put this wonderful group of women in her life to share her same love for dance and the Lord.
"I honestly
wouldn't be where I am today without them!"
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Shannon Moeck
Shannon has been dancing since she was twelve years old. She has been trained in ballet, modern, and ballroom. After studying ballet in Washington State, she moved to Utah where she continued her training at Southern Utah University where she performed internationally on the SUU Ballroom Dance Company. She later continued her training at Utah State University.
Shannon and her husband, Ryan, have five children, Aidan, Caia, Halen, Roan and Titan. In addition to being a full-time mom and dancing with The Movement Dance Co., she teaches aerobics.
Shannon's passion for dance as expression is what draws her to it. Shannon believes there is no better reason to dance than to show her gratitude to "God and family for the blessings of life" and health, and is so grateful to The Movement Dance Co. for giving her the opportunity to share this with and inspire others. |
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Stephanie Arenholz
Stephanie joins The Movement Dance Co. this year after several years of not dancing, having realized that dance is what lifts her mind and spirit! She has danced since the age of four, and is trained in ballet, jazz, lyrical, modern, and – her absolute love – tap. She was a member of the Northern Colorado Tap Troupe during her studies at the University of Northern Colorado. She has taught many styles of dance at Aurora Dance Arts for nine years. Stephanie has been involved in multiple theatrical dance productions, both as a performer and choreographer, and is very excited to be performing again.
Stephanie lives in Aurora with her husband, Floyd. She currently works as a Registered Nurse for a local Denver hospital. Stephanie is very grateful and excited to be a part of The Movement Dance Co. and is looking forward to imparting the love of movement to as many people in our community as she can! |
Lorena Perry
From a childhood song and dance troupe sprang one shy little girl's discovery of her dance abilities - now a not-so-shy grownup love of dancing. Lorena taught and choreographed ballet, jazz, character, and modern dance throughout high school for both fine arts and musical theatre productions, danced on ballroom and folk dance teams in college, and last danced with the modern Dance Ensemble at Brigham Young University under the leadership of Pat Debenham. Her first official job as a teen was teaching at the Academy of Ballet in Utah where she discovered her love for teaching little children.
Lorena's favorite thing about dance is the serendipity of the indelible
magic that takes place for her every time she can dance unfettered by the
circumstantial cares of life. Be it on stage or in rehearsal, when truly
"in the dance," she enjoys the novelty of each performance as it draws on
unique proportions of space, time and energy. While a dancer at Brigham
Young University, Lorena was praised by dance faculty who called her a
"beautiful mover." The compliment lingers as a purpose for Lorena as she
continues today to seek to bring beauty to this world with movement from the
soul. |
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Laura Pearson-Cassidy
After more than 30 years in dance and theatre, Laura never tires of the opportunity to express her creative energy, whether that is as the Artistic Director of the incredible women’s conference called Woman Come Forth, dancing with the Movement Dance Co. or acting like a "wild and crazy character" in a weekend drama at church.
Following high school, Laura attended USIU in San Diego and studied theatre arts. Specifically, she studied musical theatre – which she says is better known as the lost art of corny singing and dancing in the middle of a perfectly good play. In 1996 she moved to the mountains of Colorado and now lives in Denver, where she runs her business as a wedding coordinator and photographer, and joyfully takes care of four furry four-legged "love bugs" (well, not really bugs!).
"I am so glad to work creatively in community with so many talented women who love Christ. They praise His name in a dance, with timbrel and harp sing praise to Him. Psalms 149:3" |
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