Ricci Adan
Ricci Adan is the director of Dancemachine International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reconstruction works of masters such as Agnes Demille, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Danny Daniels, Michael Kidd, and Jack Cole. Ricci has been in six productions of “The King and I” with Shirley Jones at the MUNY in St. Louis, Fox Theater in Georgia and Starlight Theater in Kansas as the assistant choreographer to Gemze deLappe. Ricci is the current resident choreographer for The Trinity Montessori School in Manhattan. She has performed cabaret reviews of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Kander and Ebb, and is currently working on Duke Ellington’s’ “Sophisticated Ladies”. She directed the Sound of Music at Trinity and is currently choreographing at the Rhinebeck Performing Arts Center. She recently spoke for a tribute to an Organization called Dancers Over 40 in New York City, celebrating celebrity choreographers dancers and teachers like Marge Champion,Gemze deLappe, Chita Rivera, Luigi. Finally, Ricci has taught theater dance for New York City Ballet School in Saratoga Springs NY, Guilderland Ballet in Albany NY, Whitman College in Walla Walla Washington, Hofstra University, Marymount Manhattan College and American Theater Dance Workshop of which Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Jamie Siegler(Sopranos) were her students.
Alex Brown
Alex Brown is currently a student at the University of Alaska Southeast and is a Juneau Douglas High School Dance/Drill Team alumni. Alex has been interested in the performing arts since a young age and has had a long and rigorous relationship with gymnastics since the age of 6. Since then she has performed in the 2006 JDHS production of “Pippin”, as a trapeze artist and dancer, but did not truly fall in love with dance till she started taking salsa classes and performing at the Academia Sylvia Garcia Salsa y Merengue in Quito, Ecuador. She has most recently taught and choreographed a hip hop routine for the Auke Bay School’s spoof teachers’ dance team, the ABC’s, and now spends most of her time picking up new age hip hop moves and choreography off of “Youtube”. Alex hopes to bring creativity and style to JDU’s floor and wants to encourage others to express themselves.
Darian Perov
Darian is 14 years old and a 9th grader at Juneau Douglas High School. She started dancing when she was six years old and was inspired after watching the Oregon Ballet’s Swan Lake. Darian has been taking ballet for seven years and previously took jazz. She is currently in the Modern and Ballet IV classes at JDU. Darian plans to be a professional ballerina for awhile and then become a marine biologist training dolphins. She recently went en pointe. She thanks Mr. Krauter and Ms. Hurley for teaching her ballet. She also thanks her family and friends for all their support.
Julie Tran
Julie is a JDHS drill/dance team alumni and has been dancing since she was able to walk. Her passion is dance as it is “the most amazing feeling in the world to just let loose and dance to every beat of the music. Its the best way to express how I feel as actions speak louder than words.” She was an assistant for the JDU Fine Arts Camp in 2010. She was also in a group called the Temptations which performed for weddings, birthdays, and social dance events. Julie has performed at one of Janice Holst’s showcases with a hip hop group she put together. She wants to be able to go out and learn from other choreographers and broaden her skills but in the meantime YOUTUBE is her best friend. “Choreographing is a lot of fun and I enjoy teaching so I’m taking my skills to JDU to hopefully inspire others.
Leslie Wagner
Leslie Wagner has her Master’s Degree in Modern Dance from Temple University, and her undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from Philadelphia College of Performing Art. She has worked as a teacher, choreographer, and performer. In her 20 years of experience, she has worked in many facets of dance education, including designing dance curriculum, teaching college courses, and choreographing several large musicals. Leslie teaches Modern Dance at JDU.