Dancers
Rehearsal Mistress Danella Bedford
Daniella is originally from the United Kingdom, where she started dancing at her local school at the age of six, competing in many festivals and dancing in several amateur dramatic productions. She went on to further her dance studies in London at the Royal Ballet School, where she was head student. She graduated in 1993, receiving her Teaching Diploma with distinction under the direction of Valerie Adams, and remained an additional year fulfilling the position offered to her as Assistant Director. In 1994 she moved to Charlotte, N.C., where she taught at North Carolina Dance Theater and the Charlotte School of Ballet. She performed there with the Charlotte Youth Ballet where her roles included Columbine, Lead Rose, and lead Mirliton in Nutcracker. Her Musical Theater credits include Annie Get Your Gun, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Carousel, Once Upon A Mattress, and Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Song and Dance. She is currently a principal teacher of dance at Conchita Espinosa Academy. This is her tenth season with Momentum. She has created many roles for Momentum, including One Hour Before Dawn, The Tyranny of Beauty, Jungle, Birds Flying in Warped Time, Movimento Feroz, Anguished Cry, Black Feeling, Shadows and Accumulations I & II, and many others.
Soloist Barbie Freeman
Barbie is a native of Alexandria, VA, where she trained with various schools, including Chris Collins Dance Studio, Stamaker Dance Studio and the Russell School of Ballet, while performing with the Fairfax Ballet. She received summer training at the Joffrey School in NYC and studied dance at Shenandoah University. She moved to New York to train on scholarship at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, and later relocated to Philadelphia to dance with Philadanco II and study at the Pennsylvania Ballet while pursuing pre-med studies at Temple University. She has also studied at the University of South Florida in Tampa and performed at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. In addition to her dance career, she recently completed a degree in Biology from FIU and is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Biology at FIU. She has performed in classical repertory such as the Nutcracker and Paquita as well as original choreography by Christopher Gillis, Thomas Russell, Fred Benjamin, Keith Lee, Lynne Wimmer, Gretchen Ward-Warren, and Sandra Robinson-Waldrop among others. For Momentum she has created roles in Jungle, Birds Flying in Warped Time, Black Feeling, Shadows and Accumulations II, The Tyranny of Beauty, and roles in many children’s works.
Amy Larue
Amy has studied ballet, modern dance, jazz, tap, musical theatre and voice. She formerly was an apprentice to MADCO (Modern American Dance Company) in St. Louis, performing with them for two years, including an appearance at fFIDA in Toronto in 2005. She holds a B.A. in dance and performing arts from Lindenwood University in St. Charles MO where her choreography was chosen for performance at the American College Dance Festival at Washington University in 2004. Her musical theatre credits include Little Shop of Horrors, Working, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Footloose (female lead), Nine, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She created the choreography for the musical Nine at Lindenwood University in 2005. This is her third season with Momentum where she has created roles in Delma Iles’ Grow and Mandala, as well as Odman Felix’s Harum and Josee Garant’s Voices. In addition, she dances leading roles in several of Momentum’s children’s works.
KATIE SOPOCI DRAKE holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Graduate Laban Certification in Movement Analysis from Columbia College Chicago and a BA in Theatre/Dance with a Minor in Vocal Performance from Luther College. Katie has been on faculty at Lawrence University, Carthage College, NOVA Southeastern University, and Miami Dade College teaching dance and theory courses and has been a guest lecturer in various academic and professional venues. As a professional dancer and choreographer, Katie has worked with New York choreographers Sara Baird of Anemone Dance Theater, Claire Byrne, Rodger Belman and Barbara Grubel. Milwaukee companies include The Florentine Opera, Wild Space Dance Company, And Your Mother Dances, and Sofi Askenazi. Minnesota companies include The Minnesota Opera, Rosy Simas Danse, Soft Eyed Collaborations and Vox Medusa. Katie has also presented her own work in Wisconsin and Minnesota in concert and for events including the Milwaukee Art Museum’s First Friday and The Minnesota Fringe Festival. This is her second season with Momentum.
RIVKINS CHRISTOPHER was born on September 6, 1987 in Miami. He started dancing at the age of fifteen when he was accepted into Michael M. Krop Senior High under the artistic direction of Bernadette Pierre. While in high school, he studied dance styles such as modern, ballet and folkloric. The love he has for ballet grew when he attended the Miami Conservatory and took classes with Ruth Weisen, Sara Weisen and special guests from ballet companies. In the summer of 2005 he attended the Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive. Rivkins is a first season member of Momentum Dance Company. He was recently accepted into New World School of the Arts where he plans to expand his dancing knowledge and further his dancing career.
EMILY NOE moved to Miami in September from NYC where she was dancing professionally. She is enjoying Miami for all its outdoor beauty. She has been exploring it on her bike and through camping adventures. She likes scientific nonfiction in spring, popular fiction in summer, Russian literature in winter, and poetry in the fall. She originally moved to Miami to look for a new career. She has since realized that one cannot simply choose to stop dancing. It's something that constantly runs through her. Most recently she collaborated with Sarah Murphy to compose a multimedia dance video which was shown at La Mama Theater in NYC. She's excited to be finding movement again and happy to be doing it with Momentum.
JENNIFER PEREZ received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance with an emphasis in Education from Florida International University in 2009 under the direction of Thomas Hagood PhD, Andrea Seidel PhD, Augusto Soledade, Heather Maloney, Joanne Barrett, and Ana Gonzalez. Jennifer performed in several repertoire and original works in her time at FIU, including, Isadora Duncan’s Bacchanal , Priscilla Marrero’s Portes Ouvertes, Marcela Diaz’s Fin of the Beginning and De Adentro, Joanne Barrett’s Birds and Augusto Soledade’s Divertimento. Her dance works I Amn’t and Five Till were featured in the Emerging Choreographer’s Showcase in 2008. Currently, she is the dance director and dance team coach at Preparatory Middle-High School. In addition, she is an Afro con Tempo Dance Theater company member, directed by Marcela Diaz. Perez is proud to announce this is her second season with Momentum.
ERIKA DIANE JOHNSON is a dancer, singer, actress and gymnast originally from Miami. She attended New World School of the Arts High School Division and holds a BFA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. Prior to that, she studied 12 years of classical ballet, Vaganova technique, with Martha Mahr of the National Ballet of Cuba and attended summer dance intensives at American Ballet Theater, the Julliard School, and the School of American Ballet in New York. She has performed with the Miami Ballet, the Royal Ballet, the Kevin Caruso Magic Show, Actor’s Playhouse, the Miami Acting Company, the Emmy Award Winning children’s tour of Foodplay!, and on a USO tour of Japan in Circo Luci. This year she conducted Momentum’s educational Residency at Ferguson High School and last summer was a guest teacher at the Conchita Espinosa Academy’s Summer Intensive with Danella Bedford. This is her second season with Momentum and she would like to thank Delma Iles and the other dancers for a wonderful year.
TIFFANIE HANCOCK graduated from the University of Utah in May of 2010 with a BFA in Modern Dance and a Minor in Creative Writing. She is currently dancing in Florida with Momentum and Broward-based Sojourn dance company. Tiffanie also teaches dance all over the Miami-Dade County area. She developed early training in Chicago at the Ruth Page School of Dance and Dance Academy of Libertyville before heading off to the University of Utah for her degree. While in Utah, Tiffanie had the opportunity to perform Panorama by Martha Graham with the Martha Graham Company during their Spring 2010 tour. Tiffanie has also had the pleasure of working with Tandy Beal, Alberto Del Saz and Ernesto Puljol during her time at the University. Tiffanie has enjoyed dancing and working with great choreographers and teachers during her time here in Florida and is looking forward to working with many other in the future.
ALLISEN LEANARD, originally from Upstate New York, moved to South Florida as a young adult. She received her B.A in dance with a focus on psychology from the Florida International University, graduating with honors in the Spring of 2006.She has performed repertory pieces by Clyde Morrigon, Janice Brenner, Jane Goldberg, Sherome Price, Katherine Kramer and Danny Buraczeski. Since graduating, Mrs. Learnad has been a member of Miami-based dance companies Animate Objects Physical Theater, The Binti Drum and Dance Ensemble, Rhythmic Rapture, and Ballet E’Toile. She's also had the privilege of performing at the American College Dance Festival, Florida Dance Festival and Miami's Sleepless Nights. Allisen teaches dance throughout Miami-Dade County through Arts for Learning, ArtSpring and The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood. Her choreography has been showcased with The Eclectic (2007) in Gainesville, FL, at Studio 1415's Movement Lab Series (2009) in Miami, and for the North Miami Art Collective's "Why Dance?" outreach program (2009). This is her first season with Momentum.
LIGHTING DESIGNER BRUCE BROWN hails originally from Michigan. Bruce received a B.A. in Theatre Directing and Design from Michigan State University. He first encountered the unique challenges of lighting for dance while on the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Academy. In 1984, he packed his bags and moved to Ft. Lauderdale to take on the responsibilities of teaching and designing for Broward County Public School’s Dillard Center for the Arts while continuing to freelance in the Midwest as a designer and director. In 1998, Bruce accepted the position of artistic Director for Dillard, where he supervised the design and construction of the new 124,000 square foot educational arts facility. Local credits include Scenic and lighting design for Dillard, Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre, The Dance Now Ensemble and the Miami Beach Dance Festival.