Facutly
KATIE KINYON founded Performing Arts Limited in 2000, and is now celebrating PAL’s 10th season! She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre and Dance from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. Katie has had vast experience as both a performer and dance educator for the past 20 years. She has participated in many local dance festivals and performances both as a performer and choreographer. She has choreographed musicals such as Mary Poppins, Anne of Green Gables, and The Sound of Music for the Chicago Women Charity Players, and her work as been shown as part of Dance Chicago. Katie is very active in the community, providing dance programs at various North Shore schools such as Decatur Classical, Stone Academy, and St. Margaret Mary. Katie’s students have achieved roles in "The American Girl Revue," commercials for the Illinois Board of Tourism, performed at Great America and are represented by such talent agencies as Shirley Hamilton and Ford Modeling. Katie has also started a performing company as part of Performing Arts Limited that produces such shows as The Nutcracker. In addition to many local performances, the company recently performed in a fashion show choreographed by Katie at Lincolnwood Town Center.
Dance
SHAWN RENEE LENTholds a Masters degree in Arts Management with a focus in Arts in Youth and Community Development from Columbia College Chicago, as well as her BFA in theatre and dance from Millikin University. Shawn is the full-time Arts Integration Program Specialist at Columbia College, and has the unique honor of being selected as a member of the British Council’s Transatlantic Network 2020 and the prestigious American Express Nonprofit Leadership Academy. From 2001-2003, she worked in London, England as a dance critic and youth worker. Presently a member of the Open House Dance Collective, her choreography has been shown at many local festivals throughout Chicago. In addition, Shawn is on the Advisory Board for the Chicago Arts Educator Forum, the Young Associates Board of Children’s Memorial Hospital, and is Founding Chair of the Associates Board for Links Hall.
KRISTINA KASPER is from the Chicagoland area where she discovered her love of dance and rhythm. After years of traditional dance training, she furthered her education by receiving a Bachelor’s of Art in dance from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. While pursuing her degree, Kristina performed in several dance and theatre productions, was awarded the Festival of the Arts scholarship and was nominated for the Chancellor's Excellence in Leadership award. Her choreography has been adjudicated at the American College Dance Festival and produced in concert venues including Open House Dance Collective in Chicago. She was an intern with the American Dance Festival at Duke University in 2004. Currently, Kristina is a dance educator, choreographer and a company member with Jump Rhythm Jazz Project. She received a 2006-2007 Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Achievement for Individual Excellence On Camera/Performer for the JRJP’s work in the multiple-Emmy-Award-winning documentary Jump Rhythm Jazz Project: Getting There, produced by HMS Media for public television. Kristina is truly delighted to be starting her fourth year at Performing Arts Limited.
PETER HAMMER holds a B.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography from Hope College. He has received the Mary Van Tamelen Prize for Creativity in the Arts and the Florence Cavanaugh Dance Award. Peter teaches ballet, tap, modern, and jazz around the greater Chicago land area, and is returning for his second year at PAL. At Performing Arts Limited, Peter teaches the special class Just for Boys. In addition to providing inspiration to the dance students around him, Peter is a performing apprentice with the Emmy-Award winning Jump Rhythm Jazz Project.
MEGAN REISENWEBER graduated from the University of Missouri – Kansas City in 2006 with a BFA in Dance Performance. While performing is a big part of dancing, teaching is where her heart is. She has been teaching for 10 years, starting in South Dakota where she grew up, in Kansas City where she went to college, and now in Chicago. She has taught ages 2 through adult in many different styles including, tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, modern and lyrical. Since moving to Chicago, she has worked with Rebound Dance Company, Matter Dance Company and looks forward to dancing with many more while she teaches at Performing Arts Limited.
REBECCA SCHRAMM graduated from Northeastern Illinois University where she was a dance scholarship student. Receiving her master's degree in education, she continues to be very active in the arts. Rebecca has appeared in area dance festivals such as Around the Coyote and Dance Chicago and appeared as the soldier doll and tea in Performing Arts Limited’s The Nutcracker. In addition to returning for her seventh year at PAL, Rebecca teaches fifth grade at Armstrong Elementary School.
MEGAN RHYME is originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 2006 she graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in dance. She has since studied with teachers such as Molly Shanahan and danced with artists such as Nicole Gifford Dance, Janet Schmid, and Khecari Dance Theater. Megan has also trained in Pilates with the PhysicalMind Institute, and is qualified to teach beginning through advanced level Pilates mat classes. Megan teaches dance around the Chicagoland area, and loves teaching at PAL!
MALIK TURLEY has been teaching for over ten years. Working with moms in labor and watching their natural movements led Malik to explore belly dancing as a way to enhance her doula practice and she fell in love with the art form. She has been dancing on her own and with clients ever since, using a variety of belly dance styles to help women find the thrill of learning about their bodies through movement. Knowing the benefits that good health brings to both movement and self-image, Malik added fitness classes to her offerings in 2008, obtaining certifications through the YMCA and Zumba. Malik is also the director of Zahara Fusion, a student troupe that performs American-style belly dance in and around the Chicago area.
MANDY BECK began dancing, singing, acting and performing at the age of three and teaching at age fifteen, under the direction of Dolores Wein at the Lalla Bauman School of Dance in St. Louis, MO. Favorite performances include the role of Rhoda in The Bad Seed, Lucy in Jekyll and Hyde, and Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. She also performed with the St. Louis Muny, America’s largest outdoor theater, in productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1997) and The Fantasticks (2002). Beck moved to Chicago to further her education in dance at Columbia College in 2005.
In Chicago, Beck has studied with such artists as Margi Cole and The Dance COLEctive, Jan Erkert, Joe Goode and Joe Goode Performance Group, Carrie Hanson and The Seldoms, Dardi McGinley-Gallivan, Susan Rose, Emily Stein, Robert Swinston and Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and Richard Woodbury.
She has performed works by Doris Humphrey, Shirley Mordine, Twyla Tharp and the members of Innervation Dance Cooperative. She has choreographed works for stage and camera including, InStability (2007), an examination of Borderline Personality Disorder, and Me and My Shadow (2008), “a duet in tennis shoes” that tells the story of an unlikely romance using only the dancers’ feet. Beck also composes and edits her own music for dance, as well as produces and directs her own dance films, including Oblivious (2008), in which she re-set stage choreography outdoors to capture the public’s reaction. Beck has taught dance in the Physical Education department at Evanston Township High School and is on the dance faculty at Ohana Academy in Bridgeview, IL. She is delighted to begin her first season with Performing Arts Limited and looks forward to sharing her curiosity about and respect for the art of dance with so many promising students.
In addition to dance, Beck is an avid advocate for Deaf culture and looks forward to completing her certification in American Sign Language Interpretation, with the intention of integrating Deaf and hearing students into a common classroom and using dance and sign language as avenues to bridge the physical and social divide between “us” and “them.”
Beck is also a practitioner of yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi Chuan and will pursue her certification in Pilates in Fall 2010. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance with a concentration in Teaching from Columbia College Chicago.
Music
LARRY BAER (PIANO) has a diverse background in piano performance and instruction. He has performed with a wide variety of orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the Chicago area, in addition to solo performances. Larry has also dedicated much time to music composition and arrangement, having written award-winning compositions that have been selected for publication across the country. He also arranged music that was performed by dancers in the Open House Dance Collective. Larry teaches classical piano and music theory at Performing Arts Limited. A music scholarship recipient, Larry holds a BS from DePaul University.
Lindsey Poling (PIANO and VOICE) Pennsylvania native C. Lindsey Poling has delighted audiences with her performances throughout the East and Midwest.
While living in Erie, Pennsylvania, Lindsey performed both opera and oratorio works. She sang Hansel in Humperdink’s opera Hansel und Gretel, Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, First Prioress in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites as well as oratorio pieces ranging from Mozart’s Requiem to Rutter’s Magnificat. While in Erie, Lindsey performed Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Erie Philharmonic.
In Lindsey’s current home of Chicago, career highlights include La Zia Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, and Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. Concert credits include Mozart’s Requiem, Lauridson’s Cuatro Canciones and Second Woman in Handel’s Solomon performed with Apollo Chorus.
Outside of Chicago, Lindsey has been seen performing Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Nurse in Michael Torke’s Strawberry Field’s, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflote with New Jersey Opera, Hippolyta in “ A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte with Peninsula Music Festival. She has had the pleasure of singing in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to WFMT Radio Chicago.
Lindsey received her Masters in Vocal Performance from Northwestern University, where she studied with Pamela Hinchman and Sherrill Milnes.
SHOJI NAITO (GUITAR) enjoys teaching guitar and harmonica to students of all ages and levels. He gears his lessons to the individual student, with an emphasis on basic music theory, reading music, rhythm instruction, ear training, and having fun while playing!
Shoji was born and raised in Toyota, Japan, and started playing guitar and harmonica at the age of sixteen. He moved to Chicago in 1996 to study jazz and classical music at Columbia College Chicago. In 2002, he graduated with a B.A. in music.
Shoji has toured regularly with the Eddy (The Chief) Clearwater Blues Band since 2004, appearing on TV, radio, and stages around the world. Shoji has performed at the Chicago Blues Festival, Rio das Ostras blues festival Brazil, Winnipeg Jazz Festival Canada, and many others. Shoji has also performed the blues with legends such as John Primer, Carey Bell, Jimmy Burns, Willie Big Eye Smith, and Lurrie Bell. Visit Shoji's website.
JAMES WEIGEL (GUITAR) was born into a musical family and began piano lessons at age 6. He began learning the guitar and trumpet as a sophomore in high school where he took music theory classes and became involved in the jazz and concert bands. He continued involvement in music while attending college, joining choir, show choir, and forming his own rock band. It was during college that he began to teach at a local music store. After graduating, James moved to Chicago to attend graduate school at Columbia College.
James has appeared on several television shows including NBC's The Today Show, syndicated reality program "NASCAR Angels," and a variety of local news programs. James' songs have been used in a video game, "Lawmower Racing" and in a PBS documentary series "The Ride of Our Lives." As a member of bluegrass band The Henhouse Prowlers, James was one of several artists showcased at the International Bluegrass Music Association's annual convention in Nashville in 2007 and 2008. James continues to be active in the local Chicago music scene, playing in several folk, rock, and country and bluegrass bands and teaching guitar and resophonic guitar (more commonly known as Dobro).
Acting
SHANNON DENNEY (ACTING, DANCE) is proud to be a new resident of Chicago after recently graduating magna cum laude from Point Park University with a B.A. in musical theatre and a minor in dance. A proud member of Actor’s Equity, Shannon has performed around the country in shows such as Lend Me a Tenor, Pajama Game , Can-Can, Beauty and the Beast, Parade, Grease, and Beehive. She also premiered the leading role in Michael Rupert’s new musical Streets of America as well as performed in the reading of it in New York. Shannon is so excited to be teaching at Performing Arts Limited! Originally from Alabama, Shannon has taught for the past 4 years in the Birmingham and Pittsburgh areas to children ages 3-18 in all sorts of capacities, specializing in theatre and dance. She hopes to one day open her own theatre/dance company for children with special needs.
PAL STUDIO
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