The Company

Assistant Artistic Director

Emily Hefley has a B.F.A. in Theatre and Dance from The University of Memphis. She has choreographed various works Emily for Project: Motion, Breeding Ground Dance Collective, Voices of the South, Metal Velvet Dance Project and The University of Memphis. Emily enjoys teaching various dance styles such as ballet, tap, hip-hop, and modern to dancers of all ages. Currently, Emily works as the Educational Outreach Coordinator for Germantown Performing Arts Centre. This will be Emily’s fourth season with Project: Motion.

Company Manager

Raine Hicks is a singer, dancer and musical theatre actor who has been performing and teaching in the Memphis theatre community for the past fifteen years. She has performed in numerous musicals, some of her favorites being, The Rocky Horror Show, The Who’s Tommy, Hair, Schoolhouse Rock! Live!, Bat Boy! The Musical and, most recently Lies and Legends. She toured the Midwest with “For A Good Time Theatre” Children’s Theatre Company as an Actor, Road Manager and Stage Manager. In 2001, Raine danced with Loop Productions in Vacant, Facing the Tower. In 2006, Raine joined Project: Motion, and performed in Metallurgy, Pre-sent, Pres-ent 2006 and Emerge. She also Raine served as Production and Stage Manager for Bouncing Off! and Stage Manager for Pre-sent, Pre-sent 2007. Raine also creates video and slide show presentations for use during multimedia performances. Additionally, she created and maintains Project: Motion’s website and Myspace page. With her B.F.A. in Music Education, Raine teaches Elementary Orff Schulwerk Music and directs an award winning After School Musical Theatre Program with the Memphis City Schools at Sheffield Elementary. This will be Raine’s third season with Project: Motion.

Dance Technique Teacher

Louisa Koeppel began performing with Project: Motion at Louisa age fourteen while a student and dancer at Ballet Memphis. She received a performance scholarship to The Ohio State University, where she studied performance and lighting design for dance. Returning to Memphis in 1993, Koeppel continued performing with Project: Motion, co-founded New Bridge Ensemble (one of the original resident companies at Theatreworks), and started Loop Productions, a critically acclaimed performance collective. She taught ballet and modern dance for six years at Ballet Memphis School, where she was also a choreographer and Assistant Director of the Ballet Memphis Junior Company. In 2003, Koeppel co-produced Not Another Burlesque Show, a one-woman improvisational piece exploring subway travel in NYC. Now back in Memphis, Koeppel splits her duties as teacher and choreographer for Project: Motion with freelance choreography and lighting design for Ballet Memphis, Theatre Memphis, Hutchison School, and Voices of the South.

The Dancers

Marianne Bell is a graduate of The University of Memphis with a B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice. She received her J.D. from Cornell Law School in 2000, and has been practicing law for six years, first in private practice, and currently as a prosecutor. Marianne was involved in dance throughout college and law school in student and faculty shows. Her choreography was chosen to represent The University of Memphis in both 1995 and 1996 for adjudication and exhibition at American College Dance Festivals. Over the last six years, Marianne has choreographed and performed in numerous shows with Metal Velvet Dance Project, Breeding Ground Dance Collective, Project: Motion, and Voices of the South. Her choreography has dealt with a wide range of topics including domestic violence, religion, heritage, interpersonal relationships, and portraits of women. This will be Marianne’s fourth season with Project: Motion.

Sarah Christine Bolton graduated from Belhaven College with a BA in Dance. Her early years of training were with Theresa Slobodnik and Gilbert Reed at American Dance in San Luis Obispo, California. She also performed with the Gilbert Reed Ballet and Entourage Dance Company. She has studied a wide variety of dance styles and techniques, including modern, ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, clogging, musical theatre, improvisation, and choreography. This will be Sarah’s first season with Project: Motion.

Lisa Clarkson has a B.S. in Ballet from Indiana University, Lisa and has danced professionally for twelve years in the United States, most recently with Ballet Memphis. Lisa joined Project: Motion in 2005, and has danced in Lineage, Pre-sent Pres-ent, Metallurgy, Emerge, and Bouncing Off. She has also choreographed for the Choreographers' Workshop at Ballet Memphis, and for Project: Motion’s first Emerge Concert. Lisa is excited about exploring choreography more thoroughly with Project: Motion, and recently choreographed for December 2007’s “Pre-sent, Pres-ent” show. She is also a fully certified Pilates instructor with Ballet Memphis, where she currently teaches. This will be Lisa’s fourth season with Project: Motion.

Rebecca R. Cochran graduated from the University of Memphis with a B.F.A. in Theatre and Dance in 2004, and Rosey completed her Master's degree in Community Agency Counseling in 2006. She is currently working as a full-time counselor with at-risk youth at Youth Villages. Rebecca has taught the Ballet After School program at Hutchison School and several dance classes at the University of Memphis, including Modern Technique and Introduction to Dance. Rebecca has performed and choreographed for numerous student and faculty shows at The University of Memphis, and has worked under the choreographic talents of Gesel Mason, Tiffany Mills, and Kraig Patterson. She has danced and choreographed for Breeding Ground Dance Collective, Project: Motion, and Voices of the South. This will be Rebecca’s fourth season with Project: Motion.

Adriane Fertitta is a graduate of The University of Memphis with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Minor in Dance. Adriane Adriane began taking lessons in tap and ballet at age two while gradually incorporating lessons in jazz, pointe, lyrical, modern, and hip hop over her fifteen-year duration at SmarttSteps studio in her hometown of Hendersonville, Tennessee. Adriane continued dancing at The University of Memphis. Over the last five years, she has performed in various faculty and student dance concerts with The University of Memphis Dance Department, as well as Metal Velvet Dance Project, Breeding Ground Dance Collective, and Project: Motion. Adriane is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at The University of Memphis. This will be her fourth season with Project: Motion.

Ondine Geary has studied, taught, and performed modern dance in the U.S. and abroad. Ondine graduated with honors in 1999 from Kenyon College with a B.A. in Sociology. In Ondine 2002, she founded Breeding Ground Dance Collective, an organization whose mission is to nurture improvisational modern dance in Memphis. In 2003, she was awarded the Tennessee Arts Commission's Individual Artist Fellowship in Dance. She was invited to become a member of Southern Artistry in 2004, an online registry that showcases outstanding Southern artists and arts organizations. In 2005, Ondine studied dance and choreography in London, and became a certified Pilates instructor through Ellie Herman studios. She is very proud to be back in Memphis, teaching and dancing with Project: Motion.

Ernestine Hayes began dancing in her hometown of Kansas Ernie City, Missouri. In 1992, she participated in Ailey Camp, a summer program sponsored by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre which introduces inner-city youth to the art of dance. She attended high school at Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, and also at Overton High School in Memphis. She participated in Overton’s optional dance program and graduated in 1997. During college at University of Tennessee at Martin, Ernestine minored in Dance and graduated with honors with a Bachelors of Science in Animal Science. This will be Ernestine’s third season with Project: Motion.

Erin D. Healy graduated from the University of Memphis in 1997 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance and Theatre. She has attended summer dance intensive studies with Mark Taylor at Dance Alloy in Pittsburg, PA and Bill Evans at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. Erin is Erin H. currently the Physical Education and Health teacher at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School in midtown Memphis. Before joining I.C.C.S., Erin was a teaching artist for various arts organizations such as Wolf Trapp Start Smart Dance program, The Crittenden Arts Council, and The Memphis Arts Council’s Center for Arts Education. Erin is very interested in promoting body awareness and proper body alignment to all of her students. Erin has enjoyed dancing and c horeographing for Project: Motion, Metal Velvet Dance Project, Breeding Ground, Memphis Dance Group, and Freak Engine. This will be Erin’s third season with Project: Motion.

Sarah Ledbetter began improvising choreography in 1996 under the auspices of Sally Markell. In 1999, she earned her B.S. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. In Sarah L. Chicago, she acted professionally with Lookingglass Theatre, About Face Theatre, and StreetSigns Center for Performance of Literature, as well as dancing professionally with StreetSigns’ Peter Carpenter for two years. Upon moving to New York City in 2001, Sarah studied Limon technique and composition with Jim May, a principal Jose Limon dancer. She then traveled to Australia, where she attended film school at the Academy of Photogenic Arts and graduated with a Certificate IV in 2004. In 2005, Sarah wrote and co-directed the short film Damma il La, which was filmed in Italy and Spain, and was shown at over 40 film festivals worldwide and earned 9 Best Short film awards. As screenwriter and independent film director, Sarah finds the interplay between narrative, intention, and ensemble movement to be an endless fund of ideas. She is a certified yoga instructor, and when she is not currently teaching yoga or choreographing and dancing with Project: Motion, she is working as a Producer for WKNO-FM radio, Memphis’ National Public Radio affiliate, where she produces original stories about life in the mid-south. This will be Sarah’s fourth season with Project: Motion.

Heidi Leyshon is a graduate of The University of Memphis where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Ministry Arts, and was an active participant in the Dance Department. As part of her degree, Heidi developed Postures of Worship. This movement workshop was featured at the 2006 Regional Methodist Ministers Conference in Memphis and Memphis Heidi Theological Seminary's Return Beat, Arts in Worship Conference in 2007. Heidi has performed with Opera Memphis and Breeding Ground Dance Collective, and choreographed and performed with Project: Motion. Heidi is also chair of the Outreach Committee for Project: Motion, and has toured in Memphis area schools with Project: Motion's River Dreams. Heidi has worked with the Memphis Arts Council as a teaching artist, and is currently working as a Child Life Education Specialist and teaching ballet, creative movement, liturgical dance, and dance exercise at Hope and Healing, a ministry of the Church Health Center. This will be Heidi’s fourth season with Project: Motion.

Jamie Mann is an alumnus of The University of Memphis where he received a B.F.A. in Theatre. He also received his M.F.A. from the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver, Colorado. Jamie has also performed for theatres in Richmond, VA; Denver, CO; and Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, CA. While in Los Angeles, he was the teaching assistant for 4 years in Cindera Che's "Movement for Actors" class at Edge Performing Arts Complex, as well as an assistant to Janet Fitzgerald in her "CEx" acting/jazz based dance class for 2 years. Since returning to Memphis in 2007, Jamie starred in the title role in Theatre Memphis' production of Othello. He also worked on Peter Pan and The Exonerated (Delbert Tibbs) at Playhouse on the Square. He also made his Hattiloo Theatre stage debut as Tom, in I Ain't Yo' Uncle. In 2007-08, Jamie was cast as Oberon in Theatre Memphis' A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Macduff in Hattiloo Theatre's Macbeth. Jamie will also be performing in Project: Motion’s 20th anniversary show, Muscle Memory, in May 2008. When not gracing the stage, Jamie is an adjunct faculty member at Rhodes College and on staff at Carpenter/Sullivan/Sossaman Advertising. This will be Jamie’s first season with Project: Motion.

Amanda Martinson graduated from the University of Amanda Arkansas School of Architecture in May 2007 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree, and is currently in the process of acquiring an architecture license. During her studies, she worked with many Internationally award wining architects and artists, and traveled extensively including a semester spent in Rome, Italy. She began dancing at age two with small, local studios taking classes in ballet and tap then later in jazz and hip-hop. She continued to study ballet and modern dance while attending the University of Arkansas, and finds inspiration for her art and design work through dance. This will be Amanda's first season with Project: Motion.

Jamie Scott is a graduate of Belhaven College, where she received her B.A. in Humanities with a minor in Dance. She studied for two years at the Ballet Memphis School, and one year with the Ballet Memphis Junior Company. While at Belhaven, Jamie performed in physical theatre abroad in Japan and India. She has taken master classes that jamie encompassed members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Her emphasis is mostly on the different techniques of modern dance, though Jamie has also studied ballet, jazz, tap and African dance. Jamie will perform in Project: Motion’s 20th anniversary show, Muscle Memory, in May 2008. This will be Jamie’s first season with Project: Motion.

Wayne M. Smith, who holds his B.F.A. in Dance M.F.A. in Choreography from The Ohio State University, is a choreographer, dancer, educator, and founding director of SmithWorx Ink. Wayne’s background and training involve a range of dance and theatre experiences. He has taught all levels of modern technique, jazz, theatre movement, and beginning ballet, in addition to choreographing for the dance and musical theatre productions at The University of Wayne Memphis, Slippery Rock University, and Spelman College. Wayne’s teaching is inclusive of diverse eclectic dance styles including influences of classical modern techniques such as Limón, Hawkins, Graham and Horton. He utilizes improvisation and theatrical ideas as well. Smith’s classes focus primarily on repertory from his personal choreographic experiences as a dance artist. His choreographic works reflect affinities or tendencies stemming from athletic activities, contemporary social dance, jazz, West African dance techniques, improvisation, and theatre. In addition, Wayne often incorporates basic movement principals of Yoga and Kinetic Awareness as a way of accessing the body for dance.

Erin Walter

Erin Walter began her ballet training with Judy and Michael Tevlin at Memphis Ballet. She attended intensive summer sessions at Ft. Wayne Ballet, Burklyn Ballet Theater in Vermont and at the San Francisco Ballet School. Erin W. She performed with Youth Concert Ballet and Tennessee Ballet. Her roles included Arabian, lead Mirleton and the Dew Drop Fairy in The Nutcracker, and solos in Les Sylphides, Raymonda and The Colors of Mozart. Recently, she appeared in Our Own Voice’s productions of Cycles and Birth. Erin has taught for Children's Ballet since 2004 and she works as an analyst, writer and editor for The Right Brain People, a consumer psychology firm in Memphis. This is Erin's first season with Project: Motion.