My Fair Lady

P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O

SHANNON ALVIS has danced on the Lyric stage in five productions, most recently this season’s Carmen. After nine years with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, she furthered her career in Europe with Nederlands

Peter Pan , Singin’ in the Rain , and A Fireside Christmas (all three at FiresideTheatre). Heggem danced with the Oslo Dance Ensemble and was a dancer and dance captain for two national tours with the Norwegian State Theatre/ Riksteatret.

JAMY MEEK , a dancer from Lubbock, Texas, has appeared at Lyric in The Merry Widow and La clemenza di Tito . He enjoyed a 13-year career with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, before he joined Nederlands

JAMES E. JOHNSON V trained at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and the State University of New York – Purchase. He has worked with choreographers such as Robert Battle, Donald Byrd, Sidra Bell, and Lauri

Dans Theater. She has toured internationally and danced works by many world-renowned choreographers, among them Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, and Crystal Pite. Additionally, Alvis has created her own choreographic works for Thodos Dance Chicago, DanceWorks Chicago, and Joffrey Ballet Academy.

Dans Theater for three years. Since his return to Chicago, Meek has performed with the Goodman Theatre in Brigadoon and joined The Cambrians contemporary dance company for The Nexus Project: Autumn and Jamy . The Oklahoma City University alumnus has taught master classes in ballet and jazz throughout the country.

Stallings and has danced with Hubbard Street 2, Chicago Opera Theater, Muntu Dance Theatre, West Indian Folk Dance Company, DanceWorks, and Cirque Du Soleil. Receiving NAACP awards for choreography and solo dance performance, Johnson has been seen in tours of The Color Purple and The Lion King .

KRISTIAN BROOKS* , before receiving her bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester, spent five years on the U.S.A. Gymnastics Rhyth- mic National Team. An inaugural member and choreographer of the

HAYLEY MEIER was previously seen at Lyric as a principal dancer in this season’s Les Troyens . She trained at the University of Arizona, Chicago’s River North Dance Summer Intensive program, and the Timothy Draper Center

ETHAN R. KIRSCHBAUM debuted at Lyric in Les Troyens earlier this season, and has been a company member at Chicago’s River North Dance since 2011. Among his other engagements have been the Saarländische

University of Rochester’s Louvre Performance Ensemble, she has also danced with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Aerial Dance Chicago, Cedar Point’s Luminosity (as a featured aerialist), and most recently completed her first national tour in Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage .

for Dance Education. Meier has performed with numerous companies, including Chicago’s River North Dance, C5 “Create With No Limits,” and RPM Productions. She was a principal dancer with the Rochester City Ballet, where she was involved in the creation of Jamey Leverett’s The Blood Countess .

Staatstheater’s Donlon Dance Company, Hubbard Street 2, The Santa Fe Opera, and Holland Dance Festival. Kirschbaum graduated with honors from the Ailey School at Fordham University with a bachelor’s degree in dance and received additional training at the San Francisco Ballet School.

DANIEL GOLD* was in the national tour of Beauty and the Beast . Gold has performed with Utah’s Tuacahn Center for the Arts ( Peter Pan , The Hunchback of Notre Dame , Tarzan ), Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan,

JESSICA WOLFRUM RAUN performed at Lyric this season in Carmen . She was recently seen as the Lady in Green and Olga Mara in Singin’ in the Rain (Marriott Theater) . Prior to that, she danced for 14 years with River North Dance

TERENCE MARLING* , a Chicago native, trained at the Ruth Page School under the direction of Larry Long. He then danced with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Nationaltheater Mannheim in Germany, and Chicago’s Hubbard

Illinois ( Mary Poppins , The Addams Family , Swing! ), American Repertory Theatre’s Club Oberon ( The Donkey Show , Clubland: Monster Pop Party ), Rhode Island’s Theatre By The Sea ( Mary Poppins , Grease ), and most recently Fireside Theatre. Gold is on faculty with Broadway Connection and Liberate Artists.

Chicago, directed by Frank Chaves, where she performed works by Robert Battle, Ivan Perez, and Nejla Yatkin, among others. A graduate of the University at Buffalo, Raun is on faculty teaching ballet at Hubbard Street Dance.

Street Dance before becoming rehearsal director for Hubbard Street in 2010. In 2013 Marling moved on to direct Hubbard Street 2 where he remained until December of 2016. He has choreographed work for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street, Hubbard Street 2, and Point Park University, among others.

TODD RHOADES has appeared in ten Lyric productions, most recently Carmen (2016/17), Die Fledermaus and Parsifal (both 2013/14). He received his B.F.A. from Point Park University (Pittsburgh) and danced as

TASHA HEGGEM* , a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, received her training at the National Academy of the Arts in Oslo, Norway. Onstage, she has been seen in West Side Story (OsloNew Theatre), Czardasfyrstinnen (Norwegian National Opera),

a guest artist with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and as a company member with Ballet Austin.

April - May, 2017 | 27

*Lyric debut