Performer Biographies

Company Member Biographies

Photo by Ed Flores	Katie Rutterer, Artistic Co-Director Katie Rutterer was born and raised in St. Louis, MO where she recieved a BA in dance from Washington University and was a member of the Mid-America Dance Company. In 2002, Katie moved to Tucson and started dancing with O-T-O Dance, Funhouse Movement Theatre, and NEW ARTiculations. She recieved her MFA in dance from the University of Arizona in 2008 and is currently serving as the Artistic Director of NEW ART. She has also danced with Thom Lewis, ZUZI!, University of Iowa, and the Gravity Project.
	Kimi Eisele, Artistic Co-Director Kimi has performed with NEW ARTiculations Dance Theatre, the Dambe Project, O-T-O Aerial/Modern Dance Company, and has studied and performed with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Urban Bush Women. She conducts school and community residencies in creative writing and movement and is a roster artist with the Arizona Commission on the Arts. She is the co-Director for NEW ARTiculations and has directed several special projects for the company including Reconfigurations, Invisible City, We are What we Eat and Adaptations.

	Renee Blakeley, Education/Outreach Director Renee received her BFA in Dance with an endorsement in Dance Education from the University of Arizona. She is in her fifth year teaching dance at Pistor Middle School where she directs the Pistor Dance Ensemble. Renee also teaches for The DanceLoft and has taught dance in the Netherlands and traveled with the UA Dance Ensemble to perform in Rome, Italy. This is Renee’s third season performing and choreographing with NEW ARTiculations. She is currently working toward a master's in dance education during the summers.
l. hanelin photography	Erika Astrid Farkvam Erika was born and raised in Oak Park IL., just outside of Chicago where she began her dance training at the age of the 3. She hasn’t stopped moving and grooving since. In 2005 she moved to Tucson where she received a B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Arizona in May of 2009. Erika’s dance education was continually nourished through her summer experiences dancing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance in 2006 and 2008, American Dance Festival in 2009, and during a month in Ghana, West Africa in 2008. Erika is grateful and delighted to be dancing in her first season with NEW ARTiculations.
	Corinne Hobson grew up dancing in Flagstaff, AZ at the Flagstaff School of Ballet, and Canyon Dance Academy. While in Flagstaff she helped start, and danced with Bravura! Dance Ensemble. She has also taught childrens' dance for Canyon Dance Academy, and Tippy Toes Dance in Flagstaff, as well as The DanceLoft here in Tucson. This is her third year performing with NEW ART.
	Lisa-Marie McFarlane - Recipient of the Professional Dance Development Grant (WA Council on the Arts), the Frogs Hollow Dance Scholarship (Northern Territory Arts Commission), and the Beat Dance Award (Arts Education Foundation), Lisa-Marie completed her Bachelor of Arts in Dance (2001) from Australia’s prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. During her international exchange to Ohio State University’s dance department, Lisa-Marie had the privilege to dance for Vicki Uris and later returned to work with German multimedia artist and AlienNation director, Johannes Birringer. While in Australia, Lisa-Marie danced with Tracks Dance Collective, Juniper Tree Dance Co., noted Australian choreographers Sue Peacock, Chrissie Parrott, Nanette Hassall, and Diane Reid, and has danced throughout Australia, the United States, and toured to Malaysia. As a freelance choreographer, Lisa-Marie has developed several independent choreographic works for stage and multimedia.

	LeighAnn Rangel Sotomayor LeighAnn is the former Artistic Director, as well as a co-founder, choreographer, performer and instructor for NEW ARTiculations. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Dance Education from the University of Georgia and her MFA in Theater Arts/Dance from the University of Arizona. Since moving to Tucson in 1996, she has been an active Dance Specialist in the Tucson Community. She is the Program Director for Pima Community College's CENTER FOR THE ARTS.
Photo by Ed Flores	Tammy Rosen Tammy is a former director and co-founder of NEW ART for which she choreographs, dances and teaches. She is also the owner and director of NEW ART's home studio, The DanceLoft. In addition to her performances with NEW ART, she has performed with FUNHOUSE movement theater, Tenth Street Danceworks and O-T-O Dance (all in Tucson). She is a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method(R) of somatic education.
	Megan Shaffer Megan holds a BFA in Dance Performance from California State University, Long Beach. In 2008 she was the first student of the arts at CSULB to receive a scholarship from the Women and Philanthropy group, for which she used it to create, direct, choreograph, and edit her own dance film, Endless Ground. Megan has also attended the Bates Dance Festival, Strictly Seattle Dance Intensive, and the Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop. This is her second season with NEW ARTiculations.