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Erin McNulty
Choreographer/Director & Dancer
Erin is an Upper Valley-based contemporary dance artist, writer, and educator. She holds degrees from Boston University and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, and is a current MFA candidate in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College. She is on dance faculty at BU, Wilmington Dance Academy, and Lebanon Ballet School, and worked as a Lead Teaching Artist for Boston Ballet’s community education team for six years. Her choreographic work has been presented by dance and film platforms both locally and internationally, and supported by NEFA, the City of Boston, the Shawna Shea Memorial Women in Film Fellowship, and the Junction Dance Festival ChoreoLab residency.
Emily Higgins
Dancer/Choreographic Collaborator
Emily Higgins is an Upper Valley native and began her dance training at Lebanon Ballet School at the age of five. She began dancing for their semi-professional company, City Center Ballet, in 2004 and now serves as principal dancer and rehearsal mistress. Returning to the area after training with Ballet Austin, she has begun teaching more and helping the younger generation of dancers to reach their goals. She has also had the opportunity to be a part of The Morrígan project from the early stages, dancing in the trio version in Summer 2023, and is looking forward to the next level of exploration and continuing on this journey.
Tayla McDonald
Dancer/Choreographic Collaborator
Tayla McDonald is a second-year student at Boston University studying Neuroscience and Dance. She trained, performed and competed at Wilmington Dance Academy from the age of 2, and also participated in several Boston-area summer intensives including with Integrarte and Koltun Ballet Boston. Tayla has performed professionally with City Ballet of Boston, and interned with local dance companies including The Click and Northeast Arts. Tayla plans to continue her strong involvement in the dance community while pursuing a career in the medical field.
Emerson Gale
Lead Composer/Musician (Fiddle)
Emerson Gale enjoys performing and teaching traditional Celtic dance music around the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire. He offers classes on various instruments at his music studio in Strafford, VT and at The Sharon Academy. In addition, he serves on the boards of the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra, Seven Stars Arts Center and the Upper Valley Young Professionals. To learn more you can visit: www.emersongale.com
Sanaa Siddiqi
Musician (Mandolin)
Sanaa Siddiqi has been passionate about music for much of her life and has immersed herself in traditional Celtic music on mandolin following her arrival to the Upper Valley in 2022. Born in India, raised in the U.K., and having lived in Alaska for twelve years, her love of dance and music is woven from many different colourful threads of myriad cultures. Most recently, Sanaa has been composing her own pieces inspired by traditional folk and fiddle tunes. She recently debuted her new piece, “The Wind Calls Back,” at the popular Strafford Common Concert Series. You can also hear her performing with the Seven Stars Community Fiddle Band and playing at jam sessions around Vermont. She is also a science communicator with a focus on the Arctic Bumblebee, as well as the Program Manager for the Institute of Arctic Studies in the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth.
Suzannah Dessau
Dancer/Choreographic Collaborator
Suzannah is a NYC-based contemporary dancer, choreographer and dance instructor. She began her dance education at the New Jersey School of Ballet and received her BFA from Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. Prior to receiving her degree, Suzannah spent two years in Israel training with Vertigo Dance Company and Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. She has notably performed with Maxine Doyle’s PUNCHDRUNK for a collaboration with Selfridges & Co., and in New York City with Brice Mousset. Suzannah is a 200-hour Certified Yoga Teacher through the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and loves to incorporate her work as a mind and body practitioner into her dance teaching.
Tina Forés-Hitt
Dancer/Choreographic Collaborator
Tina Forés-Hitt was raised between Spain and the US. She studied contemporary dance in Holland and Austria, performed at the Salzburger Festspiele, and did a world tour with the BODHI Project. Tina’s passion has always been dance (and animals), but mostly dance and stage performance in general. She recently made her debut as an actress at the Dorset Playhouse (VT) and starred in their musical Kiss Me Kate. When not in the theater, Tina keeps herself busy with several other projects. She attends tap classes at The Tap Joint in Dorset, and is collaborating on a dance research project with a marine biologist in Colombia.
Kassidy Coon
Dancer/Choreographic Collaborator
Kassidy grew up in Las Vegas, NV, where she trained with the Academy of Nevada Ballet Theatre in contemporary, ballet, and jazz techniques. She was a part of the academy’s nonprofit scholarship outreach program, where her favorite memories are performing for Debbie Allen and Shania Twain, in A Choreographer’s Showcase with Cirque de Soleil, and at countless charity events. For high school, she attended Las Vegas Academy of the Arts as a dance major with a focus in modern dance. She currently attends Boston University, where she is a part of Dance Theatre Group.
Justin Rodig
Musician (Guitar)
Justin is a guitarist from the Chicago area with experience in folk, rock, and classical traditions. Performing in a rock band while also studying folk fingerstyle guitar during high school led to the study of classical guitar and voice at Southern Illinois University, where Justin earned a BA in Music Theory and Composition. For the next several years, Justin collaborated with other musicians on various projects in and around Chicago while also starting a family. After studying band instrument repair at Red Wing Technical College in Red Wing, MN, he migrated to Vermont with his wife and son where he worked at the Ellis Music repair shop in Bethel, VT for six years fixing flutes, piccolos, clarinets, and oboes. Justin continues to pick up his guitar and other instruments as often as he can.
Erin K. McNulty 