Artists

Dancers

***Derek Crescenti*** is a performing artist and educator whose performance credits include work with Donald Byrd’s Spectrum Dance Theater, Keigwin + Company, 10 Hairy Legs, The Bang Group, Megan Williams Dance Projects, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, Robert Mark Dance, The Chase Brock Experience, and Mark Morris Dance Group in The Hard Nut. He continues to work with Donald Byrd as a rehearsal assistant and stager most recently during a commission for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and has also staged the work of Larry Keigwin on Ormao Dance Company in Colorado Springs, CO. Derek's own choreography has been presented by the Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange and the Seattle International Dance Festival. He holds a BFA from the University of Michigan and is currently on faculty at The Taylor School in New York City and a Visiting Instructor with the Dance Department at DeSales University.

***Sarah Housepian*** is from Southern California, she graduated with a BA in Dance from California State University of Fullerton. She was the Distinguished Keynote Speaker on behalf of The Performing Arts Department upon graduation. On the West Coast, she worked with Fuse Modern Dance, BARE Dance Company(CA), and Vision’s Dance Theater; she performed works by Colin Conner and José Limón. In New York, she has worked and continues to work with Battery Dance Company, Mike Esperanza's BARE Dance Company, Yin Yue Dance Company, Erica Essner Performance Co-Op, Indelible Dance, 10 Hairy Legs Projects, NOW Dance Project, Shawn Bible Dance Company, Gabrielle Lamb, and Spark Movement Collective. She has toured domestically as well as internationally in over 10 different countries.

Allegra Persico, originally from North Carolina, received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from East Carolina University where she received the “Mavis Ray Award for Achievement in Dance Arts” in 2021. During her time there she performed in works choreographed by Merce Cunningham, Andrea Guajardo, John Dixon, David Ingram, Eimile Davis, and Mackenzie Simons. She also completed Trinity Laban Dance Summer School’s Hofesh Shechter repertory workshop (London, UK) and STRUT Dance’s Crystal Pite Master Workshop (Perth, AU) in 2019.

***Monica Gonzalez*** is a performer who currently resides in Philadelphia, PA. She has worked with Robert Mark Dance since 2016 and has also danced with 10HL Projects, Michael Mao Dance, Lustig Dance Theatre, and more. As a choreographer, she was commissioned in 2015 to create a new work based on Jae Ko’s installation for the Outlet Dance Project’s 11th Annual Festival of Women Choreographers at Grounds for Sculpture. She attended Rutgers University (BFA in Dance, minor in Art History) with a presidential full-academic scholarship and received the Margery Turner Choreography Prize in her senior year. Monica is also a software engineer.

***Courtney Lopes*** is originally from Bermuda, and attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for her high school education. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.F.A. in dance from SUNY Purchase in 2012, and studied in Taiwan at the Taipei National University of the Arts. As a student, Courtney performed works by Paul Taylor, Jessica Lang, Lar Lubovitch and Huang Yi of Cloud Gate Dance Theater. In addition to performing with Dance Heginbotham for over 9 years, Courtney has worked as a freelance artist with Megan Williams, Sameena Mitta, Kathryn Alter, Sue Bernhard, and Robert Mark Burke. As an educator and répétiteur, she has worked with The Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Ballet Tech, The Harkness Dance Center at 92nd St Y, Dance for PD, and The Jose Límon Institute. She first performed with The Mark Morris Dance Group in 2018 and has officially joined as a dancer in 2022.

***Andy Santana*** *is a Dominican American dance artist from New Jersey. He received his BFA from Rutgers University, completing his studies abroad at The Jerusalem*
Academy of Music and Dance/Hebrew University. As a freelance artist he has worked for White Wave Dance, The Merce Cunningham Trust, Sally Silvers, Abarukas and Shen Wei Dance Arts. Currently, Santana is involved with Swiss duo Chris Leuenberger/Marcel Schwald on an evening-length performance documentary ‘Touch Isolation’ touring throughout Swiss cantons. Andy teaches barre fitness at Physique57.

Sarah Hillmon was born and raised in Rochester, NY. There she trained with Garth Fagan, Timothy M. Draper, and was a member of the Rochester City Ballet. She graduated with a BFA in Dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she had the privilege of performing works by artists including Sidra Bell, Lucinda Childs, Gus Solomons Jr, and Charles Weidman. While in NYC, Sarah has also performed with Solange Knowles, as well as with a number of dance companies including Lucinda Childs Dance Company, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, DanceBoissiere, Suzanne Beahrs Dance, BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, AMS Project, MATYCHAK and Robert Mark Dance.

Jared McAboy is from Kent, Washington, where he trained in a variety of styles. He holds a BFA in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Since moving to New York in 2013, he has worked professionally as a dancer for 10 Hairy Legs and performed works of José Limón, Larry Keigwin, Adam Barruch, Yin Yue, and Chase Brock. Along with dancing for Robert Mark Dance, he teaches dance classes within the Tri-State Area.