2019 Summer Season Company Dancers
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Jennie Begley

 Jennie Begley was born in Manila, Philippines and later moved to Colorado where she began her ballet training at the age of two at Metropolitan Academy of Dance and then later at the International Ballet School. When she was 16 she received her first professional roles in David Taylor Dance Theatre's Nutcracker where she danced 8 different roles. Jennie was a featured dancer on the hit television show "So You Think You Can Dance" and then made her move to New York City when she received a contract with the world-renowned Complexions Contemporary Ballet. She danced on some of the most popular stages around the world including Russian, Latvia, and Israel and many more. With the company, she was part of music videos including Niall Rodgers and Jill Scott. During her 2nd season with Complexions she was asked to go to South Africa to be the guest artist at the Artscape opera house in Cape Town and was also invited to teach and coach students all over South Africa. She lived there for half a year then returned to New York to dance with Complexions.

Kindly supported by Peter Gilbert for the 2019 Season***

 Zac Bigbee

Zac Bigbee was born and raised in Taos, New Mexico. A series of coincidences influenced him to take his first ballet class as a senior in high school. He went on to study Russian Language and Mathematics at the University of Arizona, while continuing his dance training in the U.S. and abroad. Since then he had worked as a dancer, aerialist, choreographer, and producer on several small projects across the Midwest and is looking forward to his second season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Sam Crouch

Sam Crouch is from Chicago, Illinois. In 2016, he graduated from Western Michigan University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. Through WMU he has worked with renowned guest artists and choreographers such as Eddy Ocampo, James Gregg, and WMU faculty members David Curwen, Carolyn Pavlik, Sharon Garber, Monique Haley and Jeremy Blair.  Sam had the pleasure of performing Ohad Naharin’s Excerpts from Minus 16, staged by Michal Sayfan; Gerald Arpino’s Viva Vivaldi, staged by Willy Shives; Antony Tudor’s Continuo, staged by John Gardner and Amanda McKerrow; and Lew Christensen’s Con Amore, staged by Leslie Young. Outside of WMU, Sam has had the opportunity to guest perform with Wellspring Cori Terry and Dancers in their 2014-18 seasons and also performed at many dance festivals, including Detroit Dance City Festival, Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, and Come Together Dance Festival. In Chicago, Sam has worked with Aerial Dance Chicago, Elements Contemporary Ballet, The Lyric Opera of Chicago and is currently working with Grit and Hot Crowd dance companies.

Madison Ewing

Madison Ewing was raised with her eight siblings in beautiful Colorado where she began dancing when she was nine years old at the Ballet Society of Colorado Springs. During her time there, she had the honor of performing roles such as a Bridesmaid in Coppelia, Paquita 2nd Soloist, the Fairy of Eloquence, and the Sapphire Fairy from Sleeping Beauty. She continued her training at A Time To Dance Colorado when she was 17 and also began her career there as a dance teacher. In competitions, she has received awards from the Denver Ballet Guild and Youth America Grand Prix, placing as a top finalist
 in both. In 2014, she joined State Street Ballet on scholarship as a trainee where she trained under Megan Philip and had the opportunity to perform the parts of the Paquita Principal, and the Symphony in C Soloist. In 2015, Madison joined Nevada Ballet Theatre. Highlight’s of her time at Nevada Ballet Theatre have been collaborating with Cirque Du Soleil annually in A Choreographer’s Showcase; working with renowned Balanchine repetiteurs in Nevada Ballet Theatre’s performances of Serenade and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue; portraying one of the Evil Stepsister in Cinderella; performing in the role of Spring Fairy in James Canfield's Nutcracker; and performing in the swan corps in Swan Lake, staged by the legendary Cynthia Gregory.
Kindly supported by Maria Katanic for the 2019 Season*

Photo by Michelle Reid

 Marian Faustino

Marian began her career in the Philippines, training and performing with the country’s two premier dance organizations: Ballet Manila (2002-2007) and Ballet Philippines (2008-2010).  She has danced soloist & principal roles in full-length classics which include The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, La Bayadere, Giselle, Swan Lake and Le Corsaire; and has been a part of the creative process for a number of original neo-ethnic Filipino works that have been showcased across the Philippines, South East Asia, Russia, and the United States. As a representative of the Philippines, Marian was also awarded semi-finalist and finalist certificates respectively from the Moscow and Nagoya International Ballet Competitions. After relocating to the United States, Marian danced for Dance Theater of Tennessee (2010-2011), Ballet Nouveau Colorado (2011-2013), and was a pioneering member of the collaborative contemporary ballet company, Wonderbound (2013-2016).  Marian is a recipient of the Individual Artist Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission (2011), and was a finalist for the Denver Art Museum Creative-in-Residence Grant (2016).  Recent freelance work includes Farewell,My Lovely for choreographer Kevin Jenkins and The Pearlfishers at The Lyric Opera of Chicago, choreographed by John Malashock.
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Conner Horak

 Conner Horak was born in Fort Collins, Colorado where he was introduced to dance through a synthesis of musical theater and martial arts training. He continued dancing at Butler University, where he graduated cum laude with a BFA in Dance Performance with departmental honors. Conner has had the privilege of performing in Paul Taylor’s Le Sacre Du Printemps (The Rehearsal), Gorgio Arpino’s Viva Vivaldi, and George Balanchine’s Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. Conner also danced with Wonderbound for three years in Denver, Colorado, where he performed with the Flobots at Colorado’s Vail Dance Festival.  Conner also danced with James Sewell Ballet, where he worked with James Sewell, Darius Strong, and Gabrielle Lamb. He is extremely thrilled to be returning to Colorado and dancing with Zikr again!

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Madeleine Kuebler

 Madeleine Kuebler was born in Denver and began her early ballet training at the age of 3. At the age of 14, she trained for two years at the HARID Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida under the instruction of Victoria Schneider, Meelis Pakri, and Alexey Kulpin. She continued her training at summer intensives including the Paris Opera Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet, and Ellison Ballet. She returned to Colorado to complete her training in 2017 as part of Colorado Ballet’s pre-professional division, where she trained under the direction of Mrs. Erica Fishbach, and was given the opportunity to dance with the company, as well as work with resident and incoming choreographers such as Jayne Persch, Robert Sher-Machherndl, and others; performing soloist and principal roles before graduating in 2018. This is Madeleine’s second season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Kindly supported by the Kuebler Family for the 2019 Season***

Jennifer Kuhn

 Jennifer Kuhn is from the North Bay area of San Francisco. She is an original company member of Zikr Dance Ensemble from its inception ten years ago.  Ms. Kuhn is a principal dancer with Ballet Ariel in Denver and a guest artist.  She began her formal training with the Marin Ballet, studied with Joffrey Ballet in New York, Richmond Ballet, Ballet West, and Alonzo King’s Lines Contemporary Ballet. She attended the University of Utah on scholarship, receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Master of Fine Arts degree with a teaching and choreography emphasis.   Ms. Kuhn has performed with Utah Ballet, Montgomery Ballet, Boulder Ballet, 7 Dancers, Jayne Persch’s Briah Danse, Winifred R. Harris’s Between Lines Productions, and Amy Anderson’s SHOES.  Ms. Kuhn was a principal dancer for many years with Dawson/Wallace Dance Project, formerly David Taylor Dance Theatre where she also served as a Rehearsal Director and Répétiteur.  She enjoys being a muse in the creation of ballets and collaborating with choreographers and artists.  With Ballet Ariel, Ms. Kuhn performs many classical roles as well as original works.  Some of her favorite roles include Cinderella, Lise in La Fille Mal Gardee, Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara in Nutcracker, the wife in Appalachian Spring, and Simone in the newly premiered Ballerinas by Degas.  Some of her favorite roles in working with David Taylor include the Invocation pas de duex, In Your Eyes first pas de deux, and Vespers.  Ms. Kuhn enjoys working with David Taylor and the many talented artists he brings together each season. 

Kindly supported by Patricia Renzetti for the 2019 Season*

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Wilson Mayo

Wilson Mayo was born in Haiti, Port Au Prince where he was adopted when he was 10 years old. From the moment he came to the US his natural proclivity towards athletics made him stand out among his peers. Wilson first began his dance training in California at Legacy Dance Academy 2015 - 2016. In his first year he was nominated LMU top soloist award winner and was selected to perform for the Governor’s ball. After only 2 years he received a scholarship to train at the Joffrey Ballet School jazz and contemporary program. When Wilson discovered dance his passion and his natural physical ability enabled him to make great strides in a very short period of time. Within his second year of dancing he was dancing in a professional company in New York City. His hard work and dedication landed him a principal role in PMT Dance Company under Artistic Director Pavan Thimmaiah. In 2017 Wilson joined Hanna Q Dance Company under Artistic Director Johanna LjungQvist- Brinson. Later that year Wilson also joined Nimbus Dance Works under artistic Director Samuel Pott. Wilson has performed in numerous settings such as BAM, NJPAC, Jersey City Nutcracker, APAP, and many more. This is Wilson’s first season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

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Gabriela Rodriguez

 Gabriela Rodriguez has trained at Miami City Ballet, the Kirov Academy of Ballet, the Rock School for Dance Education, Next Generation Ballet, the Colorado Ballet and Kansas City Ballet. She was a YAGP finalist in 2014, and received Top 12 in Contemporary in Denver in 2018. Gabriela was a member of the Colorado Ballet Pre-Professional Program from 2015-2018, and for was promoted to Studio Company member in 2018. She has performed in The Nutcracker, To the Pointe, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Edgar Page’s Feel The Movement and in the Aretha Franklin Tribute as part of Attitude on Santa Fe. This is Gabriela’s first season with the Zikr Dance Ensemble.

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