Brett Sjoblom started dancing at the age of thirteen at Columbia Performing Arts Centre in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. As a high school student, he danced competitively across the state while maintaining his studies. During his senior year, he moved to Lynchburg, Virginia to study ballet at the Virginia School of the Arts under the direction of Martha Faesi and Adam Sage. 

After graduating high school, Sjoblom attended The Boston Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was able to perform new works by Bonnie Mathis, Danny Pelzig, Viktor Platnikov, Gianni Di Marco, and Danielle Agami. He also performed in works like The Moors Pavane by Jose Limon, Blank on Blank and Mechanical Organ by Alwin Nikolais, and Three by Ohad Naharin. Sjoblom later graduated with honors from The Boston Conservatory with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts degree.

After college, Sjoblom joined NB2, Nashville Ballet’s official second company, before being promoted into the main company. During his time at Nashville Ballet, Sjoblom has performed in Artistic Director Paul Vasterling’s Sleeping Beauty, Nashville’s Nutcracker, and Romeo and Juliet and in new works by Darrell Moultrie, Jennifer Archibald, Carlos Pons Guerra, and Matthew Neenan. Other notable performances include Val Caniparoli’s The Lottery, Christopher Wheeldon’s Ghosts, Jiri Kylian’s Pettite Mort, and Christopher Bruce’s Sergeant Early’s Dream and Moonshine. His favorite roles over the years include Romeo in Paul Vasterling’s Romeo and Juliet, Sugar Plum Cavalier in Nashville’s Nutcracker, and a Wind God in Salvatore Aiello’s Satto. 

Outside of the studio, Sjoblom enjoys cooking, playing guitar, and teaching dance. 

Jade Treadwell is a dance artist based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of Dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Middle Tennessee State University. She has performed with Staib Dance and ClancyWorks, as well as freelancing throughout Atlanta, the DC area, and Florida. She received BFA and MFA degrees in dance performance and choreography from Florida State University. While at FSU, she was a member of Dance Repertory Theatre under the direction of Lynda Davis, where she worked with artists such as Dan Wagoner, Tim Glenn, Gerri Houlihan, Susan Marshall, Alex Ketley, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women. As a choreographer, she is inspired by historically informed storytelling of African American culture, music, community, and spirituality, and elevating the significance of women in these spaces. Jade is a member of the International Associations of Blacks in Dance and serves on the Research Committee for the National Dance Education Organization. Her research explores the relationship of injury prevention protocols in the dance training and performance setting to promote health and wellness for the undergraduate dancer. Jade’s training background includes the movement vocabularies of modern, ballet, jazz and tap and she employs all into her theory based and movement-based teaching experiences. She looks forward to sharing her teaching with the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.

Originally from Conyers, Kayla Rowser trained at the Magdalena Maury School of Classical Ballet in Fayetteville, Ga., with Georgia Youth Ballet under the direction of Magdalena Maury, Jonsie Pollock and Magda Aunon. After graduating high school, she joined Charleston Ballet Theatre for a season before joining Nashville Ballet’s second company, NB2 in 2007. In her two years as a trainee, she performed with the main company in several seri es before being promoted to an apprentice. After being promoted to company member in 2010, Rowser performed as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella in Paul Vasterling’s Cinderella and Juliet in Vasterling’s Romeo and Juliet. Other notable roles in Vasterling’s works include the Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen in Nashville’s Nutcracker, Fortuna in Carmina Burana and Layla in Layla and the Majnun. Rowser was also featured in Christopher Bruce’s Sergeant Early’s Dream, as the Russian Girl in Balanchine’s Serenade and danced the title role in Vasterling’s Firebird. In 2018, Rowser performed as the third movement principal in Balanchine’s Western Symphony, in addition to dancing in Jiří Kylián’s Sechs Tanze and Petite Mort and as a principal in Christopher Wheeldon’s Ghosts. Other contemporary works include pieces by Christopher Stuart, Jennifer Archibald, Gina Patterson, Matthew Neenan, and Salvatore Aiello among others. Rowser has been named one of Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 to Watch”’ and has been featured in Pointe Magazine, The Washington Post, Huffington Post and The New York Times. She has performed in the Kansas City Dance Festival, Spoleto Dance Festival, Spring to Dance in St. Louis, and with Nashville Ballet at the Kennedy Center as well as teaching across the U.S including accepting an invitation to teach master classes at Yale University. Rowser was also awarded the Individual Artist Fellowship by the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2015 for her artistic achievements, and she was honored as one of the Nashville Business 100 Leading African Americans in 2018. Since retiring after a 14-year performance career in 2020, she continues to teach and mentor students while currently pursuing a Communications degree from The University of Arkansas.

Photo from the Nashville Ballet

Growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, Mollie Sansone began her dance training with many teachers, including Melissa Hale-Coyle, Claudia Folts, Lisa Leone, Mel Tomlinson, Rebecca Massey, Patricia McBride, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, and Maniya Barredo. During the summers, Mollie attended the following intensives: the Joffrey Midwest Workshop, the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory, Atlanta Ballet, and Nashville Ballet.

In 2004, Mollie began her professional career as a member of Nashville Ballet 2, and in 2006, she was promoted to the main company. During her complete seventeen-year tenure, she has performed several works by renowned choreographers, such as Paul Vasterling, Jirí Kylián, George Balanchine, Christopher Bruce, Salvatore Aiello, Val Caniparoli, Sarah Slipper, Jennifer Archibald, Gina Patterson, Stephen Mills, Christopher Stuart, James Sewell, and Brian Enos. Her most notable lead roles include Juliet in Vasterling’s Romeo and Juliet, Lizzie in Vasterling’s Lizzie Borden, Lady Macbeth in Vasterling’s Macbeth, The Chosen One in Aiello’s Right of Spring, Aiello’s pas de deux Satto, the Turning Girl in Balanchine’s Who Cares?, and the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Dew Drop Fairy in Vasterling’s Nashville’s Nutcracker.

During her off-seasons, Mollie has performed as a guest artist with many other institutions. She returned home to perform lead roles in ballets such as La Bayadere and Thang Dao’s Printemp Perdu. In 2010, she performed in Paix Reveuse with Kansas City’s Quixotic Fusion. She danced in Asheville, North Carolina for several summers with the former MOTION Dance Theater, where she performed original works choreographed by Nick Kepley, Gabrielle Lamb, and James Gregg. 

In 2013, Mollie was the recipient of the Individual Artist Fellowship awarded by the Tennessee Arts Commission. She has accumulated numerous years of experience teaching all ages and genres of dance for organizations all throughout Tennessee. She has been a School of Nashville Ballet faculty member since she was nineteen years old. Mollie has also begun choreographing, premiering her first professional work titled Mash the Pigeon for Nashville Ballet 2’s 2019 Future Artists Showcase. She then choreographed Bootleg Sugar Lips for the main company last year. Her latest work was Fortitudine, performed for Nashville Ballet’s 2022 Attitude season.

Noelia Garcia Carmona is a native of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). She is a dance educator, dancer and choreographer with more than 30 years of professional experience. She started dancing at a young age and followed her passion and dream of becoming a dance professional and traveling the world. She graduated from the Institut del Teatre I Dansa in Barcelona in 1993 specializing in Spanish dance and Flamenco. Upon graduation, she co-founded the Flamenco and contemporary dance company Increpacion Danza, where she was a performer and choreographer for 10 years, touring all over Europe, China and The Philippines. In 2002, she was selected as a dance performer by Cirque du Soleil, for their show Zummanity.

Noelia moved to the USA in 2003 and has since lived in Memphis,TN. Noelia has worked as a Dance Director with New Ballet Ensemble & School between 2003-20021. She is a graduate of the class of 2017,CAELI (Community Arts Education Leadership Institute) from the National Guild for Community Arts Education.

In her role as dancer and choreographer, she has created and performed numerous dance works with students and professional dancers that have been presented in venues across the city as The Cannon Center, Levitt Shell, Playhouse on the Square , Halloran Center and others. She has also performed in New York City ( Alvin Alley- APAP), and in Washington DC ( Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra). Some of her original choreography includes “Dos,” “Tiempos,” “El Rey de Harlem,” “Fuego” and “Voices.” She creates dance works that are relevant and inclusive of other dance genres outside of Spanish dance and Flamenco.

In 2022, she joined The Collage Dance Collective dance faculty. She teaches ballet and Spanish dance and Flamenco to children and adults. She is also a Dance Artist with Company D where she teaches dancers with Down Syndrome. Other institutions where Noelia teaches dance are Tennessee Governor School for the Arts, Hutchison’s School and GPAC. She is the co-founder and Artistic director of Flamenco Memphis. Their purpose is to bring awareness, create presence and educate about the art of Flamenco in the Memphis area and the Midsouth through dance classes, lectures, culture and performances. Noelia is also a Guest Faculty at University of Memphis where she teaches about Flamenco dance and history in World Dance class.

In 2010 Rebekah Hampton Barger relocated to Nashville after spending time in Oklahoma City, OK as a company member and choreographer with modern and aerial dance company Perpetual Motion Dance, and a guest performer and faculty instructor with the Oklahoma City Ballet. Upon arriving in Nashville, Rebekah founded FALL, Nashville’s first aerial and contemporary dance company. Drawing on her multi-disciplinary background Rebekah’s work blends classical and contemporary dance with a mix of aerial fabric and invented structures, examining how the use of various apparatus’ can provide a broader range of movement possibilities, create opportunities to explore more dimensions in space, and challenge dancers to experience gravity and their own physicality in new ways.In addition to directing FALL, Rebekah is the ballet program director at Ann Carroll School of Dance, a guest instructor for New Dialect’s Contemporary Cross-Training Series, an a resident artist with abrasiveMedia.

Jennifer’s yoga path began in 2000 with her mentor Johnny Johns at Murfreesboro’s first yoga studio.  She completed a 13 month 1,000 hours yoga teacher training program at the Southern Institute for Yoga Instructors with Betty Larsen and John Charping.  She is registered with Yoga Alliance at the highest level as an E-RYT® 500 (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher at the 500 level) and maintains registry through continuing education by attending teacher trainings and workshops.  This is the highest level recognized in the discipline of yoga.  She has over 2,000 hours of yoga training (2001 to present), including a 300-hour Foundations of Yoga Therapy Program and 25 hours of Ayurveda training.

Jennifer has been teaching yoga full-time at MTSU for 15 years, instructing almost 6,000 hours and over 5,000 students.  She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, a Master’s Degree in Health and Physical Education, a Specialist in Education Degree and has completed all her coursework towards a Doctorate Degree in Administration and Supervision in Higher Education (currently working on her dissertation). She was acknowledged as a person at MTSU who makes a real difference in students’ lives and contributes to their success for years 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015.   She has consistently impressive student evaluations ranging from 4.6 to 4.9 (out of 5.0) for 15 years.  Jennifer created and implemented the curriculum for Beginning Yoga, Intermediate Yoga, and Advanced Yoga at MTSU.  She also co-created the Somatic Movement Education minor in the Health and Human Performance Department along with the Somatic Movement class.  In addition, she has taught in Murfreesboro’s local community for 16 years at various studios and venues.

Her teaching is a fusion of yoga styles, incorporating the alignment principles from the Iyengar tradition to the fluidity of Vinyasa with sprinklings of a modified Ashtanga method.  Jennifer’s intentions for teaching are to cultivate an atmosphere for exploration and many opportunities for growth; empowering students to become the best version of themselves on and off the yoga mat.  Her goal is to share the gift of yoga and make it accessible to everyone!

Lindsay McNeal Ison, PT, EdD, OCS is Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy at Belmont University. She received her Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Kentucky her Master of Science in physical therapy from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, and her Doctor of Education in Health Professions from A.T. Still University.

Her research explores dancer health and wellness, particularly the relationship between health-related education and injury prevention in professional ballet. She has treated patients in private practice in Nashville for over 20 years. She is a Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, APTA Advanced Credentialed Clinical Instructor, and her post-graduate training includes NYU’s Harkness Center for Dance Injuries certificate program, Michigan State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine Manual Medicine Series, and visceral manipulation through The Barral Institute.

She began dancing and singing onstage at age five and remains a performer at heart, serving as physical therapist to Nashville Ballet since 2005 and providing education, injury prevention, and backstage coverage for performing arts organizations throughout middle Tennessee. Lindsay is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association, the International Association of Dance Medicine & Science, and the Performing Arts Medical Association.

Dance and Fine Art Photographer. 

Martin O’Connor is a native Nashvillian whose photography began as a special interest then evolved into a full-time profession. Many of his photos grace the pages of state dance organization’s brochures, and the publicity materials of Nashville Ballet, Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville, Franklin School of Performing Arts, University School of Nashville, Vanderbilt University Dance, Middle Tennessee State University dance and theatre, Governor’s School of the Arts, and Tennessee Dance Theatre. Additional organizations displaying his work include Baptist Hospital, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Tennessee Oncology, and The Renaissance Center. Martin has been a fervent advocate of the art of dance for many years.

In 2008, he received the Dance Advocate Award from the Tennessee Association of Dance. When presenting this award, they noted that “… his stunning images illustrate both his passion for the art form and the beauty of the art. His eye for detail and compassionate spirit make him a popular photographer for dancers to work with.” Beginning in 2012, Martin was invited to work with the Dance Division of the Governor’s School of the Arts. He is delighted to return to MTSU this summer to photograph a new group of talented young artists. Each photo opportunity that presents itself allows him to continue his search to capture the peak of motion and the essence of line and form. www.martinoconnorphoto.com