The Company

Miki Birjandi Liszt: Founder
  

This year, Miki Liszt was the recipient of the Piedmont Council of the Arts Individual Artist Award in Virginia. Miki Liszt is Artistic Director of Miki Liszt Dance Company, which is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization based at McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville and founded in 1984. Ms. Liszt graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she studied choreography with Bessie Schonberg, for whom the Bessie Schonberg Theater in New York and the New York "Bessie" awards in Dance and Performance are named. Miss Schonberg was, until her death, Artistic Advisor to Miki Liszt Dance Company. Miki Liszt Dance Company performs nationally and locally. The New York Times' Jennifer Dunning has said of Ms. Liszt's choreography that it finds “Deep Reality in Ordinary Movement” noting that her choreography creates the effect of layered and refracted realities as she takes “walks, pauses, slow and gentle collisions and standing still and makes them suggest purpose and meditative thought.” Dance Magazine showcased the Miki Liszt Dance Company First Friday Series as a trendsetter for the crossover between dance and the visual arts in its March 2007 issue.

Keira Hart (On Leave): Dancer, Choreographer

Keira Hart recently graduated from Arizona State University with her Masters of Fine Arts in Dance.  After living in the desert for three years, Keira decided it was about time to plant herself in more fertile grounds, and arrived in Charlottesville Va.  Keira attended James Madison University and received a BA in Dance and a BA in Media Arts and Design.  She continually melds her interests in Dance, Theatre, Visual Art, Costume Design, and Video.  Keira has been commissioned by BosmaDance, Shane O”Hara, K2Dance, and others for her video work.  She won an honorary certificate of distinction for her video piece “"Seeing is ..." at the American Dance Festival in 2004.  She has also shown work at the John F. Kennedy Center, and a number of gallery spaces in Phoenix Az.  At ASU, Keira was the research assistant for the motion capture technology project entitled MotionE with choreographers Bill T. Jones and Trisha Brown.  She was also the rehearsal director to Dance Arizona Repertory Theatre (DART) for two years and worked as a guest choreographer for the company as well.  Keira taught a number of classes at ASU including Intro to Modern Dance and Dance and World Cultures.  Keira has attended numerous dance festivals in America and abroad and feels very fortunate to have diverse exposure to dance all over the world!  Most importantly, Keira is thankful for her beautiful supportive family and friends!

Rose Pasquerello Beachamp (On Leave): Dancer, Choreographer

Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and somatic body practitioner. She holds a BFA in Dance from Emerson College and an MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts. In addition, she is a Certified Laban Movement Analyst and Bartenieff Practitioner (CLMA). Rose has danced with Annie Rosenthal and Co, Patricia Jiron, Rosemary Hannon, Ipswich Moving Company, Alysia Woodruff, Emily Randolph and Dancers as well as various Contact Improvisation Projects. Rose's choreography is influenced by her experience in Contact Improvisation, her love of being off-vertical and her exploration of LMA theory. Her full-length work has been featured in Boston, Montreal, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and in San Francisco while excerpts have been seen in performances Bostons' Tens the Limit, Green Street Performance Works, Marin 21st Century Dance Collaboration, Women's Work, and the 23rd Annual Celebration of Craftswomen in SF. Rose has recently returned from her international debut at the St. Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival. After receiving a Fringe award, Rose will be returning to the fringe circuit next summer. She is very excited to become involved with MLDC while working as a Lecturer in Dance at the University of Virginia's Department of Drama.

Lori Wilson

Lori Wilson grew up in Rochester, NY and moved to Allentown, PA in 2001 to attend Muhlenberg College. While at Muhlenberg, Lori performed in numerous concerts and was a member of the Muhlenberg Dance Association and Copasetic Rhythms. She also had the opportunity to perform Yvonne Rainer's Trio A and was selected to perform in an adjudicated concert at the American College Dance Festival. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in dance in 2005, Lori moved to Orlando, FL to work as an entertainment performer for Walt Disney World. Here she performed in shows and parades at Disney's MGM Studios and the Magic Kingdom. In December 2005, Lori performed in “Still Seeing”; a modern work selected for the Joy of Motion Dance Project in Washington, D.C. Lori recently moved to Charlottesville in 2006 and is keeping busy working full-time at Wade Apartments and teaching dance at Dance Explosion. She is very excited and thankful for the opportunity to join Miki Liszt Dance Company.

Kristina Meshelski

Kristina Meshelski studied dance and philosophy as an undergraduate at UCLA. During that time she performed in Collage Dance Theatre's Governing Bodies and Kristen Smiarowski's The Last Big Event. She is currently pursuing her PhD in philosophy at the University of Virginia, and is Viceroy of the Institute for the Study of Art and Philosophy at UVa.

Greta Evelyn von Kirchmann

Greta has an extensive background in classical ballet, both as a student and teacher, beginning with studies under Julia Redick in Reston, Virginia, and continuing at the The Joffrey Ballet School, The School of American Ballet, The North Carolina School of the Arts, and finally at The Kirov Academy in Washington, D.C. She first performed with Miki Liszt during her two years studying modern dance at Virginia Commonwealth University. Upon her current return to dance, Greta looks forward to her own movement, choreography, and overall approach, to be informed by her other interests and areas of study, including the arts and architecture and their histories, science, politics, economics, language, and the origin(s) of consciousness. In 2008, she will attend the University of Virginia to complete her Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies degree with a focus on humanities and essay writing. She and her husband, jewelry artist Jason McLeod, live and work together in Charlottesville. Greta feels strongly that her personal fortune, of good family, friends, and the relatively high quality of life in Charlottesville, cultivates opportunities such this one, to dance with MLDC again after thirteen years. She is honored and delighted by this opportunity.

Jessie Laurita-Spanglet

Jessie Laurita-Spanglet has been teaching creative movement and yoga in Charlottesville VA. She recently choreographed and performed in Slough, a dance and costume piece exploring change and the rebirth, which was shown at the Miki Liszt Dance Company First Friday Dance Series at McGuffey Art Center. She studied dance at the NC. School of The Arts, and graduated in 2003 with a BFA in Contemporary Dance.