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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Anna Natalie Rol
Anna Natalie Rol started dancing when she was 4 years old. After a long break, she began taking dance classes again in while in high school, first at Ballet School in Charlottesville and then at the Albemarle Ballet Theatre, in Crozet, Virginia. Anna continued her dance studies at McGuffey Art Center, where she met Miki Liszt. In addition to performing with Miki Liszt Dance Company, Anna also works with Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp and Robert Cook.

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Anna Banerjea
Anna Banerjea is a recent graduate of Wake Forest University where she minored in Dance and performed with the school’s dance company for four years. She is now a graduate student at UVA, studying Spanish Literature. This is her first performance with Miki Liszt Dance Company and she is excited to have found such a welcoming dance community here in her new home, Charlottesville.

LynDel Wood
Lyn-Dell Wood has performed on stage, film and television. She received her B.S. and M.A. degrees in dance from Radford University and The Ohio State University, respectively and, as an exchange student at Middlesex Polytechnic University in Hertfordshire, England, she taught in local primary schools while continuing to perform and choreograph. Lyn-Dell has been a dedicated teacher for over 20 years, with stints in Ohio at the Columbus Youth Ballet, in Florida at several schools, and here in Charlottesville. She directed and choreographed for the Jazz Tap Ensemble in Columbus and was Co-Artistic Director of the Dance Company School in St. Augustine. It's a pleasure for her to be performing with Miki and her company.

Ian Lorson
(bio coming soon)