I’ve told you before, but we’ve added a lot of new friendly faces to our team since our debut at the Harris Theater for Season Five! Season Six welcomes new energy, but also a few new faces who bring such a load of talent and grit to our already tenacious team.

We are thrilled to welcome new members in all four tiers of our organization – Main Company members, Guest Artists, Associate Artists, and Emerging Artists.

You’ve met the old and seen them perform, now it’s time to welcome the new. Beginning with our Emerging Artists, we have welcomed Maddie Counsell, J’Nae Howard, and Faith von Atzigen. Maddie recently stepped in to understudy a role at Navy Pier and J’Nae will soon grace the stage to understudy at this weekend’s Harvest Festival performance. All three of our emerging artists have learned three pieces of our repertoire in a short month of rehearsals and are always prepared to step in if a member is absent!

Next up, we have the privilege of dancing with two new Associate Artists – Marissa Thomas and Mya Bryant. Both dancers have roles in Ron De Jesus’ work as well as a role in Kia Smith’s new Baroque composition. We’ve loved getting to know these two dancers and appreciate their energy and diligence.

Moving on to Guest Artists, Trey Alexander and Michael Battle have been insanely busy learning and understudying some major parts in our repertoire. They are the quickest learners and I have been nothing but impressed by both of their work ethics. It’s truly an honor to dance next to them.

Finally, we welcome Sophia Vangelatos as our newest Main Company Member! Sophia is the kindest person with a brilliant movement quality and I’m personally so excited to get to know her more.

All around, we have the most wonderful team of artists and we are thrilled to continue to grow each season. A big thank you to everyone for coming in with such a warm energy and the ability to dive right into our family known as SCDT! We love you all!