Jamie McCord Trial
Jamie Trial holds an MFA Choreography from Jacksonville University and a B.A. degree in Dance with a ballet concentration from Kennesaw State University. She graduated with honors and received scholarships for outstanding choreography and outstanding artistic achievement.
In addition to sixteen years of dance teaching experience, she is the Dance Program Coordinator at Reinhardt University. There she instructs all Musical Theatre majors and choreographs the university’s musicals. In her time at Reinhardt, she has choreographed Ride the Cyclone, Once, Freaky Friday, Anything Goes, Sweet Charity, Little Shop of Horrors, Secret Garden, She Loves Me, Cabaret, Company, Violet, Susanna the opera, and The Sound of Music. Jamie’s choreography has been featured in Atlanta’s Dance Canvas, Fall for Fall Dance Festival, American College Dance Festival, and numerous college dance shows. Local choreography credits also include Big Fish, All Shook Up, Legally Blonde, Mary Poppins, Hairspray, The Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, Guys and Dolls, Crazy for You, Annie, High School Musical, Seussical, 9 to 5, Godspell Jr., Matilda Jr., and a full length production of The Nutcracker. Jamie’s professional performance credits include Cassandra in Cats and ensemble roles in Atlanta Lyric theatre’s The Producers, and Chicago. Jamie is thrilled to also hold the role of Community Outreach Director and Assistant Director of DanceFest Productions which provides performance, master class, and dance intensive opportunities to dance students throughout the Southeast.
Leighann Kowalsky
Leighann Kowalsky makes art. She choreographs and produces movement, film, and circus works independently and for a number of organizations, as well as educates and experiments in intersectionality. Following extensive performance experience, Kowalsky cultivated the Dance & Circus program at Millbrook School (2013-2022) and re-launched the Contemporary Circus and Immersive Arts Center in Troy, NY (2021-2023). Kowalsky has an MFA in Choreography and is the Global Coordinator at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Communication. Kowalsky holds multiple awards for her choreographic and film-based work.
Dakota Kuharich Stevenson
Dakota Kuharich Stevenson {MFA} is a performer, instructor, and creator in the Tampa Bay Area. Originally from Litchfield, CT, Dakota attended the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts where she was enrolled as a Musical Theater Major studying acting, voice, and all styles of dance. Dakota is a graduate from the University of Tampa (BA-Applied Dance) and Jacksonville University (MFA-Choreography) where she explored her passion for movement through performance, Brain Compatible Dance Education, embodied research, and choreographic practice. Dakota is currently the Assistant Director of Dance at the Y Dance Academy in St. Petersburg, FL and an Adjunct Professor of Dance at the University of Tampa. Previously, Dakota taught Brain Compatible Dance Education at Tampa Preparatory School (Tampa, FL) as the Head Dance Instructor, was a Dancer/Choreographer/ Board Member for contemporary dance company, Moving Current Dance Collective (Tampa, FL), and Captain of the Tampa Bay Tornadoes Dance Team (AAL). She has been honored to work with local dance companies such as, projectALCHEMY (St. Petersburg, FL) and Poetica Dance (Tampa, FL) as well as professional practitioners & choreographers Jon Lehrer, Bill Evans, Terry Goetz and Nita Little. Dakota prides herself on exploring the human experience through mind body practices as a means to better herself as an educator, mentor, and artist.
Jimmy Joyner
Jimmy is an Atlanta based performance artist and team member with Fly on a Wall who has worked as a dancer and collaborator with Nashville Ballet, Ballet Nouveau Colorado, gloATL, Fly on a Wall, The Alliance Theater, The Atlanta Opera, Sean Hilton, Annalee Traylor, and staibDANCE. Jimmy has designed costumes for Ballet Nouveau Colorado, gloATL, staibDANCE, Kennesaw State University, Spelman College, Terminus Modern Ballet Theater, ImmerseATL, Kambara+, Sean Hilton, and Fly on a Wall. Jimmy is a Hambidge Distinguished Fellow, an Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs grant recipient, and A&E Atlanta Grant recipient. They are a certified yoga instructor and hold an MFA from The University of the Arts.
Annalee Traylor
Originally from Huntsville, AL and based in Atlanta, GA, Annalee is the daughter of two artists, a musician and a dancer, who nurtured and supported her passion from an early age. She attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts and received her high school diploma from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Traylor obtained her BFA cum laude from Point Park University. Directly after graduation, she joined Pittsburgh’s August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble (Top 25 to in Dance Magazine) for three years before freelancing with various companies including Pennington Dance Group, No)one Art House, Clairobscur Dance, and slowdanger among others. She obtained an MFA in Choreography from the California Institute of the Arts with the S. Disney Lund Scholarship in Dance.
Maria Haralambis
Maria Haralambis, M.Ed., NASM CES, FMT is a current Ph.D. student, Adjunct Faculty, CEO of The Dance Scientist, L.L.C. & serves major roles in the following organizations: (1) Journal of Dance Education – Peer Reviewer, (2) Doctors for Dancers – Advisory Board Member, (3) Doctors for Dancers – Marketing Committee, (4) IADMS – Promotions Committee, (5) Healthy Dancer Canada – Planning Committee, (6) Healthy Dancer Canada – Outreach and Communications Committee, (7) NDEO – National Honor Society for Dance Arts Judge & (8) NDEO – Advocacy Sub-Committee Co-Chair. She’s a Dance Scientist & Dance Educator who holds a B.S. in Dance (with Honors), an M.Ed. in Kinesiology (with Honors) and is a current Ph.D student studying Health & Human Performance. Through her Dance Science business, she helps Dancers & Dance Educators understand and apply Dance Science through Resources, Master Classes, Training Sessions, Coaching, Dance Screenings, and more. She streamlines & simplifies the scientific concepts & translates them into digestible products that are evidence-based.
She holds certifications in Stott Pilates (including ISP) Acrobatic Arts, Cecchetti, Rock Tape, NASM Corrective Exercise, and First Aid. Her Pilates certification requires her to take CECs every year & she enjoys being able to continuously add new tools to her toolbox. She is an active member of over ten major organizations that span Dance, Dance Science, Fitness, Exercise Science, and Pilates. Through these organizations, she has attended over 50 workshops, webinars, trainings, and conferences that have each contributed to her pedagogy and teaching style. For her Masters Thesis, she conducted her own research study in a Motor Learning lab that analyzed dancers’ balance skills using a computerized force plate known as the Balance Master.
Through her multidisciplinary and holistic approach, she integrates Biomechanics, Kinesiology, Psychology, Nutrition, Motor Learning, Cardiovascular Fitness, Somatic practices, and more to achieve a more integrated & effective approach for enhancing dancers’ technique and anatomical awareness. She is passionate about integrating the latest Dance Science research & anatomical principles into her instruction to help students dance safer and stronger, ultimately helping them foster a deeper sense of kinesthetic awareness. She teaches at a dance studio, an online Dance Kinesiology course to MFA students at Reinhardt University (Georgia), an upcoming course on NDEO’s OPDI platform, and has her own online courses for Dance Educators. In her pedagogy, she’s known for having a very detailed eye and a mechanical way of visualizing the body. In fact, you may see her incorporating the use of a skeleton model during class. She loves reflecting on her pedagogical methods and continuously evolving as an educator. In her free time, she loves spending time in nature and with her two Chihuahuas, Luna and Fez!
