Meet the Artists

Meet the Artists of Allegro Dance Project

2021 Company Dancers

Marian Boyko- Dancer
Marian trained in classical ballet for five years with Bluegrass Youth Ballet. She has also spent time with Winchester Ballet and Gloria Deo School of the Arts, and feels like she has found her home with Allegro. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor's in Kinesiology and Exercise Science in 2017. She has worked as a personal trainer, research assistant, and medical sales representative. She is excited to begin the Doctorate in Physical Therapy program this fall at UK. She enjoys brazillian jiu-jitsu, weight-lifting, and traveling in her spare time. This is her third season with Allegro Dance Project.

Joseph Brandt- Dancer
Joe grew up in Cedar Rapids, IA where he began tap dancing at the age of 6. He was involved with the competition troupe at his dance studio and participated in many musical productions through school and the community theatre. Joe continued dancing in various capacities while at Iowa State University where he became President of the tap dancing club as well as a cabinet member of several other student-led dance organizations. He now occasionally teaches tap workshops in Louisville and has collaborated on several pieces with Ambo Dance Theatre. This is his second season with Allegro Dance Project.

Ty Clark - Dancer
Ty attends SCAPA and majors in Contemporary Dance, with a minor in Art. He has been dancing since the age of 6, primarily at the Lexington Dance Factory. Ty has trained in the styles of Ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, acro, breakdancing and contemporary and has most recently started training at the Mash Dance studio with a local group called The Fam. Ty was named Mr. Teen Platinum by the virtual Platinum dance competition in the Summer of 2021 twice and this is his first season dancing with Allegro Dance Project.

Kate Cox- Dancer
Kate is a second year medical student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. She graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology with a minor in Dance. At UK, Kate trained in ballet and modern dance, attended the American College Dance Association Southern and East-Central Regional Conferences annually, performed in the annual dance concerts, choreographed for the student choreography concerts, and choreographed for her senior thesis with the Gaines Center for the Humanities. Previously, she trained with Bluegrass Youth Ballet for twelve years, attended the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts in 2014 and received additional training during summer intensives with Cincinnati Ballet and Kentucky Ballet Theatre. Kate often assists with our weekly Adaptive Dance classes and this is her seventh season with Allegro Dance Project.

Lindy Fischer- Dancer
Lindy is a graduate of Lafayette High School, as a ballet major in the SCAPA program. She has been dancing with Bluegrass Youth Ballet for eleven years, and has been featured in roles such as Estelita in Dia De Los Muertos and Clara in the Nutcracker. In the summer of 2019, she attended Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts for dance. She often assists with our weekly Adaptive Dance Class and this is her second season with Allegro Dance Project.

Tessa Fowler- Dancer
Tessa has been dancing with Bluegrass Youth Ballet for ten years and has attended summer intensive at Alma Dance School and Tolbert Yilmaz School of Dance. She attends Lafayette High School as a Sophomore ballet major in the SCAPA program and is also a violist in the Lafayette Orchestra. She assisted in her middle school special education class for three years and assists with our weekly Adaptive Dance Classes. This is her third season with Allegro Dance Project.

Madelyn Groth - Dancer
Madelyn is a recent graduate of Lafayette High School as a ballet major in the SCAPA ballet program. and has been dancing since she was two. She started formal ballet training at Bluegrass Youth Ballet at age six. As a recent graduate from their pre- professional program she has had the opportunity to perform featured roles such as “Clara”, Dew Drop, and Chinese lead in the Nutcracker, The Nightingale in 15 dances, and the Dormouse in Alice in Wonderland. Madelyn volunteers at Bluegrass Youth Ballet as an assistant and substitute teacher for the younger levels. Last summer she participated in the Governor’s School for the Arts in dance. In the fall she will be a freshman at Western Kentucky University where she will be an honors student continuing her dance training as a dance major and studying a double major in nutrition. This is her first season with Allegro Dance Project.

Silas Groth - Dancer
Silas has been training with Bluegrass Youth Ballet since the age of six. He has had many featured rolls in productions such as Dia de los Meurtos and The Nutcracker. Silas attends SCAPA, the School for the Creative and Performing Arts and has been a ballet major since fourth grade. He is a rising Freshman and will be attending Lafayette and continuing in the SCAPA program. In addition to dancing, Silas enjoys working on his family farm and showing sheep at state and national shows. This is his first season with Allegro Dance Project.

Isabelle Hayden- Dancer
Isabelle has been dancing for fourteen years and has received the majority of her training and support at Bluegrass Youth Ballet. She recently graduated from Bluegrass United. She has received additional training at Kentucky Ballet Theatre and has attended Summer Intensives with both Louisville Ballet and Cincinnati Ballet. She has performed in the Ballet Under the Stars Pre-show for several years. This is Isabelle’s fourth season with Allegro Dance Project.

Hannah Tanaka Holbrook - Dancer
Hannah lived in Japan for past two years studying the language, in her last year she spent it working at an international Saturday English school as a teaching assistant. This past June she has resumed her studies at BCTC where she is planning to get her associate's in the arts. After she completes her studies at BCTC she hopes to major in English Lit, and creative writing. Hannah has trained with Bluegrass Youth Ballet and with Black Bird Dance Theater, performing in Ugly V3 and Potter-Tition. She previously danced with Allegro Dance Project in 2018 in “Come Fourth” and is delighted to rejoin the company the season.

Quinlan King- Dancer
Quinlan has been dancing at Bluegrass Youth Ballet for seven years, where she most recently danced the roll of Clara in the Nutcracker. She is a student at Lafayette High School and is in the gifted and talented program for visual arts, which is her favorite thing to do other than dance. This is her third season with Allegro Dance Project.

Lindsey Long- Dancer
Lindsey is a recent 2021 graduate from Lafayette High School where she was a student in the Pre-Engineering program and highly selective Chamber Orchestra. She began her dance journey at the age of eight and progressed to the Pre-Professional level at Bluegrass Youth Ballet where she fell in love with the ballet and contemporary dance community. She has enjoyed performing lead roles in Bluegrass Youth Ballet’s Día de los Muertos, The Nutcracker, Arabella’s Journey, and more. Lindsey hopes to continue dancing at The Ohio State University where she will be attending college in the fall as a major in Public Health and double minor in both Humanitarian Engineering and Dance. Lindsey assists with Allegro’s weekly adaptive dance classes and adores working with such amazing kids. She is excited for her fourth season with Allegro Dance Project!

Brianna Mullins - Dancer
Bri, born and raised in Lexington, obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with an Entrepreneurial Studies Minor from Northern Kentucky University (NKU) in May 2021. She has been dancing for over 18 years and has trained in ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical/contemporary, modern (Gaga, Horton, Lehman), musical theatre, acrobatics, African, and hip hop. She both danced and choreographed in Emerging Choreographers’ Showcase and performed in the annual spring Dance concerts while at NKU, choreographed for ‘An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe’ and Float Freely with Dance Troupe, and was featured in ‘Mourning the Creation of Racial Categories’ and Sometimes it Felt So Real. She is excited to be back in Lexington for her first season with Allegro Dance Project.

Amberly Simpson- Dancer, Choreographer & Circus Artist
Amberly M. Simpson is a dancer, aerialist, educator, and choreographer local to Louisville where she works with her adult professional company, Ambo Dance Theatre, and as the full-time dance instructor at Noe Middle School. She has collaborated and/or performed with Blackbird Dance Theatre, Voices HEaRD, the 6th No Borders Project, the Kentucky Refugee Ministries, Fund for the Arts Opening Night at Churchill Downs, Kasari Dance, and Suspend Productions. Her work has been featured in the Brighton Dance Festival, Lighthouse Dance Festival, and Princeton Research Day where her work received the Impact Award. In 2019, she was named one of the Generation Three Hadley Creatives. This is her sixth season performing with Allegro Dance Project!

Megan Skinner- Dancer
Megan is a rising Junior at Lafayette High School where she takes part in the SCAPA program as a contemporary dance major. She has danced with Bluegrass Youth Ballet for the past thirteen years, where she has danced lead rolls in the Sorcerer's Apprentice and Clara in the Nutcracker. This is her fourth season with Allegro Dance Project.

Angelica South- Dancer
Angelica is originally from Traverse City, Michigan and trained in classical ballet under the direction of Thomas Morrell. She moved to Lexington in 2013 and dance professionally with Lexington Ballet Company for six seasons. She is the Artistic Director of the non-profit United Fine Arts Academy in Georgetown and a Senior Instructor at United Talent Dance. Angelica loves passing on her love of ballet, performing, and the arts to the next generation of younger dancers and hopes to inspire them to continue dancing. This is Angelica's third season dancing with Allegro Dance Project.

Ainsley Thomas- Dancer & Choreographer
Ainsley Thomas is a sophomore marketing major at the University of Dayton and a graduate of SCAPA Lafayette High School. She trained at Bluegrass Youth Ballet for twelve years and was featured as lead roles in Alice in Wonderland, Dia de los Muertos, and The Nutcracker. Ainsley had her first performance this year with the UD Dance Ensemble and will start partnering with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company this fall. In addition to dance, Ainsley has been involved in her work as an Outdoor Leader with Campus Recreation and is the Media Manager for the Office of Experiential Learning. This is Ainsley's fifth season dancing with Allegro Dance Project and we are thrilled to debut her choreographic work for the company!

Adrianna Watts- Dancer & Circus Artist
Adrianna began training at the age of 3, splitting her time between Bluegrass Dance Center and Excel gymnastics in Richmond. She won her first State all-around title at the Kentucky State gymnastics championships at the age of 5, and placed in the top 5 at Stage One dance Nationals that same year.
Over the next ten years she expanded her training to include tap, jazz, modern, ballet, contemporary, musical theatre, pointe, acrobatic arts, aerial silks, and hand balancing. She has been a USAG regional qualifier, performed with the CRU Dance Spectacular company, has won 3 national titles in lyrical dance, tap and acrobatics and has traveled around the US and Canada studying circus arts. This is her third season with Allegro Dance Project.

Reese Willett- Dancer
Reese has been dancing with Bluegrass Youth Ballet for fourteen years, where she has danced the lead role of Clara in the Nutcracker. She attends Lafayette High School as a SCAPA Ballet major and as a pre-engineering student and attended the 2020 Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA) in Dance. This is her third season dancing with Allegro Dance Project.

Jayson Douglas- Guest Artist & Choreographer
Jayson Douglas is from Paterson, NJ where he began his training at Dance World Academy. He went on to further his training in NYC, NY at Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, The Ailey School, and Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA. Jayson has danced for several renowned ballet companies including Company C Contemporary Ballet, named top 25 companies by Dance Magazine, where he was featured in Twyla Tharp’s “Surfer in the Styx”. He has resided as the resident choreographer for Mid-State Ballet and is a master teacher around the world. In April 2014 he toured Paris, France as a principal dancer with Sarah Berges Dance. Jayson relocated to Minnesota to dance with James Sewell Ballet where he had the privilege to tour to Cannes, France to perform in the Cannes International Dance Festival. He currently resides in the twin cities, where he is vibrantly active in the dance community as a performing artist, instructor and choreographer. This is his second season performing with Allegro Dance Project.

Aerial Artists

Jacey Standridge
Lyra Artist
Jacey has been training in the aerial arts for eleven years and teaching aerial arts to children as young as three years old for eight years. Her speciality is Lyra, but her first apparatus was aerial silks. She is currently a senior at Spalding University where she is majoring in Social work. This is her third season performing with Allegro Dance Project.

Lydia Fletcher
Aerial Sling Artist
Lydia grew up in St. Louis, MO, beginning dance when she was two years old. She trained in tap, jazz, ballet, modern, and hip-hop with On Your Toes Dance Studio, Dance Productions Unlimited, and her high-school dance team. Additionally, she trained with AshleyLianne Dance Company in their Junior Training Program. She began gymnastics when she was four and after moving to Lexington to attend the University of Kentucky, used those foundations to begin aerial arts in 2016 with Sora Aerial Arts. She has trained in lyra, sling, silks, and pole and performed in Sora’s production of Anastasia. She continued her dance education, taking jazz and modern classes and performing at the University of Kentucky. She is excited to be performing for the first time with Allegro Dance Project!

Elias Gomez
Aerial Straps Artist & Keg Balancing Artist
Elias is a third generation circus performer. Born in Cuba, he began training at the age of five at the National Sport Institution before moving to the United States in 2012. His talents include: acrobatics, aerial straps, Chinese Pole, fire eating and spinning, stilt walking, unicycle, juggling, clowning, rolling globe walking, singing and playing guitar. He is the owner and coach at Cirque Skills Aerial Arts School and this is his third season performing with Allegro Dance Project.

Meredith Garrison
Aerial Cube Artist
Meredith Garrison, native to Berea, KY, is a dancer, circus artist, actress, and public speaker. She has trained with Laura’s School of Dance, Bluegrass Youth Ballet and was a member of the Bluegrass United Performing Arts Company Show Choir and starred in several musical productions like “Guys and Dolls.” She danced with the company Laus Deo and in 2015, she started a ballet program in Bolivia and was featured on the local TV stations. She started circus arts in 2016 with Sora Aerial Arts and joined Sora Contemporary Circus in 2018 as a principal member. Meredith has taught dance at multiple studios for 15 years and is currently the Ballet Academy Program Director at Nu Revolution Dance Studio and coaches flexibility and contortion at Sora Aerial Arts. Outside the studio, Meredith is a faculty lecturer at the University of Kentucky, where she earned her doctorate in communication. She is excited to perform with Allegro Dance Project this summer!

Musicians

Jolene Davis- Composer
Jolene is a violinist, pianist, arranger, composer and educator with 35 years of stage experience. Her past performance venues include Walt Disney World, Sea World, Once Upon A Stage Dinner Theatre, Florida Symphony Orchestra, Candlelight String Quartet, Orlando Community Theatre, BJ and Disney recording studios, National Dvorak Festival (Spillville, Iowa), Rollins College Baroque Ensemble, Stetson University Orchestra, The Sunshine Pops and more. She has performed on stage with numerous talents including Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Bob Hope, Jack Jones, Liberace, Dinah Shore, Red Skelton, Patti Page, Nancy Wilson ... as a touring freelance musician. Jolene also taught and directed children’s theatre programs in Springfield, Ky. Jolene is proud to perform musical services for churches, weddings and as a therapeutic musician for Music That Heals (New York). She has served six years as a composer and violinist for the Allegro Dance Project.

Marcus Wilkerson- Percussion
Marcus is a singer, songwriter, guitarist and percussionist from Louisville, KY. When he's not working on musical projects, he spends the majority of his time making his product Jūn Bug Probiotic Honey Soda which is growing widely popular across the region. Check out the website kentuckyjunbug.com to see what "the buzz" is all about! . Marcus Wilkerson's "rock-n-soul" style is influenced by jazz, world music as well as the seminole folk, gospel and soul songs of his and his parent's generation and even a bit of hip hop. This is Marcus's sixth season with Allegro Dance Project and he also provides music accompaniment for our Inclusive Dance Outreach Program.

Anna Harrod - Fiddle

Keenan Ray- Bass
Keenan grew up in Bowling Green, KY where he began studying the guitar at age 14. After stints of performing in cover bands, indoor percussion ensemble, and talent shows throughout high school, he moved to Lexington to study at the University of Kentucky. Since then, he has performed and recorded with multiple bands including local acts The Footsteps, Much Obliged, and Damned African Descendants. This is his third season performing with Allegro Dance Project.

DeBraun Thomas- Guitar & Vocals
DeBraun grew up surrounded by many different musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area and began playing in music clubs with father's bands at the age of 15. In 2009 he moved to Lexington,KY to attend the University of Kentucky. After graduating in 2012 he has been focusing on music in addition to working at the local NPR affiliate WUKY. Since 2013, DeBraun has been performing his original music as the DeBraun Thomas Trio. His influences range from artists like Jimi Hendrix to Otis Redding and he describes his music as Rock N Soul. He released his first solo album, All My Colors are Blind, in 2015 recorded at Shagri-La Productions by Duane Lundy. DeBraun is an accompanist for our Inclusive Dance Outreach program & Adaptive Dance classes and this is his seventh season performing and composing with Allegro Dance Project.

Zach Oliver - Trumpet

Thomas Usher- Music Director, Percussion, acoustic guitar, keyboard & vocals
Thomas is a musician from Hoover, Alabama. He graduated from Berea College where he studied percussion with Tripp Britton. Thomas has performed with The Studio Players and in Kentucky Conservatory Theatre's Winterfest and Summerfest, with numerous bands and provides live music accompaniment for Allegro Dance Project's Inclusive Dance Outreach program. This is his sixth season performing with Allegro Dance Project.

Stephen Weller - Classical Guitar & 12 String Guitar
Stephen grew up singing in his school choir and playing in jazz band. In 2018 he graduated from EKU as a music theory/composition major and guitar major. He is inspired by The Beatles, Leo Brower and Grant Kirkhope and embraces the composition styles of folk, jazz, rock and classical. He is best known as IndieTimber as a YouTube animator and plays guitar, bass, recorder, keyboard and percussion. This is his second season composing and performing with Allegro Dance Project.

Kim Conlee - Keyboard & Vocals
Kim is a multi-instrumentalist and piano teacher in Lexington, KY. She spends her time playing in bands such as Bear Medicine, Big Fresh, Jeanne Vomit-Terror and her solo project, frigidkitty.
While growing up, she was constantly surrounded by music as her parents were both music/band/orchestra teachers. From an early age, she showed an intense interest in whatever instrument she could get her hands on. Now, her main focus is composing, piano, guitar and learning the new to her instrument, the keytar!
Kim loves producing shows and connecting artistic mediums. This is her first year composing and performing with Allegro and she is excited to participate!