Danelle Helander
Danelle Helander has been praised locally and internationally for her teaching
and artistic direction. Danelle has received a [NOVA Arts Award] for her
cross-cultural humanitarian efforts. In addition, she has collaborated with
[Global Response], a non-profit organization addressing environment issues.
Her professional career began with the [Chicago Moving Company]. She danced with the [New Arts Ensemble] in New York and was founder and artistic director of [Akasha and Company] in Chicago.
After studying with [Byrne Piven] at the [Piven Theatre Workshop] in Chicago, Danelle began teaching improvisational theater and continues teaching today in Boulder, Colorado. Her classes bridge the gap between creative movement and theater, exploring how body-based theater fosters communication across cultural and societal boundaries.
She has been commissioned to create original choreography for [Diane Portman, AirJazz, Chicago Moving Company, Creighton University, David Taylor Dance Theater] and various independent artists.
Danelle is available to teach Theater Basics, Improvisational Theater and Movement-Based Theater, as well as a full range of modern dance classes.
She has taught and performed in Europe, Nicaragua, Japan, India, Africa and Costa Rica.
Visiting Member Bios
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Nina Rolle - Rehearsal Director, is a hybrid artist - singer, composer, actor and clown- and pioneer in the genre Sonic Theater . Her original show, Zen Cabaret, was named Best of Denver 2007 by the Denver Westword and won Pick of the Fringe at the Boulder International Fringe Festival in 2005 and 2006. Nina has acted with Seattle's UMO Ensemble and has performed her original scores for LA's Zoo District theater company, a Colorado production of Suzan-Lori Parks’Venus and Tiger-Lion Works' outdoor pageant-play, The Buddha Prince in L.A., N.Y., and Minneapolis. From 1995-2000 Nina recorded and toured nationally as singer and accordionist with the Bay Area band Charming Hostess, and performed regularly with Moshe Cohen’s Clown Conspiracy. Nina is a graduate of Naropa University, where she worked with Barbara Dilley, Meredith Monk, and Allen Ginsberg. She is currently employed as adjunct faculty in Naropa's music department. Nina has studied Butoh in Japan with its originator, Kazuo Ohno, and trained intensively in physical theater forms with Ruth Zaporah and Anne Bogart's SITI company.
Sarkis Renjilian-Burgy A wide range of improvisational experience in dance, movement, sound, and visual arts have given Sarkis a strong platform from which to create artistically. He is a former member of Tumblebones Contact Improvisation Collective in Boulder, CO, a graduate of The Barbara Brennan School Of Healing, and is currently studying body-based, experiential psychotherapy at The Hakomi Institute.
Sean Owens, when not a lizard, moonlights as a student at CU studying Arabic, French and Russian. His prior performance experiences of note include: CU Danceworks 2007 and Helander Dance Theater's previous shows, Petrol and High Octane. He is also a man of few words.
Kelsey Kempfer is a Boulder Native who recently received Bachelor degrees in Dance and Sociology from the University of Colorado. She has danced in over 15 CU dance productions, and has performed in works by David Dorfman, Peekaboo Sole Productions, Susan Marshall, Rennie Harris, Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer, Onye Ozuzu, Erika Randall, Gabriel Masson, Larry Southall, and Nancy Cranbourne. Kelsey has also performed in the gala concerts for the American College Dance Festivals in Montana and Utah. She was awarded the Jamie Kellam Redmond Scholarship and the Talent and Creativity University Dance Award, along with being a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and the National Scholar Honor’s Society. Kelsey also teaches at Grace Studios and is a case worker at Adult Care Management.
Sara Rockinger - installation artist - As an activist and artist, I am interested in exploring the relationship between current social issues and injustices, and daily life. I balance the weight of these emotionally challenging topics with a reverence for nature and the joyful study of art. You can view her art at srockinger.net.