The MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP was formed in 1980 and gave its first performance that year in New York City. The company’s touring schedule steadily expanded to include cities in the United States and around the world, and in 1986 it made its first national television program for the PBS series Dance in America. In 1988, MMDG was invited to become the national dance company of Belgium and spent three years in residence at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The Dance Group returned to the United States in 1991 as one of the world’s leading dance companies. Based in Brooklyn, New York, MMDG maintains strong ties to presenters in several cities around the world, most notably to its West Coast home, Cal Performances in Berkeley, California, and its Midwest home, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In New York, the company has performed at New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, regularly performs at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Mostly Mozart and White Light Festivals, and collaborates yearly with BAM on performances and master classes. From the company’s many London seasons, it has received two Laurence Olivier Awards and a Critics’ Circle Dance Award for Best Foreign Dance Company. Reflecting Morris’ commitment to live music, the Dance Group has featured live musicians in every performance since the formation of the MMDG Music Ensemble in 1996. MMDG regularly collaborates with renowned musicians, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Emanuel Ax, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, and jazz pianist Ethan Iverson, as well as leading orchestras and opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, and the London Symphony Orchestra. MMDG frequently works with distinguished artists and designers, including painters Robert Bordo and the late Howard Hodgkin, set designers Adrianne Lobel and Allen Moyer, costume designers Isaac Mizrahi and the late Martin Pakledinaz, and many others. MMDG’s film and television projects include Dido and Aeneas, The Hard Nut, Falling Down Stairs, two documentaries for the U.K.’s South Bank Show, and PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center. In 2015, Morris’ signature work L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato had its national television premiere on PBS’ Great Performances. While on tour the Dance Group partners with local cultural institutions and community organizations to present arts and humanities-based activities for people of all ages and abilities.

The MMDG MUSIC ENSEMBLE, formed in 1996, is integral to the Dance Group. “With the dancers come the musicians…and what a difference it makes” (Classical Voice of North Carolina). The Ensemble’s repertory ranges from 17th and 18th century works by John Wilson and Henry Purcell to more recent scores by Ethan Iverson, Lou Harrison, and Henry Cowell. The musicians also participate in the Dance Group’s educational and community programming at home and on tour. The Music Ensemble is led by Colin Fowler, who began to collaborate with MMDG in 2005 during the creation of Mozart Dances.

MARK MORRIS was born on August 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, where he studied with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson. In the early years of his career, he performed with the companies of Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, and the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in 1980 and has since created over 150 works for the company. From 1988 to 1991, he was Director of Dance at Brussels’ Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, the national opera house of Belgium. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Much in demand as a ballet choreographer, Morris has created 22 ballets since 1986, and his work has been performed by companies worldwide, including San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet am Rhein, Dusseldorf, and the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Noted for his musicality, Morris has been described as “undeviating in his devotion to music” (The New Yorker). He began conducting performances for MMDG in 2006 and has since conducted at Tanglewood Music Center, Lincoln Center, and BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music). He served as Music Director for the 2013 Ojai Music Festival. He also works extensively in opera, directing and choreographing productions for the Metropolitan Opera; New York City Opera; English National Opera; and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden; among others. He was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 1991 and has received eleven honorary doctorates to date. He has taught at the University of Washington, Princeton University, and Tanglewood Music Center. A Doris Duke Artist, Morris is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and has served as an Advisory Board Member for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. He has received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society, the Benjamin Franklin Laureate Prize for Creativity, the International Society for the Performing Arts’ Distinguished Artist Award, Cal Performances Award of Distinction in the Performing Arts, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Gift of Music Award, and the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award. In 2015, Morris was inducted into the Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, New York. Morris opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, New York, in 2001 to provide a home for his company, subsidized rental space for local artists, community education programs for children and seniors, and a school offering dance classes to students of all ages and levels of experience with and without disabilities. Morris’ memoir, Out Loud, co-written with Wesley Stace, was published in paperback by Penguin Press in October 2021.

BURT BACHARACH (1928—2023) was one of the world's most acclaimed, award-winning composer/songwriters. His music is as diverse as his audiences, spanning generations and continents, as he is celebrated both as a pop culture icon and one of the world’s greatest contemporary composers. Bacharach’s credits read like the world’s favorite radio stations’ playlist: “Alfie,” “Arthur’s Theme,” “Close To You,” “Do You Know The Way To San Jose,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” “I'll Never Fall In Love Again,” “This Guy’s In Love With You,” “Walk On By,” “What The World Needs Now Is Love,” and “Wishin' And Hopin’” are among just the 48 top ten hits and nine #1 songs. Bacharach and Hal David were the recipients of the 2012 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The prize is awarded to musicians whose lifetime contributions in the field of popular song exemplify the standard of excellence associated with the Gershwins. Bacharach and David received the Library’s Gershwin Medal in May 2012 at an all-star tribute in Washington, DC. Bacharach’s memoir, Anyone Who Had a Heart, was released in May 2013. For the first time in his long and astonishing career, Bacharach told his story of love, heartbreak, success, failure, and unbridled ambition in Anyone Who Had a Heart, which is named after one of many songs Bacharach and David wrote for Dionne Warwick. The memoir was published by HarperCollins. Bacharach composed his first film score in 16 years for John Asher’s autism-based drama film Po. The film was released in April 2016. Po tells the story of a recently widowed father struggling to raise his ten-year-old son who has autism. Bacharach and Daniel Tashian released two new songs called “Moon Over Wichita” and “Heartbreak Storms” via Big Yellow Dog Music in April 2022. The songs are a continuation of their Grammy nominated Blue Umbrella EP, released in 2020, and Blue Umbrella (The Complete Recordings), which was released in 2021 and featured four never-before-heard songs. Bacharach and Steven Sater's Some Lovers, featuring vocal performances from some of Broadway's most beloved co-stars, was released on November 26, 2021. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

HAL DAVID (1921—2012) is known for his award-winning lyrics that have been featured in films, Broadway shows, and music charts throughout his career. Being honored through numerous Grammys, the NARM Presidential Award, and more, he is most known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach, whom he met in 1957. The two wrote their first hit, "The Story of My Life," and then continued to write iconic American pop songs throughout the 1960s and 70s. In 2012, David and Burt Bacharach received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. But the duo was not just known for the pop songs they created. They also wrote for movies, with four of their songs being nominated for Academy Awards: “What’s New, Pussycat?,” “Alfie,” “The Look of Love,” and “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.” “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” also won an Oscar in 1970. Lincoln College bestowed a Doctor of Music degree on David for his contribution to American music. In October of 2007, David received an Honorary Degree from the Five Towns College in Long Island, and, in addition, they named their new Music Library building The Hal David Music Library. David is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and was the first non-British person to receive the Ivor Novello Award from the British Performing Rights Society.

ETHAN IVERSON (arranger, piano) Pianist, composer, and writer Ethan Iverson first came to international prominence as a founding member of The Bad Plus (TBP), a game-changing collective with Reid Anderson and David King. The New York Times called TBP “Better than anyone at melding the sensibilities of post-60’s jazz and indie rock.” During his 17-year tenure, TBP performed in venues as diverse as the Village Vanguard, Carnegie Hall, and Bonnaroo; collaborated with Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, and the Mark Morris Dance Group; and created a faithful arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and a radical reinvention of Ornette Coleman’s Science Fiction. Since leaving TBP, Iverson has kept busy. In 2017, he co-curated a major centennial celebration of Thelonious Monk at Duke University and premiered the evening-length Pepperland with the Mark Morris Dance Group. In 2018, he premiered an original piano concerto with the American Composers Orchestra and released a duo album of new compositions with Mark Turner on ECM. In 2019, he released Common Practice with Tom Harrell on ECM, standards tracked live at the Village Vanguard. In 2021, he released the big band work Bud Powell in the 21st Century and was featured on the March cover of DownBeat. In 2022, he released Every Note is True on Blue Note records, an album of original music with Larry Grenadier and Jack DeJohnette. Iverson has also been in the critically-acclaimed Billy Hart Quartet for well over a decade and occasionally performs with elder statesmen like Albert “Tootie” Heath or Ron Carter or collaborates with noted classical musicians like Miranda Cuckson and Mark Padmore. For almost 20 years, Iverson’s website Do the Math has been a repository of musician-to-musician interviews and analysis. Time Out New York selected Iverson as one of 25 essential New York jazz icons: “Perhaps NYC’s most thoughtful and passionate student of jazz tradition—the most admirable sort of artist-scholar.” Iverson has also published articles about music in The New Yorker, NPR, The Nation, and JazzTimes.

COLIN FOWLER (music director) began his musical study at the age of five in Kansas City, went on to study at the Interlochen Arts Academy, and continued his education at The Juilliard School, where he received his Bachelor of Music in 2003 and his Master of Music in 2005. While at Juilliard, he studied piano with Abbey Simon, organ with Gerre Hancock and Paul Jacobs, harpsichord with Lionel Party, and conducting with James dePriest and Judith Clurman. A versatile musician and conductor, Fowler works in many areas of the music scene in New York City. He is a veteran conductor and keyboardist of many Broadway shows, including Jersey Boys, In the Heights, Wicked, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. As a classical soloist and collaborative artist, he has performed and recorded with many world-renowned musicians and ensembles, including Deborah Voigt, Renée Fleming, The Knights, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has arranged and conducted for numerous TV and film productions, including Yellowstone and Greta Gerwig's Little Women. He began to collaborate with the Mark Morris Dance Group in 2005 and has performed over 60 pieces with the company on almost every keyboard instrument possible, including the harmonium and toy piano. He has conducted performances of Mozart Dances, Acis and Galatea, The Hard Nut, and L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, and helped edit and create over 15 videodances with Mark Morris during the pandemic. Hailed by The New York Times as “invaluable” and “central to Morris’ music,” he was appointed Music Director in 2013.

MARCY HARRIELL (lead vocals) is a singer, actress, and designer. Music was as mandatory as air for the daughter of a truck-driving trumpeter and a gardening artist. In her childhood home, she delighted in drilling arias while jazz greats played in the background. Her ability to passionately embrace diverse vocal styles has made her a standout in New York theatre. Jumping lithely amongst opera, rock, jazz, and R&B, The New York Times recently hailed her as a vocalist who “demolishes the furious torch song” with a “rafter rattling intensity.” Broadway star turns include Tony Award-winning musicals In the Heights, Rent, and her nightly show-stopping performance in Lennon, where the New York Post declared this “wildcat kitten” a “star in the making.” Throughout her career, she has had the honor to work with numerous industry legends: Stephen Sondheim, who guided her performance of Marta in Company at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center; Athol Fugard, who directed her in the world premiere of his play Sorrows & Rejoicings; Jerome Robbins and Arthur Laurents, under whose masterful supervision Harriell deepened the role of Maria in West Side Story. "Superfriend" Lin-Manuel Miranda recruited her to record early demos for Disney’s Moana, tapping Harriell's emotional interpretations for the soundtrack. Enamored by another interpretation, Quentin Tarantino wrote the role of Marcy for her in his film Death Proof. On the small screen, Harriell has been a series regular on NBC's Ed; HBO's Nurse Jackie; CBS’s Queens Supreme; and has guest starred in numerous episodics, including Manifest, NCIS, Law & Order, and Search Party. When she’s not onstage, onscreen, or in-studio, Harriell takes a happy audience on a colorful ride alongside her husband Rob in the hit YouTube series @TheHandmadeHarriells, creating couture garments for everyday life. In fact, she’ll be wearing one of her creations tonight. (@marcyharriell/thehandmadeharriells.com)

CLINTON CURTIS (background vocals) is a multi-genre singer, musician, and songwriter originally from Key West, Florida. As a choral singer he has worked with many of the world’s luminary conductors and orchestras, most recently including engagements with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony. March 2016 marked his operatic debut in Curlew River for the Mark Morris Dance Group. As a popular songwriter and frontman for The Clinton Curtis Band he has toured internationally as a cultural ambassador with the U.S Department of State. He has released five original studio albums available at music.clintoncurtis.com.

BLAIRE REINHARD (background vocals) is thrilled to be joining the MMDG Music Ensemble in The Look of Love. Her voice and original compositions have been featured in hundreds of TV shows, films, radio spots, and commercials, with credits including Feel the Beat, So You Think You Can Dance, The Friend, Inside Amy Schumer, Dance Moms, The Young and the Restless, One Life to Live, Lincoln Heights, The Voice, Silver Bells, High School Musical, The Namesake, Cow Belles, and The Merry Gentleman. She has also worked as music supervisor on series including Younger and Chappelle’s Show. For over a decade, she has managed and directed the Blaire Reinhard Band, performing as lead vocalist and keyboardist at events around the greater New York City area (blaireband.com).

JONATHAN FINLAYSON (trumpet) is an accomplished trumpeter, composer, and band leader. Named a rising star by DownBeat magazine, Finlayson has been an integral part of the creative music scene in New York since relocating in 2000. He is widely admired for his ability to negotiate cutting-edge material while bringing a strong sense of individuality and verve. Finlayson has garnered critical acclaim and recognition for his three recordings as a leader with his group Sicilian Defense. He has also received much recognition for his contributions as a sideman with cutting-edge artists such as Steve Coleman, Henry Threadgill, Steve Lehman, and Mary Halvorson.

SIMÓN WILLSON (bass) is a Chilean-born, New York City-based bassist, composer, and improviser. As an eclectic and in-demand sideman, he has toured with a host of different artists in Europe, the United States, Canada, and South America. His wide-ranging interest in different realms of jazz and improvised music has led him to work with a diverse pool of established artists such as Dave Douglas, Ethan Iverson, Steve Cardenas, George Garzone, Jason Palmer, Rodney Green, Michael Blake, Pablo Held, Jim Black, Tim Miller, and Frank Carlberg, among many others. He also plays in bands of contemporaries such as Kevin Sun, Max Light, and Jacob Shulman. In addition to his sideman work, he co-leads the bands Great on Paper, Family Plan, and Earprint. The latter won the “best debut album” category of the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll in 2016, and Family Plan released their debut album in September 2021, due to receiving a generous grant from the Chilean government. Willson can be heard on over twenty-five records for labels such as Tzadik, Steeplechase, Newvelle, and Endectomorph, in addition to a number of self-releases.

VINNIE SPERRAZZA (drums) is a Brooklyn-based jazz drummer. He has made a mark on the New York jazz community with his swinging, enthusiastic playing and his commitment to original projects. He has released three full-length albums of his original compositions for Loyal Label and Positone Records. In 2023, he released a trio album with pianist Ethan Iverson and bassist Michael Formanek, and a new suite of music composed for a group with guitarist Brandon Seabrook and saxophonist Loren Stillman. Additionally, he has played on over 80 albums as a sideman. Notable recent touring has been with saxophonist and composer Ohad Talmor’s Subway Lines; Stew and Heidi Rodewald in Stew and The Negro Problem; the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Pepperland, composed and led by Ethan Iverson; the Michael Formanek Drome Trio, featuring new extended compositions by Michael Formanek; and the jazz collective Ember, featuring saxophonist Caleb Curtis and bassist Noah Garabedian. He is a member of the Hank Roberts Sextet and Hank Roberts Trio, and tours and records with the groups Landline, the Choir Invisible, Ember featuring Orrin Evans, Matt Bauder’s Hearing Things, Vinnie Sperrazza-Jacob Sacks-Masa Kamaguchi PLAY, and trioTrio meets Sheila Jordan.

SAM BLACK (company director) is originally from Berkeley, California, and received his B.F.A. in dance from SUNY Purchase. He first appeared with MMDG in 2005 and danced with the company until 2019, when he became the Rehearsal Director. He was promoted to Company Director in 2021.

MICA BERNAS, originally from Manila, Philippines, received her training at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Dance School. She later joined Ballet Philippines as a member of the corps de ballet and rose up the ranks to Soloist. While at Ballet Philippines, she also studied at De La Salle University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication in 2006. Upon graduating, she moved to New York and joined Carolyn Dorfman Dance. She was a guest artist with the Limón Dance Company and worked with Karole Armitage, Gallim Dance, Marta Renzi, and Connecticut Ballet. As an educator, she has taught all levels of dance, including after school programs, pre-professional, and master classes. She has taught at the Limón Institute and formerly ran the dance program at BIMA at Brandeis University. She joined MMDG as a company member in 2017.

KARLIE BUDGE grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, training and performing with the Tennessee Children’s Dance Ensemble. She attended Case Western Reserve University on a full scholarship from the department of dance, graduating magna cum laude with a B.A. in dance and a B.S. in statistics in 2016. Budge has performed with Graham 2, Merce Cunningham Trust, and in her own solo and duet choreography. Budge joined MMDG as an apprentice in September 2018 and became a company member in November 2019.

SARAH HILLMON was born and raised in Rochester, New York. There, she trained with Garth Fagan and Timothy M. Draper and was a member of the Rochester City Ballet. She graduated with a B.F.A. in dance from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she had the privilege of performing works by talented artists including Sidra Bell, Lucinda Childs, Gus Solomons Jr., and Charles Weidman. After college, she became a member of Lucinda Childs Dance Company, where she toured the world performing classic works. While in New York City, she has also had the honor to perform with artists such as Solange Knowles as well as a number of dance companies including Robert Mark Dance, Suzanne Beahrs Dance, BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, DanceBoissiere, and the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company. She joined MMDG as an apprentice in 2023 and became a company member in 2024.

COURTNEY LOPES is originally from Bermuda and attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for her high school education. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.F.A. in dance from SUNY Purchase in 2012 and studied in Taiwan at the Taipei National University of the Arts. As a student, she performed works by Paul Taylor, Jessica Lang, Lar Lubovitch, and Huang Yi of Cloud Gate Dance Theater. In addition to performing with Dance Heginbotham for over nine years, she has worked as a freelance artist with Megan Williams, Sameena Mitta, Kathryn Alter, Sue Bernhard, and Robert Mark Burke. As an educator and répétiteur, she has worked with the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Ballet Tech, 92Y Harkness Dance Center, Dance for PD®, and the José Limón Institute. She first performed with MMDG in 2018 and became a company member in 2023.

TAÍNA LYONS is a San Pedro, California, native who began her dance training at the San Pedro Ballet School at the age of four. Her professional dance training started at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, eventually being mentored by Debbie Allen herself. She graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a B.F.A. in dance and a minor in Spanish in 2020. There, she performed in guest works by Ronald K. Brown, Wayne McGregor, and Lar Lubovitch. In the spring of 2019, she also had the pleasure of studying abroad at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic. Since graduating, she has had the honor of being a founding member of the Limón Dance Company's Limón2 (L2) company, an apprentice with Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, as well as performing and touring with Kyle Marshall Choreography. She joined MMDG as a company member in 2022.

GRIFFIN MASSEY was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After training in Oklahoma and Texas, he moved to New York City where he earned his B.F.A. in dance in 2023 from The Juilliard School under Alicia Graf Mack, Dean and Director of the Dance Division, and Mario Alberto Zambrano, Associate Director. While at Juilliard, he had the opportunity to perform works by Sonya Tayeh, Donald McKayle, Ohad Naharin, Aszure Barton, Spencer Theberge, Jermaine Spivey, and Hofesh Shechter. He has also studied at Springboard Danse Montréal under the direction of Alexandra Wells. He joined MMDG as an apprentice in August 2023.

MATTHEW McLAUGHLIN discovered movement at age one and danced hula in Hawaii until age four. As a child with parents in the military, he moved and traveled frequently and explored many different sports and art forms. He graduated from SUNY Purchase with a B.F.A. in dance. During this time, he performed works by Aszure Barton, Kevin Wynn, Kyle Abraham, George Balanchine, and Doug Varone. In 2018, he had the opportunity to perform in the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company’s 50th anniversary celebration. He joined MMDG as an apprentice in 2019 and became a company member in 2021. McLaughlin would like to thank his family for their love and inspiration.

DALLAS McMURRAY, from El Cerrito, California, began dancing at age four, studying jazz, tap, and acrobatics with Katie Maltsberger and ballet with Yukiko Sakakura. He received a B.F.A. in dance from the California Institute of the Arts. McMurray performed with the Limón Dance Company in addition to works by Jiří Kylián, Alonzo King, Robert Moses, and Colin Connor. McMurray performed with MMDG as an apprentice in 2006 and became a company member in 2007.

BRANDON RANDOLPH began his training with the School of Carolina Ballet Theater in Greenville, South Carolina, under the direction of Hernan Justo. At age 14, he was accepted into the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, where he studied with Stanislav Issaev and Bobby Barnett. Randolph received his B.F.A. in dance from Purchase College in 2012. There he had the opportunity to perform with Dance Heginbotham as well as repertory by Stephen Petronio, Lar Lubovitch, Paul Taylor, and George Balanchine. Randolph began working with MMDG in 2013 and became a company member in 2014.

NICOLE SABELLA is originally from Clearwater, Florida, where she studied at the Academy of Ballet Arts and the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School under Suzanne B. Pomerantzeff. In 2009, she graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, earning her B.F.A. in modern dance performance and the “Outstanding Performance in Modern Dance” Award. She was a performer with Zane Booker’s Smoke, Lilies, and Jade Arts Initiative. Sabella first performed with MMDG in 2013 and became a company member in 2015. 

CHRISTINA SAHAIDA grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began her early dance training at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. In 2012, she graduated with honors from Butler University, receiving a B.F.A. in dance performance. She has worked with Ballet Quad Cities, Texture Contemporary Ballet, and most recently the Big Muddy Dance Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Sahaida joined MMDG as an apprentice in 2017 and became a company member in 2019.

BILLY SMITH grew up in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and attended George Mason University under a full academic and dance talent scholarship. He graduated magna cum laude in 2007 and received achievement awards in performance, choreography, and academic endeavors. While at George Mason, he performed the works of Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Doug Varone, Daniel Ezralow, Larry Keigwin, Susan Marshall, and Susan Shields. Smith’s own piece, 3-Way Stop, was selected to open the 2006 American College Dance Festival Gala at Ohio State University, and his original choreography for a production of Bye Bye Birdie garnered much critical praise. An actor as well, Smith’s regional theater credits include Tulsa in Gypsy, Mistoffelees in CATS, and Dream Curly in Oklahoma! Smith danced with Parsons Dance from 2007-2010. He joined MMDG as a company member in 2010.

JOSLIN VEZEAU is from St. Louis, Missouri, where she trained at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA). She graduated magna cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. program in dance performance in 2018 and while there was awarded the Denise Jefferson Memorial Scholarship. During her senior year in college, she joined Peridance Contemporary Dance Company in New York and danced with that company for six seasons. When not dancing, she is a personal trainer and loves rock climbing, volunteering at Brooklyn farmers markets, and taking care of dogs. She joined MMDG as an apprentice in 2023 and became a company member in 2024.

NOAH VINSON is originally from Springfield, Illinois, and received his B.A. in dance from Columbia College Chicago. He was named a Dance Magazine “Dancer on the Rise” in 2009 and assisted Mark Morris in the creation of The Letter V for Houston Ballet. He began dancing with MMDG in 2002 and became a company member in 2004.

ISAAC MIZRAHI (costume and production design) has worked extensively in the entertainment industry as a performer, host, writer, designer, and producer for over 30 years. He has an annual residency at Café Carlyle in New York City and has performed at various venues across the country such as Joe’s Pub, The Regency Ballroom, and several City Winery locations nationwide. The New York Times noted, “he qualifies as a founding father of a genre that fuses performance art, music, and stand-up comedy.” He is the subject and co-creator of Unzipped, a documentary following the making of his fall 1994 collection which received an award at the Sundance Film Festival. He hosted his own television talk show The Isaac Mizrahi Show for seven years, has written three books, and has made countless appearances in movies and on television. He served as a judge on Project Runway: All-Stars for the series’ entire seven-season run. Mizrahi has directed productions of A Little Night Music and The Magic Flute for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Annually, he directs and narrates his production of the children’s classic Peter and the Wolf at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Mizrahi has his own production company, Isaac Mizrahi Entertainment, under which he has several projects in development in television, theatre, and literature. His New York Times Bestselling memoir, I.M., was published in February 2019.

NICOLE PEARCE (lighting design) is a multidisciplinary artist living in Queens, New York. Her work has been seen across the United States, Cuba, England, Germany, Japan, Korea, Italy, New Zealand, and Russia. The New York Times has stated: “The glow of Nicole Pearce’s lighting on center stage creates a feeling of magic, as if the dancers are circling an unseen grail”. Selected dance credits include work with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theater, Atlanta Ballet, Dance Heginbotham, Dance Theater of Harlem, Gallim, Houston Ballet, Hubbard Street, Joffrey Ballet, Malpaso, Mark Morris Dance Group, Nederlands Dance Theater, and New York City Ballet. Selected theater and opera credits includes work with Arena Stage, Arizona Opera, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theater, McCarter Theater, Minnesota Opera, The Play Company, The Playwrights Realm, Philadelphia Theater Company, Opera Montreal, and Pittsburgh Public Theater. Her installation of 1,000 paintings entitled Tiny Paintings for Big Hearts is open to doctors, nurses, staff, and patients of Elmhurst Hospital in Elmhurst, New York. (@nicolepearceart / www.nicolepearcedesign.com)