The 2025 Team
Special Guest:
Emi L. Matsushita
aka 'Emi Lou'
Emi Lou dances at the intersection of scientific inquiry and art, blending biology with beats, and entrepreneurship with expression. Her body speaks in diverse dialects - from contemporary fluidity to hip hop's sharp punctuation, from krump's raw energy to contemporary’s refined grace.
A global performer and visionary choreographer, Emi's work transcends boundaries, painting vivid stories across international stages from Seattle to London, Dallas to Japan. Her creative palette draws from the precision of her analytical mind and her authentic curiosity for intuitive exploration and play; crafting performances that are both viscerally powerful and intellectually stimulating. She creates dynamic playgrounds where analytical precision and embodied spontaneity engage in a captivating dialogue of movement and meaning.
As an embodied entrepreneurship coach, Emi is helping to redesign the future of dance and art, nurturing the next generations’ raw talent to curate their own sustainable artistic careers. She's not just a dancer, but a catalyst, igniting transformation in studios, universities, and creative hubs around the world. She is the current Chair of Art Boost Dallas, an arts entrepreneurship conference, working alongside the Business Council for the Arts and Dallas Morning News, KERA, and SMU. She also teaches at the University of North Texas and Dallas College, supporting emerging leaders to tap into their artistry, heal through movement, and live embodied lives.
In Emi's universe, movement is more than art - it's a universal language, a tool for community building, transformation, and healing; a constant conversation between body and mind. With each performance, class, and workshop, she choreographs not just dances, but new possibilities for the artistic and global ecosystem.
As a Creative Director, she has led transformative events like Open Your Mind London, Bridges Festival, and Mount Dora Movement Festival.
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Heidee Lyn Alsdorf
Heidee Alsdorf is a freelance dance-theatre artist, body-worker, and facilitator from the southern foothills of the Ozark Mountains – Northwest Arkansas (NWA). Heidee holds a BFA in Dance Performance from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and an MFA in Physical Threatre from Accademia dell’Arte (IT/DE/CZ) in partnership with Mississippi University for Women. They are a somatic practitioner, with a certificate in Embodied Social Justice from Transformative Justice and a certification in Dry Massage Therapy from Oligenesi in Florence, Italy. They have had the privilege of interpreting works as a guest artist with The Flyover Dance Collective (USA), Novel Creative Movement (USA), TeeBoDans (USA), Broken Jump Theatre (IT), Spazio Seme (IT), and several independent choreographers. Their works have been presented by Collaborative Arts Lab (IT), Creative Spaces NWA (USA), CACHE Studios (USA), CRISISArts Festival (IT), and Spettatori Erranti La Festa (IT). Heidee’s approach to dance-theatre is decidedly anti-cartesean, life-affirming and collaborative, interlacing critical explorations in somatic experiencing, impulse, gesture, and community building.
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Hannah Mucha
Hannah Mucha grew up in The Woodlands, TX where was educated under the ABT National Training Curriculum syllabus at Excelsior School of Ballet. As an apprentice with Ballet Excelsior of Houston, Hannah traveled on three international tours throughout Europe and Asia. She later attended Belhaven University where she studied ballet, modern, and pedagogy techniques. Hannah developed a love for somatic and creative movement underneath choreographers and companies including Norbert De La Cruz III, Madison Hicks, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Bruce Wood Dance, and Eisenhower Dance Detroit. The Belhaven dance faculty awarded her both the Bezelel Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement, and the Daniel Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement for the highest Cumulative GPA of the 2022 graduating dance majors. Hannah graduated from Belhaven in April of 2022 Summa Cum Laude with NHSDA Honors (National Honors Society For Dance Arts).
Hannah has been in NWA for the past three years, dancing as a company member with Northwest Arkansas Ballet Theatre. She has a great love for creative movement exploration and is excited to join Fayetteville Movement Dance Festival this year!
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Blake Worthey
Blake Worthey is a Black American, dance-theater and teaching artist from Memphis, Tennessee. Currently he is interested in dialectical technologies inherent in creative spaces and how they can inform building a more equitable world outside of our artistic lives. His training includes a B.F.A in Dance Performance from University of Arkansas-Little Rock, Modus Operandi (Vancouver,BC), Orsalina 28 (Italy), BodyTraffic (LA) and imitating various dance & kung fu movies circa 2004. While in Vancouver he got to work with amazing people from OutInnerSpace, RadicalSystemArt, Company 605, Parts + Labour, Mutable Subject, and Social Ritual. He has been a guest artist with Northwest Arkansas Ballet Theater- notably performing the lead role in Immortal Beloved: Possessed By Genius by Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye. Most recently he has performed as part of Nick Cave’s UNTIL showing his self-created work in progress, Do You Know What You’re Doing Here and collaborated with BODYSONNET in the work I Woke Up on Skyline Drive.
Outside of dancing, his favorite thing is when you're on the phone and you hear the smile in the other person’s voice. Also he’s the kind of person that says to himself “What is happening?”. Often. Probably too often if we’re being honest.
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Lela Besom
Lela Besom is an interdisciplinary artist based in NorthWest Arkansas. She plays on stages, in green spaces, and In Sta screen. She is a writer of free thought, plays, and essays. An educator and creative movement teacher. Anchored in Butoh Dance Theatre, painting, and writing, Besom develops values driven art through various media; primarily her body. A former member of DAIPANbutoh Collective in Seattle, WA and the international co-created performance project Trio De Femmes, Besom has studied Butoh and performed with master Butoh teachers on multiple continents since 2013. She has been teaching her class called Explorative Dance in NWA since 2019.
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Claudia Smith
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Claudia evolved as a movement specialist from a background in modern dance, pilates, prison yoga, MovNat, Foundation Training, and functional movement & therapeutic breath work. Claudia loves to learn about movement, but she no longer adheres to a particular technique or style. Claudia instead finds purpose by empowering people to stay curious about their movement and to find what that feels good in their movement to improve overall vitality, wellbeing, and sense of ease.
Dana Krementz
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With over ten years of experience training, performing, and teaching acroyoga across the US and Canada Dana (they/them) is a certified acroyoga instructor by VanCity Acro and specializes in dynamic, strength based washing machines. As a teacher, Dana believes that through direct, honest, and open communication; a commitment to safety and technique; and a genuine excitement to try something new, acroyoga can be a powerful tool to practice connection with ourselves and others.
Dana has a passion for facilitating safe learning spaces and is eager to share their love of acroyoga with anyone and everyone!
Nena Shelton
Hi! My name is Nena! I am originally from Little Rock, AR but moved to NWA in 2020. I love spending time with family and my soon to be husband Trey and our morkie August. Dance has been apart of my life since I was at least 3 years old. I absolutely love to dance and sharing the happy feelings dance brings to me and those around me! I am currently the lead instructor at DivaDance NWA and I have been with them since 2022. DivaDance brought dance back into my life after moving to a new city and I’m so glad I took a chance and went to a class! I’ve been hooked ever since! I look forward to dancing with you!
Mycayla Sawyer
Mycayla Sawyer is an Arkansas native. She has been dancing recreationally and competitively since she was a child, trained in all genres. She has coached and choreographed for award-winning competitive school dance teams across Northwest Arkansas for 6 years. Mycayla has performed at big events such as the NWA Fashion Week hosted by Interform and even danced internationally. Mycayla is the organizer of NWA Dance Collective, a FREE bi-weekly adult dance experience in Northwest Arkansas. Her favorite style to teach is a toss-up between hip-hop and jazz. Besides anything dance-related, Mycayla loves to travel in her free time."
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Erin Irizarry
Erin is the branch manager of @GearheadOutfitters in Fayetteville, an Arkansas native, and avid outdoor enthusiast with over a decade of experience in the industry. She believes that the outdoors is for everyone and strives to expand access through her role at Gearhead. Whether you are exploring your own backyard or embarking on a once and a lifetime adventure, you can trust to find quality products backed by deep expertise inside any of the many family owned Gearhead Outfitters locations. Erin's favorite forms of movement are: rock climbing, hiking, backpacking, yoga, and meditation. You can connect with her on instagram @_carryonkid or stop by the Block Ave. shop in historic downtown Fayetteville.
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Justin Ternes
Justin is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, Breathwork Specialist, and Mindset & Performance Coach. He is the founder of True Self Health & Human Performance, where he focuses on supporting high-achieving humans to reach their greatest potential and truest version of self. His passion for cold immersion and breathwork began in 2015 when he learned about Wim Hof. He loves building communities, facilitating workshops, and staying up to date with the latest evidence-based practices. Dr. Ternes currently resides in the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Northwest Arkansas. He is a sports enthusiast, nature lover, community leader, and passionate teacher of his work.
Clementine Simpson
Clementine is a Fayetteville local and recent Bachelors of Science in Nursing graduate from the University of Arkansas. While pursuing her degree, she rediscovered her passion for skating and started a skate group called Arkansas Roller Skate Crew in March of 2021. She’s been hosting monthly events for the local community and has a mission to turn every gathering into a celebration of movement, art, and pure fun on wheels. While she specializes in downhill quad skating, she incorporates all styles of skating in her meetups and creates a space welcome to all levels and backgrounds. She provides private lessons and you can find more information on her website clemskates.com.
IG: @clem.skates and @arrollerskatecrew.
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Philip Sheperd
Philip is an advanced Movement practitioner and teacher living in Fayetteville, AR. His physical practice started when he received his black belt in Tae Kwon Do at the age of 16. He then studied music and quickly started performing locally with various music groups. After receiving his 200-hour and 500-hr Yoga Teacher certifications at the Circle Yoga Shala and teaching classes for 5 years, he began the 1000-hour Yoga Therapy Certification to become a professional Yoga Therapist. In 2020 he became an online student of the Ido Portal method and continues to study and teach advanced Movement concepts, integrating aspects of gymnastics, dance, martial arts and weightlifting. Philip works part time as the Rehab Director at Thrive Wellness Center in Fayetteville and offers in-person and online movement, fitness, and therapy coaching.
IG: @philipmoves
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Jamie Leigh White
While deep in the cosmic ocean of soothing sounds and inspirational vibrations during her first gong bath, Jamie knew then that gongs were the answer to her search for inner peace.
A few months later at Gong Camp, a school in Pennsylvania led by Mitch Nur, she bought her first three gongs and a variety of bells and mallets. A workshop at Memphis Gong Chamber with Don Conreaux, added to her collection of gongs and other smaller instruments. During multiple trips to India, she selected a wide variety of Himalayan style singing bowls, bells and rattles to bring home. These eclectic mix of instruments makes up her unique meditative Gong Song experience.
For the past 30 years, Jamie has been a massage and craniosacral therapist in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and has taught yoga as community outreach at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Through massage, yoga and Gong Song, Jamie brings physical and spiritual relief to her clients and students. The greatest benefit, she feels, is her ability to help them reach states of deep relaxation and tune into their own inner wisdom.
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Dana Doughty
Dana is an artist, educator, and organizer based in Northwest Arkansas, where she cultivates spaces for creative expression, deep conversation, and collective meaning-making. She manages the Bentonville History Museum, serves as the Benton County Community Liaison for Weave: The Social Fabric Project, and leads String Theory NWA, a creative arts project focused on connection and community engagement.
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Tonia Squires
Tonia squires has had the honor of sharing her yoga practice for the last 5 years. Her practice has evolved from hot power yoga with forearm poses and pretzel twists to where she is today which is a slow and sensual practice accessible to all beings. Tonia has her 200 hr YTT from The Yoga Shala in Jasper Arkansas. Tonia is an RN of 26 years working in maternal child. She’s a certified Lactation Consultant, Childbirth Educator and Doula. Tonia Is a mother of four. She enjoys deepening her practice with tantra workshops, Shakti yoga and being intimate with nature. She laughs easily and smiles big. You are sure to feel welcome in her space.
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Chrissy Dennis
Hairdresser buy trade, Chrissy has been practicing yoga for 25 years. She has since developed her own teaching her "style" of yoga for 13 years to encompass all types of bodies and all types of philosophies. She has gathered bits and pieces of pilates, physical therapy, yoga, meditation and even dance to put together a special individual experience to anyone who takes her class.
Find her classes on the Clubhaus schedule.
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Lauren Eno
Lauren Eno is the Education Director and Assistant Manager at Wild Birds Unlimited in Fayetteville, AR where shares her love and deep knowledge of wildlife, songbirds, and environmental science with audiences of all ages. With a degree in Environmental Science and growing up as a bird watcher in Vermont, Lauren has been successfully teaching wildlife education for nearly a decade across the country. Lauren is a sought-out speaker and takes pride in providing high-quality, entertaining, and informational topics to the NWA community. Since she started with Wild Birds Unlimited in 2020, Lauren has been teaching local customers, adults, and children by helping customers create their ideal birdwatching oasis, facilitating custom feederscaping, leading seasonal bird walks across NWA, and teaching students the importance of creating a healthy and responsible habitat for birds and other creatures. Wild Birds Unlimited partners with schools, Girl Scouts, Arkansas Master Gardeners, students at the Institute of Lifelong Learning at U of A and other organizations across NWA to provide this educational service. So, whether you want to know which birds are in the area right now, how to attract more species to your yard, what to feed or how to house songbirds, or where to see our many colorful bird species, come "Explorin' with Lauren".
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Emmie Brenzel
Emmie Brenzel has over thirty years of experience in Holistic Health and Wellness working as a Registered Nurse and Health Coach. Her background includes training in a variety of complementary health practices and knowledge of the human energy system as a Healing Touch Practitioner. She has been certified as a Forest Therapy Guide with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and graduated from the Osage Forest of Peace School of Spiritual Direction. Emmie owns a local business, Ozark Forest Therapy, providing group Forest Therapy Walks and Eco- Spiritual Direction.
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Claudia Aguilar
Claudia Aguilar has been providing dance and fitness to the NWA community since 2010. She teaches salsa, bachata, cumbia, chacha and merengue, as well as organized dance events where her purpose is to tell people about the latin culture through dancing.
To learn more about Claudia and En Fuego, visit enfuegonwa.com.
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Lara Cato
Lara has been teaching yoga and pilates since 2010. She began teaching in Louisiana and has experience teaching both rehabilitative and advanced mat pilates as well as intermediate and advanced hatha yoga. Lara pursued these mindfulness practices after leaving the corporate world in order to connect students with the playfulness that movement can offer. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in the social work program at the University of Arkansas and will be joining a psychiatric practice as a therapist in May. She hopes to integrate yoga and traditional talk therapy and pursue somatic therapeutic modalities. Lara's classes are dynamic and student focused, with an emphasis on building strength and creative sequencing.
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Jasmine Canady-Hartman
My name is Jasmine, and everyone calls me Jazzy! Since I can remember, I cannot stop moving. From growing up a dancer, running around cities, and discovering yoga for myself I have an immense passion for how movement liberates ourselves and our communities. What kept me into yoga, was diving into the roots and philosophy of the practice to learn that what created that “feel good” emotion - was more than doing the physical postures. Yoga has completely transformed my life and I can't get enough of it! When I'm not on the mat, I'm a full-time social worker/activist, a big fan of reality TV, and always up for some brunch or quirky adventures. I am excited to share the joy of creative movement with other like-minded, curious people at the movement festival!
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Founder
Kyndal Saverse
