Instructors

Ari Christopher

Ari Christopher is the founding Executive Artistic Director of Tulsa Modern Movement (TuMM). She makes original dance productions and site-specific work, teaches Modern Dance Techniques & Contact Improv, and provides K12 teacher professional development. Her choreography has been commissioned by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Harwelden Institute, among others. Ari has over 400 hours of Contact Improv training, including programs at EarthDance, Bill T Jones Arnie Zane Company Intensive, Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Pilobolus Dance Intensive and more.

 http://www.tummdance.org/

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.

Karen Castleman

Karen Castleman is a dancer, choreographer and educator based in Rogers, AR. She holds a BA in dance from Belhaven University and has had the pleasure of performing all over the world with companies such as MOMIX, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and RUBBERBANDance Group. Karen has also studied and performed works by American modern dance pioneers, Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham, Isadora Duncan and Loie Fuller. She has educated dancers in ballet, modern, jazz and contemporary dance at schools all over the country, including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Youth Education Department, and Loyola University Chicago. Karen currently teaches in the dance department at Arkansas Arts Academy High School, and at the Northwest Arkansas Conservatory of Classical Ballet, and serves on the board of directors of both NWA Ballet Theater and Arkansas Dance Network. She is a 2015 recipient of the Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship award for choreography and has had the pleasure of creating original ballets for Tulsa Ballet II and NWA Ballet Theatre. In 2018, Karen was in the first cohort to receive an Artists 360 grant, awarded by the Mid-America Art Alliance and the Walton Family Foundation. In 2021, she took on a research project, funded by the Walton Family Foundation, to support and develop the dance ecosystem of NW Arkansas. Karen loves doing life together with her husband and their three incredible kids!

Nicole Peltier

Nicole Peltier has been teaching her eclectic, musically motivated, creative yoga classes for over 20 years to all ages and levels. Nicole, age 51, draws a lively following of teens and young people who are inspired by her young, fresh attitude and easy to follow instruction. Being "mature" also makes Nicole an ideal teacher who inspires students well over thirty to let down their hair and rock without reservation and with a focus on meditative moments that surround us. The Yoga Room, Nicole's studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was the first studio in Tulsa that she opened in 2001. She has been practicing and teaching there ever since. She has a wildly passionate heart and her energy is contagious.

She focuses on the energy yoga arouses when combined with music. Yoga, for Nicole, is feeling awake, excited and alive on the mat.

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.

Haleigh Smith

Haleigh has been studying Yoga and creative movement since 2010 and is 500 RYT certified in Dynamic Hatha from Circle Yoga Shala, where she lived and apprenticed with her teachers for three years and managed their farm.

Her passion is helping humans access healing, truth, and joy through the intuitive blending of ancient wisdom and modern science. She holds private sessions out of her homestead in West Fork, Arkansas, where she and her partner are building a sanctuary for humans to play and grow.

Haleigh's Yoga practice and life embody radical honesty, humor, somatic inquiry, wildness, and conscious labor.

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.

Joshoua Vang

Joshoua Vang was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He started his passion of dance during high school in Arkansas with an emphasis on underground Hip Hop street styles such as Locking, Popping, House, and Waacking. Traveling around the south, he has battled in numerous underground hip hop all style battles. It was in 2012 at Kollaboration Tulsa, he was given the title of “Best Freestyle Dancer.”

He has performed and competed at events near and far winning titles nationally for his choreography. His credits also include having performed with rapper Rich Homie Quan and R&B singer Ginuwine and working with the Lor Brothers, a duo from the world renown Kinjaz.

He continues his dance training by traveling around the nation and taking classes from accredited dance conventions and studios such as Monsters of Hip Hop, Hip Hip International, Movement Lifestyle, Millenium Dance Complex, and more.

CeCe Marie

CeCe is a dance maker, director, yoga teacher and pioneer in Arkansas’ dance community. She tells stories through a unique lens based on grief, motherhood, faith and advocacy for racial equality. She’s collaborates with public events, artists and organizations to deliver innovative performances shedding light on impactful stories and issues. Her work involves choreography for dance companies, music videos, short films and University of Arkansas theatre and music departments. CeCe leads Arkansas Arts Academy's elementary dance program where she trains young dancers daily, but her love for teaching was ignited when she launched her adult hip hop classes in 2016.

Follow her on social media: IG @cecemariechoreography YouTube/Facebook CeCe Marie Choreography

Shri (Regina)

“Shri” Regina Karigan-Winter is a body, energy, and sound healer in Northwest Arkansas. She is a long time meditator and has been facilitating sound baths since 2009. As one who is energetically sensitive, Regina is an advocate and mentor for others in learning energetic hygiene and self care. She shines in guiding others through meditation and energy cleansing within a sound bath of many tones from crystal and metal singing bowls, rattles, tingshas, bells, drums, and voice.

Connect with Regina @thewelcomeom on IG and ginakw@gmail.com.

Allison Soeung

Allison Soeung is a DJ and Licensed Sound Therapist practicing in Northwest Arkansas. For as long as she can remember, music and sound have been her passion. She played classical piano consistently until the age of eighteen, when she decided to trade in her piano for a set of turntables! Since the age of eighteen, Allison has been a DJ where she has performed at events as diverse as night clubs, to music festivals, to yoga studios.

In 2018, Allison began to delve deeper into the ancient mysteries of music and sound. She completed the Shamanic Star Sound course in December 2019. In November 2020, she completed Acutonics Level 1 training and in January 2021, she received certification as a Vibrational Sound Practitioner from the Vibrational Sound Association. In March 2021, Allison became one of the first Licensed Sound Therapists in the state of Arkansas through the national Vibrational Sound Association.

Melody Smith

Melody began her journey with sound in 2018 when she acquired her first singing bowls studying abroad in Rishikesh India.

Throughout her stay at Om Shanti Om yog ashram, she was trained in traditional practices such as hatha yoga, mantra chanting, pranayama and mudra techniques.

As a guide, she aims to invite others into understanding themselves by bringing awareness to the body, thought patterns, and subtle shifts within the body. She does this by creating safe space for stillness and reminding us the importance of exploring gentle, intentional movement. Her offerings are very chill and insightful.

Amy Wolf

Amy Wolf is a medicine mystic and vitality cheerleader. She is owner of Grand Harmony Health in Fayetteville where she uses acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, and other holistic offerings to nourish and support the NWA community.

For over 25 years, Amy has been working in the realm of Qi cultivation and healing. She was 16 when she was certified as a Reiki Master. She then completed her bachelor’s degree in Contemplative Psychology at Naropa University with a focus on Health and Healing and a minor in Religion. After receiving her master’s degree at AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, she spent 9 months providing acupuncture to locals and expats while further training in Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan Medicine in Nepal. Her return to the states led her to a yearlong residency training in Colorado with Daoist Priest and Healer, Master Yun Xiang Tseng from the Wudang Mountains in China where she further developed skills in Tai Ji, Qigong, Dao Yin, Yi Jing, and Internal Alchemy.

She is enthusiastic about sharing these teachings and hopes you will join her to dive into the bliss of Qi cultivation, healing and life transformations!

Bxmbi

Bxmbi is a writer, musician, and event producer from Memphis, TN. Formerly the programming coordinator at INTERFORM, Bxmbi’s love for the arts and self-expression has led him to create new opportunities for creatives across the region.

https://interform.art/

Christian Van Camp

Christian is a holistic lifestyle and performance coach, biohacking hippy and wellness enthusiast dedicated to helping others achieve a fit body and mind so they can create lasting impact in the world. He studied kinesiology, holistic performance, and graduated from the University of Arkansas with a BSs in Nutrition.

His primary inspiration kindled from his little sister Nena’s difficult health conditions throughout her life, which led her to receive a heart transplant in March 2014. His older sister Courtney, a Marine Veteran, also struggled with addiction to opiates and heroin after being blown off of a 40ft wall in Afghanistan. Without modern medicine tied with natural, ancient holistic-healing remedies, wholesome nutrition and fitness, neither of them would be alive and thriving today.

His overarching mission and purpose is to build equitable systems for all, focusing on clean air, water, soil and food and tapping back into the fundamentals of nature’s healing.

Mishiah Crute

Mishiah Crute is a skilled and intuitive private yoga instructor who leads small group classes, curates online fitness courses, and plans meditation and yoga retreats. She recently relocated from Charlotte, NC and opened up Mishiah Yoga! A small yoga studio located in the Washington-Willow neighborhood of Fayetteville, AR.

Mishiah designs group, private, and meditation classes to clear energy and encourage students to live consciously.

Mishiah Yoga offers guidance in asana yoga, visualization, progressive relaxation, somatic experiencing, and intention setting. She works to create deep healing and conscious living for her students on and off the mat.

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.

Megan Blankenship

Megan Blankenship is a writer from the Ozarks. She studied and taught creative writing and composition at the University of Arkansas for eight years, working with writers of all ages to find and fan their inner creative spark. She has published poetry and prose in local and national publications and now makes her living writing about business and agriculture. As part of a wilderness writing residency, Megan spent six months living alone in an off-grid cabin by the Rogue River in Oregon. She loves writing about nature, farming, ancestors, traditional ways of life, faith, and mysticism.

Kathy Johnson

I am Kathy Johnson the owner and CEO of Kultured Cardio Fitness LLC. Our mission is to encourage everyone to find their fit. Find what you love to do and do it consistently. Ours is Dance Fitness. We know if you find something you love to do, you are more likely to stick with it and be successful. We want to show minorities like ourselves how to be proactive vs reactive regarding health and wellness. This is often not taught to us in our communities, and because we have not made health and wellness a priority, we as minorities were the demographic hit hardest during COVID. We are shifting the mindset in our communities . Showing people who may not workout that they need to make their health and wellness a priority, and that working out can be fun. Leading by example, because if we did it they can too. No longer working out situationally based on what event is coming up, but making Health and Wellness a lifestyle..If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready!

DJ Ambrosia

Influenced by an eclectic diet of Neo-soul and Hip-hop provided by her parents' record collection and endless hours of radio listening, Ambrosia discovered her love for music.

“There is nothing more rewarding than seeing people free themselves on a dance floor. Everyone bops to their own vibe and as a DJ it’s the coolest sight to witness. I’ve never felt more at peace than when I’m behind the ones and twos. I strive to keep everyone movin’ and shakin’! You can even bring your ma or pa to the party because with my set we all kickin’ it like karate!”

Ambrosia has immersed herself in building her brand as a femcee while becoming a local fixture of Northwest Arkansas. She has performed at a variety of events including Northwest Arkansas’s Annual Business Women’s Conference ,Crystal Bridges New 365 New Year’s celebration and NWA Fashion Week.

https://linktr.ee/djafrosia

Anna Prieto

Anna has worked in the professional development field for almost a decade. She has lived and worked in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. She earned a masters degree in communication and worked for the world’s largest airline, serving as an Employee Engagement and Happiness Expert. In 2019, she left corporate America to start her own business and became a transformational life coach. With Anna, you’ll learn to become the most confident, happy, assertive, and playful version of yourself.

Connect with Anna:

AnnaPrieto.com

IG @TheBreathworkLifeCoach

Facebook group -> Midnight Gardeners (Hyperlink -https://www.facebook.com/groups/midnightgardeners/?ref=share )

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.

Lyle Oberman

Lyle Oberman began, non profit dance company, Novel Creative Movement in the summer of 2021. Since the company's inception she has produced several new works, hosted community dance classes, and developed a children's school curriculum that brings movement into the classrooms of public institutions. Notable directorial credits include; 'KIT' at Sometimes, 'Forget Me Not' at Kindling Arts Festival, 'Seeing Her' at Oz Arts Nashville, and 'Good Fit' at the Dare Tactic Theatre Festival, NYC. Lyle received her BFA in Dance from Ball State University and later received her yoga certification from Sri Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh, India. Lyle has had the privilege of studying with the American Ballet Theatre, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in Ga'aton Israel, the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and MODULE with Sidra Bell Dance New York. Lyle is excited by many forms of movement and continues to stay curious!

Follow her work at @novelcreativemovement on instagram or visit novelcreativemovement.com

Jeva

Jeva is the founder of Avalon Rose Church in Fayetteville, a divine feminine ministry set in the context of a permaculture farm. She hosts regular events including a Sacred Song Circle the first Thursday of the month, women’s circles, and Wheel of the Year celebrations. She has trained with infamous sound healer Jonathan Goldman, as well as crystal bowl guru Daniel Brower. She has been the director of a 432 hz Crystal Bowl Orchestra in Argentina and will soon be starting an orchestra in NWA! She has also trained in Vibroacoustic sound healing with Jorge Zain and offers private sound healing sessions incorporating sound healing and Egyptian healing practices in Fayetteville. @avalonrosechurch, @applestarfarm

Founder

Kyndal Saverse

Volunteer Coordinator

Megan Thomas

Art Coordinator

Terra Roselle

Outreach

Moriah Santiago