Company Artists

Company Members
		Stephanie Powell	Principal dancer - is currently a Dance professor at Long Beach City College and University of California, Irvine. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Dance with distinction from the University of California at Irvine. as a Chancellor’s Fellow and was honored with the Celebration of Teaching Award from the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Ms. Powell’s dance training began with Cindy Trueblood at the Civic Dance Center in Bakersfield California. Ms. Powell’s studies continued on scholarship with Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Washington and the School of American Ballet at the Julliard School in New York City. She received her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in Sociology and Education while dancing professionally with the Oakland Ballet Company. Other companies in her concert dance career include the San Francisco Opera, Moving Arts, Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, Donald Byrd/The Group and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Ms. Powell performed in the Los Angeles production of the Broadway show “The Lion King” where she danced featured roles as well as performed as a principal singer and actress. Additionally, Powell has modeled internationally for Redken and Trevor Sorbie of the UK. She has appeared on television and danced commercially for artists such as MC Hammer, Kenny G., Janet Jackson, and Beyonce Knowles. She is a certified instructor of the New York City Ballet Workout and actively stages and performs solo works of Professor Donald McKayle. Ms. Powell travels internationally doing her solo choreography and has presented her research on African- American women in Ballet at the Congress on Research in Dance conference. Ms. Powell was recently awarded the 2007 Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient from the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine.
		Jon Bookout	Principal Dancer – Jon grew up in Boulder Colorado, Jon’s passion for performance started out in competitive gymnast at the age of 15. I quickly realized there was more to the world of performance than sticking a perfect landing and became interested in Stage work and the creative process. Starting out at pro-action in a two-person trampoline act, I diversified my abilities and knowledge of stage work until landing Spiderman Live, a touring equity production as the understudy to peter parker/Spiderman. After surviving a broken foot and several surgeries, Dragone Productions picked me up for the creation and a career settled at Wynn Las Vegas for the production of Le Reve.
		Erin Christiansen	Erin's love of dance started at the age of 4 with her very first childhood dance class at Elite School of Dance. Since then her love of dance has taken her across the country from her small home town in Washington State to Hubbard Street in Chicago, The Broadway Dance Center in New York City, and the Edge Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, to as far away as the Kiel International Dance Festival in Germany and the Korean National Sport University in Seoul. She graduated from UNLV with a BFA in dance in 2007. She has had the opportunity to train with artists such as Randy Duncan, Mark Swanhart, John Lehrer, The Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Jeffrey Gerodias, and Elisa Monte. Erin is proud to be a founding member of the Las Vegas Contemporary Dance Theater where under the guidance of Bernard Gaddis she continues to learn from so many well known and talented guest artists.
		Laetitia Thackery Dewhurst	Coming Soon
		Heather Farrell	Heather Farrell was born and raised in Colorado Springs, CO. She moved to Las Vegas to attend the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to pursue a BFA in Dance Performance, where she graduated last spring. She has been on scholarship at Hubbard Street, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and was part of the skeleton cast for Celine Dion's "Taking Chances" 2008 world tour. Heather has performed in Korea, Australia, the Caribbean, and Germany. This is her second season with Bernard as a company member and looks forward to many more.
		Ross Gibson	Ross Gibson was put into gymnastics class at age 9. By age 16 he was the 3rd best junior tumbler in the world. He carried on competing for Great Britain until age 22 where he ended up 2nd best Senior Tumbler in the world at the 2002 World Cup Final in Trampoline and Tumbling. During a year abroad in France as part of his university degree he started to dance with the Youth Ballet of Bretagne. In 2002 he was offered a scholarship at Laine Theater Arts, Surrey, England where he performed in several shows, Moving On, West End Laine and Peter Pan. Ross was also danced for Will Young, Garteh Gates and Anastasia at the 2002 Royal Variety Performance in London as well as LWT's Abbamania. In 2004 Ross landed a principal character role of "Red Bird" in Cirque Du Soleil's Mystere where he currently performs now. He also performs with their touring show, Kooza, as the lead role of "Trickster" in 2007 and 2008 and he also understudies the role of "Mr. Piggy" on Love.
		Lindsey Hashiguchi	Lindsey began her dance training at the age of 6. She has recently received her BFA in dance education from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. There, she also performed with Eleone Dance Theatre. Currently, Lindsey works for the Clark County School district as a dance instructor at Eldorado High School.
		Danielle Howard	Danielle Howard is from Las Vegas, NV and has been dancing since age 3. She had training under Inez Mourning, who encouraged her to pursue a career in dance. After spending a year on the East Coast under the training of Peggy Lyman at the Hartt School, she moved back to Las Vegas to further pursue her career in dance. While in Vegas, she has had the opportunity to tour with choreographers Tara Foy and Stephan Reynolds, as well as perform with other well known choreographers. She currently is the director of a local dance studio, and is active in community performances such as Golden Rainbow, various AIDS benefits, as well as other venues. Danielle is an accomplished choreographer, and lends her talents to local churches and studios. She is very excited to be a part of LVCDT, and is looking forward to many great endeavors.
		Hanifa Jackson	Hanifa L. Jackson started her dance training at Philadanco and Pennsylvania Ballet. After graduating from the High School of Performing Arts, she received her B.F.A. from the Julliard School. Hanifa has performed with Ailey II, Complexions, Ballet Hispanico, West Side Story, The Lion King, and Mystere. She is honored to be guesting with LVCDT.
		Emanuelle Mirabal	Emanuelle Mirabal was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He began his studies as a dancer at the age of 10 at the school specializing in ballet Julian E. Blanco, (PR), where he graduated with honors. In 2004 he was accepted in one of the intensive programs for the famous company Alvin Ailey in NY and in the same year he became part of one of the most recognized ballet companies in the island, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, performing solo play roles in pieces like Don Quixote, Coppelia, The Nutcracker, The Phantom of the Opera and many others. He also performed in different contemporary pieces created by recognized international coreographers. In 2007 he decided to move to Las Vegas to become part of the show "Raw Talent Live," played at the Sahara Hotel and directed by the famous company "Havana Night," standing out as a lead dancer. In June 2009 he became part of LVCDT to be part of the challenging repertory of the company allowing him to also go on tour to Chicago and Arizona and still looking to work with the company in future projects.
		Allyson Ross	Coming Soon
		Agnes Roux	Comes to LVCDT from Montpellier France at the age of nine Agnes started her dance training at The National Conservatory for Dance and graduated with honors finishing her trainings at the top of her class ending up with a gold metal for excellence. Her training continued with conservatories and competitions from all parts France leaving with the highest honors from all of them. Resulting in a hired position with the Chairman of the nation French dance competitions. Ms. Roux then joined the Repertory Dance Company “Jeune Ballet De France” as a principal dancer for the next two years touring throughout Europe and The United States, and Mexico. Ms. Rpoux has worked with well-known choreographers such as Reddha Benoit Pouffer and Carolyn Carlson. Ms.Roux was asked by Artistic Director and choreographer Karine Saporta to joined “The Centre Choreographique Nation Dance Co”. She work closely with the choreographer in a collaboration with The Ekaterinburg Ballet. Touring in Asia and France. Ms. Roux Then toured as a Guest Artist for various companies around Eurpoe before ending up in Las Vegas where she is a Principal Lead Character in” Cirque Du Soleil’s” Hit show “Zumanity”. Ms. Roux has worked closely with The Artistic Director Bernard Gaddis as his muse and comes to LVCDT as a Principal dancer with the company.
		Jamal Story	Jamal’s early basic dance training (Adria Wilson, Oui Geometer, Ron Brown) were all taken to task in hometown Los Angeles under Lula, who ushered him into her adult company during his late teens. Undecided about what career to pursue, Jamal began earning two degrees at Southern Methodist University in Dance Performance and TV/Radio Communications. While there, Dallas Black Dance Theater and Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet among others opened up their doors for replacement and guest artist gigs. Never one to leave his roots behind, Jamal continued his close ties to Lula, joining the company for various touring dates. After college, Jamal danced with Donald Byrd/theGroup, Madonna’s 2001 Drowned World Tour, Complexions, and (as an aerialist and dancer) Cher’s Living Proof: The Farewell Tour. Immediately thereafter, he was called back into the studio with Donald Byrd to help discover the movement for the history-making Broadway show, The Color Purple, where he spent the duration of its run as a dancer and assistant dance captain. In addition to performing Cher dates in Vegas from time to time, Jamal continues his advocacy for educating young artists about the changing landscape of dance.
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