Updraft

Company

Thérèse Keegan (Artistic Director, Dancer) is an experienced choreographer and seasoned performer who has trained in aerial work at the International Aerial Dance Festival in Boulder, Colorado, and studied intensively with Elsie and Serenity Smith of Gemini Trapeze, based in Vermont.

Thérèse has appeared as an aerial dancer in Caravan Stage’s New Orleans production of “Vanishing Currents” and was a founding member of Air Dance Bernasconi, based in Baltimore. She has performed throughout the region as a solo and ensemble artist, on a free-lance basis and with modern dance companies in the Washington, DC area. Thérèse operates Slipperyslope Institute in Knoxville, Maryland, providing dance and movement classes and private instruction in aerial dance.

Michele Hartley (Company Manager) has an M.A. in Folk Studies and loves to hear other people tell their stories. She has always relished expressing herself through movement. Growing up in New York City, Michele has been exposed to numerous dance techniques and performance opportunities.

She choreographed and performed a solo piece at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was a member of an ensemble that danced across the Brooklyn Bridge during its 100-year birthday celebration. While at Bard College she studied Cunningham and Limón technique and has also studied improvisation and dance therapy at the Naropa Institute. Michele lives and works in West Virginia.

Kerianne Hinerman (Dancer) has studied and performed with companies, including the Washington Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Harid Conservatory. In recent years, her attention has turned to modern and aerial work. She has trained with Elsie Smith of Gemini Trapeze and Nimble Arts based in Vermont. This is Kerianne’s fifth year performing with Updraft: a conspiracy of movement.

Kerianne holds an Associate of Arts degree in Dance from Montgomery College in Maryland, where she was an honors scholarship recipient. In addition to performing with Montgomery College, she has appeared with the modern dance company Arts United of Washington. Currently Kerianne teaches ballet and jazz technique in the metro D.C. area.

Brian Buck (Guest Artist) is a decorated veteran of the U.S. Navy. He received an associates degree in English, from the Community Colleges of Baltimore County/Essex, where he started dancing and performing with their student company Dimensional Dance Media.

Brian received his Bachelors in Dance from the University of Maryland where he performed with the Maryland Dance Ensemble. He has danced/worked with Danny Lepkoff, Daniel Burkholder/The Playground, Jen Stone/This Body This Earth, Seize the Day: Mixed abilities, Cat Scratch Theatre and collaborated with the likes of Nicole Bradley Browning, Jane Jerardi, Lucas Zarwell, and Christopher Lee.

Brian Buck

Lizard Walker-Keegan (Dancer) has studied and performed dance since a tender age. Well versed in multiple movement genres as well as acting and musical forms, her experience spans diverse dance styles and musical theater in addition to aerial performances with Updraft.

Lizard’s past stage credits include the role of Bilbo Baggins in “The Hobbit” and creating a duet limited to movements of the head. More recently she has studied Modern, Hip Hop, and West African dance—choreographing and performing--while acquiring her degree in Environmental Studies from Antioch College. When not picking the banjo or slinging pies, Lizard ponders the pragmatic application of ecofeminism in a Hummer filled world.