2011-2012 Season
 

Christopher Barksdale

A shining star in the Kansas City dance community, Christopher Barksdale enjoyed a 21 year career with the Kansas City Ballet before retiring from the company in 2009. He received his training on scholarship at the Kansas City Ballet School, the School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet School and Chicago City Ballet School. He has performed leading roles in Agon, Allegro Brillante, Danse Concertante, Valse Fantaisie, La Sonnambula, The Four Temperaments, Coppélia, Jardi Tancat, Lambarena, Rodeo, Stravinsky Violin Concerto and the title role in Prodigal Son. Christopher was honored to create an archival video of Balanchine's Phlegmatic variation from The Four Temperaments coached by Todd Bolender in New York at the George Balanchine Foundation and the Gigue from Mozartiana with Stanley Zompakos.
 

Nathan Bland

Nathan Bland has recently returned to the United States after spending a year dancing as a Soloist with The Croatian National Ballet Theatre, touring throughout Europe dancing Principle roles in such ballets as Giselle, The Nutcracker and Napoli Pas de Six. Before dancing in Europe Nathan danced with such companies as, Kansas City Ballet, Eugene Ballet/Ballet Idaho and Oklahoma City Ballet. While based in New York City as a freelance guest artist he performed with Connecticut Ballet, LazarBalletNYC, Montgomery Ballet and Ballet Veratie. He has worked extensively with various pre-professional ballet schools as a guest dancer, teacher and choreographer. After a six year absence from Kansas City, he is excited to return in order to work with Owen/Cox Dance Group.
 

Winston Dynamite Brown

Dynamite, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, started dancing at Smith Sisters Dance Studio. He continued his training at the Missouri State Ballet, the University of Missouri Kansas City, where he received his BFA, and The Center Dance under the mentorship of Tyrone Aiken. Winston has participated in numerous intensive programs - Kansas City Ballet, Alonzo King's pre-professional program, Ailey summer intensive as three time fellowship recipient and the Ballet and Modern programs at Jacobs Pillow as the inaugural recipient of the Lorna Strassler Award. He has worked with the Wylliams/Henry Danse Theatre, Deeply Rooted Productions, Albany Berkshire Ballet, Metropolitan Opera and Taylor 2. Winston has been a member of the Pilobolus touring company since 2009.
 

William Cannon

William began his dance training atage 11 at BalletMet Dance Academy in Columbus, Ohio. As a student, he performed with the company works by artistic director David Nixon. In 2002, William was selected to participate in the National Foundation for the Advancement of Arts "ARTS week". He became a BalletMet company member in 2002, and performed works by George Balanchine, Stanton Welch, and others. Cannon went on to dance with Hubbard Street 2 and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Dance Magazine named William one of 25 to Watch in 2005. He spent three seasons with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, performing works by Jorma Elo, Nicolo Fonte, and Jiri Kylian, and is currently working with Philadelphia’s BalletX.
 

Laura Jones

Laura Jones, originally from Hamilton, Montana, began attending the North Carolina School of the Arts at the age of 14, where she later graduated from high school with a major in ballet.  She has studied with the Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet and has worked as a guest artist with the Garden City Ballet. Laura has danced professionally with the second company of the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, and Quixotic.  She has been dancing with the Owen/Cox Dance Group since 2008.

  
 

Jennifer Owen

After training with Pacific Northwest Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, she went on to dance with the Russian State Ballet, Moscow Renaissance Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, BalletMet, and had the unique experience of appearing as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Turkmenistan.  Notable roles Owen has danced include the title role in Giselle, Kitri in Don Quixote, principal roles in George Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Donizetti Variations, and the central pas de deux in Todd Bolender's Arena.  Owen is artistic director, dancer, and choreographer for the Owen/Cox Dance Group.  She has choreographed over twenty-five new works for the Owen/Cox Dance Group, as well as nine works for Kansas City Ballet's "In the Wings" choreographic workshop, and a winning entry for the 2006 Columbus Choreography Project.  Owen is the recipient of a 2000 Princess Grace Honorarium.

  
 

Stephen Plante

Stephen is currently an active member of City in Motion Dance Theater. He has performed and guest starred in a wide variety of local companies including the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Störling Dance Theatre, Kansas City Movement Dance Company, and Voler: Thieves of Flight. Through generous support, Stephen was able to travel and dance in Sydney, and Hong Kong with Project Dance. Attending the 2010 Paul Taylor Summer Intensive in NYC, Stephen performed many of Paul Taylor's modern dance masterpieces.

  
 

Christin Reuss-Purcell

A native of Seattle, Washington, Christin Reuss-Purcell studied at Washington Academy of the Performing Arts, Kirov Academy of Ballet and London Studio Centre. Christin has toured throughout the U.K. and Germany with Images of Dance, under the artistic supervision of Dame Alicia Markova, dancing the “Milkmaid” and “Scotch Rhapsody” in Ashton’s Façade, and in Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations. She has performed principal roles including “Clara/Sugarplum Fairy” in The Nutcracker, “Radish” in the Northwest premiere of Chipollino, Don Quixote Pas de Deux and soloist roles in La Bayadère, Paquita, Raymonda, Giselle and Coppélia, with International Ballet Theatre. In 2003, Christin travelled to India, where she opened her own ballet school, and danced in gala’s performing pieces from the classical ballet repertoire which are rarely seen in that country.

  
 

Fernando Rodriguez

Fernando is originally from Port Huron, Michigan. He is a graduate of Lakewood School of Therapeutic Massage and attended Grand Valley State University as a dance major. At Grand Valley Fernando performed in works by Robert Battle, Thang Dao, Pascal Rioult. While at Grand Valley he performed with Grand Rapids Ballet Company in George Balachine’s The Prodigal Son. During his summers, Fernando was a scholarship student at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor and with the Thang Dao Dance Company, where he performed in works by Paul Taylor, Kevin Iega Jeff, Gary Abbott and Jessica Lang. Fernando is currently in his third season with Missouri Contemporary Ballet and would like to thank all of his teachers, family and friends for their endless knowledge, love and support. A special thanks to Gerry Schultz for introducing him to the beautiful world of dance.

  
 

Jamal Story

Jamal's early dance training was taken to task in hometown Los Angeles under Lula Washington, 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. Jamal has danced for Complexions, Donald Byrd/theGroup, Dallas Black Dance Theater and Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet, Madonna's 2001 Drowned World Tour, and (as an aerialist and dancer) Cher's Living Proof: The Farewell Tour. He was also the assistant dance captain for "The Color Purple," on Broadway, and most recently a featured dancer on the soon-to-air television show, "Smash." In addition to promoting his book of fiction, "12:34 - a Slice Novel," Jamal continues his advocacy for educating young artists about the changing landscape of dance.

  
 

Rose Taylor

Rose Taylor has recently returned to Kansas City after training and performing throughout Houston's classical and contemporary dance communities.  Originally from Kansas City, Rose's early training was with Jane Pierce at Somerset Ballet School, Joffrey Ballet School and The School of American Ballet.  While a student in Kansas City, Rose performed with the Kansas City Ballet. She then went to study and perform for Houston Ballet and The Ben Stevenson Academy.  She danced with Houston Ballet, and  performed with Hope Stone Dance and Pink Ribbons Project, dancers in motion against breast cancer.  Ms. Taylor was an instructor for Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy and developed after school programs for dance education throughout Houston.  She now teaches for Kansas City Ballet School and is pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at UMKC. Ms. Taylor is excited to be dancing in her first season with Owen/Cox Dance Group.

  
 

Lisa Thorn

Originally from Dryden, NY, Lisa Thorn began her training at the Ithaca Ballet, and received the majority of her training as a scholarship student at North Carolina School of the Arts. She danced for the Kansas City Ballet from 1988-2005, performing principal roles by choreographers such as Ailey, Balanchine, Bolender, Bournonville, DeMille, Duato, Reinking, Petipa, and Sokolov. In 2004, Lisa was appointed to Associate Ballet Mistress for the Kansas City Ballet, and served in that position until 2008 when her son was born. Thorn has also performed with the Albany/Berkshire Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Starlight Theatre, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Wylliams/Henry Danse Theatre. She has also choreographed a number of works, most recently for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City's 2010 production of Rigoletto, as well as four pieces for Kansas City Ballet's "In The Wings," the Lee's Summit Symphony "Holiday Magic" and the Steppin' Out Dance Company. In 2005, Thorn was invited to attend the Craft of Choreography Workshop as an Emerging Choreographer.

  
 

Latra Wilson

Born in Tyler, Texas, Latra began her training at the Dance Factory under the tutelage of Pamela Erwin. She went on to study at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she received her BFA in Dance in May 2005. She performed numerous works by DeeAnna Hiett, Sabrina Madison-Cannon, Jennifer Medina, and Rodni Williams. Ms. Wilson was a two-time fellowship participant in the Alvin Ailey summer intensive program. She performed at the Kennedy Center at the National College Dance Festival, Setting the Stage with Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, and with Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company. From 2005-2009, Ms. Wilson was a member of Taylor 2.