Current Collaborators

Natalie Border

Image of Natalie Border's profile by Brad Simmons

Natalie Border | Image by Brad Simmons

Natalie Border is a lover of all things movement. With dance being a prominent movement form in her lifestyle, Natalie revels in the connection between the mind, body and spirit. Natalie calls the Utah mountains home, however, craves to live near the ocean someday. Natalie received her BFA from the University of Utah in 2015 and has since worked as a freelance artist where she has collaborated with choreographers Nick Blaylock, LAJAMARTIN, Satu Hummasti and Daniel Clifton among many others. Natalie participated in Snow College’s Juilliard Summer Intensive as well as Northwest Dance Project’s Launch program. She has guested in Repertory Dance Theatre’s Emerge show, and produced her own show, Nomad. Natalie danced for SALT Contemporary Dance in 2018 and had the privilege of working with artists such as Brendan Duggan, Penny Saunders, and Jenni Gordon. From 2019-2021 Natalie was a company member of Vim Vigor, a New York physical theater company, under the direction of Shannon Gillen. Returning to Utah, she has ventured into screendance-making and collaborating with artists, Rebekah Guerra and Megan O’Brien. Natalie looks forward to continuing to dance, create, perform, and explore the tender moments of being a human. Natalie is currently dancing for Nichele Woods and recently started teaching tango, her new-found love of partner dancing.

 

Jonathan Kim

Jonathan Kim | Image by Sharon Kain

Jonathan Kim (he/him) is a dance artist currently based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is a full time company member with Repertory Dance Theatre and freelances in the community. Originally from Southern California, he obtained his Bachelor's in Dance from California State University, Fullerton. Previously, he worked with SALT Contemporary Dance, SJDanceCo, and Lineage Dance Company. He has been fortunate to perform works by a diverse spectrum of choreographers and répétiteurs during his professional career including, but not limited to: Doris Humphrey, José Límon, Donald McKayle, Ihsan Rustem, Lar Lubovitch, Noa Zuk and Ohad Fishof, Mitsu Salmon, LAJAMARTIN, Joni McDonald, and Brendan Duggan. While not dancing, he can be found reading a good sci-fi/fantasy book or napping. 

 

Tara McArthur

Tara McArthur | Image by Sasha Turrentine

Tara is a dance artist originally from Nevada City, California. Her performance credits include NOW-ID (Charlotte Boye-Christensen), Keith Johnson/Dancers,  Hope Mohr Dance, The Feather Theory (Raja Feather Kelly), Little Seismic Dance Company (Katie Faulkner), Gerald Casel & Dancers, and Risa Jaroslow & Dancers. She was a member of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company from 2008-2014, where she performed in both original works and repertory by Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Johannes Weiland, Daniel Charon, Doug Varone, Bill T. Jones, John Jasperse, and Susan Marshall, among others. She was also a part of the Centennial Tour of the work of Alwin Nikolais, touring across the US., France, and Italy. Tara holds a BFA from California State University Long Beach and is currently pursuing a Master of Social Work (MSW) at the University of Utah. 

 

Morgan Phillips

Morgan Phillips

Morgan Phillips (She/Her) is a movement artist from Arizona. Her foundation in contemporary dance has evolved from her ongoing exploration with other movement forms such as martial arts and aerial arts. She is currently a freelance artist in Salt Lake City and is working on merging contemporary dance into pole dance.

 

Melissa Younker

Melissa Younker | Image by Marissa Mooney

Melissa Younker (she/her) is an artist with a multifaceted dedication to dance; directing, choreographing, teaching, learning, performing and designing costumes. Her experimental approach combines her multi-disciplinary experiences to create and collaborate in solo, ensemble, site-specific, video, and theatrical performances. She is driven by curiosity: engaging in processes that are intimate and unrestrained.

Originally from Southern California, Melissa received her BFA from California State University, Long Beach in 2014. From 2014-2020, she was a full-time dance artist with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. During that time, she toured throughout the US and France performing dance works by over 20 internationally acclaimed choreographers including historical repertory by Alwin Nikolais with Nikolais Dance Theatre. In 2018, Melissa traveled to Mongolia and South Korea as a cultural ambassador with DanceMotion USA℠, a cross-cultural exchange program of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administered by BAM ® (Brooklyn Academy of Music). Melissa is a founding member of Heartland Collective, a multi-disciplinary collective with collaborations in dance, visual arts, music, and performance that has produced 8 evening length works since its inception in 2019. Additionally, she collaborates with project based movement groups And Artists (Utah), Ballet Opera de Guerra (Utah), Brolly Arts (Utah), Keith Johnson/Dancers (California), and Oriantheate Dance Company (Paris, France) with whom she recently toured to Croatia. Since Fall 2020, she has served as Co-Artistic Director of Utah Valley University’s Contemporary Dance Ensemble, where she was honored with the School of the Arts Dean’s Award of Excellence, for Adjunct Faculty. As a dance artist, she has worked with choreographers Adam Barruch, Jonah Bokaer, Ann Carlson, Daniel Charon, Mehdi Farajpour, Rebekah Guerra, Molly Heller, Tzveta Kassabova, Raja Feather Kelly, Stephen Koester, Joanna Kotze, Andrea Miller, Mitsu Salmon, Doug Varone, Netta Yerushalmy, Yin Yue, among others.

Melissa’s work is always always an exchange of ideas - a sharing of wonder. 


Recent/Past Collaborators

Jessi Barber

Sarah Chenoweth

Lyndi Coles

Christy Crowley

Kristen Daley

Hannah Fischer

Brian Gerke

Christine Glidden

Emlyn Guiney

Leah Hendrix-Smith

Emma Higgins

E’lise Jumes

Julie Katz

Angela Lee

Chang Leo Liu

Kate Losser

Samantha Matsukawa

Mo Miner

Megan O'Brien

Tyler Orcutt

Aimee Otterson

Emma Sargent

Breeanne Saxton

Jenna Valez

Casey Van Portfleet

Lili Weckler

Jared Wiltse


Banner image of Ladies and Elephants by Serena Morelli