Franklin School of Performing Arts, Alumni
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ALUMNI
Allison Blanchard
Allison is a Franklin, TN native and began dancing at age five at the Franklin School of Performing Arts under the direction of Kaylee Scott Cahoon. As she got older, Allison realized that she wanted to perform for a living. She continued her dance training at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL. During her time at USF, Allison performed in works by guest artists Doug Varone, Rosie Herrera, and the Batsheva Dance Company.
While modern dance is Allison's first passion, she became more interested in musical theatre. She attended the Broadway Theatre Project in summer of 2012 where she studied with Ben Vereen and many other Broadway legends. Upon returning to school the following year, Allison was cast in the ensemble of the university's production of Hairspray.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in Modern Dance Performance in May 2014 and moved to New York City to pursue a dance career. In March 2015 she was cast in the ensemble of the National Tour of 42nd Street! She is over-the-moon excited to be traveling and working with such talented artists and performers for the next year!
Marlena Duncan
Marlena Duncan is a dance educator and choreographer proficient in Modern Dance, Jazz, Tap, Ballet, and Hip-Hop. She is an award recipient of the 2014 Thad Cochran Distinguished Arts Educator in Dance, a 2013 Bates Dance Festival Educator Fellowship recipient, and a licensed dance educator and physical education instructor through the MS Department of Education. She is certified in Pilates Mat through Steele Pilates and holds a Pilates Reformer certificate from the Pilates Place of MS. Most recently, Marlena instructed dance for the 2015 Janice Wyatt MSAI Bologna Performing Arts Center summer camp at Delta State. Her musical choreography credits include South Pacific and Guys and Dolls for MS College, Seussical Jr., High School Musical Jr., The Little Mermaid Jr., and Hairspray The Musical, for New Stage Theatre, and All You Need is Love, for Belhaven University. Marlena is currently on faculty as dance educator at Power Academics and Performing Arts Complex, and MS College. In 2003, she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is currently working towards her Masters of Arts in Teaching at Belhaven University.
Ginna Claire Mason
Ginna Claire recently made her Broadway debut in Wicked. Ginna Claire has dreamed of floating in the Bubble since she saw the original cast of Wicked. Nashville native. Tours: Newsies (Katherine u/s), Flashdance, (Gloria). Vegas: Duck Commander Musical (Korie). Regional favorites include Thoroughly Modern Millie (Millie), Grease (Sandy), Hairspray (Shelley). BFA, Elon University. Love and thanks to DGRW, Telsey + Co, Mom and Dad, Prince Eric, beloved family, friends, and teachers.
Marilyn Maywald
Marilyn Maywald Yahel is a professional modern dancer and Pilates teacher living in New York City. She is currently performing with award-winning choreographers Vicky Shick and Beth Gill, and has worked closely with Melanie Maar, Melinda Ring, Maggie Bennett, Steven Reker, and Yin Mei (she was an internationally-touring member of Yin Mei Dance from 2004-09). Marilyn has been profiled and called a "genius dancer" by Dance Magazine, and her dancing has been described as "lucid" "fierce & engaging," and "a treat" by The New York Times. She graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University, where she received a full academic scholarship as well as a Fellowship for Ecevellence in the Performing Arts, presented choreography at the American College Dance Festical Gala, and wrote an Honors College Thesis on "Craft & Experminatation: Making Dance from the Ground Up." She has presented her own solo work in Arizona, Seattle, and around New York City including Dixon Place, Roulette, Danspace Project and Movement Research at Judson Church. She studied Pilates under Kelly Kane at the Kane School of Core Integration, and teaches privately at Finetune Pilates in Brooklyn.
Amanda McPeek
Amanda graduated from FSU with my BFA in Dance in 2010 and danced in the Dance Repertory Theatre and worked with some fabulous artists and professors that she loves. She danced with Shauna Dever Dance and taught dance in the Franklin and Nashville area after graduation. Deciding that she loved helping others and learning more about the human body and movement, Amanda decided to apply to physical therapy school. She will graduate this May with my doctorate in Physical Therapy. During school and has had the opportunity to do clinical rotations at P3: Precision, Physical Therapy, and Pilates in Nashville where they emphasize on orthopedic manual therapy, dance medicine, Pilates rehabilitation, as well as, work with the Nashville-based modern dance company, New Dialect. Amanda has also had a rotation at Susan Underwood Physical Therapy where she has gotten to work with dancers from the Nashville Ballet each, week as well, as general orthopedics for the public. Amanda has had a skilled nursing facility rotation at Emory in Atlanta, GA, and will be completing her last two internships at the Children's Hospital at Erlanger in Chattanooga, TN and Eduglobal Associates. Eduglobal is an orthopedic and neurologic rehabilitation center and cardiopulmonary hospital in a region in Tuscany, Italy. Amanda has completed the STOTT Pilates Intensive Reformer training, and the spinal course of the Maitland Manual Therapy certification program and plans to incorporate Pilates, manual therapy, and dance medicine into her well rounded physical therapy practice this year.
Logan Pachciarz
Mr. Pachciarz began his professional career at the age of 15 while joining Twyla Tharp’s dance ensemble, Tharp!. He toured across the United States premiering three new works entitled Sweet Fields, Heroes, and Route 66. He then continued his formal dance education at the North Carolina School of the Arts under the tutelage of Ton Simons, Fernando Bujones, and Warren Conover. At age 18, he joined the Boston Ballet II and was then promoted to the main company where he enjoyed working with such choreographers as Rudi van Dantzig, Christopher Wheeldon, and Ben Stevenson. Mr. Pachciarz joined the Kansas City Ballet in 2001. In his 14 years with the Company, he has enjoyed dancing in numerous works including Jardi Tancat, Dark Elegies, The Catherine Wheel Suite, and Flower Festival pas de deux. Some of his favorite roles have included Albrecht in Giselle, the title role in Romeo & Juliet, Blue in Green solo in Jaywalk, the solo man in Brahms Paganini, Iago in The Moor’s Pavane, and Dracula in Michael Pink’s Dracula. Mr. Pachciarz is also co-artistic director of the Kansas City Dance Festival alongside Anthony Krutzkamp, manager of KCB II.