Natalie Jones

Dancer & Choreographer

Natalie Jones is currently a PhD student and graduate research assistant in the department of Astronomy and Planetary Science at Northern Arizona University. She grew up in Gainesville, FL and received her BA in Geology at the University of Pennsylvania. She started dancing at age 3 and trained primarily in ballet and jazz until college, where she fell in love with modern dance.  She first joined Canyon Movement Company in 2017. In addition to acting as the President of the Board, she also dances and choreographs with CMC.

Breanna Lengyel

Dancer & Choreographer

Breanna Lengyel received her Bachelors of Arts in Research Psychology from the University of California, San Diego, where she worked as a Research Assistant specializing in developmental psychology. Additionally, she spent nearly a decade working as  a Lead Behavioral Health Technician for adults & children with special needs and mental disorders, with a specialization in autism and related disorders. Since moving to Flagstaff, Breanna has moved into the field of Health & Wellness. She has managed a variety of yoga programs and studios around town, and provides private and small group mindfulness-based coaching sessions, in addition to her yoga and meditation services. Breanna is the Vice President on the Board of Directors for Canyon Movement Company, where she also dances and choreographs. She has been dancing a variety of styles off-and-on since she was fifteen years old.

Zhuoting Wu

Dancer & Choreographer

Zhuoting Wu loves to dance and move with music. She received her PhD in Biology from Northern Arizona University. She serves as the Earth Observation Applications Coordinator at the US Geological Survey. This is her second season with Canyon Movement Company. She loves working out, feeling strong, traveling around the world, seeing new places, trying new food and meeting new people. 

Danika Rudd

Dancer & Choreographer

Danika Rudd is graduating in May from Northern Arizona University with her Bachelors in Psychological Sciences. She grew up dancing with Canyon Dance Academy and started dancing with Canyon Movement Company when she graduated high school. This is her final performance with the company, and she is really honored and grateful to have grown as a person and a dancer alongside such a talented and loving group of dancers.

Indiana Meade

Dancer & Choreographer

Indiana Meade recently graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Bachelors of Arts in Special Education. She has been dancing since she was 11 years old in Prescott, Arizona. Canyon Movement Company has helped her find a connection to Flagstaff other than just being a college student and allowed her to continue creative expression through dance with some really cool human beings!

Laura Covey

Dancer & Choreographer

Laura Covey has been dancing since she was nine years old and has performed in a variety of productions in Prescott, AZ. She currently attends Northern Arizona University, majoring in Biology. This is Laura’s second season with CMC and she is so happy to have found a dance family in Flagstaff!

Megan Henningsen

Dancer & Choreographer

Megan Henningsen first started dancing at age five, when she was inspired by none other than Shirley Temple! Her first genre was tap, but then she forayed into the world of ballet, and eventually, jazz in her teen years. In college, she was introduced to modern contemporary, and ended up double-majoring in Dance Performance & Choreography as well as Psychology. She then went on to perform in dance companies in Minneapolis and Seattle and to earn her Masters in Teaching, with an endorsement in Dance Instruction. She also has her RYT-200 Yoga Instructor certification from Eight Limbs Yoga Center. Megan taught both dance and yoga at a high school in Seattle, WA, and at The School of the Arts in Tacoma, WA. After having kids, Megan chose to take a hiatus from dance and teaching, though she continued to avidly practice yoga. Now that her kids are grown, she has decided to return to dance. She is excited at the opportunity to collaborate, create, and perform with the amazing group of women that comprise Canyon Movement Company.

Kelsie King

Dancer & Choreographer

Kelsie King began dancing and choreographing in high school. Her formal training has primarily been in ballet, but she joined CMC this year to experience and learn different styles of dance to incorporate into her choreography. She loves expressing her creative side through dance. Outside of the dance world, she is a lecturer in Psychology at NAU and in her free time, she also enjoys painting, skiing, and plant husbandry.

Angelica Alcala

Dancer & Choreographer

Angelica Alcala last performed with Canyon Movement Company in 1994, and is so excited to work with Gina and to share the stage with this new group of talented and dedicated dancers. Trained in classical ballet, Angelica enjoyed a professional career performing soloist and principal roles with companies across the country, including the Los Angeles Ballet, Long Beach Ballet, Tulsa Ballet Theater, and the Cleveland Ballet. Over the last twenty years, Angelica has been teaching and choreographing in the Verde Valley, including for Mingus Union High School’s award winning theater program and Yavapai College. Happy to be performing, Angelica shares her lifelong love of dance with her grandchildren, Amelia and Anastasia.

Gina Darlington

Founder & Executive Director

Gina has traveled to Ireland, Italy, Cuba, and throughout the southwestern United States, where she and the company have performed and taught. She has performed in multiple dance companies in Utah, Missouri, Nebraska, and Arizona. Gina was an Artist-in-Residence for the state of Arizona for several years & was the Director of Canyon Dance Academy in Flagstaff, AZ for twenty years. She was on faculty at Coconino Community College for twenty-three years and was also a guest teacher at the American College Dance Festival. Gina choreographed for Northern Arizona University Theater. She received her dance degree from Brigham Young University. Gina is also on the board of the Arizona Dance Coalition.  She served on the Arizona Department of Education (DOE) Committee to re-write the Arts Standards, and the Arizona DOE National Content Review Committee for Arts Assessments.  Gina keeps busy with her family including her fifteen beautiful grand-kids.

Founding Co-Director, Emeritus

Jayne Lee has choreographed more than 100 dances for companies worldwide. Trained as a dancer in London at Julliard, she danced and choreographed for London Contemporary Dance Theatre for 10 years and toured internationally. Jayne co-founded and co-directs both Human Nature Dance Theatre and Canyon Movement Company. Jayne was an associate faculty member at Coconino Community College and she choreographs regularly for Northern Arizona University’s theatre department. Jayne is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner® with a private practice in Flagstaff, AZ. She served on the Board of Grand Canyon River Guides for years & still works on the river in the summers.

Kristen McBride

Founding Co-Director, Emeritus

Kristen McBride is a founding member of Canyon Movement Company. She has danced with several modern dance companies & choreographers, including Funhouse Movement Theatre, Semaphore ZUZI! Move IT!, and with Liz Casebolt & Carly Condor. She was a guest choreographer for “Poetry in Motion” in Wexford, Ireland in 1997. Kristen received a Masters in Range Science and Management from the University of Arizona in 2001 and now works with her husband Scotty, for the US National Forest Service in Bend, Oregon.

Amanda Kapp

Video Dance Creator

Amanda Kapp danced with Canyon Movement Company for several years before developing an interest in creating video dance.  Her recent piece “Sequential” won Audience Choice for the Northern Arizona Film Festival and has been shown in film and dance festivals across Arizona as well as at the International Dance Film Festival in Burgundy, France.  She is extremely appreciative of all the support and creative nurturing from CMC across the years.