ANGELINA SANSONE--DANCER//REHEARSAL DIRECTOR (4th season, KC Ballet)

Having lived in numerous locations, Ms. Sansone most recently hails from Charlotte, North Carolina. She left home at age 14 to attend the Harid Conservatory with a full tuition scholarship. After completing her education at Harid, she spent two seasons with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago where she appeared in Robert Altman's 2003 film The Company. Following her stay with Joffrey, Ms. Sansone worked toward her B.S. in ballet at Indiana University before she joined Kansas City Ballet in 2005 where she has performed lead roles in works by Balanchine, Robbins, Tharp and Taylor, among others. She has originated leading roles in nearly every work in the MOTION Dance + Theatre repertory.

MOLLY WAGNER--DANCER (1st Season, Kansas City Ballet)

Molly Wagner originally from Denver, Colorado, began her training with Christina Noel-Adcock, spending summers with Jillana, Joffrey Ballet South, Kansas City Ballet and Ballet Austin. She graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri with a B.F.A. While there, she was awarded the first place winner of National Society for Arts and Letters, as well as dancing Waltz Girl in Balanchine's Serenade. Ms. Wagner went on to dance professionally with Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Montgomery Ballet, and Charleston Ballet Theatre. With these companies, she danced featured roles in Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, The Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Graduation Ball, and Balanchine's Who Cares? and Allegro Brillante. She is currently entering her second season with Kansas City Ballet.

NICK KEPLEY--ARTISTIC DIRECTOR//RESIDENT CHOREOGRAPHER

Born in Asheville, NC, Nick trained with Sandra Miller and at the School of American Ballet and The Juilliard School. He has danced professionally with Ballet Austin and Kansas City Ballet performing works by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp and Jose Limon, among others. In his theatre career, Nick served as dance captain in McCarter Theatre’s A Christmas Carol and appeared on Broadway in Mary Poppins and in Camelot with the New York Philharmonic, which was broadcast nationwide on PBS. Television credits include: “Live with Regis and Kelly,” “Celebrity Apprentice,” and “Smash.”


As a choreographer, Nick has created works for Broadway’s “Gypsy of the Year” competition, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Manhattan Youth Ballet, Kansas City Ballet’s “In the Wings” program, Ballet Austin II, Canton Ballet’s “Pointeworks” competition, for which he received first place honors, and Quixotic Performance Fusion, where he served as director and co-conceiver of two evening length productions. His ballet, Thrace, was selected as one of the top five performing arts events in Kansas City, MO for 2007. His works have also entered the repertory of Canton Ballet, Northeast Ballet and San Angelo Civic Ballet. Nick founded MOTION Dance Theatre, a dance company and choreographic laboratory, in July 2010. 

ADRIAN FRY --GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER (2013), DANCER (Ballet West)

Adrian was born in Omaha, Nebraska and trained at the Omaha Theatre Ballet School, the School of American Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. As a company member of Oregon Ballet Theatre, Adrian performed works by George Balanchine, Nicolo Fonte and William Forsythe. Adrian joined Ballet West as a soloist in 2010. His repertoire wtih the company includes George Balanchine’s Emeralds, The Four Temperaments, Chaconne, and “Third Campaign” in Stars and Stripes; “Spanish," "Arabian," and "Waltz of the Flowers" in Willam Christensen’s The Nutcracker; “Fairy of Kindness Cavalier” in Adam Sklute’s newly conceived and produced The Sleeping Beauty; Nicolo Fonte's Bolero; and Jiri Kylian's Sinfonietta and Petite Mort.


As a choreographer, Adrian has created work set to spoken word poetry, and also headed a project interweaving paint and dance in which the paintings were auctioned off for charity.  He has begun working on his first commission from Ballet West to choreograph a work that will debut in the spring of 2013 for their annual Innovations program.

MOLLIE SANSONE--DANCER (2nd season, Nashville Ballet)

Mollie Sansone began her training in North Carolina with Melissa Hale-Coyle, Claudia Folts, Lisa Leone, and Rebecca and Daniel Wiley.  She also studied at the Metropolitan Ballet Theater with Maniya Barredo, the Joffrey Midwest Workshop, the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory, and the Atlanta Ballet.  Being a member of Nashville Ballet since 2004, Mollie has performed works by Paul Vasterling, Sarah Slipper, James Canfield, Robert Philander-Valentine, Todd Rosenlieb, Salvatore Aiello and Ann Marie DeAngelo. Some of Mollie’s feature roles include Salvatore Aiello’s Satto, the Blue Pas de Deux in James Canfield’s Jungle, and the turning girl in Balanchine’s Who Cares.  Miss Sansone has also performed as a guest artist with the Piedmont Dance Theater and Quixotic Fusion.

TRAVIS GUERIN--GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER (2013), DANCER (Kansas City Ballet)

Travis started dancing at the age of 8 in Spokane, Washington, taking tap and jazz classes at a local studio. At age 14, his focus shifted to classical ballet. He was accepted to the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's Graduate Program at age 17. In 2009, he was asked to study at the San Francisco Ballet School. The next year, he became part of the first season of Cincinnati Ballet's Second Company.


Along with his passion for dance and performance, Mr. Guerin loves to choreograph and has had works premiered for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's Graduate Program, the San Francisco Ballet School and the Cincinnati Ballet's Second Company. He is also a musical composer, often creating his own compositions for his choreography.

MICHAEL BURFIELD--DANCER (1st Season, Ballet Austin) Michael is originally from Lubbock, TX where he studied at Ballet Lubbock under the direction of Yvonne Racz-Key. He also trained at the Lone Star Ballet with Edward R. Truitt. After graduating high school Michael went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet on full scholarship as a Professional Division Student. While at PNB Michael worked closely with Peter Boal, Nicholas Ade, Marjorie Thompson, Timothy Lynch, Marisa Albee and many others. While there he had the chance to perform in productions such as Bruce Wells' Hansel & Gretel and George Balanchine's Chaconne, and in new works created by Barry Kerollis, Seth Orza, Jonathan Porretta and his personal favorite Kiyon Gaines' 10: "Un" A-Frayed Edges. He was a member of Ballet Austin II for the 2009/10 season and enjoyed performing Thang Dao's Quiet Imprint and Stephen Mills' Red Roses. Michael will be joining Ballet Austin for his second season and couldn't be more thrilled! He would like to send much love and thanks to his family and friends for always supporting him!

DANIELLA ZLATAREV--DANCER (1st Season, Company C Contemporary Ballet)

Daniella is from the San Francisco Bay Area and began her training at Contra Costa Ballet Centre under Richard Cammack and Zola Dishong. She later continued her training at Boston Ballet School and spent summers at School of American Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Kirov Academy of Ballet. She has danced with BalletMet, Nashville Ballet, Ballet Austin, and is currently in Company C Contemporary Ballet. Daniella is thrilled to be joining MOTION this year! 

ALEXANDER PETERS--DANCER (1st Season, Pennsylvania Ballet) Alexander began his training at Deborah Anthony's Allegheny Ballet Academy under the instruction of Cristin Burwell, Cherie Noble, and Richard Cook. He continued his training with the School of American Ballet from 2007-2010 where he was a recipient of the 2010 Mae L. Wein Award for Outstanding Promise, the Andrei Kramarevsky Scholarship created by Peter Boal and the 2008 Princess Grace Award. Dance Spirit magazine named him a “Dancer to Watch” in their December 2009 issue. For the 2010-2011 season, Alexander danced with the Kansas City Ballet where he originated the title role in the world premiere of Whitener’s Tom Sawyer in October 2011. He performed with Pennsylvania Ballet as a guest artist in Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée in 2011 and joined the company as an Apprentice in November 2011. He was promoted to Corps de Ballet in March 2012. Since joining Pennsylvania Ballet, he has performed featured roles in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ (Soldier, Tea, and Candy Cane), Matthew Neenan’s 11:11 (Poses), Petipa's Giselle (Peasant Pas de Deux), Trey McIntyre’s Peter Pan (Peter Pan), and Jerome Robbins' N.Y Export: Opus Jazz (Statics). He has originated a soloist role in Neenan's Beside Them, They Dwell.

A R T I S T S  O F  M O T I O N

    Board of Directors

Dianne Kepley (President)

      Gina Phillips (Chair)

          Debbie Barwick

            Nancy Holmes

  Victoria Rosenthal Kristy

            Elizabeth Pou

      Cyndee Youngblood

NADIA IOZZO--DANCER (1st Season, Kansas City Ballet) Nadia Iozzo, originally from Toronto, Ontario, received the RAD Solo Seal Award before moving on to spend four years at Alberta Ballet. Now in her sixth season with Kansas City Ballet, Ms. Iozzo has performed leading roles in George Balanchine's Serenade and Who Cares?, Trey McIntyre’s The Naughty Boy, and Yuri Possokhov’s Firebird; along with soloist roles in Jerome Robbin's Moves, Paul Taylor's Company B, and Peasant Pas de Deux in Giselle. She can be found on Bravo TV in the Joni Mitchell/Jean Grand Maître production The Fiddle and the Drum and in the CBC TV special The Secret of the Nutcracker. In 2008, she hosted the first Creating Dance for a Cure fundraiser for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.