Bio Page

Christina Coleman

President
Is a recent masters graduate from NYU, she teaches, choreographs and directs the CAC Student Dance Company in New Rochelle N.Y. where she is facilitating students' choreography teaching technique, providing performance opportunities and making interdisciplinary connections through choreography. She is also the director of Illuminations Dancing for Global Awareness a modern dance company which has recently received notable recognition from various networks and choreographers in NYC. Christina Coleman received her dance training at NYU, Avery Ballet Company, Fredericksburg, VA, Classics Dance Theatre, Greenwich, CT, and Coleman School of Dance, New Rochelle NY and various dance studios in NYC. She performed with all of these various schools as well as with several choreographers in Manhattan including Deborah Damast, Diane Duggan and Krisna Martinez. Christina Coleman has also worked for Nejla Yatkin and Lisa Avery. Her choreography has been performed on various stages in NYC and she is excited to continue with her choreography related to pressing social issues.

Heather Robles

Vice-President

Graduated with honors from Marymount Manhattan College in the fall of 2008 with a BFA in Dance, concentrating in Choreography. Heather began training in dance at the age of three and continued her studies through six family moves.  She attended summer programs with Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Miami City Ballet, the Urban Bush Women, and Kazuko Hiribayashi in northern Spain.  At age 17, she was accepted to The Ailey School where she trained for one and a half years before pursuing a higher education.  She has choreographed over 25 dances of various genres including works presented at The Ailey School's Fall Fest and Marymount's Dancers at Work productions.  Heather has also been a dance instructor for over ten years and is a freelance dance critic.  She actively serves the community and works to bring social issues into her art.  She is thrilled to be working with Christina Coleman!

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Kelly McCormick Bangs graduated with distinction in December of 2008 from Indiana University with a B.S. in Kinesiology-Dance and a minor in theatre. She earned the National Society of Arts and Letters’ Chapter Career Award in contemporary dance for 2007, 2008, and 2009 and has performed as a featured guest at many dance and music festivals including the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, the Chautauqua Institution, the Festival of New Music at Ball State University, and multiple gala performances at the American College Dance Festival Association. Bangs has trained at Joffrey Ballet summer intensives, Paul Taylor intensives, and has performed the work of Mary Cochran, Bill DeYoung, Bill Evans, Ben Munisteri, Elizabeth Shea, Paul Taylor, and Martha Wittman to name a few. She also works with DeMa Dance Company and is a freelance choreographer. Kelly is thrilled to be with Illuminations, dancing in such urgent and important work.

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Inspired by music, Idil Bray began her dance training at the age of 4 at Ballet Arts, the professional school of Ballet Tucson, under the direction of Mary Beth Cabana. She later moved to Virginia where she trained at the Maryland Youth Ballet. At age 12 she became a resident artist at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where she spent the next 6 years studying with and performing works by Arthur Mitchell's legendary Dance Theatre of Harlem. Throughout her career she has studied with with Susan Farrell, Kevin McKenzie,The Royal Danish Ballet, New York City Ballet and Alvin Ailey. In 2005 she was granted a full scholarship to study Dance at Marymount Manhattan but could not continue due to injury. After a three year hiatus, and tons of soul searching, she is thrilled to be dancing again and to be part of such an globally conscious and dynamic ensemble! She is currently studying theatre at The City College of New York and thanks her loving parents for their unwavering support.

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Originally from Northern New Jersey, Katie is a 2008 graduate of Marymount Manhattan College earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Modern dance under the direction of Katie Langan. At Marymount, she was selected to join the Marymount Manhattan College Dance Company and performed the works of David Parsons, Anthony Ferro, Geoff Doig-Marx and Merce Cunningham. Aside from studying with numerous choreographers, Katie has been seen in national and regional competitions as well as performing in an off Broadway show, an Independent film, a Bollywood Film production and participated in Vienna's International Dance Festival, ImPulsTanz in Austria. In addition to Illuminations, she is currently a member of Clyde Forth Visual Theatre, a New York based company that brings daring, improvisational performance works with a strong visual component to audiences. Katie also teaches modern and ballet in Connecticut while also working as a background artist in numerous commercials and television shows. In addition to dance Katie completed a minor in Forensic Psychology under the direction on Cheryl Paradis. Her business plan, Creative Kinetics, originates from her senior thesis, which couples her passion for dance with her pursuit of a career in psychological therapy. Her designed program, Creative Kinetics, is to be integrated into Bedford Hill Correctional Facility for Women in Upstate New York. Katie was selected to present her program to the department of corrections where she was applauded by the inmates as well as the directors for her idea to help women grow and heal through movement.

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Nicole Bryan has received a B.A in Dance from the University of Maryland and is the recipient of a Creative and Performing arts Scholarship. While at Maryland she learned from artists like Gesel Mason, Neija Yatkin and Dawn Springer. In 2007, she had the opportunity to perform in Diane McIntyre’s reconstruction of “How Long Brethren?” In 2008, she travelled to Buenos Aires, Argentina to study Tango, Yoga and Spanish language. In the future, Nicole plans to continue dancing while pursuing a medical degree. She is excited to have the opportunity to dance with Illuminations Dance Company.

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Laura Colón graduated cum laude with a B.F.A in Dance from Long Island University, Brooklyn in May, 2009. She has studied on scholarship at Ballet Hispanico and at the Taylor School, and has performed in works by Camille A. Brown, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Nathan Trice, and Kevin Wynn, to name a few. Since graduation, she has also worked with the Errol Grimes Dance Group. Laura is excited to be working with Illuminations Dance Co and is thrilled to promote global awareness through the art of dance. She thanks her family for all of their love and support.