DANCE

Natasha Abu-Fadel earned her BFA in Dance Performance from UCO in 2018, exposing herself to many artists and performing in cities nationwide and abroad. After graduating, she attended one of the most long-standing and immersive artistic communities for the American Dance Festival Summer Intensive in Durham, N.C. In 2019, she attended the first Embodiology Immersion in El Paso, Texas, focusing on improvisation for performance under the guidance of Dr. Ama S. Wray. Since then, freelancing has brought her such expansive and diverse opportunities in live performance, teaching, and behind the camera. She’s taught modern, jazz, and hip-hop at studios around the area, along with a semester of modern movement at UCO. Natasha performed with the Painted Sky Opera for Amahl and the Night Visitors and with Perpetual Motion for REWIND at Factory Obscura, along with Paige Fischer’s The Four Seasons: A Modern Ballet. Her works have been seen in collaborative productions for UCO's theater department Trojan Women 2.0 and Everybody, in Edmond North High School's musical productions Bright Star, Mamma Mia, and Oklahoma!, and Southmoore High School’s musical Once Upon A Mattress. She recently performed her solo “La Vie En Rose” at the Oklahoma International Dance Festival. Finally she is very excited to share that she produced and released her first short dance film “X PAT BOND” in collaboration with Leandro Damasco Jr. and many Lebanese expats! It has attended the Lebanese International Film Festival in Beirut, Lebanon and kNOwBOX Dance Film Festival in Dallas, Texas. Through and through she continues to experiment, research, discover and evolve her craft with like-minded artists.

PIANO + COMPOSER + CONDUCTOR

Chickasaw composer, pianist and conductor J. Cruise Berry's music has been performed at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum in New York, Fondazione Prada, The Kennedy Center, First Americans Museum, a 500 year old Italian catacomb, and more locally and well-lit at the Cox Convention Center and even more recently in his Lincoln Terrace apartment to an enthusiastic audience of his adoring dog, Kita, has been described by NewMusicBox as, “an exciting, intensely rhythmic roller coaster” with its “Shostakovich slashing figures” (Gramophone Magazine). Lee Passarella of Audiophile Audition says of his music, “very strong work... his obsessive rhythms and repetition of a brief thematic cell call to mind Steve Reich or Terry Riley… clearly music with a big compositional horizon.” His music has been recorded on the Grammy Award winning record label, Thunderbird Records, by NYC-based "virtuosic alternative string quartet," (The New Yorker), Ethel, in a landmark, first-of-its-kind recording that Encore Magazine states, “reflects a maturity in structure and professionalism in tempo that any veteran contemporary composer would strive for as a marquee achievement.

FILMMAKER

Though he grew up with a love of motion pictures, Zachary went to Oklahoma City University pursuing photography and graphic design, focusing his efforts on the storytelling power of single images. But filmmaking was never far from his mind as he often collaborated on short films with his brother, Jacob Leighton Burns. After they met Vinnie Hogan and the trio began making short films together, a partnership was quickly formed and each new project only deepened Zachary’s interest in storytelling as his love of film, photography, and design further collided and intertwined.

HARP + DANCE

Chelsea Nicole Thompson-Bushong was born in Edmond, Oklahoma. She began playing piano and harp at a young age. She was educated by Leah Trent and Gaye Leblanc and has performed in many ensembles throughout her time as a musician including the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Tulsa Symphony, Fort Smith Symphony, and the performing groups of Oklahoma City University, The University of Central Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University as well as many others. She received her Bachelor's degree in Harp Performance from Oklahoma City University in 2010 and her Master's degree in Harp Performance in 2015, educated by Faith O'Neal. She has maintained a wonderful harp studio throughout the years and has taught many students that have gone to win awards at competitions such as The Carver Competition, put on the by OKC Orchestra League, the Midwest Harp Festival, and the Ladies Music Club of OKC Scholarship Competition. As well, her students have gone to further their education on harp at the Univerty of Central Oklahoma where Chelsea currently teaches, the University of North Texas, and the University of Oklahoma.

DANCE

Brianna was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She began dancing in 2009 and later attended the University of Central Oklahoma for Dance Performance. In 2015, Brianna received a bronze medal with Eclectix Independent (IO) at WGI World Championships and went on to choreograph movement for guards across the midwest. Brianna was a company member of the UCO Kaleidoscope Dance Company (2016-2018), where she had the opportunity to work with artists such as Mike Esperanza, DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion, Christina Woodard, James Gregg & RubberLegz and more. Brianna has also danced with Meraki Movement Company (2019-2020), and RACE Dance Collective (2023; current).

Brianna describes herself as a dreamer, an adventurer and a forever-student. She loves the outdoors, her fur babies and finds fulfillment in pushing her body to its limits just to celebrate that it can.

THEATER, DANCE, WRITER, FILMMAKER

Ian Cummings is an actor, dancer, writer, and filmmaker. Ian has pursued dance and other performing arts in hopes to understand different levels of artistic connection. With experience on both film and the stage, he likes to apply the subtle nuances of film acting into the larger movements of dancing for live audiences. He is a UCO dance/theatre alum, has acted and danced on Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Reagan, and the series Tulsa King. With relatives that had survived the Vietnam War, Ian finds Ditty Bops story of utter importance. A story like this needs to be heard, for soldiers like Neil who worked as ghosts. They should not be treated as such when they are home.

DANCE

Paige Fischer is a choreographer, dance educator, and movement coach rooted here in OKC. She received her BFA in Dance Performance from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2016. During her time at UCO, she performed with Kaleidoscope Dance Company and had the privilege to work with choreographers WIll Johnston, Noa Shiloh, Masayo Yamaguchi, and Greg Russell to name a few. Following graduation, Paige danced two seasons with OKC’s modern and aerial dance company, Perpetual Motion. During her time with Perpetual Motion, she had the unique opportunity to travel and work two artist residencies at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, NM, a career highlight for her.

Currently, Paige is the Community Director at Sweet Yield Studio and a fitness instructor at Render Fitness. Aside from her work as an instructor, she explores freelance opportunities such as producing and choreographing dance concepts for concert & film and collaborating in various creative projects with fellow artists and dancers.

Her most recent creative project, The Four Seasons, A Modern Ballet was Paige’s first series of dance productions as an independent choreographer. The final installation of The Four Seasons, A Modern Ballet will be presented later this year as a first full length dance concert.

She is thrilled to be a part of Ditty Bops and the larger vision and intention of this project; telling Neal’s incredible story and honoring his service through art & movement.

PERCUSSION, GUITAR

I have quite a few different professional goals. One being to gain as much experience and knowledge on as many instruments as the universe will let me. I've always loved gaining experience and knowledge on many different instrument groups including, strings, brass, woodwind, and percussive instruments. Even with as much knowledge that I have, I feel like there is always room to grow. You're never going to stop learning, so why not put energy into learning about the things you love. Another professional goal I have is to get a masters in physical therapy. Growing up in martial arts programs, you learn to appreciate the work of physical therapists while also learning the practice to continue their work outside the office. With all the knowledge I've gained prior to taking college courses, I’ve been able to help many of my friends and family members. Seeing them feel a sense of relief after feeling pain for so long brings me joy. This made me realize that I could actually do well in the field. Lastly, what I hope to gain from my experience with spark. I hope to strengthen my interpersonal communication skills. My Interpersonal communication is okay, I'd love to make it even stronger through the internship. I'd love to also use the internship as a way of helping me achieve my first professional goal of gaining more musical knowledge in as many instruments as possible, starting with percussive instruments, as they are my preferred instruments. My opportunity to have an internship with Spark is a great way to connect with people through something I love. There may be times where there will be a whole conversation where very few words will be spoken. I look forward to experiencing this. Speaking through my art is something I'm very passionate about, and I'd love to connect with people who agree.

DANCE

Chloe Jenson was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma. She began her dance training in 2000 at Studio J Performing Arts Center where she was a member of the company from 2008-2015. In addition to her training at Studio J, Chloe was pleased to travel in her early training years with Mackenzie Martin in Oklahoma City, Denver, Dallas, New York City and Los Angeles to serve a master class and convention assistant.

In 2015, Chloe began training in New York City at The Joffrey Ballet School as a student in their Pre-professional Jazz and Contemporary Program. After completing a year of training in New York, Chloe began studying dance performance at the University of Central Oklahoma where she was a member of, and rehearsal director for, Kaleidoscope Dance Company. She graduated in May of 2020 with her BFA in Dance Performance. Chloe has trained, and is still currently training, in ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, hip hop, pointe, tap, musical theater, and aerial.

Chloe’s teaching career began in 2007 at Studio J where she is still a faculty member today. Alongside teaching at Studio J, Chloe is also on faculty with Oklahoma City Ballet’s Yvonne Chouteau School. Chloe is assistant director of a local dance company, Bloom Dance Company, and trains remotely as a member of G2O with Mackenzie Martin’s Geometry Dance Company in Los Angeles.

Chloe embraces the fact that dance is the rhythm of her soul and is the way she shares and communicates her truest self. She strives to allow vulnerability, authenticity, drive, and passion to surface in her work as well as in her teaching, using these elements to connect hearts and minds through movement.

PERCUSSION + TAP

Nicholas Klein is a percussionist, tap dancer and musical theatre professional with a degree from UCO. In addition to being a core member of SPARK!, he is a drummer for the OKC Thunder.

GRAFFITI + FREESTYLE + ANGEL THINGS

Angel Little, Hip Hop Historian, Youth Pastor, Full Stack Programmer & Graffiti Writer Angel started his passion of growing the community in Lawton, OK at the young age of 14, co-facilitating Art in the Park, a yearly outdoor art presentation and interactive learning engagement. Since then, he went on to create and support numerous endeavors. A key program of his is ONESoul, a series of event initiatives to raise the awareness of equal opportunities for the arts among youth. He is also a Teaching Artist at Oklahoma Contemporary, where he has inspired the next generation for over 7 years and co-curated the record-breaking art exhibit, Not For Sale. Angel plans to continue activating community based organizations, programs and events all over the US. OKC, OK. Angel’s contributions have recently been honored by Oklahoma Contemporary, where he is recognized for their inaugural Founder’s Day.

An accomplished musician, audio engineer and educator, James has premiered numerous new works with Music Box Theater, Alley Theatre, Lone Star Theater, and Houston Grand Opera, including Jekyll & Hyde, Svengali, American Vaudeville, Monky Business and Salsipuedes. He has performed on sessions for GTE, Shell, Harvie S, Tianna Hall, the Testostertones, The Champion Sisters, Stratus and Deer Mountain Music. Working with a diverse group of artists such as Ed Calle’, Paul English, David Liebman, Josie De Guzman, Richard Brown Orchestra, Linda Eder, Jerry Lightfoot, Houstons First and Joel Olsten Ministries, requires James to excel in both acoustic and electronic percussion. He has performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, been published in Percussive Notes and Modern Drummer, and has a released a collection of Afro-Cuban Conga drumming transcriptions. James performs regularly with Lyric Theater and Beatmakers, and recently founded JMR Abstract, an improv percussion trio with guest artists.

VIOLIN + THEATER

Aaron Michael is a performing artist with expertise in music as well as acting on stage, film & voiceover. After receiving a master's degree in violin performance from Oklahoma City University, he has spent the last decade performing and teaching the violin and viola. Aaron began acting training about that same time and has since performed in films and television crossing the local to international spectrum, performed as a VO artist in many different cartoon and anime series appearing on Cartoon Network, and has traveled the country as an improvisational comedian. His work as an actor and musician are integrated fully in almost everything he does. The basic principles Aaron applies to any medium are simple - 'Discover your humanity, create relationships, and allow the audience to discover their story.' This mindset is what Aaron brings to any performing endeavor.

VISUAL ARTIST

Kiona Wooton Millirons is a mixed media artist and recently retired teaching artist. She is the founder and former Executive Director of the Oklahoma City Girls Art School. Kiona is a Leadership Arts graduate and volunteers throughout the arts community with organizations such as Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. Kiona has taught art classes for children, teens and adults throughout Oklahoma for over eighteen years.

Kiona is passionate about art and its impact on development and positive change in individuals and communities. Kiona’s current work centers around grief after the loss of her sister to gun violence. Kiona has a BFA from Oklahoma City University and a MFA from the University of Oklahoma.

SOUND DESIGN | PERCUSSION

Pedro is a passionate young engineer originally from Ecuador, now based in Oklahoma City. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Central Oklahoma were he holds three degrees in Contemporary Music Production, Applied Technology, and Spanish. Pedro now co-owns Pietronix™ a local company he founded in 2018 just after graduating college. Here, he specializes in the production of custom, handmade audio cables for professional musicians and fellow engineers. You may find his products in stock at six major music stores across the state and the region.

He deeply enjoys learning. From random facts and new languages, to improved skills and getting to know other cultures. Pedro speaks Spanish, English, a little bit of French, and is not afraid of saying phrases in Japanese and Portuguese just to make you smile. When he does have time off, he treasures spending time with his family and eating good food in large quantities. Pedro is currently the drummer and percussionist for the disco-punk band Rat F!nk. He frequents venues throughout Oklahoma City both on-stage and as a member of the audience. His sound technician portfolio also includes Norman Music Festival, Acts2 United Methodist Church, Backwoods Music Festival, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Academy of Contemporary Music, Mosteller Music Productions, Civic Center Music Hall, and more…! pietronix.com

DANCE + CHOREOGRAPHY

RACE Dance Collective Founder and Governor’s Arts Awards recipient Hui Cha Poos has worked in the industry as a dancer, choreographer, producer, instructor and director in London, Japan, Korea, British Columbia, Italy and most of the United States. She has taught at the University of Central Oklahoma for over 15 years and is responsible for creating and developing their Jazz Department and serves as Coordinator of Oklahoma's only accredited Dance Education program. Hui co-founded Oklahoma Dance Alliance, OKLA Dance Connection, Groove Street Productions and is the founder and director of RACE Dance Collective, the first professional Jazz/Contemporary/Hip Hop Dance Company in Oklahoma. She has choreographed for Lyric, Pollard, City Rep, Okc Ballet, Thunder Girls, Nike, Blu Cantrell, Tulsa Project Theatre, UCO, OCU, Summer Stock and many more. Her original choreographic works have been featured in dance concerts in LA and New York, Korea and she has had short films (Swirl, Homecoming Trilogy) featured in several festivals from SXSW to Hamburg, Germany. Recent film credits include Full Out 2 and Finding Carlos, which she produced and choreographed. Although Hui has worked extensively with trained dancers, she is known for her ability to connect with less experienced dancers/actors. Her experience in theatre with many different directors helps connect her choreography to continue or compliment the narrative and not as a separate piece. She has choreographed every genre of dance including line dances, period dances, Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Contemporary, and Ballroom.

PHOTOGRAPHY | AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT

Bio coming soon!

DJ + FREESTYLE + VOCALS + PERCUSSION

Born and raised on the westside of Oklahoma City, Tony has been involved in the Oklahoma music scene for 20 years and watched it slowly develop into its current state. He started his hip hop career as a young b-boy/emcee touring the country through practically every Native reservation in the country, mentoring and performing. Since then he has had the honor of working almost every mainstream artist to come through Oklahoma City. As the current "King Of The City," he still competes from time to time but finds much more joy working with youth of all backgrounds to help influence every artistic aspect of their lives. His goal in teaching is to provide young DJs with a personalized music arsenal to book any gig and the skillset to execute with funky percussion.

DANCE

Nathaniel Tylor is a Graduate Dance Performance major from the University of Central Oklahoma. He is trained in classical ballet, jazz, and modern dance. He has also been trained in African dance, Bharatanatyum, and even aerial dance. Mr. Tylor has had the esteemed opportunity to present his own choreographic work at two collegiate conferences. He is also one of the few students who has been selected for two years to present their own choreographic research at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research. He currently teaches across the Oklahoma City and Edmond area in Hip-Hop, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, and Ballet. “As an artist I think it is important to represent the community that you come from. To be another face and voice amongst the people. Art in Oklahoma is making moves one step at a time and I want to be a part of the innovation.”

FILMMAKER

Jacob Leighton Burns is an award-winning filmmaker who specializes in directing, editing, and cinematography. With over a decade of experience, Jacob strives to be a part of projects that are thoughtful, imaginative, memorable, and innovative. Over the years, Jacob has worked on a wide variety of projects of all shapes and sizes, including feature films, documentaries, corporate videos, music videos, and commercials. He has worked with both local and national brands including MTV, CNN, and GQ. His award-winning science fiction film, Electric Nostalgia, is currently available on Amazon Prime, and in 2019, his short documentary, Fleeting Light, was nominated for an Emmy by the Heartland Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2020, his second feature film, SHIFTER, was featured on Entertainment Weekly (EW.com) and SyFy.com, and was nominated by Film Threat for three awards including Best Director and Indie Movie of the Year.

FILMMAKER + VISUAL ARTIST + ANIMATOR

Nicole Emmons is a Citizen Potawatomi Nation filmmaker and mixed media/ installation artist specializing in stop motion animation from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is a Fellow of the 2021 Native American Animators Lab. She received her MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts School of Film and Video as a Jacob K. Javits Fellow, and her Bachelors in Animation and Film from Columbia College Chicago. Her experimental short films “The Wing Eater,” and “Domesti City, OK” combine both stop motion animation and live action. Her films have screened in national as well as international film festivals, and her animation and set lighting work can be seen on Netflix, Nickelodeon, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and other formats in series, short films, music videos, feature films, and commercials. Most recently you can see her work on the Obama's Higher Ground Productions / Netflix children's series, "Waffles and Mochi.”

VISUAL ARTIST

Jasmine Jones is a multidisciplinary artist and maker from Midwest City, Oklahoma. With a form of familiarity and everyday magic, Jasmine traverses across various ideas, methods, and materials as she sees fit for connection. She blends her life into her artwork and vice versa as she works with concepts such as spirituality, chains of memory, and interaction. She has dreams of continuing to expand into as many artistic areas as she can to nurture her expression, creative direction, and knowledge. Jasmine has an Associate in Arts from Rose State College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with emphasis in sculpture and printmaking from the University of Oklahoma. At the University of Oklahoma, her sculpture work largely revolved around social interaction - inviting people to participate in creative endeavors. Since then, her work has bloomed into paintings and digital work of koi fish, insects, and flora to further create an air of flowing harmony and thoughtfulness for viewers. Jasmine is a member of Art Group, Factory Obscura, and SPARK! Through these groups, Jasmine actively appreciates working collaboratively to show that art can be interactive, immersive, beneficial, and so much more – creating to show that people can find curiosity or beauty striking at any moment.

Brandi Kelley is a dance educator and choreographer, and the ArtisticDirector for RACE Dance Collective. Brandi performed professionally for 6years with RACE, and has also directed RACE Academy. With an M.F.A inDance, an M.Ed in Secondary Education, and a 200RYT yoga certification,Brandi has continued to pursue training and experiences that will developconnections with both the mind and body in the classroom and on stage.Her choreography aims to give dancers and audiences the chance to reflecton the joys and sensations of the human experience, and she is currentlyfocusing on creating experiences of dance improvisation as performance.She is a full time dance educator and department chair at Classen School ofAdvanced Studies, which is an Oklahoma City Public School. Brandi ispassionate about contributing to the continued growth, expansion, andvisibility of our OKC arts communities, and she feels privileged to give backto the red dirt that had raised her.

FILMMAKER | PHOTOGRAPHY

Jake (He/Him) has always enjoyed a good story. So much, that when he was a child he would tell people about his parents were not actually his parents. In fact, he was an orphan that had been walking down the street one day and decided that a particular house looked especially nice and just decided to live there. The owners of the house would become his parents, and accepted their daughters as his sisters. He has enjoyed making stuff up ever since.

In 2010, having grown a righteous beard, Jake was asked by a friend to help make a short video titled "Beard Bros". Always wanting to make films, but never believing it was actually possible, he decided to just say 'yes'. From there he has continued to work in film, furthering his belief in the power of telling stories through film.

DANCE + CHOREOGRAPHY

Jessica Ray is a multi-disciplinary artist and a native of Oklahoma City, OK. A cinematographer specializing in live performance, her work with Nel Shelby Productions launched her career in the industry, where she works widely with dance institutions and independent artists including Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, New York City Center, New York Live Arts and Vail Dance Festival. She contributed to the groundbreaking Black Women In Hollywood (Essence Online & Galex Media) and filmed the acclaimed series "Live from the NYPL," featuring notable authors, scholars, actors and musicians. Jessica's personal dance films have screened in festivals across the U.S. and internationally, most recently at DeadCenter Film Festival. Her choreographic works, featured in Dance into Deliverance, have been performed in numerous festivals and events throughout the East Coast, notably Dixon Place, WAXWORKS, and Judson Church. As a dancer, Jessica has performed works by Mariangela Lopez, Sydnie L. Mosely, Charles Wideman, Amy Smith, Tawanda Chabikwa and Christopher Huggins. She also creates mixed media and illustrated visual works, recently shown in Brooklyn, NY.

DANCE + STREETDANCE

Chris "Twix" Shepard is a 8 year company member of RACE Dance Collective as well as its Director of Community Engagement. He graduated from University of Central Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance. He works within our community through other organizations including: Rhythmically Speaking, Band of Misfits, NBA Thunder team's "O'City crew", and GNWY.