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.

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.

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.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Ryan Johnson is a multidisciplinary creator with a background in software engineering, photography, music, design, and illustration. After earning a BFA in Design from Oklahoma State University, he built a career that blends technical innovation with artistic expression. He has developed over 45 enterprise-level software applications and projects, led weekly advertising campaigns for major retailers like Hobby Lobby, and directed the design and production of an internationally published magazine, as well as educational textbooks and other print and digital materials. As a professional illustrator and graphic designer, Ryan has created album covers, logos, poster art, and branding for a range of clients in music, publishing, and business. A co-owner of Kaser Guitars, he also designs custom electric guitars and basses, and is an accomplished, published recording artist—dedicated to crafting meaningful, high-quality work in every medium he touches, whether it's code, visuals, or sound.

PERCUSSION + TAP

Nicholas Klein is a percussionist, tap dancer and musical theatre professional with a degree from UCO. A former member of the OKC Thunder Drummers, Nicholas is now serving in the U.S. Navy. We wish him well, extend our greatest thanks for his service, and dearly hope he will come back to us soon!

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 Board Member and Teaching Artist at Oklahoma Contemporary, where he has inspired the next generation for over 10 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 U.S.

A 100% Disabled U.S. Navy Veteran, Angel is a core collaborator and facilitator for Ditty Bops | The Art of Listening.

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.

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.

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.”

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

From an early age, Evelyn Farrar was raised with a deep appreciation for the arts. Her childhood was filled with concerts, theater, piano lessons, ballet lessons, flute, and African dance. Evelyn’s unique journey has led her down several professional paths — including trade show organizer, brand ambassador and jewelry designer. While living in Seattle, Evelyn put her passion for the arts to work as a business manager for a community theater. In 2021, she studied film and  television production through the Oklahoma Film & Television Academy (OFTA). Evelyn has also had the good fortune to further develop her creative chops in jobs including production assistant, wardrobe assistant and acting. When she discovered Spark! Creative Lab in 2022, Evelyn knew she had found her tribe and quickly donated her time and energy to various projects. She currently serves as a passionate project manager for SPARK!’s upcoming production, Ditty Bops | The Art of Listening.

FOUNDER & DIRECTOR
PRODUCER | THEATRE | LIVE COMPOSITION

Nicole is an artist, producer, speaker, and educator working at the intersection of arts, advocacy, and public engagement. After 20+ years shaping creative culture across NYC and Europe, she returned to her Oklahoma roots, continuing her work as a creative catalyst and community connector.

A sought-after collaborator and one of the world’s leading interdisciplinary practitioners of Soundpainting—the universal sign language for live composition—Nicole performs internationally and helps shape the evolving language through global Soundpainting Think Tanks. She is a longtime member of the Walter Thompson Orchestra (NYC), co-founder of Kollecti’F (Geneva), and regularly collaborates with artists from 35+ countries.

Nicole is also a passionate educator, designing and leading interdisciplinary residencies in improvisation, ensemble-building, and creative leadership. She’s been a facilitator for UNCSA’s Creative Catalyst program, adjunct professor of Art & Human Values at Oklahoma City University, and a guest artist at the University of Oklahoma and Rose State College.

Her award-winning voice has narrated over 200 audiobooks, earning accolades from Publisher’s Weekly, AudioFile Magazine, and the Audie Awards. She’s presented nationally on the power of the arts to heal and connect—including a featured appearance alongside Renée Fleming in her Music and Mind series.

Nicole curates the O. Gail Poole Collection—a vibrant archive of her late father’s artwork—and her own visual art (@wordsmiff405), born as sidewalk poetry during the pandemic, sparked the founding of SPARK! and earned her the Paseo Arts Association’s “Inspirational Influencer” award.

A proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma School of Drama, Nicole is a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity. She toured England with the Royal Shakespeare Company under the direction of the late Sirs Peter Hall and John Barton—a formative experience that fueled her shift toward social practice and the intersection of art, community, and wellness. She is the Founder and Executive Director of SPARK! Creative Lab—and is honored to co-create this moment in time with you.

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER
BOOKKEEPER

Leanna is a Business Manager, Event Planner, and Floral Designer in Oklahoma City. She graduated with a Bachelors of Business Administration in 2021 and brings with her 8 years of business management and nonprofit work experience. Since graduating, Leanna has served as a Regional Coordinator for Parents Helping Parents, and as the Capital Campaign Coordinator for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of OKC, working alongside the Development and Outreach teams to raise over $5 million for the construction of a local women’s day shelter. Leanna is also the Director of Member Services for LeadingAge Oklahoma, serving Oklahoma’s longterm healthcare providers through advocacy and education.