Faculty
Karena Birk (she/her)
DIRECTOR
BALLET, POINTE, DANCE COMPOSITION, OPEN BALLET
Karena was born and raised in Seattle, and started taking creative dance at age 3 after insisting on dancing around the living room to Swan Lake every single evening. She received the majority of her dance training at the Cornish Preparatory Dance Program, as well as at the Richmond Ballet, and the University of Washington. She holds an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University, and a BA in Classics from the University of Washington. Before directing Dance Fremont, she has taught ballet and modern dance at many places, including the University of Washington Bothell, Bainbridge Dance Center, Interlochen Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University, and Cornish Preparatory Dance. Her professional dance experience includes performing with the Colorado Ballet, Lehua Dance Theatre, ARC Dance, Catherine Cabeen-Hyphen, Redd Legg Dance, and Seattle Dance Project. She has enjoyed the wonderful opportunity to dance works of Trisha Brown, Anna Sokolow, Antony Tudor, George Balanchine, Fanny Elssler, Wade Madsen, Deborah Wolf, Hannah Wiley, and many others. Her MFA studies focused on pedagogy, dance performance, notation, and history, and she holds a Teaching Certification in Labanotation. She has staged a number of historical works from their Labanotation scores, including Doris Humphrey's The Shakers, Donald McKayle's Rainbow Etude, and selections from Helen Tamiris's Negro Spirituals.
Karena believes in the value of dance as a source of inspiration, self-discovery, expression, and fulfillment for everyone who studies it. Every dance student deserves the respect of being given quality training and curriculum, and the integrity of dance education at Dance Fremont has long been an inspiration to Karena. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to support and continue the excellence that Vivian, Mary, and the Dance Fremont community have built.
Mary Kay Bisignano-Vadino (she/her)
MOVING FOR WELLNESS
Mary Kay Bisignano-Vadino has over thirty years of experience as a dance teacher. She has taught dance to people of all ages in a variety of settings and feels fortunate to be amongst the professional teaching staff at Dance Fremont. Mary Kay holds a Bachelors Degree in Dance from Western Michigan University and a Masters Degree in Choreography and Performance from U.C.L.A. While in Los Angeles she was recognized by the L.A. Arts Council for her choreography. Her professional dance experience began at The Chicago Dance Medium and inspired her toward a career of choreographing and teaching. As an independent choreographer in Seattle in the 90s, her work was featured at New City Theater, On the Boards, Allegro Dance Festival, Arts Edge Dance Festival and Bumbershoot. Her work has also been performed in Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles.
From 1999-2009, Mary Kay choreographed and performed with Next Stage Dance Theater under the artistic direction of Dominique Gabella. This company of mature dancers provided a collaborative exchange for creative expression and an opportunity to work with local choreographers. She has choreographed for the Kaleidoscope Dance Company and Fremont Danceworks Company. Mary Kay loves choreographing for these talented young dancers finding it to be some of the most rewarding work of her career.
Mary Kay also teaches creative movement and dance at the Salmon Bay School. She loves sharing dance with elementary school students and finds their curiosity and sense of humor refreshing. Mary Kay is a Certified Yoga Instructor (RYT), teaches at Taj Yoga and enjoys subbing yoga classes at a number of local health clubs. She also volunteers for Street Yoga, a non-profit organization bringing yoga to homeless and at risk youth and teens.
Away from the studio, Mary Kay dances through life with her husband John and their three amazing children Sophia, Anthony and Nicolas. Mary Kay is passionate about teaching. Her students inspire her through their commitment to consistently work hard at finding the joy of movement while realizing their full potential through the shared experience of dancing.
Eva Crystal (she/her)
BALLET, MODERN PARTNERING, ADULT BEGINNING MODERN
Eva Crystal grew up in Oregon where she received a foundation in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary and Acrobatics at Innovative Dance. Eva refined her technique and performance skills studying at NW Dance Project. She graduated Magna Cum Laude and with honors from Loyola Marymount University where she received a B.A. in Dance, focusing on Modern and Composition. She has been featured in works by Sidra Bell, Stephanie Zaletel, Rebecca Lemme and Rosalynde LeBlanc Loo in performances at LMU. In collaboration with Halie Donabedian, Eva has created multiple duets that have been invited to be performed at Annual Dean's Convocations, Annual Spring Student Concerts, ACDA, and MixMatch Dance Festival and as guest teachers and performers at UNCG. She has been awarded scholarships to study with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, BODYTRAFFIC, and Gibney Dance Company. Upon graduating, Eva was awarded an Artistic Merit for Choreography. Eva moved to Seattle in the Fall of 2019 where she began dancing with PRICEarts, Daniel Costa Dance, and Coriolis Dance. She has taught many different dance styles at Ballard Academy of Music and Dance, Spotlight Dance Center, Innovative Dance, and now teaches Modern 6 at Dance Fremont. Collaboration is at the heart of everything that Eva does and she deeply enjoys bringing art to life through movement!
Nicole Flores (they/them)
BALLET, MODERN, OPEN BALLET
Nikki is a movement artist originally from Chicago, IL. They hold a BFA from Columbia College Chicago, as well as secondary dance training from AMDA LA. As they approached their senior year of college, they had the great opportunity of being a founding member of Alluvion Dance Chicago and serving as Rehearsal Director in their inaugural season. Since then, they have had the opportunity of performing with companies such as LA Contemporary Dance Company, Psychopomp Dance, and Heidi Duckler Dance Theater. Life has gracefully planted them in the beautiful city of Seattle since 2021. Having been in Seattle for just a short time, Nikki has been so grateful to have performed most recently with Coriolis Dance in their 2021 evening length work: The Art of Seafaring. Nikki has also been selected as a choreographer for The 2023 Bridge Project through Velocity Dance Center and feels so ecstatic to be switching gears and creating more work. As a teacher, Nikki feels it is of the utmost importance to allow their students to find their own creative voice in their class. They strive to create a safe space where movement is a vehicle for students to learn but also find their own sense of self. Nikki is so humbled to be a part of the Dance Fremont Staff!
Mark Haim (he/him)
OPEN BALLET
Mark Haim has been making dances and teaching dance for 35 years. He was accepted to the Dance Division of The Juilliard School on an honorary scholarship, graduating with a BFA degree. There, he performed in works by Paul Taylor, Antony Tudor, Jose Limon and Anna Sokolow, and began choreographing. He received his MFA in Dance in 2006, in the first graduating class of the Hollins/ADF MFA program.
From 1984 -1987, he directed Mark Haim & Dancers. From 1987-1990, he was Artistic Director of the Companhia de Danca de Lisboa, one of Portugal’s first publicly-funded modern dance companies.Mark has been commissioned to create new works for many dance companies in the US, Europe and Asia, among them the Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet Frankfurt, the Limon Dance Company, the Joffrey II Dancers, the Rotterdamse Dansgroep, the Silesian Dance Theater, the Companhia de Danca de Lisboa, CoDanceCo, the TRANS Dance Co., and Ballet Pacifica. Mark was Senior Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington in Seattle (2002-2008), Visiting Associate Professor at Reed College, and has been on the faculties of the American Dance Festival and NYU-Tisch School of the Arts He has also guest-taught at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Ohio University, University of Illinois, the New World School of the Arts, Hollins University, Cornell University, the Rotterdamse Dansacademie, Dance Space and Peridance in New York City, and has been guest-teacher at schools and companies in Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Holland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Poland, Russia, and Japan.
Charlotte Hart (she/her)
BALLET, POINTE
Charlotte Hart received her early training in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana, performing with the New Orleans Youth Ballet. She received her BFA in Ballet Performance with Special Distinction from the University of Oklahoma. Performing professionally with Louisville Ballet, Augusta Ballet, and Ballet Nouveau Colorado (Wonderbound), she danced in classical, contemporary, modern, and musical theatre choreography, and guest performed nationally. Favorite roles include Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, the Blue Girl in Nijinska’s Les Biches, Esmeralda in Tudor’s Fandango, and a Russian girl in Balanchine’s Serenade.
Charlotte has taught ballet in Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Colorado, Utah, California, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Washington. She spent two years as assistant director for the student company of Ballet Nouveau Colorado and eight years as the assistant coordinator for the OU SummerWind Youth Ballet. Her choreography has been performed by Augusta Ballet II, Western Arkansas Ballet, SWYB, Springville Ballet, the student company of BNC, and at the 2011 International WaTER Conference, and presented at SWRBA and OU’s Young Choreographers’ Showcase, and (directed) OU Composers’ Recital, Frame by Frame, and Degrees of Rotation. As répétiteur, she set Robert Mills’ In Between Dreams on the Oklahoma City Ballet.
During graduate school, Charlotte was awarded the Ballets Russes Archive Fellowship, earned a Graduate Teaching Fellowship, won the Miguel Terekhov Award for Ballet Choreography, and completed Jack Anderson and Camille Hardy’s dance criticism workshop. Outside the studio, she taught and lectured for introductory collegiate general education dance courses at OU. Charlotte graduated in 2012 with her MFA in Dance from OU after successfully defending her thesis entitled Joanna Kneeland’s Therapeutic Barre: A Qualitative Analysis, which explored task-specific warming up for ballet technique. In 2019, she presented some of this research at the DEAW annual conference. Charlotte is certified in Progressing Ballet Technique, Revolutionary Principles of Movement, and has participated in teacher trainings with Ruth Petrinovic, Maria Vegh, Finis Jhung, and Terry Goetz & Ann Green Gilbert.
She currently lives in Edmonds with her husband, two sons, and two cats. Charlotte loves being in the studio, being ballet nerdy, and collaborating with all dancers to reach their potential as movers, artists, and humans.
Aubra Julia Heller (she/her)
CREATIVE DANCE, PRIMARY DANCE, BALLET MODERN, POINTE
COMMUNITY & ADMINISTRATION
Aubra was a student at Dance Fremont from ages 3-18. Working as Dance Fremont's Community & Administration Manager and a studio teacher are her ideal jobs because they combines two things that bring her joy; dancing and working with kids. Aubra has enjoyed sharing her love of movement with young dancers in childcare centers, public schools, and yoga/dance studios. Her number one priority is creating a space where students can use dance to express themselves, learn, and have fun. Aubra graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Washington with a Major in Dance and a Minor in Education, Learning, and Societies with a focus in infant, toddler, and elementary education and psychology.
Christina Kennedy (she/her)
MODERN, ADULT BEGINNING-INTERMEDIATE BALLET, OPEN BALLET
Christina Kennedy received her early training, from Sally Tierney, in the Cecchetti Method of Ballet. She has studied with teachers in Vaganova and Balanchine style during Dance Theater of Harlem Residency programs and a summer at the Washington School of Ballet. Growing up near Washington D.C. gave her the chance to perform at the Kennedy Center multiple times. She has studied many dance styles including Modern, Broadway Jazz, Lyrical, African and Tap. While earning her BA from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County she danced with the faculty directed, Phoenix Dance Company. After moving to Seattle, she danced with Redd Legg Dance, badmarmar, and Ashani Dances. Performance may be the reward for hard work in the studio but being in class is her favorite part of dancing. Her teaching style is geared toward keeping dancers healthy while making a very demanding art form fun to learn. She continues to read books about dance and take classes around the city to keep in touch with the mind of a student.
Bethany Lynch (she/her)
RECEPTION & ADMINISTRATION
Bethany Lynch graduated from Western Washington University in Spring 2023 with a BFA in Dance, BA in Business Marketing, and a minor in Arts Enterprise and Cultural Innovation (AECI). While in college she started doing hip hop while studying abroad in South Korea and when she came back to WWU was on the dance team for 4 years and was a captain for 2 years. She was also part of an all inclusive dance club called SINI-HHA and was their Vice President for 1 year. She was also a member of Kpop club High Intensity and danced with them for 3 years. While getting her BFA at Western, Bethany got to work with so many amazing choreographers and dancers, some of her favorite experiences being with Angela Sebastian, Ethan Rome, and Caitlin Schafte. Her first performance post graduation was a contemporary performance called 2 of 2, put on by Caitlin Schafte, Naquoia Bautista, and Cara Congelli. She moved to Seattle in August 2023 and has since joined The Garden Dance Company (Avery Gardner), Movement26 (Kaitlyn Pitts), and most recently co-founded Kpop cover group KBB Crew. She has also danced in training programs/intensives with Ztheory, RTHMZ, Undercurrent x Ground Grooves, and has performed in Friday Night Hip Hop performances: No FLex Zone and SoulOut Showcase.
Robbi Moore (they/them)
MODERN, HORTON TECHNIQUE
Robbi A. Moore (they/them), from Hamden, CT, began dancing at New England Ballet and continued at Dee Dee’s Dance Center and New Haven Ballet. Robbi is an alumnus of Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, the Ailey Summer Intensive, Cunningham Trust Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow’s Commercial Dance Program, and the Complexions Intensive. They graduated magna cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and danced with Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre, The Steps Repertory Ensemble, AATMA Performing Arts, Whidbey Island Dance Theatre, Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, Karin Stevens Dance, the Guild Dance Company, Kinesis Project Dance Theatre, The Gray, PRICEarts, Coriolis Dance, Khambatta Dance Company, and Spectrum Dance Theater.
Jasmine Morgan (she/her)
CREATIVE DANCE, PRIMARY DANCE, PREPARATORY DANCE, BALLET, MODERN, ADULT BEGINNING BALLET
Jasmine Morgan was born and raised in Seattle, WA. She started her dance training at Pacific Northwest Ballet from age 7-11 years. At the age of 12 years, Jasmine discovered Dance Fremont and that became like her second home.
She danced in Fremont Danceworks Company from age 12-18 years performing in many lead and ensemble roles choreographed by Carla Maxwell (Artistic Director of the Limón Dance Company), Kabby Mitchell III (former soloist of Pacific NW Ballet), Hannah Wiley (founding Artistic Director of University of Washington’s Chamber Dance Company), Mary Kay Bisignano-Vadino (Dance Fremont Faculty), Mary Reardon and Vivian Little (Co-directors of Dance Fremont).
Jasmine’s love for dance has transformed into a passion to teach dance. She taught ballet to adults and children at American Dance Institute in 2006, volunteered at the YMCA teaching ballet to beginning adults and is currently teaching a dance class for people with developmental disabilities. Jasmine loves being with people, so being able to teach them her passion is a true joy.
Fiona Vigdor (she/her)
BALLET, POINTE
Fiona Vigdor began dancing ballet at the age of 4 and hasn’t stopped since. Born and raised in Santa Fe, NM, she started her training under Andy Prince at Prince Ballet. She continued her studies with Gisella Genschow at the Santa Fe Dance Foundation through high school. In 1996, Fiona attended the Boston Conservatory and studied a mix of modern and ballet under Jennifer Scanlon, Yasuko Tokunaga, Donna Silva, Anamarie Sarazin and Elaine Bauer, among others. She also studied with Marcus Schulkind outside of the Conservatory.
In 2001, after graduating with a BFA in dance, Fiona moved to New York City to continue her dancing. In 2004, she joined Alan Good dance, who she closely studied with and performed with for 5 years. During her time in New York, she also continued her ballet training with Christine Wright, Marjorie Mussman, Jocelyn Lorenz, Zvi Gotheiner and Graciela Kozak. In addition to dancing, Fiona also received her Pilates certification from Sal Anthony’s Movement Salon in 2004. While in New York, she continued to study Pilates closely with Clarice Marshall and also studied with Deborah Lessen, and Maya Aubrey. Fiona continued to dance, perform and teach Pilates in New York, until 2010, when Fiona and her husband decided to move to Seattle.
In Seattle, she has choreographed and danced with Bellingham Repertory Dance as well as Relay Dance Collective and has taught Pilates at Pilates on 10th and Lift Pilates. Fiona has also attended Anne Green Gilbert’s Summer Dance Institute for Teachers. Fiona loves helping dancers learn how to make clear connections in their body through the use of imagery, anatomy and rhythm.
Christine Weh (she/her)
PRIMARY DANCE, BALLET, PRE-POINTE
Christine Weh began her training in Portland, Oregon, with many influential teachers including Heather Renk and Mary Hunt. She performed as soloist and ensemble with Portland Community Ballet under the direction of Lila Zali protegé Cynthia Tosh. Christine earned her BFA in Dance cum laude from Cornish College of the Arts where she was fortunate to work with choreographers Mary Sheldon Scott, Pat Hon, Tonya Lockyer, and Gary Masters from the Limón Dance Company. Additionally, she has performed with Weaving Dance, Chimera Dance Theater and Sapience Dance Collective. She has studied Creative Movement under Gail Heilbron and Christine Juarez, and completed Anne Green Gilbert’s Summer Institute for Teachers in 2014. Christine has been teaching her love of dance in ballet, creative movement and modern techniques for over 15 years. She has served as faculty for many schools in the region including The Dance School (also serving as Director of Education), Dance Time and Woodinville Dance Academy. Christine is currently on faculty at Cornish Preparatory Dance, where she served as Administrative Assistant for 10 years. She is the Dance Specialist for Secret Garden Preschool and continues to perform locally in independent artist productions. Christine is eager to be a part of the inspiring faculty of Dance Fremont. Her teaching goal is to provide students of all ages with the necessary tools for accomplishment, joy, and participation in dance.
Guest Faculty & Faculty Alumni
Vivian Little, Director Emerita
Vivian joined the San Francisco Ballet (SFB) in 1977 under the artistic direction of choreographers, Lew Christensen and Michael Smuin. Performing Christensen and Smuin choreography, as well as works by George Balanchine and Frederic Ashton fueled her passion for dance. Vivian’s enthusiasm for teaching came from studying with master teachers Sally Streets, Tatiana Grantzeva, Anatol Vilzak, and Virginia Johnson. Vivian retired from SFB as a Soloist in 1981. After her performing career, she continued to work as a ballet mistress at El Teatro Municipal de Lima, Peru where she had the opportunity to work with Jorge Esquivel (Ballet Nacional de Cuba) and Mario Galizzi (Teatro Municipal de Buenos Aires). She later taught on the faculty of Walnut Hill Performing Art School in Massachusetts and for seven years at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle. In September 1996, “Ms. Vivian” founded Dance Fremont and in 1999 Mary Reardon and “Ms. Vivian” became Co-Directors. Together they shared a vision for the ballet and modern dance integrated program and founded Fremont Danceworks, the school’s contemporary dance company, directing school and company until June 2015. Vivian has taught as a Guest Lecturer in the University of Washington’s Dance Department and from 2007-2016, taught ballet as an adjunct dance instructor at Cornish College of the Arts. “Ms. Vivian” feels an immense gratitude for having been a professional dancer, dance educator, choreographer and dance school director. She strives to bring the richness of this experience into her classroom. She hopes that the discipline and joy that comes from studying dance will support her students in all aspects of their lives.
Mary Reardon, Director Emerita
Mary Reardon grew up in Erie, PA where she began her life of dance with The Erie Civic Ballet under the direction of Statia Sublette. Her summers were spent at the Chautauqua Institute where she studied under teachers Alexandra Danilova, Melissa Hayden, Jacques D’Amboise, and Patricia McBride.
Mary earned a BFA from the University of Cincinnati where she danced with the Cincinnati Ballet under the direction of David McClain. At the University her love for modern dance began to grow while studying the Horton Technique under teacher James Truitte. Modern dance led her to Atlanta, GA in 1977 where she danced professionally for Atlanta Contemporary Dance Company, Lee Harper Dancers, City Center and the Alliance Theater. In 1981, Mary Wells became Mary Reardon and joined The Carl Ratcliff Dance Theatre. She became a soloist and danced with Atlanta’s first modern dance company for six years.
In 1989, Mary changed focus from performing to teaching. She owned her own school in Georgia for ten years, directed the summer dance program for the Governors Honors program of Georgia and continued to teach in the outreach program for The Carl Ratcliff Dance Theatre. In 1999, Mary joined forces with Vivian Little to co-direct Dance Fremont! In June of 2015 Mary stepped down from Co-Directing Dance Fremont. She continues to teach at the school and is a guest lecturer at the University of Washington.
“My journey across the United States has brought me to understand the amazing gift my parents gave me all those years ago. Dance is like this special club where once you join you are always a part of it. You can meet those other members all your life in any city in the world. I love to teach because I love to introduce children into the world of the dance community. It teaches them to honor their bodies, to work cooperatively, to tap into their creative self. It brings self-awareness to the others around them. The dance world is a special place to be regardless if you choose to make it your life’s work.”
