The International premiere of TAPESTRY, a dance-theater collaboration between Karlovsky & Company Dance and Divadlo Štúdio Tanca of Slovakia opening March 21-22 at The Grandel Theatre
SHIFTING TIME
March 20 - 21, 2026
7:30pm
The Grandel
3610 Grandel Square
St. Louis, MO 63103
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Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, the Regional Arts Commission, The Kranzberg Arts Foundation, and by private donors.
CHOREOGRAPHERS
Dawn Karlovsky
Founder and Director
Karlovsky & Company Dance
DAWN KARLOVSKY is the Founder and Director of Karlovsky & Company Dance. Her choreography has been commissioned and presented by universities and companies both nationally and internationally, with credits including Le Théatre du Rouret and Cie Haute Tension in France, Tsinghua University in Beijing, New World Dance Theatre in South Africa, Divadlo Štúdio tanca in Banka Bystrica, Slovakia. She has also been an Artist in Residence at Moulin Belle in France.
A native of Chicago, Dawn came to St. Louis after performing with companies in San Francisco, Louisville, and Chicago. A fifth-generation Isadora Duncan dancer, she has studied and performed the Duncan repertoire with Alice Bloch since 2005. She holds an MFA from the University of Utah and a BA from Northern Illinois University.
Dawn is a nationally certified teaching member of the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT). Certified in 2004, she currently serves as Chair of AmSAT’s Committee for the Alexander Technique in the Performing Arts (CATPA). Her teaching fosters a holistic approach to movement and creative practice through Alexander Technique courses at Washington University as part of the Somatic Studies Certificate Program and as faculty at Webster University’s Department of Dance in St. Louis. Dawn is a recipient of an Artist Fellowship in Dance from the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis.
Guest Collaborator
Megan Nicely | Dance
MEGAN NICELY is an artist/scholar whose research involves choreographic experimentation through the medium of the body. She draws on critical dance and performance theory, philosophy, and embodied practices, including release-based dance, Japanese butoh, and somatics, to create both written scholarship and performance work. Her writing includes the book Experimental Dance and the Somatics of Language: Thinking in Micromovement (2023) and articles in Liminalities, Choreographic Practices, Performance Matters, TDR: The Drama Review, Performance Research, PARtake, and other journals.
Her performance works with Megan Nicely | Dance have been presented in the US, UK, and Europe. Recent collaborative projects include humXn forms (2024) with Shoshana Green, performed at the San Francisco International Arts Festival, and Shifting Time (2019/2026) with Dawn Karlovsky, performed at the Grandel Theater in St. Louis.
Megan teaches butoh workshops in the Bay Area community, studies the Alexander Technique, and is Professor of Performing Arts and Social Justice/Dance at University of San Francisco. She holds a BA in art history, an MFA in dance, and a PhD in performance studies. www.megannicelydance.org
KARLOVSKY & COMPANY DANCE
Summer Beasley
Assistant Director - Education Coordinator
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Summer began her dance training at the age of 3. She continued on her dance journey through college at Webster University with a BFA in Dance, and Lindenwood University receiving a MFA in movement with an emphasis in theater. She has danced and choreographed across the U.S. and has been working with Dawn Karlovsky since 2004. As a founding member of Karlovsky & Company Dance, Summer has enjoyed the opportunity to tour with the company to France and South Africa. Currently, she teaches dance, creative movement, and yoga at MICDS. Her yoga certificate includes the completion of a 200 hour yoga teacher training with Pam Schulte and a 95 hour children’s yoga teacher training with Lisa Roberts.
Zoe DeYoung
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Zoe (she/her) is a movement artist and creative from St. Louis, Missouri. Taught first by her grandmother, Judy Briscuso, Zoe went on to earn degrees in Dance and Journalism from Webster University, performing works by Pilobolus and Abby Z and the New Utility. She has trained and collaborated with artists Xi Zhao, Dawn Karlovsky, Maggi Dueker, Tayler Kinner and Eve Mason, and studied under artists Beckah Reed, Betsy Brandt and Kirven Douthit-Boyd, among others. Zoe has performed as a guest artist and collaborator with choreographer Tú Hóang at American Dance Festival, Ellie Harrsion in SpaceStation Dance Residency, Josiah Gunderson and Renée Austin in Resilience Dance Company’s Collective Realities, and with Marlee Doniff in Chew & Spit. Her choreography has been featured at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) conference, and her movement philosophy draws from somatics and subtle energy, social dance and the written word. Zoe is honored to begin her first season as a company member with Karlovsky & Company Dance for their 2025-2026 season.
Emily Gregg
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Emily is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer native to St. Louis. She holds a BA in Dance from Southeast Missouri State University where she also studied and received a BS in Mass Communications. While at SEMO, she had the opportunity to work with several guest artists such as Kristopher Estes-Brown, Jennifer Archibald, Emily Schoen Branch, Emily Haussler, and Mike Esperanza. She has also had the honor to perform in the Big Muddy Dance Festival (St. Louis) in 2022. Throughout her dance career, she has trained all over the St. Louis area in dance, musical theater and voice. She has also received training in various other cities such as Milwaukee, WI, Oklahoma City, OK, and Kalamazoo, MI. Emily is currently the assistant dance team coach for Nerinx Hall, and she is thrilled to be starting her third year with Karlovsky & Company Dance.
Abigail Hinrichs
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Abbie is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher native to St. Louis, Missouri. She earned her BFA from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance where an excitement for experimental theater, music, and dance was born. Since her return home, Abbie has taught dance all over the St. Louis region but has spent most of that time at Central Studio where her teaching career has grown under the mentorship of Mary Ellen Bryan. As a complement to teaching dance, Abbie earned her Pilates certification in 2019 to provide another avenue of movement and healing to her students. She currently serves on the board of Community Arts STL; a non-profit dedicated to building a healthier St. Louis by providing transportation and tuition scholarships for youth interested in arts education. Abbie has danced professionally for nine seasons with Karlovsky & Company Dance and seven seasons with Ballet 314. Outside of company work, Abbie has performed and choreographed in freelance projects with Tayler Kinner (Big Plate Dance), Laura Roth, Morgan Cameron, and more. If she’s not dancing or teaching, you can find Abbie at home with her partner and cats in their South City backyard turned wildflower prairie.
Tayler Kinner
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Tayler Kinner grew up with a passion for movement and dance. They hold a BFA in Dance and a minor in Advertising & Marketing Communications from Webster University, graduating with departmental honors. Tayler spent several years in San Francisco where she worked with contemporary and dance-theater companies including RAWdance, Alyssandra Katherine Dance, Tim Rubel Human Shakes, KWENTO, REYES Dance, and several independent artists. They are the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Big Plate Dance, offering movement improvisation workshops to the public and bringing spontaneous and immersive works to audiences. She currently is Adjunct Faculty at Webster University and works with Karlovsky & Company Dance and Collective Motion. Tayler lives in St. Louis with their partner and two cats.
Ashley Mason
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Ashley is a native of St. Louis, Missouri who joined the Karlovsky & Company Dance in 2024. She trained for 4 years upon graduation at Webster University Department of Dance in 2019 with a BFA in Dance (emphasis in modern dance). While attending Webster, she had the opportunity to work with the artists such as, Dawn Karlovsky, Michael Uthoff, Xi Zhao, and Maggi Dueker through class and performances with the Webster University Dance Ensemble. In addition, Ashley has performed in the BFA Concerts, the Chinese Cultural Dance Event, and American College Dance Association Regional Conference in Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Minnesota.
Liliana Merifield
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Liliana has trained for over a decade at DaySpring Arts and Education, studying ballet, modern, jazz, tap, musical theatre, voice, and acting. From 2017 to 2018, she was a trainee with Common Thread Contemporary Ballet, focusing on modern techniques and performing company repertoire. She earned her BFA in Dance from Lindenwood University in 2022, working with choreographers such as Madison Hicks, Nsquared Dance, Lindsay Hawkins, and Tricia Zweier.
Liliana has performed at regional festivals including the Big Muddy Dance Festival, Midwest RadFest, the American Collegiate Dance Association, St. Louis Fringe Festival, and Seen: STL. In 2024, she presented her original work The Well-Being of All Life and Creations, Organic or Otherwise at The Red Gate Gallery in St. Louis. The following year she toured internationally in Slovakia with Karlovsky & Company Dance in collaboration with Divadlo Štúdio Tanca. Her creative work also includes dance filmmaking—her short film Upward and Over was featured in ACDA’s Screendance category. Now in her fourth season with Karlovsky & Company Dance, Liliana also serves as Performing Arts Department Head at DaySpring Arts and Education.
Melissa Miller
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Melissa began her dance training at The American Academy of Dance in Paris, France, under the direction of Meredith Hudson. She went on to earn a BFA from Belhaven University and pursued additional training with the José Limón Dance Foundation in New York.
She also holds an MFA in dance from Hollins University, in partnership with Metheor Physical Theatre in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Miller has performed with the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation under Lori Belilove, Live Arts Opera directed by Nancy L'Heritier, The Physical Plant with Karesia Batan, Chattanooga Ballet, Chattanooga Dance Theatre, Duncan Dance South, and Ballet Esprit. Her original work was featured for four consecutive years at the Hunter Museum of American Art’s annual special exhibitions.
She is a teaching artist at the Center for Creative Arts, a contributing writer for St. Louis Dance HQ, and a company performer at Karlovsky & Company Dance.
Ramona Orion
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Ramona is a multidisciplinary artist based in St. Louis. She holds a BA in Dance from Webster University where she also studied Psychology and Expressive Art Therapy. While at Webster she had the opportunity to work with Maggi Dueker, Beckah Reed, Xi Zhao, Betsy Brandt, Dawn Karlovsky, Michael Uthoff, and Geoff Alexander. She has participated in Jacob Henss’s Space Station dance residency for three years now, both as a choreographer (2022) and mover as a part of Jakki Kalogridis’s piece I’m Thoreau Waiting (2023). This year she was both assistant producer for the show and a performer in Ty Lewis’s work Turning Points. Ramona has just begun her second season as a company member with Karlovsky & Company Dance. In November she will complete her 200-hour yoga teacher training and is excited to share dance and yoga with the St. Louis movement community
Sam Schenkein
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began his dance training in 2003 with Irena Brecher and Misha Gabriel in Denver, Colorado, where he danced with a variety of studios and companies including Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and the Colorado Ballet. He decided to continue his education at Webster University in St Louis, pursuing a BFA in Dance and graduating with Departmental Honors in 2023. He worked with artists including Maggi Dueker, Beckah Reed, Xi Zhao, Betsy Brandt, Dawn Karlovsky, and Michael Uthoff through both class and performances with the Webster University Dance Ensemble. He also had the honor of participating in and performing through residencies with Fiona Lundie (Abby Z and the New Utility), Kurt Douglas (Limón Dance Company), and Rodney Hamilton (Ballet Hispánico), among others. Sam was further given the incredible opportunity to study abroad and perform in Accra, Ghana, learning traditional Ghanaian Dance and Drumming styles. This is Sam’s third season with Karlovsky and Co Dance!
COLLABORATORS
KALO HOYLE (Musician) is an artist, musician, and composer based in Missouri. His upbringing greatly informed the direction of his work, where he hopes to bring rural and urban America together through transformative experiences. He received a Bachelor’s of Composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and has performed professionally in various ensembles in a diverse set of styles including, traditional English and Irish, jazz, classical (orchestral and chamber), rock, and experimental improvisation. His work in visual art has been entirely self-taught with support from a diverse community of artists, opening new artistic horizons for his work. With Karlovsky & Company Dance, Kalo has had the opportunity to tour with the company in Slovakia in 2025.
TORY STARBUCK (Musician/Composer) has been composing, recording and performing experimental art rock muzik since 1980. The sound is a fusion of electronic sounds influenced by Asian folk and eclectic new wave. He is an active member of the St. Louis music scene performing regularly at a variety of venues with his band, The Tory Starbuck Project, including The Sheldon Theater, and other venues outside the region including Columbia, MO and Belleville, IL. Tory Z Starbuck composes and performs music for dancers and has been collaborating with Dawn Karlovsky on numerous dance projects since 2006. With Karlovsky & Company Dance, Tory has had the opportunity to tour with the company to San Francisco in 2019, to France in 2018, and Slovakia in 2025.
Lighting Designer
DAVID LAROSE (Lighting Designer/Board Operator) is a freelance Lighting Designer based in the Saint Louis Region. David’s lighting design work in the Saint Louis area includes: Inspire Fashion Show for the United Way, Dear Jack, Dear Louise for New Jewish Theatre, Don McClain, T-7A Red Hawk for Boeing, The Saint Louis Children’s Choir, Branford Marsallis, RENT, Interwoven I & II and STORYSCAPES (Karlovsky & Company Dance), Tower of Power, Terry Fator, and The 44th Dances Of India. David is a proud father of two, an avid gardener, and enjoys being outside.
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