Tell us about your dance background and training:

I have been dancing since the age of ten. Most of my training has been in Modern Dance and Contact Improvisation. I studied at the undergraduate (TCU, Ft. Worth, TX) and graduate level (Bennington College). I was in a dance company in Texas for 5 years. I attended the Bates Dance Festival for 11 years. I still dance every week.

In Dance: Gene Kelly, Doug Varone, & Nancy Stark Smith.

In Lighting: Jennifer Tipton and my husband, Dirk Kuyk.

I would rather light dance than anything else. Lighting is visible music. I love to create the underpinnings, the inner space, of a dance. The lighting creates another form of flow, from beginning to end.

When I was an undergraduate dance major, I had to fulfill technical stage hours every year. I discovered I loved working backstage, with all the lighting equipment.

I studied lighting concurrent with my undergrad dance training at TCU. I began to design dance shows, and was lucky enough to light several works by Fernando Bujones while he was an artist-in-residence at TCU. I quickly realized I wanted more training. I received my MFA in lighting from Bennington College. I designed lights for professional theatre for several years before moving to

Charlottesville. While here, I’ve designed for Live Arts, for Wundekammer, and very happily for Charlottesville Ballet. In 2005, I had the chance to accompany Jennifer Tipton to Paris while she was designing lights for the Paris Opera Ballet’s performance of Jewels. It’s the same version that was filmed for PBS Great Performances. It was a real treat to watch a lighting master and a stellar ballet company in rehearsal for 2 weeks while sitting in the amazing Opera Garnier.

Eurydice, directed by Bree Luck, at Live Arts.

What other jobs/activities/pursuits are you involved in?

My husband and I are raising our dancing daughter. She is my favorite pursuit!

I am a devoted gardener, a good cook, and a voracious reader.

I truly enjoy collaborating with Charlottesville Ballet as their Lighting Designer. I am so thrilled that the organization is expanding and will be moving to Charlottesville soon– I can’t wait to see what happens next!