was born in Danang, Vietnam. He currently resides in New York City
as a dancer and choreographer. Thang received his formal dance education from the Juilliard School and the Boston
Conservatory. Thang holds a BFA in dance from The Boston Conservatory and an MA from New York University.
He danced for the Stephen Petronio Company from 2001-2006, leaving to focus on his choreographic career. He has also worked for the Metropolitan Opera and Little Orchestra Society.
Thang has presented his works in Boston, New York City, and Austin, with acclaimed reviews by
The Boston Globe,
Austin 360 and
The New York Times.
In 2006, his ballet
Stepping Ground, choreographed on Ballet Austin for the 1st Biennial
New American Talent/Dance, received the Audience Choice Award on all four nights. Thang is also the recipient of the
2008 Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship.
Mona Afable joined TDDC in 2007. She trained at the Philippine High School for the Arts and Ballet Philippines. She moved on to dance with the Louisville Ballet, Peoria Ballet, Ontario Ballet Theatre, and Burklyn Ballet Theatre where she was also Resident Choreographer. In 2005, she was chosen to participate in the Alonzo King's LINES Ballet Professional Workshop. In New York, Mona performs with Rebecca Kelly Ballet, Tina Croll + Company and the Metropolitan Opera. In addition to dancing, she has presented choreography at the 2007 Jennifer Muller/The Works HATCH Series as well as Evolve Dance Festival 2009 and has taught at Kids Co-Motion and Onstage for Rebecca Kelly, Manna House Workshops, and Tarrytown YMCA.
Douglas Scott Baum was born in Fallston, Maryland and began his dance training at the age of twelve at Mid-Atlantic Center for the Performing Arts. Shortly thereafter he graduated from Baltimore School for the Arts in 2006 to go onto Fordham University and the Ailey School, where he plans to receive his BFA in dance. A current apprentice for Ailey ll, Doug has worked with numerous choreographers, including Christopher Huggins, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Kevin Wynn, Sidra Bell, Larry Keigwin, Edgar Zendejas and more. This is Doug's first year with Thang Dao Dance Company.
Selena received her early dance training on scholarship at California Ballet School in San Diego and was further mentored by Reginald Ray-Savage in Oakland. Selena has performed with Savage Jazz Dance Company, Westwick Dolder Dance Theater, Jacinta Vlach, Errol Grimes Dance Group, Christopher Caines Dance Company, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, the Bessie Schönberg Residency at The Yard, the Santa Fe Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. She has performed at the Roma Jazz Festival, toured Mexico with Tania Pérez-Salas Compañia de Danza, and has had the pleasure of working with Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater, Leonides Arpon, the Mark Morris Dance Group, and Deeply Rooted Productions. Selena graduated with honors in Animal Sciences from the University of Illinois.
Alison Cook Beatty began her dance studies in Connecticut before earning a BFA in Dance from the Boston Conservatory, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and was awarded The Ruth Sandholm Scholorship Award under the direction of Yasuko Tokunaga. As a member of the Boston Conservatory Dance Theater Alison performed lead roles in works by Monica Leevy, Jose Limon, Paul Taylor, and Martha Graham. She has performed musical theater works, including Pippin. Alison was a member of Taylor 2, performing and teaching internationally from 2002-2008. She has performed with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, David Dorfman Dance, and Infinity Dance Theater. Alison has worked with choreographers Naomi Goldberg Haas, Val Suarez, Milton Myers, Kristen Mangione, and Gabriola Polar. Recently she has worked and performed with Seth Gertsacov's Ballet Verite, Trainor Dance, as well as Zvidance. She enjoys teaching dance to people of all ages and abilities, as well as modeling. Alison is delighted to be dancing for Thang Dao and alongside all of the beautiful dancers in TDDC.
Michael-John Harper, or "Mj" is a native of Jamaica and started his dance training at Michaels Dance Academy in Coral Springs, Florida under the direction of Michael Isaacs. Mj recently graduated with a BFA in dance from the New World School of the Arts. While studying at New World, Mj got the opportunity to dance works by Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Robert Battle, Peter London and Gerard Ebitz. He has studied at various summer programs, such as the Palucca Schule in Dresden, Germany, Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, the Graham school, and the Ailey school. Mj is currently a fellowship student at the Ailey school as well as an Ailey II apprentince. This is Mj's first season with the Thang Dao Dance Company. He would like to thank with all of his heart, Mom, Jim, Tyler, Aunt Marlene, Aunty Liz, the New World faculty, and all of the gang, thank you so much for all you have done.
Jamy Hsu was born in Austin, Texas and trained at Houston Ballet Academy and Li-Mei Hua Classical Chinese Dance Academy, among others. She graduated from Columbia University in 2000 with a degree in psychology, and since then she has performed with Avila/Weeks Dance, Eva Dean Dance, H.T. Chen & Dancers, Michael Mao Dance Company, Vertex Theater, and Miral Kotb. Jamy also currently performs with Viewpointe Dancers and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and she serves as TDDC's Executive Director.
Jenny Levy was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She studied ballet at the Panetta Movement Center under Janet Panetta and at Ballet School New York under Diana Byer and Sallie Wilson. She trained in modern dance at the Limon Institute and the Merce Cunningham Studio. While she attended the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase, she received her BA from Empire State University. Jenny has performed works by Mark Morris, Doug Varone, Bill T. Jones, David Dorfman, Twyla Tharp and Merce Cunningham. She performed as an apprentice with New York Theatre Ballet. She has also worked with Douglas Dunn & Dancers and Jean Guillaume Weiss & Dancers. Jenny currently dances with isadoraNOW. She feels honored to be joining TDDC this season.
Originally from Wisconsin and a confirmed cheese addict, Mahalia trained at the Milwaukee Ballet School and Milwaukee High School of the Arts. Her film credits include An Issue of Trust (Dance Camera West 2009), City Sights, Blank Dogs' Setting Fire to Your House, and Department Of Eagles' No One Does it Like You, which premiered at MoMA. She has performed in regional productions of A Christmas Carol and Beauty and the Beast. She is delighted to be performing with Thang Dao Dance Company.
Elyse Mlot was born in Richboro, Pennsylvania and raised in Martinsville, Virginia. She received her training at the North Carolina School of the Arts as a scholarship student where she studied under Melissa Hayden, Warren Conover, and Nina Danilova. In 2004, she joined Ballet Austin as a trainee and was promoted to apprentice in 2006. Elyse is currently working towards getting her BFA in dance from the New School University in addition to dancing with Thang Dao Dance Company.
Kimi Nikaidoh received her training from the National Ballet School, the School of American Ballet and Patricia and Tanju Tuzer. In 2000, she received awards in ballet and jazz from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. She was a member of the Bruce Wood Dance Company from 2000-2004 and Complexions Contemporary Ballet from 2005-2008. Miss Nikaidoh has set work on North Carolina Dance Theater and choreographed for Tuzer Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Firebone Theater Company and the Columbia Ballet Collaborative.
Sayaka Ohtaki was born in Tokyo, Japan and began her training at the age of five with the Inoue Ballet School, where she danced various soloist roles. In 2005, at the age of nineteen, she left the company and became a freelance performer touring throughout Japan. Sayaka has made guest appearances with Komaki Ballet, Japan Ballet Association, and Piccolo Ballet, dancing principal roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Giselle, Paquita, Le Corsaire, La Sylphide, Napoli, and Don Quixote. In 2007 she was invited to perform with the National Theatre of Ulan-Bator, Mongolia, to celebrate diplomatic relations. She was awarded the 5th prize in Grandship Ballet Competition in Japan. In 2008 she relocated to New York City, training at Steps on Broadway, Peridance Center, and Ballet Arts. She also modeled leotards for LIGNES in New York.
Edgar L. Peterson was born in New York City and accepted into the New Ballet School (official school of Ballet Tech) at the age of 8. Edgar first performed with the Ballet Tech Company, formerly Feld Ballets NY, at the age of 14 as a student performer and later joined Ballet Tech as a company member, performing at venues including Jacob's Pillow, NJ Performing Arts Center, Kennedy Center, as well as the Joyce Theater and Lincoln Center in New York City. Upon graduating high school, Edgar left the world of dance to continue his academic studies at Columbia University and pursued an internship at Standard & Poor's where he currently enjoys a career in Finance. He has also performed with Dances Patrelle, Miral Kotb, C Eule Dance, and Christopher Caines. Edgar is benevolently charmed to dance with Thang Dao Dance Company this season.
Bianca began her dance training at the age of five in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she studied ballet at the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center, as well as jazz with Roni Koresh. After high school she attended the dance conservatory at SUNY Purchase College and Hunter College. Since moving to New York Bianca has had the honor to perform for Yesid Lopez, Josh Walden, Axis Dance Company, Naganuma Dance Company, David Kieffer's Blush Dance Theatre, and Nina Buisson Contemporary Move, among others. Bianca is currently a principal dancer for DeMa Dance Company and very excited to be working with Thang Dao Dance Company.
Hsing-Hua Wang is native of Taipei, Taiwan and moved to NYC in 2008. She has worked and perfomed with Ballet For Young Audiences, Long Island City Ballet, In-Sight Contemporary Ballet Company and Ballet Verite. Before moving to New York, Ms.Wang also perfomed for Dortmund Theater of Germany and as a guest artist for Allen Yu, director and choreographer of the opera house in Graz, Austria. She belonged to Capital Ballet Taipei for several years and was often invited as a guest artist by other prestigious arts festivals and dance companies in Taiwan, such as Taipei Music Festival, Dance Forum Taipei, Taipei Ballet Company, and Taipei Chamber Ballet. She also appeared in international dance festivals such as the International Arts Festival of New Zealand and National Association of Dance Malaysia. She recently received a scholarship from Jennifer Muller/The Works.
