Learn more about our talented dancers... and musicians!
Heather Liparota
Artistic Director
Founder
Dancer Choregrapher
Reveries in Motion, Inc. was founded by Heather
Liparota, who serves as president and guiding light for purposes of both dance
and civic engagement. Heather studied dance at Northeastern Illinois
University, where she earned her bachelor of science degree. Since the spark of
RIM, she has developed a reputation as a performer and choreographer within
Chicago. Heather is also the assistant director and a teacher at Dancers R
Us Dance Academy, and a former teacher at The Joel Hall Dance Center.
Her choreography was featured in Dance Chicago 2009. Heather's greatest
goal is to bring Chicago performers and dance students together for the greater
good.
Erin Gussis
Associate Director Secretary Fundraising Coordinator
Dancer Founding Member Choreographer
“I
feel that the essence of dance is the expression of man – the landscape of his
soul.” ~ Martha Graham
Erin began developing her love for dancing
at age 5 in Des Plaines, IL. Growing up, her passion was torn between
dance and cheerleading. As a cheerleader, she competed successfully for years
as captain or co-captain of her local squad. Even after becoming a UCA
All-Star cheerleader in high school, Erin quickly realized that her true love is in
the art of dance. She has training in a variety of dance styles, including jazz, ballet, modern, hip-hop,
African, lyrical, and funk. In college,
Erin became an apprentice for the Baltimore-Chicago Contemporary Dance Theater,
where she performed in shows throughout the Chicagoland area. After
graduating with a B.A. in applied sociology/social work from Northern Illinois
University, she continued developing her love for dance by taking classes and performing
at every opportunity. Currently, Erin is also a company member of
Dance Stellar Productions, which she joined in 2009. Her choreography was recently featured in Dance Chicago
2010.
Amanda Ilic
Assistant Artistic Director
Dancer Founding Member Choreographer
Amanda is a 2011 graduate of Northeastern
Illinois University (NEIU). She completed her B.A. in dance through the University
Without Walls Program. She has choreographed several pieces for Reveries
In Motion -- one that was featured in Dance Chicago 2010. She has also
choreographed for NEIU's Repertory Dance Ensemble.
Denisha V. Powell
Associate Director Publicity Coordinator Dancer Founding Member Choreographer
Denisha's passion for dancing began at age 5 at Herrstrom
Dance Studio in Chicago. She has since acquired experience in ballet, tap,
jazz, modern, hip-hop, athletic, liturgical, African, and Caribbean dance
styles. Her previous dance company memberships include 98.6 Fahrenheit and
Evolution - The Next Level. One of Denisha's most rewarding dance experiences
was serving as a pom pon and jazz/hip-hop instructor for Champion Youth
Outreach in Schaumburg, Streamwood, and Hyde Park. She is also an alumna and past president of Spartan Soul Dance Team
at Michigan State University. Denisha graduated from MSU with a B.A. in
journalism, a public relations specialization, and a theater specialty with
emphasis in dance. She also holds an M.A. in organizational and multicultural
communication from DePaul University.
Lori Buckely
Promotion Coordinator Dancer Founding Member
Recently returning to the Reveries In Motion family, Lori
began dancing at nearly 3 years old. A four-year member of
Orchesis in high school, Lori continued her dance training into Northeastern
Illinois University, studying dance as a minor along with her
mathematics/secondary education major. As a dance minor, Lori focused on classical
ballet and jazz dance styles, performance , choreography, and dance education.
Through Northeastern, she has been able to obtain dance training from several
famed Chicago studios and teachers, such as: Lou Conte Dance Studio, Joel Hall
Dance Studio, Jacqueline Sinclair, Rachel Burton, Venetia Stiffler, and Patty
Eylar, to name a few. Lori has danced with Disney Magic Music Days, Open House
Dance, and NN Productions, as well as with Reveries in Motion during the
company's first ever performance and Invisible Children benefit. Currently,
Lori teaches with the Park Ridge Park District and at Dancers R Us Dance
Academy.
Sarah DePillo
Dancer Founding Member
Sarah began taking classes in jazz, ballet,
tap, and tumbling at a young age. It did not take long to realize her
passion for dance. Growing up, Sarah chose to explore dance through
various performance outlets, pursuing opportunities in musical theater
productions - which enabled her to develop her dancing talent, in
addition to singing and acting. Throughout grammar school Sarah was a
competitive cheerleader, which required her to cheer, stunt, tumble,
and dance. She continued to cheer and dance in high
school. As an adult, Sarah has remained active in musical theatre, at
times serving as dance captain. Sarah couldn’t be happier about her
membership in Reveries In Motion!
Katie DeSalvo
Dancer
Katie started dancing ballet at
age 8 with the On Broadway Dance Center of Coal City, IL. Throughout
middle school and high school, Katie was a part of the On Broadway Dancers
company, in which she performed for many college basketball half-time shows and
street festivals, including the Taste of Chicago. As a student at DePaul
University, Katie stopped dancing for awhile. However, after experiencing a flamenco dance performance in Madrid, realized that she needed to start dancing
again - and never stop. Katie loves how dance can connect people. Most recently, she has developed an interest in learning ballroom dance.
Claudia Galvez
Dancer
Joey Kauffman
Dancer
Joey started dancing at age 10 in a very small
studio, and fell in love with movement. He is a classically trained ballet
dancer, but has dabbled in modern, jazz, and contemporary styles. Joey has
danced in summer programs all over the country. He also danced with the Joffrey
Ballet School in New York, and performed with them on a tour in Canada. For
Joey, some of the highlights of dancing with JBS included getting to work with
great choreographers, such as Margo Sappington and Peter Pucci. After taking
two-and-a-half years off from dancing, he's back in the game!
Lyz Krieger
Dancer
Lyz started dancing at age 3 and has
been dancing ever since. She has trained with highly reputable companies,
including the Joffrey Ballet, New York City Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet.
Starting with a primary focus on ballet, Lyz has expanded her knowledge of
modern dance and other contemporary dance styles as a student at Northeastern
Illinois University. She has broadened her experience at Northeastern by
performing in the American College Dance Festival and "The Secret
Garden", the opera. Lyz's favorite type of dance is contemporary movement
on pointe, and she hopes to create more pieces that incorporate this style.
Sara Maslanka
Dancer Choreographer
Sara grew up in Skokie, Illinois. She received her
early training in ballet and flamenco with Valerie Barsky at Ballet Russe
School. Sara attended Niles North high school where she was a member of
the Vikettes dance team. Sara is currently attending Columbia College
Chicago and is working towards a B.A. in dance with a focus in
performance. She hopes to receive a master's degree in dance movement
therapy, as well.
Samantha Pena
Dancer
Priscilla Perez
Dancer
Bethany Peterson
Dancer
Kerri Vaile
Dancer Founding Member
Kerri started dancing at age 6 at a studio in Green
Bay, WI. She danced all through high school and was also on the pom-pon
squad for two-and-a-half years. Since graduating, Kerri received her
B.F.A. in dance and a minor in business from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After graduating, she moved to Chicago to pursue her
dancing and teaching career. Kerri is trained in modern, ballet, tap, jazz, hip
hop, and creative movement. She has taught at various studios around the
Chicago area, including Joel Hall Dance Center, and currently, Kaleidoscope
Dance & Movement Center. Kerri also is involved in the ballroom side of
dance as an employee of Arthur Murray Dance Center. She has performed in both
Milwaukee and in Chicago for independent projects, and has danced with Reveries
in Motion Dance Company since 2007.
Journey’s passion for
entertaining blossomed out of the mid-90s Chicago poetry scene. After becoming a performer and
host at open mics on the city's West and North Sides, he went on to
co-found neo-soul jam band Soul People, in collaboration with Cedric
Tate and James ”Cuz”
Thomas. Through this endeavor, Journey developed a passion for
percussion. With proficiency in various
musical genres and
percussion styles, he commonly blends African and
Afro-Cuban grooves into his music. Journey has performed as a member and guest artist with many
local bands and vocalists - and as a guest percussionist with Donna Summer during her 2009
"Crayons" tour stop at The Venue in Hammond, IN. He has performed regularly with Reveries In Motion
since 2008.
Gerald
Jones
Percussionist
Gerald has been an avid student of West African percussion for the past seven
years at the Old Town School of Folk Music and Tam Tam Mandique-Chicago. He studies
with Tam Tam Mandigue certified professor of djembe, Michael Taylor, and has also
taken workshops and classes provided by experts, such as master drummers Mamady Keita,
Famoudou Konate, and Bolokada Conde. Gerald recently performed at the Arts Alive Old Irving Park Festival
with d'Go Beat, and in the opening segment of Reggio McLaughlin's
National Tap Dance Festival at the Old Town School of Folk Music. His other hobbies includes improv comedy. He performs
with Playmation at various locations throughout the city.
Dancing in the Wings... Meet some of our most recent cast members who are not active this season.
Brittany Branson
Brittany Branson was raised in
Anderson, Indiana and trained in dance at Anderson Young Ballet
Theatre. There she studied ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and hip-hop in
varying degrees from ages seven to eighteen. She became a part of
AYBT’s
company at age thirteen, under the direction of Lou Ann Young. With this
young company she participated in Regional Dance America for six
consecutive
years, including one national level conference. She was given the honor
to
perform as a solo artist at several regional events. She also received a
scholarship to participate in the Craft of Choreography Conference in
the
summer of 2007. There, she had the opportunity to study with Pacific
Northwest
Ballet in Seattle, Washington. In 2008, Brittany moved to Chicago to
further her studies at Columbia College as a dance major and management
minor. She has performed in six shows there on the Dance Center's
beautiful stage. This year she performed with Gold Coast Entertainment
at the
House of Blues.
Michelle Broecker
Michelle is a skilled and versatile dancer.
She currently teaches classes at The Dance Center of LaGrange in LaGrange, IL.
Also a talented choreographer, her work has been performed in the
Chicago Dance Slam during Dance Chicago - including an encore performance for
"Best of the Best". Michelle has received over $5,000 in combined
scholarships for dance, including a dance internship at UCLA in California and
scholarships with The Chicago Human Rhythm Project. She has worked
with several master artists, including Peter Cunningham, Jeff Hancock,
Mary Jo Irbe, Margi Cole, Randy Duncan, Joanna Rosenthal and others.
Diyanna Couet
I am not a dancer because of my technique.
I am a a dancer because of my passion.
Kimberly Miller
Upon moving to Chicago she has
performed with Matter of Reaction Movement Project in Will it Float as
well as become a member of Innervation Dance Cooperative. Kimberly hopes that
she can continue with all three of these dance companies, as each brings
different opportunities for her to grow as an artist. Kimberly graduated from
the University of Akron in fall 2009 with a B.A. in dance. She has
performed and choreographed throughout her years at the University of Akron.
She has taken classes from great artists such as Doug Varone and company,
Arturo Fernandez (Lines Ballet), Nora Chipaumire (Urban Bush Women), David
Parsons (Parsons Dance Company), and Amy Allen (Wicked); performed with Verb
Ballet; and attended several summer intensives at Point Park University and Hope
College. Before college she completed six levels of the Cecchetti method which
gave her a foundation for her creative and passionate love for dance.
Christina Shore
Christina began her dance training at age 7 at Gus
Giordano. Since then, she studied ballet and modern dance extensively at
Joel Hall on scholarship, and as a dance major at NIU. She studied Buttoh
dancing in New Mexico and Orissi dancing at Evergreen State College in Olympia,
Washington. under the direction of Ratna Roy. Christina performed in and
choreographed many pieces both as a soloist and in group ensemble. She is Hatha
yoga certified and teaches dance and yoga as an after school program throughout
Chicago. She is currently working to deepen her understanding of dance and
movement under the direction of Nana Shineflug.
Molly Strom
Molly started dancing at age 11 in her home
town of Mt. Prospect, Illinois. Currently a student at Columbia College
Chicago, Molly is pursuing a degree in dance. In a short amount of time at Columbia,
she has had the opportunity to work with Lisa Gonzales. She has also
trained with Robert McKee from Giordano Jazz Company Chicago. Dancing with
Reveries in Motion has been an exciting and pleasurable experience, which has
shined a new perspective on dance!
