Dance Artists — Laurie Sefton Creates

Laurie Sefton Creates

Dance Artists

Gretchen Ackerman received her formal training from the Grand Rapids Ballet School and Alonzo King’s LINES training program; where she had the opportunity to work with Alonzo King, Patricia Barker, Maurya Kerr, Arturo Fernandez, Shannon Gillen, Giaconda Barbuto, and Gregory Dawson. From there she joined Dark Circles under the direction of Joshua Peugh. While there, original works were set on her by Peugh, Sidra Bell, Eoghan Dillon, and Mark Caserta. Upon moving to Los Angeles, Gretchen began creating and performing her own works as well as creating original works for Rosanna Gamson. She values the disciplining of the self through understanding the body, the mind and how to use those to communicate ideas clearly and honestly. This is her second season with Laurie Sefton Creates.

Marlie Couto (she/her) is a freelance dance artist and educator. She is driven by collaboration among artists and the rigor of movement research. Marlie enjoys exploring the organization of effort, levity, a sense of care, detail, humanity, play, and the resilience of bodies through movement, sensation, and communication with the nervous system. She has had the pleasure of working closely with and performing works by Summer Lee Rhatigan, Christian Burns, Marissa Brown, Bobbi Jene Smith, Tom Weinberger, David Harvey, Lauren Simpson, Courtney Mazeika, Micaela Taylor, Kate Wallich, James Gregg, and Margot Gelber.

Marirosa Crawford is a Miami native and Los Angeles based movement artist. She trained at New World School of the Arts in Miami before studying Dance and Literature for undergraduate degrees at SUNY Purchase. At Purchase, Marirosa worked with Doug Varone and Marcus Jarell Willis, and performed works by Martha Graham and Jose Limon. Marirosa performed work by Johannes Weiland and UNA Productions at Springboard Danse Montreal. Since relocating to Los Angeles, Marirosa has choreographed and performed her own solo work “measuring undercurrents” at Stomping Ground: Black Voices Show. She has also performed work by Chris Emile as part of ‘Stranger Love” Opera by LA Philharmonic, as well as commercial work, as a dancer in Labrinth x Billie Eillish’s ‘Never Felt So Alone’ music video and Halle Bailey's 'Angel' music video. Marirosa is currently working as a primary dancer for Marcella Lewis and is freelancing in the LA dance community.

Isaac Huerta, raised in Southern California, started dancing at the age of three. His professional company work includes Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre, Invertigo Dance Theatre, Luminario Ballet, Ezralow Dance, Clairobscur Dance (Laurie Sefton Creates), KTV Dance Ensemble, Andre Peña and Artists, and Wonderbound. He has toured nationally and internationally to China, where he restaged Daniel Ezralow's Pearl. He has been featured in music videos by Foxygen, Natalita, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry, including Perry's 2017 VMA performance. Isaac starred in "Rattlesnake Kate," an original musical, by Neyla Pekarek produced by the Denver Center of Performing Arts, and was nominated for a Henry Award for best supporting actor in a musical for his performance.

Maddie Lacambra is a dancer, teacher, and aspiring choreographer in the greater Los Angeles area, who endeavors to tell a personal narrative through art and performance. Maddie holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Chapman University, with a double minor in Musical Theater and Health Science. She has worked closely with choreographers such as Will Johnston, Dana Wilson, Micaela Taylor, Renee Kester, Ido Tadmor, Talia Favia, Chaz Buzan, Karen Chuang, and has had the pleasure of being a company member with Micaela Taylor's TL Collective, Laurie Sefton Creates, and Justin Giles’ SoulEscape. Maddie had the privilege of traveling to Israel to train with Batsheva Dance Company, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance, and Vertigo Dance Company. She has taught and choreographed at numerous studios around Texas and California, and enjoys fostering an encouraging environment for artists to explore movement and individualism.

Myko Lyric is a multi-hyphenate creative from Los Angeles. As a dancer, she trained at the Lula Washington Dance Theatre, Hamilton Music Academy, NYU Tisch, and Alvin Ailey. During her late teens, she received National Youth Awards for Outstanding Choreography and performed on the 86th Oscars as a dancer and choir member. After this moment, her career morphed to be predominantly focused on music, and she has recorded over 200 songs and released singles, EPs, music videos, and is currently creating her full-length debut album. Her goal is to combine her love for music and modern/contemporary dance, eventually creating a music label and dance company that exclusively fuel one another's creative endeavors.

Sidney Scully is a native of Pasadena, California and a graduate of the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles. She was formerly a trainee with The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago before joining De Dutch Don’t Dance Division in The Hague, Netherlands from 2013-2016. There she performed and toured under the direction of Rinus Sprong and Thom Stuart. In 2016, Sidney performed in Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. She worked as an apprentice with Peridance Contemporary Dance Company in New York City before joining the Grand Rapids Ballet. After which she worked with Santa Barbara Dance Theatre for the winter Season of 2019 - 20. Sidney has attended summer courses at Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, De Dutch Summer Dance in The Netherlands, La Campanyia in Barcelona, Spain, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Northwest Dance Project. She is currently a Los Angeles based freelance artist. This is her third season with Laurie Sefton Creates.

Nicholas Sipes is from Baltimore, MD, where he began dancing at a local studio at the age of four. He attended high school at The Baltimore School for the Arts before moving to New York City to continue his training at The School of American Ballet, after which he the joined the Pennsylvania Ballet where he danced in various ballets including Jerome Robbin’s The Concert, Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Mathew Neenan’s Carmina Burana and premiered in Peter Quanz’s Jupiter Symphony. He left Pennsylvania Ballet to pursue a childhood dream of dancing on Broadway. Nicholas joined the 2nd National Tour of Billy Elliot the Musical and made his Broadway debut as Older Billy one year later. He toured Europe for two years in a production of West Side Story, and performed in an Encores production of On Your Toes at New York City Center, as well as dancing with Company XIV. Nicholas has performed at the Metropolitan Opera for five seasons in various productions including Marnie, La Traviata, The Merry Widow, Aida, and Samson et Dalia. Nicholas is a featured dancer in the 2nd season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and in the 2019 Estee Lauder Holiday campaign commercial. He has appeared in the Zara Man S/S 2022 capsule collection campaign. Nicholas moved to Los Angeles in January 2021 and has since performed with Luminario Ballet and Mixed Emotions Theatrix. This is his third season with Laurie Sefton Creates.