AWAKEN Series 24

 June 1 // 7 pm

June 2 // 2 pm

Betty Van Andel Opera Center

Tickets // $35

General Admission

Ericka Goss (Faculty and Rehearsal Director)

Ms. Goss began dancing at Bohaty’s School of Dance in Michigan and was also a member of the Children’s Ballet Theatre of Michigan. She later became a member of the senior trainee division of the Grand Rapids Ballet through high school, working under Laura Schwenk-Berman and Gordon Pierce-Schmidt. Accepted into Pacific Northwest, Boston Ballet, and Joffrey Midwest summer intensives, she attended Joffrey on full scholarship. After four years in Grand Rapids, Ericka was accepted into Atlanta Ballet’s Pre-Professional Division on full scholarship. Promoted to the company as a Fellowship dancer, she danced as a Fellowship for two years under Sharon Story and John McFall. In the summer of 2011 she attended the LINES Ballet Summer Intensive in San Francisco under full scholarship. After 3 seasons with The Atlanta Ballet, Ericka was hired into the Saint Louis Ballet in St. Louis, MO. She danced with SLB for 7 seasons performing soloist roles and had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Christopher D'Amboise, Emery LeCrone, Twyla Tharp repeteur Matthew Dibble, Francis Patrelle, Kevin Jenkins, Pam Tanowitz, Gregory Dolbashian, and Michael Uthoff. She danced roles in Balanchine's Western Symphony, Serenade, and was a tall girl in Who Cares? as well as performing soloist roles in Gen Horiuchi's The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and Giselle. She is also a founding member of Deos Contemporary Ballet in Grand Rapids, MI.

Ericka is PBT and Pointe Safe certified and has been teaching for 16 years, both with Atlanta Ballet and Saint Louis Ballet School, as well as at the Belleville School of Ballet, Academy of Performing Arts, and Turning Pointe School of Dance.

Allison Haan (Company Dancer)

Allison is originally from Holland, Michigan, where she began her formal dance training at Turning Pointe School of Dance, under the direction of Lara and Rick Faucher. She continued her education with Butler University and graduated cum laude with a BA in Dance Pedagogy. During her time at Butler, she performed both corps and principal roles in full length ballets and original works, including Fairy Godmother in Cinderella and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker. After graduation, Allison danced with Louisville Ballet for three seasons, where she was featured as Myrtha in Giselle and as a soloist in Andrea Schermoly’s Rite of Spring and Tim Harbor’s Odyssey. She performed numerous corps de ballet roles in Val Caniparoli’s The Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s Serenade, Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, and Alun Jones and Helen Starr’s Cinderella. In the summer of 2021, Allison returned to her home state of Michigan and joined Deos Contemporary Ballet.

When she is not rehearsing or performing, she enjoys teaching, practicing yoga, cooking, painting, and keeping up with dance science research. She is currently pursuing a Healthy Dance Practice Certificate through Safe in Dance International.

Madison Massara-Leister (Company Dancer)

Madison was born in Royal Oak, Michigan. She began dancing at eight years old and has trained with Nikoloz Makhateli, Jody Skye Schissler, and Alisher Saburov.

She joined Grand Rapids Ballet as a trainee in 2017 and was promoted to apprentice after her first performance of Sugar Plum Fairy, and danced with the company until 2022. She has performed featured roles such as Trio in Trey McIntyre’s Wild Sweet Love, Hermia in Christopher Stoll’s Midsummer Nights Dream, Val Caniparoli’s Sugar Plum Fairy, Princess in Yuri Possokov’s Firebird, and Rebecca West in Val Caniparoli’s Ibsen’s House. Madison has also attended Jacob’s Pillow working with innovative female choreographers Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Amy Seiwert in the summer of 2021. She joined Deos Contemporary Ballet in the fall of 2022 for their 22/2023 season.

Grace Sinke (Stage Manager and Internship Program Coordinator)

Ms. Sinke started her training here in Michigan. She has trained and performed with The Grand Rapids Ballet School under Patricia Barker, Turning Pointe School of Dance under Debra Burr, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet under Desmond Richardson and Dwight Roden. She continued her training with The Mercyhurst Dancers under C. Noelle Partusch. She has appeared with The Mercyhurst Dancers, Deos Contemporary Ballet and SoMar Dance works. She has performed classical works including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Giselle, and has appeared in over 20 contemporary dance works. Grace attended Mercyhurst University on both academic and dance scholarships and graduated with a B.F.A. in dance and a minor in Psychology. She has experience teaching ballet, jazz, contemporary, and creative movement from Mercyhurst University and Turning Pointe School of Dance.

Tess Sinke (Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer)

Tess Sinke grew up training at the Grand Rapids Ballet and later attended Mercyhurst University, where she graduated with a BA in Dance Choreography and Religious Studies. Tess founded Deos Contemporary Ballet in 2018 and has led the company through its exponential growth over the last six years. She has helped grow the company from a summer-only performance company to year-round operations, with six salaried professional dancers in residence. She has created over 300 hours of choreography for Deos Ballet as well as engaged guest choreographers from around the U.S. to set original work on the company. Tess served as the Resident Choreographer and head pre-professional instructor at Turning Pointe School of Dance for seven years before joining Michigan Ballet Academy as faculty and the Recreation Division Coordinator.  

When Tess isn’t working, she can be found at home spending quality time with her husband, two young kids, and their two dogs.