Meet the Choreographers

Seven new works, eight choreographers. Meet the creators of AWAKEN, below.

Hannah Sullivan

Hannah Sullivan (she/her) is a west Michigan-based choreographer, performer and educator whose new works have been performed by the Grand Rapids Ballet, Dance in the Annex (DITA), Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Blue Lake International Ballet Ensemble, Macomb Ballet Company, Muskegon Dance Company, School of Grand Rapids Ballet, Young Peoples’ Ballet Theatre, HIS Dance Academy and most recently Betka-Pope Production of Chicago with upcoming new works for Deos Contemporary Ballet (pulse/breath/rise) and Grand Rapids Civic Theatre (Waitress). Hannah is a featured performer and choreographer with DITA in screendance films, site-specific works, and concerts. Her films monogrammatic (2018), Dear Flamingo (2021), Gravida (2021), Hindsight (2024), Breasts Not Included (2024) and Breasts Not Required (2024) have shown in festivals and won awards across the globe. Hannah received a Bachelor of Social work with a minor in dance, a Master of Social Work with concentrations in interpersonal work and cognitive behavior therapy, and a Graduate Certificate in marriage and family therapy. As an educator, Hannah is adjunct faculty at Hope College and enjoys guest teaching throughout Michigan. She has held faculty positions at pre-professional and intensive programs including Grand Rapids Ballet, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Grand Rapids Civic Theatre and the HIS Dance Academy. When Hannah isn’t moving or creating movement, she sits down with her clients as a mental health, relationship and sex therapist with Grand Rapids Specialty Therapy.

Penelope Freeh

Dance artist and educator Penelope Freeh, based in Roanoke, VA, thoughtfully transforms how ballet is transmitted and embodied. Sitting in the question of how aesthetics shape content and meaning, she makes new dance performance, revealing deeply personal content. Having spent the bulk of her career in Minneapolis/St. Paul, she is a two-time McKnight Fellow for Choreographers and Sage awardee for Outstanding Performer. Her work is in the repertoires of many Twin Cities companies and groups. Inextricably linked collaborations include works developed with composer Jocelyn Hagen. Their dance opera Test Pilot premiered and won a Sage Award for Outstanding Design in 2014 and toured Minnesota in 2016. Penelope was on the design team for Minnesota Opera’s The Song Poet, the first ever Hmong/English opera, which premiered in 2023. Choral ballet Unfashioned Creature, created with composer Timothy C. Takach, was named a Top Ten Most Memorable Dance Event of 2023 by the Minneapolis StarTribune and toured to Tucson in November 2024. Freeh danced with Minneapolis’ James Sewell Ballet for seventeen years, serving as Artistic Associate from 2007-11. Penelope is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Hollins University and Assistant Director of MFA Dance. She herself holds a master’s from Hollins where she met colleagues with whom she co-founded the long-distance performance collective TINATA. She is thrilled to revisit and reimagine Pulse / Breath / Rise with beloved friends and collaborators, Hannah Sullivan and Jeremy Verwys. Heartfelt thanks to Deos and the dancers.

Allison Haan

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. Allison holds a certificate in Healthy Dance Practice through Safe in Dance International.

Leah Haggard

Leah began her ballet training at the Ballet Center of Houston under the direction of Victoria Vittum and continued at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School as a Professional Division student. Leah went on to dance professionally with The Grand Rapids Ballet, Utah Regional Ballet, and The Suzanne Farrell Ballet where she has performed in Swan Lake, Snow White, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker and George Balanchine's Walpurgisnacht, Stars and Stripes, Gounod Symphony, Danses Concertantes, and Serenade among many other ballets and original works. Most recently as a freelance performer, she has been able to perform with Ballet Memphis, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Houston Repertoire Ballet, and Indiana Ballet Theater. This is her fifth season with Deos Contemporary Ballet.

Leah has her master's degree in nutrition and is a licensed nutritionist (CNS, LDN). She works with dancers and dance organizations to promote dancer health inside and outside of the studio.

Madison Massara-Leister

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 has now joined Deos Contemporary Ballet in the fall of 2022 for their 22/2023 season.

Ericka Goss

Ericka started dancing at a small competition studio in Michigan doing primarily tap and jazz before moving to Grand Rapids Ballet to pursue ballet.  After high school Ericka moved down to Atlanta, GA to work with Atlanta Ballet and then to Saint Louis Ballet in Missouri for 8 seasons. Ericka is one of the founding members of Deos and is now working as the Artistic Director of their partner school, Michigan Ballet Academy. 

Darrell Haggard

Darrell Haggard; originally from Oakhurst, California where he found his love for dance at Velocity Dance Studio at the age of 9. At age 17 he began training on scholarship at the Los Angeles Ballet Academy with Ms. Andrea Paris. Darrell performed lead roles in Coppelia, Alice in Wonderland, A Season's Suite & as a guest Cavalier in the Nutcracker & with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performing Memoria. Darrell has also trained with Kee Juan Han at Washington Ballet School and performed in LABA's award winning ensembles at the YAGP ballet competition in New York. As a company member with the Grand Rapids Ballet, Darrell performed in Gerald Arpinos' "light Rain" and George Balanchine's "Who Care's" and "Rubies". He also had original works choreographed on him, Olivier Weavers' "The Sofa" and Annabelle Lopez-Ocha's "Dangerous Liaisons". As well as many more. 

Grace Sinke

Ms. Sinke started her training here in Michigan. She has trained and performed with The Grand Rapids Ballet School, Turning Pointe School of Dance, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. She continued her training at Mercyhurst University. She has performed professionally with Deos Contemporary Ballet, SoMar Dance Works, and Suttle Dance. Since being diagnosed with a chronic illness, She has been pursuing her passion for teaching and choreography. She is now a teacher, rehearsal assistant and the recreational division coordinator for Michigan Ballet Academy. Beyond teaching and choreography, Ms. Sinke has also been working as stage manager for Deos Contemporary Ballet and Michigan Ballet Academy