Company Member Bios
Danelle Helander
Danelle Helander has been praised locally and internationally for her teaching and artistic direction. Danelle has received a NOVA Arts Award for her cross-cultural humanitarian efforts. In addition, she has also collaborated with Global Response, a non-profit organization addressing environment issues. Her professional career began with the Chicago Moving Company. She danced with the New Arts Ensemble in New York and was founder and artistic director of Akasha and Company in Chicago. After studying with Byrne Piven at the Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago, Danelle began teaching improvisational theater and continues teaching today in Boulder, Colorado. Her classes bridge the gap between creative movement and theater, exploring how body-based theater fosters communication across cultural and societal boundaries. She has been commissioned to create original choreography for Diane Portman, AirJazz, Chicago Moving Company, Creighton University, David Taylor Dance Theater and various independent artists. She has taught and performed in Europe, Nicaragua, Japan, India, Africa and Costa Rica.
Danelle is available to teach Theater Basics, Improvisational Theater and Movement-Based Theater, as well as a full range of modern dance classes.
Eva Vander Giessen
Eva Vander Giessen resided in the mountains of California studying dance, theater and martial arts. Trained within the United States and abroad in China and Europe, Eva focused on theater and dance at university until pursuing drama exclusively while in Los Angeles. For four years she performed in black box theater, independent film and commercials. Eva has worked with Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, VIBE Performing Arts Troupe in Los Angeles, and Bakersfield Civic Dance Company in California. She received the Western US Regional Theater Award as part of ACTF. After moving to Colorado she joined Playback Theater West and continues teaching creative dance and improvisational theater. Eva writes and performs multi-disciplinary monologues within Helander Dance Theater, the Boulder Fringe Festival, and at retreats with Sai Ma.
Eva is available to teach Improvisational Theater, Action Theater and Creative Movement.
Company member HDT Andrea Schärli was born in Switzlerland. Her passion for dance started with her period as a rhythmic gymnast. She received a diploma in Sports and Physical Education from the University of Zürich, a Bachelor of Dance from Rotterdam Dance Academy, the Netherlands, and a Master of Science from the University of Zürich. For her Master’s thesis she conducted a survey, Fit to Dance? - The Netherlands, about health and training issues of professional dancers in the Netherlands. Furthermore, she danced in several projects in Switzerland and the Netherlands and worked as a teacher of kinesiology and anatomy, body conditioning and science of training for the Dance Department of the Theater School in Amsterdam and as an anatomy teacher for the Master Program Dance Therapy in Rotterdam. Her main interest is the combination of dance and science, especially the development of new and healthy training methods for dancers. Andrea has taught English, physical education and dance as a volunteer in Sikkim, India.
Jackie Kravitz, a native of Wisconsin, began her love for dance at the age of three. She received her MFA in Dance and Choreography from Arizona State University, and her BA in Dance and Performance from the University of Milwaukee. In 2000, Jackie moved to New York City to continue her passion for movement and choreography. She has studied and performed with artists such as Ed Burgess, Brian Jeoffery, Janet Lilly, Bill Young, Barb Grubel, Allyson Green, Art and Myrna Packer, Cliff Keiter, and Kevin O’Day. Jackie continues to be inspired by the freedom, creativity and balance that dance brings to her life. She currently owns and operates a Sports Marketing Company with her husband, Josh, and she’s completing in PhD in Holistic Nutrition and Herbology.
Craig Bushman received his BA in 1992 from the University of Colorado-Boulder in creative writing and English literature. He is the technical director for the Dairy Center for the Arts Performance Space. He served as production manager for the Colorado Dance Festival in 1998 and 1999 and was a member of the production staff of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2000. As a freelance lighting designer he has worked for Hannah Kahn Dance Company and Cleo Parker Robinson. He has also toured with Dog Varone and Dancers as a technical director.
Patrick Swinnea began college as an actor but somehow ended up with a bachelors degree in Radio, TV and Film Production. As an actor he appeared in the 1995 straight-to-video action movie Striking Point with Christopher Mitchum. He has also been seen “performing” in crowd scenes with Steve Martin, Liam Neeson and Chuck Norris. On the production side he has worked in documentaries, television commercials, sketch comedy, short films, corporate training videos, animation, extreme sports and high definition videography. Work history includes NBC, The United Way, TurnHere.com, Bose Corporation and Rock Bottom Restaurants. He recently completed production on his first independent feature film, WestAcre (www.westacremovie.com), with which he hopes to “rock Sundance” in 2007. He lives in Arvada with his wife Sabrina and their dog Lexie.
Susan Perry is a multi-skilled designer with tremendous depth of experience in the arts, business and entertainment industries. She has a unique ability to see things as a whole and to apply an original vision to each project. Susan has over twenty years of experience as a teacher, coach, art director and designer of interiors, stage sets, furniture, clothing and costumes.