Season 17
The Company
Niki O'Brien Guest Artist/Social Media Manager) was born and raised in the small town of Scottsbluff, Nebraska where she began her dance training. She graduated from the University of Wyoming in 2013 with a BFA in Theatre and Dance with a concentration in dance performance. While at the University of Wyoming, Niki trained in ballet, modern, pointe and jazz dance techniques, performing in the repertory of her instructors Lawrence Jackson, Jennifer Deckert, Margaret Wilson and Marsha Knight, as well as that of Bill T. Jones, Andre Megerdichian, Keith Saunders and Maurice Watson. Niki spent the summer of 2012 studying at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre where she furthered her knowledge of the Horton technique. Upon graduation, Niki moved to Denver to pursue a dance career and has since danced with the Moraporvida Contemporary Dance Company, the Avatar Movement Dance Company, the Nu World Contemporary Danse Theatre, and the Davis Contemporary Dance Company. She is continuously grateful for the opportunities she's received to grow, explore and perform with the other company members of Davis Dance, and is thrilled to be back for her tenth season dancing alongside some of her best friends. Niki even met her husband while in rehearsals with the Davis Contemporary Dance Company, and is thrilled to be performing with him once again! Outside of performing, Niki has a passion for teaching and is an instructor at Dual Star Academy of Dance, Classic Dance Academy and The Ballet Physique.
Ashley Eaves Sonnier is originally from Louisiana and started dancing when she was 3 years old with Dance Stop Dance Centre in DeRidder, LA. Her 15 years of training there consisted of tap, clogging, jazz, and ballet. In 2008, Ashley joined Lake Charles Civic Ballet as a Core Company member while pursuing a Bacherlors in Accounting at McNeese State University in 2008. During her time with Lake Charles Civic Ballet, Ashley was promoted to Ballet Principal and heldroles such as Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty, Miss Scarlet in Clue, Psalm of Spring, and Mother in Daguerreotype. After graduating college in 2012, Ashley moved to Houston, Texas to pursue a career in Public Accounting specializing in State and Local Taxation with Hein & Associates (now Moss Adams LLP). While her day job mostly consisted of research and number crunching, she realized her artistic ambitions still needed to be fulfilled. She ended training with a local circus/aerial group, Cirque La Vie, in Houston and was introduced to the aerial community. Her training there mostly consisted of pre-contortion and hard apparatuses such as Lyra (hoop) and Dance Trapeze. In 2016, Ashley and her now husband moved to Denver, Colorado due to the beautiful mountains and for Ashley to join her company's headquarters in downtown Denver. During this time, Ashley still pursued the aerial arts and began more ballet/pointe training under the mentorship of Jill Oliver. She auditioned with Iluminar Aerial in the summer of 2016 and was an Aerial Intern Member for the 2016/2017 season and became a Professional Aerial Company Member for the 2017/2018 season. Ashley held roles such as Tree for Into The Forest, Antagonist in Girl With the Red Ball, and choreographed pieces such as Salem - A Witch Hunting and Sunny Side of the Street (Fosse). She has also danced roles with Thrive Ballet such as Spanish, Arabian, Flowers (Corp), and Snow Queen. Ashley is also a Company Member of the aerial arts group In The Wings which begain in 2018. She is in her seventh season with Davis Dance
Julia Stwalley began her dance training at two and a half years old at Danza Dance Academy in Castle Rock, Colorado. She trained there for 15 years studying ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and tap. She was a competitive dancer at Danza for eight years. She had the opportunity to study extensive ballet training at the Denver Ballet Theatre during a summer intensive. She also had the privilege of dancing with Davis Dance Next Generation for three years then was prompted to an apprentice, then a year later into a full company member with the main company. She is currently at Colorado State University studying interior design. Julia is in her sixth season.
Keegan O’Brien began dancing during his third year at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, and never looked back. After graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology – Exercise Science, he continued dancing with Corpus Christi Concert Ballet, and became a guest artist for various companies around the country. He has been fortunate enough to perform in overseas festivals, as well - in Scotland (2012) and Austria (2013, '14). Since moving to Denver in 2014, he has danced with Kim Robards Dance, Nu-World Contemporary Danse Theatre, and Ballet Ariel, as well as the musical "Brigadoon" with Performance Now and the theatre production "Vanya, Sonia, Masha, and Spike" with Firehouse Theatre Company. As a personal trainer, he coached himself to a first-place finish at the MuscleMania Colorado Championship in both the Men's Physique and the Fitness categories, and a fourth place finish in the international contest held in Las Vegas. Though he did not win the title, Keegan has competed on two seasons of American Ninja Warrior. After taking a few years off to focus on personal projects, Keegan is pumped to be back dancing with Davis Contemporary Dance Company for his sixth season, alongside his now wife - who he met in rehearsals during his first season with the company!
Paris Farr (Guest Artist) attended the Cleveland School of the Arts where he was trained in Ballet, Horton, Graham, Non traditional partnering, African, Hip Hop, Jazz , and Break dancing. He also performed with the Y.A.R.D (youth at risk dancing) and Urban Dance Collective during his years at the school. He later attended the Chicago Academy for the Arts where he preformed with Joeffrey Ballet Company as a junior under study. His choreography won both gold and platinum reward at Urban Jams dance convention and Elite dance convention. He also had choreography performed at Disney Land. He taught at Streetside south hip hop dance studio in Littleton CO as one of two principle instructors for 2 and a half years. He also has choreographed for Belgium pop artist Timo Descamps music video titled More. He coached and was Head hip hop instructor with Peak Athletics Plus. Paris was a principle dancer in Exhibit M under the direction of Jacob Mora .Paris Farr currently is dancing with Davis Contemporary Dance Company and instructing at Classic Dance Academy and Dual Star Dance Academy. He has instructed for many more all across Colorado, including Dancing Dreams, Chaparral High School, Bidwell Middle School, Synergy, and Allana’s dance to name a few. He set choreography on Davis Dance Next Gen. He is heading into his fifth season with Davis Dance with more to add to the list in the very near future.
Maggie Chapman was born and raised in Denver, CO. She began her training at Hill Academy of Dance and Dramatics. Maggie attended Stephens College and earned her B.F.A. in Dance Graduating Cum Laude. Following her college training program, Maggie moved to New York City, where she danced and choreographed with such companies as The Movement Collective, Malleable Dance Theater and The A.H. Dance Company. She has also worked as a professional assistant to choreographers Tricia Brouk and Jacqueline Bird. Maggie relocated back to her beloved home state of Colorado in 2010 and began work as a freelance dance instructor, performer and choreographer. In 2014, she was appointed as Artistic Director of Aurora Dance Arts, the dance program of the Cultural Services Division of the City of Aurora, and is now in her 4th year as Director of this program. Maggie has also been dancing with the Denver-based Avatar Movement Dance Company since 2010 and was appointed Co-Artistic Director of the company in 2013. Maggie has performed and choreographed for different dance and theater companies such as Inspire Creative, Ascential Dance Theatre and Not Literally Productions. Maggie loves dancing with Davis Contemporary Dance because it allows her the opportunity to be pushed to new levels of strength, artistry, passion and humanity with artists that stir her to her very soul. She is constantly inspired by the directors, the guest choreographers and all the dancers in the company because they live fiercely, dance fearlessly, love completely and believe in the power and beauty of their dreams. She is honored to be counted amongst such beautiful beings, who truly make the world a better place. This is Maggie's eleventh season with Davis Contemporary Dance Company.
Hannah Prudhomme started dancing at age 12 at the local studio, The Turning Pointe Dance Academy, in Elizabeth, CO. There, she trained in many dance styles as well as being part of the competitive team which won 1st place overall at Nationals for Spotlight Dance Cup. After moving to the Denver area she was invited to be a member of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance second company, Cleo II. There she received first-class training from many teachers including Milton Meyers, Gary Abbot, Theo Jameson, Stephanie Powell, and Christina Noel, among others. She performed professionally as a member of Cleo II for 4 years. She has performed in Cleveland, Dallas and Denver for IABD, an annual international Dance Festival, and also assisted in hosting the conference in Denver in 2016. She has performed as a guest artist for Edgar L Page: Feel the Movement; Winifred Harris; The Theatre of Yugen; and Nick Cave's "Heard."
She enjoyed living out her ballerina dreams performing for 3 seasons with Reformation Dance Company, a contemporary ballet company that's repertoire was all en pointe. She was a founding member when Reformation was relocated to Denver.
She is currently a member of Mercury Dance Company, a small contemporary company based in Centennial. She also enjoys sharing her passion for dance as an instructor at Mercury Academy of Dance.
Hannah is happy to be in her eighth season with Davis Dance. She loves the high caliber & versatility of all the works she gets to perform with the company, as well as the community of great artists & wonderful people that make up Davis.
Seamus Peart is a Denver Colorado native, Seamus Peart is a contemporary based, classically trained dancer/choreographer working to mold classical technique with contemporary style, to find juxtaposition between music and movement, and to explore the funkiness/expression within simplicity/minimalism.
Seamus began dancing at the age of seven. His early “career” consisted of performing with the Cherry Creek Dance Performing Company at Denver Nuggets and Harlem Globetrotters halftimes, alongside the Moscow Ballet yearly in performances of The Great Russian Nutcracker, as well as appearing in multiple performances by the local Denver company: 7 Dancers.
Seamus attended Denver School of the Arts in high-school, where he participated twice in the National High School Dance Festival, performed in and choreographed for countless concerts and galas, and worked with choreographers such as Scott Putman of Amaranth Dance, Kim Robards, Hannah Khan, David Reuille, Michael O’Bannion, Alicia Karczewski, and Terrell Davis, among others.
Seamus then continued his training at California Institute of the Arts in the BFA dance program in college. There he further developed his passion in both performing and choreographing, learned vital music and film editing skills, engaged in activism in the LA community, and found a love for stage production while crewing and managing numerous concerts for the dance department. At CalArts, he was trained by world class artists including Laurence Blake, Nina Flagg, Spencer Theberge, Cynthia Young, Brigette Dunn-Korpela, Glen Eddy, Samuel Wentz, Julie Bour, and Yusha-Marie Sorzano, among others, while working with artists and companies such as Wayne McGregor, Rennie Harris, Olivier Tarpaga, Yusha-Marie Sorzano, Laurence Blake, Gerard and Kelly, Dimitri Chamblas, LA Dance Project, and the LA Contemporary Dance Company.
After graduation, Seamus returned to Denver, where for the past year he has been dancing with the Davis Dance, performing in concerts: “Rising From The Dark” and “A Summer Night Of Dance”.
Seamus hopes to spread his passion for performing and choreographing, as well as share his groovy West coast contemporary style with students and audiences everywhere. He is in his fourth season with the company