The Company
Tamara Leigh
Tamara Leigh joined Soluq Dance Theater in 2019 as a company member. Along with “Circle Return” and | BENT | , she has had the pleasure of performing their immersive work at West Beth as well as Soluq’s piece ”Solo” since joining. Tamara graduated with a BFA from Point Park University where she was able to perform pieces Stefanie Batten-Bland, David Norsworthy, Gregory Dolbashion, and other artists. Since moving to New York she has worked as a freelance artist performing with companies such as Hub City Opera, the Movement Playground, Bodystories along with other projects.
Francesca Dominguez
Francesca Dominguez recently moved to New York in 2019, after spending 4 months teaching and dancing in Barcelona. She attended CSU Long Beach receiving a BFA in dance and a BA in Spanish Language and was also a member of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program. Francesca has performed work by Vim Vigor, Sidra Bell, Doug Varone, Alex Ketley, Maurya Kerr and Gioconda Barbuto. Growing up in Sonoma County California, Francesca explored numerous genres of dance, training in styles such as Ballet, Modern, Irish, Bollywood, Flamenco, African and Ballroom dance. Her training includes intensives Springboard Danse Montreal, One Body One Career, and Bodytraffic. She has performed for GRAYSCALE and Keith Johnson Dancers in Los Angeles, and currently dances for SOLUQ Dance Theater in New York. Francesca has loved every moment and is so grateful to be part of this beautiful Soluq Dance Theater family!
Monica Steffey
Monica Ann Steffey graduated Summa Cum Laude from Skidmore College with a BS in Dance Performance and Choreography. Monica has studied dance in Israel, Hungary, and Ghana. She was awarded the SEE-Beyond Award from Skidmore College. Monica has performed works by Ohad Naharin, Sidra Bell, Paul Taylor, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Shen Wei, Justin Tornow, Jason Ohlberg, Erika Pujic, and Mary Harney. Monica works with Amirov Dance Theater, VIVO Ballet, HIVE Dance Company and SOLUQ Dance Theater.
Lauren Twomley
Lauren graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Arts Management. She has studied under Doug Varone, Sidra Bell, Dylan Crossman, Kevin Wynn and Ana Maria Lucaciu, and performed masterworks by choreographers Martha Graham, José Limón and Merce Cunningham. Lauren is the 2018 recipient of the SUNY Purchase President’s Award for Achievement in Dance. . She is founding member of N E 1 4 Dance, and currently a member of the Limón Dance Company and Soluq Dance.
Past Company Members
Sarah Bauer
Sarah joined Soluq Dance Theater in 2019. Sarah comes from Californian and grew up dancing at local studios in Napa, CA and furthered her studies at the University of California, Irvine graduating with a BFA in Dance Performance. She studied closely with Donald McKayle, Sheron Wray, and Loretta Livingston. Sarah has performed across the country as well as in Spain and Italy under the direction of Lisa Naugle with the DTM2 Ensemble. Sarah continued her dance studies with the Year-Round Program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Summer Lee Rhatigan. After moving to New York, Sarah joined Von Howard Project as well as Lone King Projects by Marissa Brown. Sarah is a certified GYROTONIC® trainer currently working as a freelance artist and teacher in New York City. . She is so grateful for all her friends and family who’ve supported her in her passion to dance. She holds all of her teachers, supporters and fellow artists close to her heart.
Nikki Theroux
Nikki Theroux, originally from Massachusetts, received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Marymount Manhattan College. Nikki has worked with Mersiha Mesihovic/CircuitDebris, Suku Dance Lab, tested Performance Group, Mike Esperanza, Max Stone, Emily Greenwell, and Rachel Hettinger. She studied in Israel with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, where she performed works by Ilya Nikurov, Rami Be’er, and Mats Ek’s Cullberg Ballet Repertoire. Additionally, Nikki choreographs her own works, which have been presented in theaters both in and out the United States, such as Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, The Actor’s Fund Theater, the Salvatore Capezio Theater, and the Zichri Theater. In the fall of 2017 she was selected for a residency with Chen Dance Center, during which she created a solo work for the newsteps series entitled fell. Nikki created a film project for Soluq in 2016 and joined the company in 2018.
Dale Ratcliff
Dale Ratcliff grew up in Warren, Michigan. He began his training at the age of sixteen, studying Jazz and Hip Hop at Tina Marie's School of Dance. Not long after he added Ballet, Acrobatics, and Lyrical. At the age of 19 he moved to New York to continue his studies, and at the age of 20 he enrolled into the Conservatory Program at Steps on Broadway. While living in New York Dale has danced with Julia Ehrstrand, Jana Hicks, Marijke Eliasberg, Brice Mousset, Dante Brown, and Jennifer Archibald.
Dasol Kim
A native of South Korea, Dasol Kim discovered her love for dance shortly after she moved to California in 2004. She graduated from Orange County School of the Arts and performed with WESTSIDE Dance Project before moving to New York City to continue her education. As a student at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, she performed works by Crystal Pite, Sonya Tayeh, MADBOOTS DANCE, and Pamela Pietro. Along with her training, she has worked with numerous artists including Johannes Wieland, Peter Chu, Bret Easterling, and Emma Portner. As a recent graduate, she plans on further developing her choreographic voice and collaborating with diverse artists.
Lir Katz
Lir Katz is a Brooklyn based contemporary dancer, born raised in Tel-Aviv, Israel. In 2011, she was selected to participate in Batsheva’s Excellence Program, and performed work for several choreographers, among them Ohad Naharin and Barak Marshall. She joined the Peridance International Program, and during her school years she was a company member at the Soluq Dance Theaters, Lucy Kerr Arts, and The Next Stage Project. In 2018, Lir graduated from Peridance Capezio Center, and in the spring of 2018 started to work for Hivewild. Besides dancing, Lir is a working actress in Israel and has taken part in several productions including a feature film and an award winning drama series.
Guest Performers
Liana Kleinman - Guest Artist
Liana Kleinman is a dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker from Los Angeles, CA. She received her BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College with minors in Biology and Chemistry. She has performed works by Merce Cunningham, Helder Seabra, Andrea Miller and Ronald K. Brown. In addition to her work with Soluq Dance Theater, Liana is currently a company member with The Movement Playground and Christina Noel and the Creature. In 2019, she was invited to The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity's residency, Preparing the Ground under the direction of Medhi Walerski and Pierre Pontvianne, and curated by Emily Molnar. As a filmmaker, Liana was honored to work as the video documentation intern at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival 2016, filming works for companies such as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, ARIAS Company, and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet.
Julia Discenza - Guest Artist
Julia Discenza is a dancer, photographer, and filmmaker living in New York. She holds a B.A. in Biology and Dance from Barnard College, Columbia University. As a freelance dancer she has worked with nathantrice/RITUALS, Stefanie Nelson, Colleen Thomas, MICHIYAYA, Gibney Dance Company, and Bryan Arias. She is a current collaborator with Gregory Dolbashian's DASH Ensemble, and is also on staff at Gibney's Digital Media Initiative, which seeks to empower the dance community by giving free and low-cost access to video and other digital resources