MDance

Mary Kacsur is a dance educator and artist specializing in creative movement and community-based dance practices. Currently, she is a student at the University of Michigan earning her degrees in Dance and Cognitive Science with a minor in Linguistics. Her work draws from experiences in both concert dance and community settings. Mary Kacsur is actively a part of the Ballet & Books Michigan Chapter, a non-profit organization aiming to close the literacy gap through dance and reading lessons. Within this organization, she serves as the Mentor Coordinator and as a Mentor. Through her work, Mary aims to make dance more accessible, joyful, and meaningful for all bodies and identities. She is beyond excited to be on the faculty for MDance.​

Leah is a choreographer and instructor specializing in dance theater, composition, improvisation, and contemporary modern dance. Favorite credits as a performer include the Metropolitan Opera, Across the Universe, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, dancing for Beyoncé Knowles, and performing at the Royal Palace of Istanbul.

Leah’s choreography, often playful, haunting, and surreal, has been seen at American Dance Festival, Global Women Performing Arts Festival (Korea), Inspired Dance Festival (Australia), Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, ACDA, and Michigan Museum of Natural History, among others. She won Best Choreography at the 2022 Detroit Dance City Festival, and was a 2020 Maggie Alessee Choreography Award Finalist. Leah was an artist-in-residence at Greywood Arts in Ireland where she also studied Body Weather with Frank van de Ven.

She has taught courses and workshops in and around New York City, as well as at Wayne State University, University of Michigan, and Detroit Opera Theater. Most recently, she choreographed a performance for the Museum of Contemporary Detroit’s Annual Gala and was a guest artist at Wayne State University.

Leah holds an MFA from the University of Michigan. ​

Kara Roseborough is a multi-disciplinary artist specializing in dance, creative writing, and theatre. She holds an MFA in Dance and a Certificate in World Performance Studies from the University of Michigan, a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Utah, and teaching certifications in Grades I-V of the Cecchetti Ballet method. Currently, she serves as a Creative Careers Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Michigan while also working as a freelance dancer and choreographer.

In addition to serving as the Artistic Director for the Evanston Dance Ensemble 2 (ede2), Kara has performed with dance companies and theatres including Charleston City Ballet, The Ruth Page Civic Ballet of Chicago, South Chicago Dance Theatre, New Dances, Pittsburgh Public Theatre and Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre. Her choreography has been presented across the United States and internationally, including with the Dutch National Ballet.

While at the University of Michigan, Kara has deepened her research on the history and narrative representations of Black and African Diasporic people and stories within ballet, connecting the historically White artform to its North African roots as a means of restorative justice. Her work includes the theatricalization of Black folklore. During her graduate studies, she developed the original course “The History of the Black Ballerina” and co-founded the University of Michigan chapter of Ballet & Books, which provides free ballet education and literacy support to predominantly Black and Latiné students in low-income communities.

Tamara Tucker-Ibarisha is an artist who has a passion for movement, rhythm, and tradition. With over two decades of dedicated study and performance, she has immersed herself in the vibrant traditions of Congolese dance, music, and drumming under the masterful direction of Biza Sompa, serving as a core member of the Bichini Bia Congo Dance Theater Company and co-founder of the Bala Ba Congo Children’s Company. Her training also includes West and East (Kenyan) African dance styles which she brings to bear in her creative work outside of Bichini Bia Congo.

Andi Salazar is a Chilean Choreographer, Dance Educator, Performer, and Sociologist. She got her BA degree in Sociology at UC of Chile, the same place where she founded Kazé Dance, a Contemporary dance company where she was the Artistic Director and Choreographer for eight years. In 2017, Andi relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and obtained her MFA in Dance and Choreography from Mills College. There, she also had the opportunity to perform for choreographers such as Joe Landini and Molissa Fenley and showed her work with her dance company “A Pulso Dance Project” at many festivals around the state. During her years in the Bay, Andi also worked as a faculty member at the Bay Area Ballet Conservatory, Shawl Anderson Dance Center, and as a Teaching Artist at Alonzo King Lines Ballet Dance Center. In 2023, she relocated to New York to keep her studies and joined the Master’s degree “Teaching Dance in the Profession: ABT Ballet Pedagogy” at New York University while working as a Teaching Artist for ABT and as an assistant at the ABT JKO School. During her time in NYC, she also did an internship at Peridance Contemporary Dance Company with Igal Perry as an administrative assistant and worked as a Contemporary faculty member for Maria Kowroski’s New Jersey Ballet Summer Intensive. In 2024, she moved to Michigan and currently works as a lecturer for the University of Michigan Dance Department, as a Visitor Assistant Professor of Dance at Western Michigan University, as a Contemporary Faculty member at Grand Rapids Ballet, and as a Ballet and Modern faculty member for Fenton Ballet Theater.