meet our dancers

Board Members:

Andrea Ligon - Artistic Director, Company Manager (dancer/choreographer) is thrilled to be EDC's new Artistic Director. She earned an A.A. in Dance from Montgomery College and her B.A. in English from the University of Maryland. She has studied ballet, modern, tap, jazz, African and other techniques for over 24 years. Ligon also attended the American Dance Festival (ADF) at Duke University and studied with many artists including Chuck Davis, Donna Birchfield and David Dorfman. She has studied choreography at Duke University and under Vladamir Angelov in D.C. Ligon has choreographed for the Montgomery College Dance Company, and the student showcases at ADF and at Joy of Motion, DC. She recently choreographed the musical A Year with Frog and Toad at Montgomery College and has also choreographed the shows Kiss me Kate and Anthems. Her work has been seen on stage in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Washington D.C. Currently she is performing for Jane Franklin Dance in Arlington, VA.

Pat Burns - President (dancer/choreographer) is proud to be one of the founding members of Equinox, and looks forward to her seventh year with the company. Prior to Equinox, Pat danced for five years with Tawa Dance Company. Pat enjoys dancing and choreographing as a form of artistic expression, exercise, and fun. Pat has studied dance in New Jersey, California, and Maryland, at the Artistic Dance Center. Pat works in the Frederick area as a certified Personal Trainer, and as a state and nationally certified massage therapist.

Kimberly Moore Dow - Vice President/Marketing Director (dancer/choreographer) is a co-founder of Equinox Dance Company and served as the Artistic Director for the first five years of the company's inception. First trained in Cechetti ballet and pointe, Kim discovered her love of modern dance while at college. She graduated summa cum laude from Salisbury State University with a B.A. in Art/Graphic Design and a minor in Dance. She danced in the SSU Dance Company throughout college, under the direction of Victoria Hutchinson, where she choreographed for the student showcase and served on the executive board. While at Salisbury, Kim was awarded the National Outstanding Dance Minor by the National Dance Association, and a Student Leadership Award for her contribution to the SSU Dance Company. Prior to becoming artistic director of EDC, Kim performed and choreographed with TAWA Dance Company, under the direction of Mary Tawa. She is the owner and principal of Kalico Design, a graphic design firm in the Frederick region.

Lee Ek - Secretary (dancer) is very happy and excited to be dancing her 4th season with Equinox! At age 3, Lee took classes in tap, ballet and jazz but by age 8, ballet became her favorite. She studied under the late Annamarie Sarazyn, a former principal dancer with the Boston Ballet Company. Lee went on to Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY and while there, was introduced to the world of modern dance! She also had opportunities to dance under guest choreographers from NY City, broadening her experience in this genre of dance. Lee graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work and dance honors. She is presently working part-time as a Rehab Aide at Frederick Memorial Hospital-TX Team.

Deanna Buckner - Board Member, Director of Fundraising is delighted to be on the EDC board this year. Previously, she danced with Equinox for 5 years before taking a two year hiatus to study for the Architecture Registration Exams. But, she didn't stray far—she has been behind the scenes at various performances for EDC as a sound technician, slideshow coordinator and photographer. Deanna has been dancing on and off for the past 17 years and has enjoyed experimenting with jazz, ballet, tap, swing, jitterbug, lindy hop and modern forms of dancing — hip-hop being her favorite. As a child she was dragged to jitterbug performances by her mother and the dancing-bug caught on from there. Deanna was a professional cheerleader for the PW Cannons and coached two high school dance teams before venturing off to college, where she earned her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech. She has since had the opportunity to study and dance under Tom Koerner, Debra Sternberg, Maurice Johnson, Aysha Upchurch and Helen Hayes.

Dancers:

Madeleine Benda (dancer)Madeleine has been dancing for 19 years. She studied at spotlight studio of dance and then Dee Buchanan.She majored in dance at Frostburg State University for two years. She enjoys all styles of dance, but especially modern and jazz. She has danced competitively for 15 years. .She has had the pleasure of taking class from Ashley Canturna, Dee Casberry,Mia Michaels,and Travis Wall. She always hopes to have dance in her life in one way or another.

Emily Bonham Owen (dancer) is excited to be in her seventh year with Equinox Dance Company. She served as the company's treasurer from 2004 - 2009. In addition, Emily is also an avid sewer who works on many of the company's costumes. Emily began studying dance at age five. She studied ballet, pointe, jazz, and tap with The Upper Montgomery Ballet School, in Damascus, MD, and assisted the school director as a student instructor. As a student at The College of William & Mary in Virginia, Emily expanded her dance repertoire, studying a variety of modern dance techniques, along with Alexander Technique. She performed in the annual dance minor concerts at William & Mary, and competed as a member of the Ballroom Dance Team, in addition to serving as President of the Ballroom Dance Club. Emily earned her bachelors degree in Psychology and Spanish, and a masters in Human Sciences at Hood College. She is the Associate Director of Admissions and an adjunct English instructor at Howard Community College in Columbia.

Kady Davis (dancer) is dancing for her fourth year with the Equinox Dance Company. She began dancing at the age of three and was trained in Cechetti ballet and pointe at The Upper Montgomery School of Ballet in Damascus, MD. After a nine-year hiatus from dancing, Kady was excited to make a return to the artform. She looks forward to the challenge of changing her focus from ballet to modern dance and is very grateful for the opportunity that Equinox has provided her. Kady is a graduate of St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Chrissa Dockendorf (dancer) began dancing when she was three at the Metropolitan School for Ballet in Gaithersburg, MD. After moving to Frederick when she was nine, Chrissa started taking tap through her school, Visitation Academy, under Linda Elower then enrolled in classes at Artistic Dance Centre (ADC). It was at ADC that Chrissa truly found her passion for dancing and started taking classes in modern, hip hop, and pointe, and joined the ADC Dance Contraption Dance Company. Chrissa received her AA degree in Dance from Montgomery College. While attending Montgomery College, Chrissa served as a choreographer and stage manager, as well as a member of the Montgomery College Dance Company. Chrissa currently works as an IT Recruiter as well as a dance instructor at Dance Unlimited. With an emphasis in modern, jazz, and hip hop, Chrissa has studied under Debra Floyd, Wade Robson, Rhapsody, Jazmine, Marie Giordano, and Culture Shock, among others. Having previously choreographed for Singing Hands of Frederick, Chrissa also found a love for sign language and has a passion for teaching dance to deaf students.

Jessica Fitzwater (dancer) joined Equinox during the 2007-2008 season and is thrilled to be working with such a talented group of dancers! Jessica has been dancing since she was five and has performed a variety of dance styles including ballet, jazz, lyrical, modern, musical theater, and folk dance. In 2005 Jessica graduated summa cum laude from St. Mary's College of Maryland with a B.A. in Music. While at St. Mary's she performed in several stage musicals and dance concerts and founded the St. Mary's Dance Club where she served as a dancer and choreographer. Jessica plays violin in the Frederick Symphony Orchestra and is currently a general music teacher at Oakdale Elementary School where she directs the school chorus and dance clubs. One of her dance clubs was a guest performer in EDC's Children's Show this year—she loves sharing her passion for music and dance with her students!

Aileen Geraghty (dancer) Bio to Come.








Danielle Horochowski (dancer) is thrilled to be dancing her first season with Equinox!  Danielle began her training at The City Ballet School in Hagerstown where she was trained as a classical dancer and performed for seven years with the Potomac Classical Youth Ballet Company.  Danielle was introduced to modern dance in college and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi. She has also danced with Point Park Conservatory for Performing Arts in Pittsburgh.  Before moving to Hagerstown, she served on staff with the USA International Ballet Competition and was the director of dance for Center Stage Productions in Jackson, Mississippi. Danielle is the owner and artistic director of the City Ballet School in Hagerstown, Maryland.


Stephanie Peters (dancer) began dancing at the age of 8 at Bettie Jane's Studio of Dance Art, and continued dancing throughout her school years. At Salisbury State University, under the direction of Victoria Hutchinson, she added modern dance to her repertoire of tap, jazz, and ballet, and fell in LOVE. Stephanie earned undergraduate degrees in biology and environmental science from Salisbury and UMES, and recently completed a masters in environmental science from Johns Hopkins University. She currently works as an environmental specialist at the Maryland Environmental Service. Stephanie has danced with a number of dance companies throughout the region, and is happy to be dancing with EDC again this year.

Rebecca Rolnick (dancer/choreographer) is dancing for her fourth year with Equinox Dance Company. She took dance and gymnastics as a young girl, giving both up to concentrate on violin. In high school she returned to dance. She attended Franklin and Marshall College where she was a Government-History major with a minor in dance. She was active in the F&M dance company as both a dancer and choreographer. After graduating, she took several years off from dance to obtain her J.D. from Pepperdine University. She is licensed to practice in CA and DC. She recently completed her LLM at George Washington University Law School and is working as an attorney in Washington, DC.

Amy Scaringe (dancer) graduated from Towson University in January of 2009 with a BFA in dance performance. While there she studied under Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Catherine Horta-Hayden, Jaye Knutson, Susan Mann, Dana Martin, Keith Thomas and Vincent Thomas. She has also been able to work with, and perform works by Chris Elam from Misnomer Dance Theatre, Donald Shorter from Bill T Jones Company, and Misako Ballet Company.

Jennifer Smith (dancer) joined Equinox during the 2007-2008 season. She began dancing at the age of four, taking ballet classes at the Northern Virginia school of Christina Heimlich, and then took up tap dancing at Linda's Academy of Dance. It was at Linda's Academy that Jennifer met Jacqui Quin, with whom she would continue dancing at various studios, competing in many national competitions until graduating high school and attending James Madison University. While studying art history, Jennifer was able to take a few modern dance classes, she also continued modern classes with Lois Welk in Corning, New York after graduation. After moving to the Frederick area in 2001, Jennifer did not dance again until joining Equinox. In that period of time she attended culinary school and worked as a pastry chef. Jennifer is currently the Acting Assistant Curator at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Maryland.