Lydia Johnson (Choreographer, Artistic Director)

Originally from Massachusetts, Ms. Johnson studied at Suny/Purchase and on scholarship at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She continued her studies on New York with Finis Jhung and Sara Rudner among others. She presented her early work in New York at numerous dance spaces and founded One Night Stand, a series of Co-operative showcases, which allowed choreographers to present new work inexpensively. She has received a Monticello Foundation award sponsored by The National Association of Regional Ballet as well as a recent Harkness Dance Center Space Grant from the 92nd Street Y. LJD was founded in 1999 when Ms. Johnson returned to her choreography after taking several years to be home with her three children while working part time.

Jessica Sand is a native of Iowa and an alumna of Texas Christian University, where she graduated with honors with a BFA in Ballet and Modern Dance and was featured in works by Fernando Bujones, Mary Cochran, Gail Gilbert and Paul Taylor. In New York, she has performed with Eglevsky Ballet, tompricedance and Von Howard Project, among others, and looks forward to pursuing her MA in Dance Education at NYU Steinhardt this fall. Ms. Sand has been a member of Lydia Johnson Dance since 2004, and she has enjoyed originating major roles as well as serving as costume designer and rehearsal director for the company. Much love and appreciation to Lydia and all of the LJD family for their abundant laughter, support and inspiration!

Kerry Shea, originally from Virginia, began her early training at Pennsylvania Ballet, Boston Ballet and Houston Ballet. She continued training on scholarship at The University of Utah, where she received her BFA with high honors. Company credits include The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Ballet West and The Sacramento Ballet. She has enjoyed working with choreographers Alonzo King, Donald McKayle, Septime Webre, Stephen Mills and Thaddeus Davis. Ms. Shea participated in the Northwest Professional Dance Project in Portland, Oregon, where she had the honor of working with Lucas Crandall of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and performed a solo Crandall created on her. Currently, Ms. Shea can be seen dancing in New York City with The Eglevsky Ballet, Brooklyn Ballet and Salim Gauwloos. This is her sixth season dancing with Lydia Johnson Dance, where she has originated major roles in the repertory and served as a rehearsal director for the company.

Laura Di Orio, originally from Pennsylvania, began her training at the Mill Ballet School with Mark and Melissa Roxey. She continued her studies in New York City at the Joffrey Ballet School. Ms. Di Orio has performed with the Staten Island Ballet, Albano Ballet, Roxey Ballet and in works by David Fernandez, among others. She also serves as a teaching artist and dancer for Ballet Ambassadors. She received her BA in Journalism from Fordham University and has since been a contributing writer for several dance publications, including Pointe and Dance Informa. Ms. Di Orio has been a member of Lydia Johnson Dance since 2006. She would like to thank her family, friends and LJD family for their love, support and fun.

Lisa Iannacito happily became a member of Lydia Johnson Dance in 2006. She began her training at the School of the Albany Berkshire Ballet and continued her studies at the Boston Ballet School, The Juilliard School and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She earned her BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College and has trained extensively in the Limon technique with Risa Steinberg. Ms. Iannacito has danced with the Albany Berkshire Ballet, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater, Beth Soll, Dusan Tynek Dance Theater, Catherine Miller and Kathryn Alter. In 2007, she was selected to participate in the Patricia N. Nanon Residency at The Yard on Martha's Vineyard. Currently, she is a member and the Associate Artistic Director of Riedel Dance Theater. She has been on faculty at the Logrea Dance Academy, the New York State Summer School for the Arts, The Yard, the Mark Morris Dance Center and the School of the Albany Berkshire Ballet. Ms. Iannacito is a Pilates teacher certified by The Kane School of Core Integration. She is also the Managing Director of Dances Patrelle.

Eric Vlach was raised in and began his dance training in Portland, Oregon. After high school, he moved to New York City to pursue dance at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He graduated in 2005 with a BFA in Dance and a degree in computer applications. Since then, he has been busy freelancing his IT application design skills and dancing across the country, performing choreography by David Robertson, Bill T. Jones, Moses Pendleton, Ronen Koresh, Lucas Crandall and Lauri Stallings. Mr. Vlach has appeared as an artist with the Portland Festival Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, Brooklyn Ballet, Benjamin Briones Ballet and Jerboa Dance. In addition to Lydia Johnson Dance, he can be seen this season dancing in New York City with Annabella Gonzalez Dance Theater and Dances Patrelle. This is Mr. Vlach's fifth season with LJD.

Robert Robinson trained at the School of Hartford Ballet before graduating from the Juilliard School. He has performed professionally throughout North America and Europe. He is honored to appear in his third consecutive season with Lydia Johnson Dance and would like to express the deepest gratitude to the company and board for their continued encouragement and support.

James Hernandez is from San Antonio, Texas, where he began studying classical ballet under Mayra Worthen as well as at Ballet Folklorico under Pete Ramirez and Bruce Gonzales. He then went on to dance with Colorado Ballet for six seasons performing many roles, most notably Gringoire in Michael Pink's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker and John Darling in Peter Pan. He has also performed works by George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon, Agnes de Mille, Rennie Harris and Darrel Grand-Moultrie. He also danced one season with Ballet Nouveau Colorado and was featured in works by Robert Mills, Amy Seiwart and Lei Wie Chow. This is Mr. Hernandez’s second season with Lydia Johnson Dance.

Shannon Maynor is originally from Los Angeles, California, and was trained at California Dance Theatre. She attended summer programs at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, School of American Ballet and San Francisco Ballet School, where she stayed as a year-round student on full scholarship. She has danced professionally at Oregon Ballet Theatre and, since moving to New York, has danced with The Eglevsky Ballet, Ballet Deviare and VISIONS Contemporary Ballet. Ms. Maynor joined Lydia Johnson Dance in January 2011 and is very happy to be working with such a wonderful group of people.

Kaitlin Accetta grew up in Seaford, New York, and received her ballet and modern dance training at Maple Avenue Dance under the direction of Kim Alberti. She attended Adelphi University on scholarship and had the opportunity to perform works by Frank Augustyn, Danny Grossman, Leda Meredith, Trebien Pollard and Alexandre Prioa. Upon graduation in 2010, Ms. Accetta received the Ruth St. Denis Prize. Since last year, she has been able to dance and work with Kathryn Alter and the Limon Institute, Ben Munisteri and Darcy Naganuma. She is currently the marketing intern and research assistant for TAKE Dance. Ms. Accetta is so excited to be working with Lydia Johnson and her dancers this season and gives many thanks to Lydia for this opportunity.

Blake Hennessy-York graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a BFA in Dance and a BA in Business Economics. Originally from Lake Tahoe, Nevada, he received his early training from Ann Peters. Within the Theatre/Dance Department at UCSB, he was awarded the Matthew Plaskett Memorial Scholarship in 2003 and 2005, the Patricia Sparrow Scholarship in 2005, as well as the Drama and Dance Associates Award in 2006 for overall excellence in academic and artistic pursuits. Mr. Hennessy-York danced with Santa Barbara Dance Theatre from 2008 to 2011, which included tours to China and South Korea, and he has also performed with Nugent Dance, the Montecito School of Ballet and at Woodminster Amphitheatre. Other performances include works by Nancy Colahan, Tonia Shimin, Christopher Pilafian and Valerie Huston. In New York City, he works at Viacom, Inc. while pursuing his dance career. This is his first season with Lydia Johnson Dance.

Devon Kelly grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, where she studied under Michele Lee at Center Stage Dance Studio. She continued her dance studies at Florida State University, where she performed in several graduate student concerts, choreographed two of her own works and was selected for several faculty pieces. While in school, Ms. Kelly was a principal dancer with Tallahassee Ballet, where she performed lead roles in The Nutcracker, Cinderella and Snow White. Last summer, she apprenticed with Heather Maloy's Terpsicorps Theater of Dance and was honored to perform Salvatore Aiello's "Rite of Spring". She was invited to perform in the Cloud Dance Festival in London as well as intern with Atelier De Danse during her last semester of college in Florence, Italy. This summer, she will be participating with Toscana Summer Dance and performing at the Florence Dance Festival. Ms. Kelly has been living in NYC for 6 months and is so grateful to be a part of the creative family of Lydia Johnson Dance. She wants to thank all of her family and friends for their endless love and support that have gotten her this far!

Justin Lynch was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and studied dance in New York and Paris. In addition to his work with Lydia Johnson Dance, Mr. Lynch has toured nationally with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Naganuma Dance and Ko-Ryo Dance Theater. He also trained as a pianist at the Royal College of Music in London and at Boston University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Music. In his work as a dancer and musician he has collaborated with members of the Ahn Trio, the Vinca Quartet and the Grammy-nominated Brazilian Girls. This is Mr. Lynch’s first season with LJD.

Sarah Pon, originally from Oakland, California, received her early training from Lynette DeFazio at Ballet Arts. She graduated with high honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2006 with a BFA in Dance. While at UCSB, she danced in works by Christopher Pilafian, Tonia Shimin, Valerie Huston and performed with Nugent Dance. She is a recipient of the Patricia Sparrow scholarship and the Alice Condodina Performance Award. Ms. Pon has also danced for Santa Barbara choreographers Robin Bisio, Carol Press, Ian McGinnis, Marcos Duran and Emily Wheeler. Also involved in musical theatre, she has performed in many regional theatre productions at Woodminster Amphitheatre in the Bay Area. Upon graduation from UCSB, she was invited to join Santa Barbara Dance Theatre and danced with the company for three seasons. With SBDT, she has toured internationally to Wales, Ireland, China and South Korea. This is Ms. Pon’s first season performing with Lydia Johnson Dance.

Natalia Wodnicka began her early training in Texas and, at the age of 15, spent a year in France, where she studied with Danièle Villers of the Paris Opera Ballet School. She trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, and took master classes in Biarritz, France, from Azari Plisetsky of the Bèjart Ballet Lausanne. She continues to train with Danièle Villers, Arleen Sugano (Artistic Director of Ballet Arkansas) and Lisa Lockwood, formerly of ABT. Ms. Wodnicka danced in Europe as a corps member at the National Ballet of Poland, where she performed corps and soloist roles in Swan Lake, Paquita, The Nutcracker and numerous contemporary works. She has appeared as a guest artist with festival ballets in Texas and New York, and last December, she performed with Andras Szego, soloist from the Hungarian National Ballet. She had the honor of being invited to the 2010 International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, as a demonstrator for Arleen Sugano. This season, she can also be seen dancing in New York with Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre. This is Ms. Wodnicka”s first season with Lydia Johnson Dance.

Sean Patrick Mahoney, Guest Artist was born and raised in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. At age 12, he began training with Fred Knecht and attended the Princeton Ballet School on scholarship. He became an apprentice at American Repertory Ballet and then became a featured dancer with the company. After graduating from high school in 1993, he was chosen as one of the first members of Taylor 2. Mr. Mahoney later danced for David Parsons, Alex Tressor and Geoffrey Doig-Marx and was in Radio City's Christmas Spectacular. Mr. Mahoney rejoined Taylor 2 in summer 2002. He debuted with the Paul Taylor Dance Company in January 2004.

Josh Christopher, originally from west Michigan, trained at North Carolina School of the Arts, with a short exchange with the Hungarian National Ballet Academy. Since then, he has performed on four continents with Kansas City Ballet, MOMIX, South African Ballet Theatre, The Metropolitan Opera, Ballet Tucson, Quixotic Performance Fusion, The Chase Brock Experience, BalletX, Ballet NY, Eglevsky Ballet, Peter Kyle Dance, John-Mark Owen and Lustig Dance Theatre. Mr. Christopher was recently assistant choreographer for the off-Broadway musical The Blue Flower.