AMEBA

Acrobatic and Aerial Dance

Collaborating Artist

Allison performed with AMEBA in its first self-produced show in September of 2000 and has been a member ever since. She signed up for her first year of dance lessons at eight years old but before that, remembers making up dances with her friends in the living room. As a kid she started off with one two hour session a week at DeAnna's School of Dance doing Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Acrobatics, and Baton (but usually never got to the ballet). Having to choose between dance and acrobatics at about age twelve and thinking she wasn't going real far with the acrobatics (could never get that aerial cartwheel), she dropped it and focused on dance. Adding more ballet to her studies and discovering modern dance in high school, Allison went on to pursue her degree in dance with concentration in Jazz at ECU in North Carolina. Side tracked, she moved to Chicago where she spent some time as a scholarship student with Chi-Town Jazz Dance Co. and Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre.

She eventually finished up her degree at Barat College in Lake Forest where she graduated with honors. Since then she has taught dance to all ages, dappled in choreography, and thanks to Chloe has very much enjoyed bringing Acrobatics back into her life through AMEBA (current goal: aerial cartwheel). Also inspired by Chloe and instigated by an ankle injury, Allison started working on the trapeze and as a result, received a full scholarship to the Aerial Arts Festival in Boulder, Colorado. Now aerial arts are a regular part of her training and performance in AMEBA. Besides performing with AMEBA, Allison has performed for many independent choreographers, was an apprentice dancer with Deeply Rooted Dance Co., danced, sang and acted in the musical "Brigadoon" at Drury Lane and most recently danced for Valerie Alpert Dance Co. She wants to thank her Mom for giving her the gift of dance lessons and all her teachers throughout her life who have inspired her in different ways and whom will forever have their imprint on her ... DeAnna Harbit and White Oak Dance Academy (Blue Springs, MO), Maria Bingham (Laurinburg, NC), Alan Arnett, Joseph Carow and Patti Weeks (ECU), Julie Cartier (Chi-Town), Rory Foster and Eileen Cropley (Barat), and Natalie Rast.