Season 2018/2019

Emil (EJ) ABAN, has been dancing for 7 years. Prior to beginning dance EJ did TaeKwonDo and picked up musical instruments. He began his dance endeavors at Sheldon High School with Universal Rhythm Dance Co. under the direction of Rebecca Hobgood and Debi Roberts. He has also trained at the Northern California Dance Conservatory, Sac Dance Lab, and Movement Invention Project in NYC. EJ also teaches and choreographs for high school dance companies in the Elk Grove/Sacramento area.

Nicole is a California native and began her dance training at an early age beginning with ballet and jazz in her small home town of Tracy, California. During high school she trained at Contra Costa Ballet under the direction of Zola Dishong and Richard Cammack. After graduating high school she attended Orange Coast College where she was able to dance with Anaheim Ballet and Contempo Ballet. Nicole graduated cum laude obtaining her Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance at Alonzo King LINES Ballet at Dominican University of California in 2017. She has had the opportunity of performing works by Gregory Dawson, Robert Dekkers, Amanda K. Miller, and Amy Seiwert, among others. Nicole is currently freelancing and teaching throughout the Bay Area.

Dana Urban-Cole began dancing at a young age and never stopped. The studio, where she trained as a youth, accepted her onto their competition and performance companies. She was also chosen to be a part of professional performance productions in the bay area (including 49er halftime shows and local tv segments). While living in that area, Dana performed in musical theatre as well (including dancing in the west coast premiere of Footloose). After high school, Dana attended Chico State, where she studied media arts and dance. While there, she danced for the college’s dance company as well as for the Chico Community Ballet. After graduating, Dana continued dancing for a couple of professional dance companies in the Chico area. Life took Dana to Sacramento, where she discovered her passion for teaching dancing and choreographing. Unfortunately, Dana suffered from some difficult health complications for a couple of years. Though she continued teaching and choreographing at this time, she needed to take a break from her own physical training. Dana has worked diligently to rehabilitate her body and enjoyed the process of learning more about how to train dancers’ bodies in the most effective and safest way. She got the opportunity, last summer, to start dancing for Pamela Lourentzo’s dance company. Dana is excited to now also be dancing with the Nhan Ho Project.

Elizabeth Dyer is a 23 year old dancer and performer living in the Sacramento region. She started off dancing at the age of 10 at KM dance studios. While at KM dance studios she was also attending ballroom classes at Arthur Murray. She then left both studios to train at Northern California Dance Conservatory (NCDC). While attending NCDC Elizabeth joined the ambassador team and the PHresh Crew hip hop team. Elizabeth has trained in various styles including ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz, and hip hop while also taking workshops and intensive from many professional dancers through out her time at NCDC .She also took private training from Leah Bueno, Alexey Kulpin, Lindsey Renee Derry, and Michael Levine through out her dancing career. Elizabeth has also performed solo work by Nhan Ho. While her training in ballroom dancing Elizabeth has competed in multiple ballroom competitions including International Grand Ball (IGB),San Francisco Open ballroom competition (SFOpen), and City lights Open. Currently she is apart of the Nhan Ho project dance company and also trains at Sacramento dance center for ballroom dancing with her coach Genya Malko. Elizabeth believes dance is the only thing that can be unity.

Amanda Kolodney is a University of Arizona graduate where she earned her BFA in dance training extensively in ballet, modern, and jazz. During her four years there, Amanda had many opportunities to perform works for the inspiring faculty and her fellow classmates, including performing at the Jazz Dance World Congress in Pittsburg. Throughout her college career she also worked for the Joffrey West Jazz and Contemporary Intensive in LA as well as the Joffrey San Francisco Contemporary Ballet Intensive, assisting choreographers and furthering her dance education. Post college she has continued to learn and grow while dancing for Body Current Dance in Long Beach, Core Contemporary Dance, and now with the Nhan Ho Project here in Northern California.

Linda “Starrie” Le, a dancer and choreographer, has graduated from CSU Sacramento with a double major in Business and Dance. Starrie started her technical training during her sophomore year at CSU Sacramento. She has studied under faculty members Dr. Linda Goodrich, Lorelei Bayne, Nolan T’Sani, Philip Flickinger, Nhan Ho, Lisa Ross, Aubri Siebert, and Melisa Cervantes. Starrie is now dancing in the local Sacramento region with various dance projects. Currently, she is enrolled in the Cosmetology Program at Sacramento City College. Starrie hopes to continue dancing as she finishes up her last semester at Sacramento City College and continue to explore more dance projects with local dancers and choreographers in the community.

Becca Newton, originally from Sacramento, CA, is a graduate from CSU Long Beach where she obtained her BFA in dance. Growing up, she trained with a pre-professional dance company under the direction of Jen Bradford where she had the opportunity to perform at venues such as Royal Festival of France, and The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. She has also received training from educators such as Lillian Barbeito, Sidra Bell, Troy Ogilvie, Drew Jacoby, Theodore Constant, Nhan Ho, Jennifer Backhaus, and more. Becca recently spent a season as a full time Company member with Backhausdance Company, and in 2015, she performed as a guest artist with the LA Contemporary Dance Company. Her choreographic works have been presented in a collaborative show with Backhausdance Company, at the CSULB’s Contemporary Dance Concert, and took first at the Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival, Palm Desert. She has performed the works of choreographers such as Sidra Bell, LeeWei Chow, Jenny Backhaus, Ben Levy, Jen Bradford, Alex Ketley, Rebecca Lemme, Keith Johnson, Nhan Ho, and more. This is her second season as a company member with the Nhan Ho Project.

Kayden Nyborg began dancing when she was 5-years-old with most of her training through Sacramento Ballet and Northern California Dance Conservatory. She is currently working on her AA at Folsom Lake College. She has danced in roles with Sacramento Ballet’s Nutcracker, Placer Theater Ballet’s Snow White, and Nhan Ho’s Movement Choir. Kayden has also had the opportunity to perform a dance by James Gregg as well as participate in various intensives and workshops. She is thrilled to be joining Nhan Ho’s Project in the upcoming year.