Meet the Team
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ChristinaNoel Reaves
Director of Education
ChristinaNoel Reaves is a multidisciplinary performing artist, choreographer, and educator. She received her BA in Music: Voice Performance from Georgia State University and an MFA in Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. As a performer Reaves has worked with the likes of Danielle Russo Dance Co, Patricia Noworol Dance, Collectivodoszeta, Ivy Baldwin, Nathan Trice/Rituals, Monstah Black, Zoetic Dance Ensemble, expanDANCE, more.
Reaves has presented original work at Peridance Capezio Center, The Irondale Center, Judson Memorial Church, Teatro LaTEA, Triskelion Arts, Dance Theatre of Ireland, The Bessie Workshop, the DanceNOW Dancemopolitan Festival ,Joe’s PUB, LaMama, Legros Women in Dance Studio Series, Fete de L’Hurricaine Festival, DanceNOW Raw Festival, Dixon Placeʼs Crossing Boundaries Festivals and more. She originated “Rapture Of The Heroine (guurrrl)” on Zoetic Dance Ensemble of Atlanta in 2012 & 2013.
Reaves has been a teacher and choreographer for Dancewave of Brooklyn, Open House Nursery School, Muse Academy, and The Dalton School. She has led master classes and workshops for Irelandʼs Shawbrook School, Scotlandʼs Aberdeen International Youth Festival, and Zoetic Dance Ensemble of Atlanta. Reaves has been an Ambassador for Zoetic Dance and is the Resident Movement Instructor for The Harrower Professional Opera Workshop held annually in Atlanta
In 2011 Reaves founded her company, ChristinaNoel & The Creature creating cohesive works drawing on the unique talents of her performers.
In 2016 Reaves formed her own children’s performing company, The Ephyras, which derives its name from the youthful stage of a jellyfish lifecycle. Her process for Ephyras is to develop children’s technique by first focusing on their imaginations by employing exercises in creativity.
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Basia Lamy
Co-Director of Education, Ballet Faculty
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Liz Westbrook
Company Manager
Liz Westbrook is a movement artist and dance maker originating from New Hampshire. She attended Bennignton College and The University of the Arts (BFA, Dance).
She has previously interned in dance administrative, education, and publication based roles with Critical Correspondence, Movement Research, Vermont Dance Alliance, Urbanity Dance, and Mark Morris Dance Group.
Westbrook was an instructor at Urbanity Dance in Boston, where she specialized in community-driven initiatives that supported children with physical and developmental disabilities, underfunded arts programs in schools, and immigrant-focused vocational training programs. Through her work, she harnessed the transformative power of dance and movement education to empower and uplift these communities.
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Isabelle Dayton
Modern Faculty
Isabelle Dayton (she/her) was pre-professionally trained in Chicago, Illinois at Extensions Dance Company under Lizzie MacKenzie before receiving her BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2020. After graduating she spent a year working professionally in Chicago with companies and collectives like Symbiosis Arts, Boom Crack!, and Identity Performing Arts. She is now currently based in Brooklyn, NY and working as a freelance artist with The Creature, Urban Tribe, Arsenal Movement, and Grace Tong.
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Tonya Goltsev
Acting Faculty
Tonya Goltsev (she/they) is a theatre-maker, educator, visual artist, and director based in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up between California and Moscow, she trained at the American Conservatory of Theatre in San Francisco. Her studies took her to New York and Berlin, and in 2020, she earned a BFA in Acting from the Experimental Theatre Wing and a minor in Film Production, at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Tonya’s artistic influences include training with theatre and movement practitioners such as Enrico Stolzenburg, Monika Gossman, Kevin Kuhlke, K.J. Holmes, and Ishmael Houston-Jones. Previously, she taught theatre at Portola Valley Theatre Conservatory in the Bay Area, and developed Arts and STEM curricula at Curious Jane in Brooklyn. In 2023, she started the theatre program at The Ephyras, where she teaches acting, improv, and devised theatre in weekly classes and summer programs. Passionate about fostering spaces for laughter, creativity, and collaborative storytelling, Tonya is dedicated to empowering young performers through movement-based theatre.