Ambo Dance Theatre's company members are adult performance artists local to Louisville, KY. They come from a broad range of experiences, backgrounds, and lifestyles, helping to uphold the diversity of our company and our work!
COMPANY MEMBERS
Ashley Marie Anderson
Louisville, KY
Ashley began dancing when she was three years old, studying at Diane Moore Dance Academy, falling in love with ballet, tap, jazz, clogging, and lyrical. Ten years later, she began dancing at the Youth Performing Arts School, during which time she was privy to learn about modern dance. She continued this study when she began dancing with Waterworks Dance Company, as well as now with Ambo Dance Theatre.
Jesse Barfield
Louisville, KY
Jesse obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a Minor in Dance from Millikin University in Decatur, IL. While his cruise ship contract took him on a tour of the Caribbean Islands; he has performed in equity playhouses and entertainment venues across the US including in Branson, MO, Ann Arbor, MI, and Sullivan, IL. Locally, you may have seen him in various Derby Dinner Playhouse shows and on tour with Acting Out with the Jewish Community Center. Currently he teaches at Dancensation Studios and is the Assistant Artistic Director at Sacred Heart School for the Arts.
Ashley Marie Anderson
Andrea Breaux
Ashland, KY
Andrea has always had a long-standing passion for the performing arts and has danced on and off her entire life, training in modern, jazz, ballet, and hip-hop, her favorite styles being modern and jazz. She moved to Louisville in 2007 for school and studied Biology at the University of Louisville. Following this, she chose to continue her education in Louisville and attended medical school at U of L. Now, in residency training for pathology, she feels incredibly fortunate to have found a way to incorporate dance back into her life. When she’s not working or dancing, she enjoys spending time outdoors, cooking, and hanging out with her cats and husband.
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Deidre Canada
Floyds Knobs, IN
Deidre began her dance training at the age of 3 at Becky Seiler Dance Studio in New Albany, IN, and continued her training at Indiana University Bloomington where she earned a minor in Contemporary Dance. She has performed with multiple modern dance companies in Louisville over the past 13 years and is excited to now join Ambo Dance Theatre for their 2020 season.
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Linsey Gessner
Louisville, KY
Linsey Gessner is a Youth Performing Arts alum and earned a BFA from the Chicago College of Performing Arts in 2004. With over a decade of performance experience, Linsey has trained thousands in the art of acting and public speaking and shares her time between performance and teaching. Linsey is honored to share her experience and loves opportunities to collaborate.
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Candace Kresse
Louisville, KY
Candace has danced with AmboDT in Only Weeds Will Rise in Winter (2018) and There Will Always Be Strings (2019). Proud mother of three grown children in their twenties, she is trained in acting, voice, ballet, jazz, tap and modern. Throughout her youth Candace danced and performed theatrically until graduating from University of Dayton with a Masters in Chemical Engineering. She left the stage for the demands of work remaining connected to her art through liturgical dance and drama. Eventually her career took her and her family to live in France for three years. When she returned to the states, Candace made a significant life transition into high school teaching which has allowed her to spend more time with family and get back on the stage. Candace has performed in plays and musicals in local community theaters such as CLT, Center Stage, SCCT and Riverstage over the last several years.
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
MAC
Phoenix, AZ
MAC first encountered dance in a semester long class offered through a local youth alliance. Though this initial exposure only lasted a short season, it was enough to spark a lifelong love and curiosity. Throughout the remainder of their scholastic career, MAC found additional opportunities to study in various dance programs. Upon moving to Louisville, KY in 2007, MAC again searched around to see where to find that old love. MAC has studied ballet, bollywood, modern, and aerial dance forms, and has enjoyed performing with various troops over the years. They are excited to partner with Ambo Dance Theater to continue exploring the artistic world of dance.
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Jennifer Shelton
Louisville, KY
Jenn doesn’t ever remember a time that she didn’t dance. As a child, she would barge into her older sibling’s room and dance to their radio. Sunday afternoons were spent watching ballets on television. She would then go to her room and try to imitate the dances. Jenn didn’t have an opportunity to take formal dance lessons until her Freshman year in college when she was accepted into the Eastern Dance Theatre at Eastern Kentucky University, studying Modern, Ballet, Jazz and Musical Theatre. She was able to perform in all their concerts and also toured with a local community theatre group. Later, she danced with Troupe Samovar, a belly dance troupe, for over 8 years. Following this, Jenn then studied Bollywood for 5 years. With both Belly Dance and Bollywood, she performed in countless cultural events, parties, etc. She later had the opportunity to return to her first love, Modern Dance, in 2017 with Amberly M. Simpson’s ‘Only weeds will rise in winter,’ a show created before Ambo Dance Theatre was formally established..
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Joselyn Smeltzer
West Lafayette, IN
Joselyn recently moved to Louisville after graduating from Purdue University in 2018. She began dancing at age 8 as an emotional release during her parent's divorce. Since then, she has always found dance to be her pal while going through any season in her life. She enjoys sharing the power and joy of dance with others. Currently, Joselyn is in school to become a Physical Therapist Assistant and loves teaching others about their bodies. She also loves bubble baths, painting, and watching the office with her husband. This is her first year with Ambo Dance Theatre and she is so excited to be a part of it!
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Jennifer Shelton
Dominique Sweeney
Louisville, KY
A Louisville native, Dominique began dance at an early age with Folsom Academy for the Arts with traditional ballet, tap, and jazz; eventually, wanting to peruse her first love of ballet she became a student at That’s Dancing. Currently she is a student at Suspend and has performed static trapeze and an acro floor routine in their student showcases. She has also been on stage with Bourbontown Burlesque’s third annual Dance Festival. Dominique has performed with Ambo Dance Theater at the Tapestry Dance Festival and looks forward to her first year with the company.
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Rylan Truman
Cincinnati, OH
Rylan grew up dancing ballet, but fell in love with modern dance after participating in the student-run Dance Alloy performances while attending Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. Though Rylan took a hiatus from dance for several years to focus on her career and family, she is thrilled to start exploring ideas and emotions through movement with Ambo Dance Theatre and its dynamic collective of dancers. Rylan has a BA in Anthropology and a Master’s in Social Work. She has been working in the refugee resettlement program since moving to Louisville in 2009.
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Sheila Zeng
Toronto, Canada
Sheila Zeng is an artist, dancer, and educator based in Louisville, KY. She received her BFA in Dance and graduated magna cum laude from the Ohio State University. She has performed various works with world-renown choreographers, and continues to do so through freelance work. She has performed various repertory work ranging from classical ballet, contemporary dance, site-specific, and improvisational styles. As a dancer with many interests, Sheila is focused on dance education and community outreach to different populations. She recently graduated with a Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling and began working as a school-based therapist starting in the Fall of 2019.
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Rylan Truman
Cincinnati, OH
Rylan grew up dancing ballet, but fell in love with modern dance after participating in the student-run Dance Alloy performances while attending Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. Though Rylan took a hiatus from dance for several years to focus on her career and family, she is thrilled to start exploring ideas and emotions through movement with Ambo Dance Theatre and its dynamic collective of dancers. Rylan has a BA in Anthropology and a Master’s in Social Work. She has been working in the refugee resettlement program since moving to Louisville in 2009.
This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.
Lydia Fletcher
Toronto, Canada
St Lousis
Lydia Fletcher has been dancing for over 20 years, beginning when she was two-years old. She has trained in contemporary, modern, ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, pom, and improvisation. Lydia grew up at various competition dance studios across St. Louis, in addition to dancing on her high-school dance team and training with AshleyLiane Dance Company’s pre-professional program. When she moved to Lexington to attend the University of Kentucky, she continued her dance training by taking modern, improvisation, and jazz classes with the Department of Theater and Dance. After graduation she immersed herself in the professional dance world of Kentucky, and currently performs with Allegro Dance Project and The Collected Few Dance Project as well as Ambo Dance Theater. Her passion for challenge and movement exploration has also led her to train at Sora Aerial Arts, where she trains and performs on silks, sling, lyra, rope, and pole. Lydia’s passion for movement drives her to continue exploring dance, and she loves creative space found within Ambo Dance Theater!