ABOUT WILD HEART
Wild Heart Dance is a contemporary dance company based in the front range of Colorado. Created and directed by Kat Gurley, the ensemble includes Tim Bruno, Amanda Carlson, Jamie Carr, Monica Ferrari, Mimi Ferrie, Kat Gurley, Page Jenkins, Amanda Leise, Faith Markovetz, Bridget Ryan, and Christiana Wheeler.
Wild Heart uses dance, music, and physical transformation as the sole vehicle for performance. The dancers' varied experiences and backgrounds are rooted in a passion for and love of dance. For intangible beauty and unspoken truths, Wild Heart remains true to the source: that our bodies when danced and our spirits when broken open have the ability to transform our world.
THE COMPANY
Kat Gurley
Timothy Bruno
Amanda Carlson
Jamie Carr
Monica Ferrari
Mimi Ferrie
Page Jenkins
Faith Markovetz
Amanda Leise
Bridget Ryan
Christiana Wheeler
KAT GURLEY Artistic Director
Kat Gurley graduated with her BFA from the University of Colorado and has been performing, choreographing, and teaching ever since. Kat was on faculty at Naropa University teaching contemporary dance technique and ensemble work for many years as well as the director of the Berkshire school’s dance department. She has also danced with 3rd Law Dance Theater, New Breed Dance Company, and Control Group Productions. Kat feels passionate and compelled to perform deeply, choreograph from a place of uncompromising truth, and teach with an open heart. When not dancing she can be found being a Mama, partner, and gardener.
Kat is grateful and excited to share her Wild Heart with you.
TIMOTHY BRUNO
Timothy began dancing halfway through his college career in Eugene, OR. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a BS in dance and moved to Colorado shortly after. Since then he has been dancing and teaching in the community. He is a certified DanceAbility® instructor and danced in the mixed abilities group Joint Forces Dance Company from 2018 to 2021 under the direction of Alito Alessi. He has performed at and choreographed for two regional American College Dance Association festivals, performed in a massive collaborative show with the Oregon Bach Festival, and at the Fulbright Program’s 75th anniversary in Washington D.C. He is enjoying his time with Wild Heart.
AMANDA CARLSON
A Colorado Native, Amanda is a choreographer, dancer, teaching artist and movement educator. She is a versatile dancer trained in techniques including Jazz, Ballet, Modern, Latin styling, many different street styles and, her favorite, Contemporary Floorwork. Amanda is the owner and lead choreographer of Night One Productions. Her company produces theatrical fashion show events with a focus on fundraising for non-profit organizations. She has worked on numerous stage productions in New York, Dubai, London and Colorado. While living in Dubai, Amanda was a principal dancer with Sima Dance Company. In New York City, she performed with several different dance companies. As well as teaching dance at Broadway Dance Center. Amanda continues to collaborate with choreographers both nationally and internationally.
JAMIE CARR
Jamie Carr is a performer, choreographer, teacher, and action photographer. With a strong background in classical ballet, Jamie graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from California State University Long Beach (CSULB), an Associate’s degree in Photography, and is a nationally certified teacher from the American Ballet Theatre. Jamie has been selected to train and perform nationally and internationally with several high-profile artists during her time at CSULB. Since graduation, Jamie has performed with local Colorado-based company T2 Dance Company and has managed and performed with several Los Angeles contemporary dance companies. She currently is performing with Wild Heart Dance Company and is a teaching artist for Lakewood Dance Academy. Additionally, she has established a performance-based contemporary company Authentic: Grooves; with the mission of eliminating preconceived notions about dance and bringing dance to unique spaces and communities. Utilizing the various movement styles and theories discovered in school, Jamie’s choreography is a kinesthetic translation of her imagination. She believes in a holistic, somatic-based approach to movement which feeds her investigation of movement.
MONICA FERRARI
Monica Ferrari is a teaching artist and choreographer based in Thornton, Colorado. She graduated with her MFA in Dance from the University of Colorado Boulder in May 2021. Since graduating, Monica founded and is the Executive Director of Summer Mountain Dance Project, a Non-For-Profit Dance organization that produces professional dance performances and presents them to local communities in the Denver-land area at no cost to the community. Monica is currently the Rehearsal Director and company Dancer for VisKosity Dance Collective and the company Dance with Wild Heart Dance Company.
MIMI FERRIE
Mimi Ferrie is a Colorado dance artist who has been teaching, performing, and choreographing professionally for two decades. She grew up studying many forms of dance as well as gymnastics, theatre, and music. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Colorado in 2007 and has continued her education in early childhood development and public health, most recently with the University of Florida’s School of Arts in Medicine. Mimi has worked professionally with several local dance organizations, including New Breed Dance Company, Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop, Dance Dimensions, Mountain Contemporary Dance Arts, and One Big Yes Productions. She is the founder of Anima Arts, an organization supporting children and families through movement education, operating within Dandelion Arts Collective, a public health non-profit advancing health equity through the performing arts. Mimi is a partner to her spouse Ernie and mama to her two children, Reed and Noemi. Mimi’s favorite kind of dance is the generous kind.
PAGE JENKINS
Page Jenkins graduated from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. After graduating, she danced for 3rd Law Dance/Theater, Interweave Dance Theatre, Louder Than Words Dancetheatre, and New Breed Dance Company. Page has taught for Colorado Conservatory of Dance, Colorado Ballet, National Ballet Academy Denver, and the Denver School of the Arts. Page spent several years in Beijing designing and running the dance program at Beijing National Day School along with teaching master classes and workshops in Beijing and Wuhan. She is currently dancing with 3rd Law Dance/Theater, New Breed Dance and Wild Heart Dance. Page also teaches for 3rd Law Dance/Theater and Colorado Conservatory of Dance and is a licensed Gyrotonic® instructor at Gyrotonic Bodhi.
AMANDA LEISE
Amanda Leise, originally from Boulder, Colorado performed, taught and choreographed in LA and Dallas from 2002 to 2013. Amanda currently teaches and co-directs Starbound, a competitive dance company, at Dance Dimensions in Longmont with her family. She has always felt that dance is the best way for her to connect to the world and others. Part of Amanda’s motivation to move back to Boulder was to find an expressive dance environment. Wild Heart has brought to the surface a process and performance aspect that she has yearned for—it is an environment with beautiful humans that connects, expresses, and explores the depth of her love for the art of dance.
FAITH MARKOVETZ
Faith Markovetz is a dancer, educator, and graduate of Arizona State University where she received her BFA in Dance. She has worked with choreographers Kimberly Bartosik, Mary Fitzgerald, Nicole-Bradley Browning, Carley Conder, Adam McKinney, Liliana Gomez, and Roni Koresh. Faith is currently teaching at the Metropolitan Academy of Dance and is eager to be performing with Wild Heart for a second season.
BRIDGET RYAN
Bridget Ryan grew up in Davis, IL, and received her B.A. in Dance and International Studies from Denison University in 2019. She has trained with and performed works by Molly Shanahan, Sandra Mathern-Smith, Michael J. Morris, Momar Ndiaye, Julie Fox, and Umeshi Rajeendra. Bridget has spent time in Colombo, Sri Lanka as a Visiting Lecturer of Contemporary Dance at the University of Visual and Performing Arts. She has additionally presented work at the Detroit Dance City Festival’s Choreographers Showcase and Rooted Residency Boulder. In addition to dancing, Bridget works with Boulder Symphony & Music Academy and is a trauma-sensitive RYT-200 at Yoga Pearl in downtown Boulder. Bridget is appreciative and thrilled to be in her second season with Wild Heart Dance
CHRISTIANA WHEELER
Christiana Wheeler is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in dance. She began her training very young and graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance spring of 2021. She currently teaches a variety of dance techniques at studios in the Boulder and Longmont, CO areas and works with ages 5 to 50. Christiana is the company director/choreographer of CarnivalGlass and aims to create dance performances and films that emanate the wonders of the language of dance. Christiana connects with dance as her primary source of self-expression as she learned to dance before she could read, speak, and practically walk, dance is everything to her.
Beloved past Wild Heart dancers: Anna Mayer, Hallie Bauernschmidt, Tara Rynders, Kristine Whittle and Mollie Wolf