The Company
Anna Bengtson is originally from Wisconsin, and started her college career in Kenosha studying Musical Theatre. After two years, she transferred to the College of Charleston to complete her Bachelor's degree in Dance. Since then she has worked and performed with Annex Dance Company under the direction of Kristin Alexander, and was part of the Dance Matters company in its first year. She thoroughly enjoys working with Erin Leigh and the rest of the Dance Matters dancers.
Lydia Brown is a graduate of the College of Charleston Dance Department. She has been featured in musicals around town including: The Wedding Singer, Annie, and, Singin' in the Rain. She loves working with her fellow dancers towards a collective goal and educating others through dance. She can be seen next in Hair at the Queen Street Playhouse in 2019.
Lamar Hunter is an accomplished Charleston dancer in hip hop and modern/interpretive as well as a budding video maker/editor. Originating from John’s Island, he graduated from the School of the Arts as a dance major in 2015. His beginnings in the arts began as a member of the Charleston Kids-with-Cameras program, demonstrating great talent in photography. He has participated in workshops with Renie Harris of Pure Movement (Philadelphia), considered America’s foremost hip hop choreographer, in Charleston and Miami. Most recently he has been a dance instructor for the Charleston County School District’s summer arts program and the Peace, Love and Hope Dance Company on Daniel Island. He performs at Marion Square most Saturdays, and has worked with Enough Pie and other local arts programs and projects. He was the primary subject of a widely exhibited photography collection called “Moving Star,” dancing in front of Charleston African-American historical sites and urban murals. His AncestryDNA reports that he is 98% West African. His great-grandmother was Janie Hunter, a famed story teller and leader of the Moving Star Hall Singers which performed nationally in the 1960’s. Lamar carries within him a tradition of local, indigenous as well as modern creativity.
Erin Leigh is the Artistic Director of Dance Matters, a Charleston, SC based dance company dedicated to creating cross disciplinary work that educates, engages, and inspires audiences of all ages. Her choreography has been presented at the Alabama Dance Festival, the American College Dance Festival in Columbus, OH, Awakening V: Motion in Charleston, SC, Food for Thought in Cleveland, OH, and the Sound and Music Computing Conference in Limassol, Cyprus. For more than a decade, she performed, choreographed, and was a dance educator with the Dance Theater Collective, a contemporary dance company dedicated to community outreach and collaborations. She has performed in works choreographed by Amie Dowling, David Dorfman, Jennifer Kellor, Claire Porter, Mark Taylor, Susan Van Pelt, and the members of the Dance Theater Collective. She earned an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and currently teaches in the dance program at the College of Charleston. She presented teacher training workshops in dance integration through multiple venues including Franciscan University of Steubenville, the Hershey Montessori Farm School, Young Audiences of Greater Cleveland, Engaging Creative Minds, the Palmetto State Arts Educator Conference, and the South Carolina Dance Festival.
Marielle Richardson began her dance training at the age of five years old at California Dancer studio in Riverside, CA. She is a well rounded dancer with training in styles such as tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, hip hop, modern, contemporary dance, musical theater, and some African and latin dance forms. Since 2007, Marielle has gained experience in choreographing and teaching in each of these styles. She trained for 3 years at Riverside City College with instructors Mark Haines, Rita Chenoweth, Stephanie Gilliland, Sophia Carreras, and Jo Dierdorff. She was chosen to choreograph for the student concert Celebrate Dance in 2010 and 2011. She received the RCC Dance Department scholarship in 2011. Marielle transferred to CSU Long Beach in 2011 where she received her BFA degree under the instruction of Andrew Vaca, Gerald Casel, Sophie Monat, Lorin Johnson, Lisa Johnson, Summer Brown, Keith Johnson, and Colleen Dunagan. With modeling, She can be found on the center fold of LaunchPad Magazine April 2014, modeling for Neuma's Eco-couture hair care line. Before moving to South Carolina, she taught multiple dance styles at Brilliant Dance Academy in Yucca Valley, CA from 2014 to 2017. Currently, you can find her loving working with the company kids at Beaufort Academy of Dance and helping create Coming to Monuments with Dance Matters contemporary dance company. She has been married to her Marine since 2012 and together they have one son.
Lily Watkins began her ballet training in Columbus, Ohio under Shir Lee Wu. In 2004 she was awarded 1st place in the Junior Classical Division for Youth American Grand Prix semi-final in Chicago, IL, and the following year she was invited to attend The School of American Ballet as a scholarship student in the Advanced Division. While studying at SAB Ms. Watkins performed numerous times at the David H. Koch New York State Theater alongside New York City Ballet, including dancing principal roles in 2 & 3 Part Inventions and Fanfare during the 2008 Jerome Robbins Celebration.
In 2009 Ms. Watkins was one of four promising choreographers commissioned for the New York Choreographic Institute’s Spring Session. She has since expanded her choreographic repertoire to encompass a wide range of genres and has received regional and national honors for her neoclassical, contemporary and musical theater choreography.
A magna cum laude graduate of Beloit College with a BA in Creative Writing, Ms. Watkins was the 2012 recipient of the Chavey Family Endowed Award in Dance for outstanding contributions to the dance program. In addition to her dance training at The School of American Ballet and Beloit College, Ms. Watkins has attended summer programs with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Miami City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Orlando Ballet and BalletMet Columbus. She has been teaching and choreographing in Charleston since 2014 and is currently on faculty at the Dance Conservatory of Charleston (West Ashley) and the Musical Theater Center (Mt. Pleasant).
Photo by William Long
In 2009 Ms. Watkins was one of four promising choreographers commissioned for the New York Choreographic Institute’s Spring Session. She has since expanded her choreographic repertoire to encompass a wide range of genres and has received regional and national honors for her neoclassical, contemporary and musical theater choreography.
A magna cum laude graduate of Beloit College with a BA in Creative Writing, Ms. Watkins was the 2012 recipient of the Chavey Family Endowed Award in Dance for outstanding contributions to the dance program. In addition to her dance training at The School of American Ballet and Beloit College, Ms. Watkins has attended summer programs with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Miami City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Orlando Ballet and BalletMet Columbus. She has been teaching and choreographing in Charleston since 2014 and is currently on faculty at the Dance Conservatory of Charleston (West Ashley) and the Musical Theater Center (Mt. Pleasant).
Photo by William Long