Miki Ohlsen has been the Artistic Director of the Island Moving Company since its inception in 1982. She studied with Herci and Myles Marsden in Rhode Island and graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Amsterdam, Holland . After performing with DANSGROEP KRISTINA de CHATEL for several seasons, Miki returned to RI and founded the Newport Academy of Ballet, home of the Island Moving Company. She has been instrumental in developing the team building and leadership workshops for the Sloan School of Management at MIT. She has also led the creative team that designed the residency programs in the Middletown and Portsmouth schools. Her recent choreography has received critical acclaim and has been entered into choreographic competitions in Boston and New York.

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Meredith Baer grew up outside of Minneapolis, MN where she began studying jazz, tap and ballet at the age of three. She continued her training through Junior High and High School at Ballet Arts Minnesota under the direction of Bonnie Mathis and Marcia Chapman. During these years she also spent three summers studying at Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program. After graduating from High School, Meredith attended Hampshire College in western Massachusetts where she was involved in the Five College Dance Program. She spent the 2002-2003 season in Atlanta, GA where she performed with Festival Ballet Company under the direction of Nicole Pacana and Gregory Aaron. Since moving to Newport and becoming a company dancer, Meredith has also performed as a guest artist with Spindle City Ballet.

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Michael Bolger, a Fall River, MA native, began dancing at the age of 16 under the direction of Cynthia Worlbarsht and Claudia Creason at the Dance Center. He continued his studies with Miki Ohlsen at the Newport Academy of Ballet and got his BFA in Dance at SUNY Purchase. Michael is now in his sixteenth year performing with the Island Moving Company. He also performs with carosomersDANCE in Boston, Colleen Cavanaugh in Providence, and Spindle City Ballet in Fall River. Last spring, Michael performed with the Trinity Rep Company in Paula Vogel’s play A Long Christmas Ride Home. As a choreographer his work has been staged by IMC, Spindle City Ballet and Providence Ballet. Most recently, he was commissioned in the fall of 2003 to set his Still Restless on the Rhode Island College Dance Company. He pioneered IMC’s interest in site-specific work by presenting his Moving Through Paradise at the Norman Bird Sanctuary and his Fountain Dance at Convergence Festival. He also choreographed for IMC’s Open for Dancing in September. Michael, as Education Director of the IMC, promotes the love and education of dance throughout RI. Michael also teaches at Providence Ballet where he instructs and directs the children’s division.

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David DuBois began his training at the Pinellas Country Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, FL.  He went on to study at San Francisco Ballet School and The Boston Conservatory.  Prior to joining the Island Moving Co., he danced with Jose Mateo’s Ballet Theatre in Cambridge, MA. 

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Danielle Genest trained primarily with Miki Ohlsen at Newport Academy of Ballet and furthered her studies at Boston Ballet School, Houston Ballet Academy, and North Carolina School of the Arts. At age 17, she joined Hartford Ballet and performed works by Kirk Peterson, Jean Grand-Maitre, Choo-San Goh, and George Balanchine among others. Subsequently, Danielle was a member of New York Theatre Ballet where she danced principal roles in both classical and contemporary repertoire including Donald Mahler’s Cinderella and John Butler’s Othello. She has also performed with Colleen Cavanaugh and Dancers (Cadence Dance Project), GleichDancesNY, Spindle City Ballet, and Marco Pelle of Italy.  As a choreographer, Danielle has created works for Island Moving Company, Hartford Ballet’s Arts Exclusive, New York Theatre Ballet, Tallahassee Ballet, Festival Ballet Providence’s Junior Company, and a commercial video for PC Connection. Additionally, her choreography has been showcased at the Elan Awards in New York City and the 10th Internationales Ballettmeeting in Austria.  Danielle is also the co-founder and Associate Artistic Director of New York City based Janusphere Dance Company for which she dances and choreographs regularly.  Danielle has served on the faculty of Newport Academy of Ballet, Providence Ballet, and Ballet School New York.  She currently lives in Newport, RI with her husband Petar.

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Lilia Ortola started her ballet training at the age of six with Connecticut Concert Ballet in Manchester, CT. It was under the artistic direction of Brian Adams that she realized she wanted to dance professionally. She has performed numerous roles of The Nutcracker including Sugar Plum Fairy. She has studied with The School of Nutmeg Ballet in Torrington where she performed the role of Gamzatte in La Bayadere. She also received training at the School of the Joffrey Ballet in New York City. While in college at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Lilia expanded her dance training to include modern, jazz, tap, African, tango, improv, and pilates. Lilia is still involved with the Connecticut Concert Ballet as an instructor, is on the faculty of Providence Ballet and participates in the dance residency program at Island Moving Company.

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Eva Marie Pacheco is proud to be in her tenth season with the Island Moving Company. A RI native, she was a founding member of Festival Ballet under the Direction of Christine Hennessy and Winthrop Cory. She toured with Everett Dance Theatre in The Science Project, and Body of Work. When not dancing with IMC, she can be found working with Colleen Cavanaugh, of Providence, RI, and carolsomersDANCE of Boston, MA . As choreographer, she has created several works: for the IMC, most recently, Je Ne Regrette Rien; for Festival Ballet, Los Caminos and In the Mood. Also for the IMC, she was instrumental in mounting A Newport Nutcracker at Rosecliff, as well as her first full-length Ballet Twas the Night Before Christmas (1995). Eva Marie is the sole owner and Artistic Director of Providence Ballet, as well as its satellite school, Providence Ballet at Aim High Academy in East Greenwich, RI . This May Providence Ballet Youth Company made its debut at the Greenwich Odeum. Her greatest accomplishments to date, by far, are her children Sara E. and Michael T. Barney.

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Christine Sandorfi is originally from Port Jefferson, NY where she began her training at Harbor Ballet Theatre. She holds a BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. She danced principal roles in the University's productions of Ondine, Paquita, and La Bayadere. Christine danced as a soloist with the Kentucky Ballet Theatre for four years, where she was featured in Dracula, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Phantom of the Opera, La Fille Mal Gardee, Saerpil, and The Wizard of Oz. She has made guest appearances with Harbor Ballet Theatre, Spindle City Ballet, and Ballet Rox.

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Gregg S. Saulnier is thrilled to return to Island Moving Co. Gregg began his dance career with Festival Ballet Providence under the direction of Christine Hennessy during which time he performed with Island Moving Co. under Miki Ohlsen's direction. He later joined Ballet Internationale, Indianapolis under the direction of Russian Ballet stars Eldar Aliev and Irina Kolpakova where he danced a variety of classical and contemporary roles.  His most recent dance credits are with Cincinnati Ballet where he "retired" from full time performing in 2004.

Some of Gregg's favorite roles include Drosselmeyer, Russian & Chinese in Val Caniparoli's The Nutcracker, King Louis XIV in Andre Prokovsky's The Three Musketeers, the Rook in Eldar Aliev's A Thousand and One Nights, Lyla York's Rapture, Balanchine's Who Cares? (demi-solo man), Nils Christe's (Netherlands Dance Theatre) SYNC, Glory, Glory solo from James Truitte's With Timbrel and Dance, Moorish Pas de Deux in Balancine's La Sonnombula, Johnny in Paul Taylor's Company B, Val Caniparoli's Lambarena, Alberto Alonso's Carmen, Agnes DeMille's Rodeo, Adam Houghland's Beyond, John Butler's Carmina Burana, Betrothal Pas de Deux in Kirk Peterson's Coppelia, and Paris in Victoria Morgan's Romeo & Juliet.

Mr. Saulnier has had the privilege of working with some great artists including Kirk Peterson, Raymond Lukens, Irina Chistyakova, Bart Cook, Sir Frederick Franklin, Val Caniparoli and Devon Carney.  Gregg was appointed to Director of the Otto M. Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet where he served from August, 2004 until October, 2005.

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