A Gallery of Dances Program
Lady by Mandy Milligan
Performers: Mikaela Dalton
Music: Amelia Meath, Caroline Shaw
Patternalia (excerpt) by Mariah Eastman
Performers: Madison Meade and Mandy Milligan
Music: Kevin Macleod with edits by Mariah Eastman
Ruckus by Mandy Milligan
Performers: Blake Campbell and Sidney Valdez
Musician: Erin Rafferty
Art Work: Ava Leldo
Music: Bela Bartok, Johannesburg Brahms
Navigating the After by Mariah Eastman
Performers: Blake Campbell, Emily Carroccio, Mikaela Dalton
Music: Kevin Macleod with edits by Mariah Eastman
Intermission *15 minutes*
Queens Head by Mandy Milligan
Performer: Sidney Valdez
Music: Maurice Ravel
Inclined to Decline by Mariah Eastman
Performers: Madison Meade and Mandy Milligan
Music: Sometimes Sweetness and Music L Files
Journeys of a Crustacean by Mariah Eastman
Performers: Blake Campbell, Mikaela Dalton, Mandy Milligan and Sidney Valdez
Music: National Geographic, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Kevin Macleod
But What am I? by Mandy Milligan
Performers: Blake Campbell, Kait Dessofy, Nik Graves, Madison Meade, Robin Davis and Lindsay Scouten
Music: Pharaoh Sanders
X by Mandy Milligan
Performers: Blake Campbell, Emily Carroccio, Mikaela Dalton and Sidney Valdez
Music: Fiona Apple
Choreographers/Performers Biographies
Blake Campbell (she/her) was born in Elkhart, Indiana. At age 16, Blake got her G.E.D. and moved to Chicago to pursue contemporary dance training with COMMON Conservatory. In the past 4 years, Blake has performed works by choreographers: Terence Marling, Katlin Michael Bourgeois, Alysia Johnson, Ethan Kirschbaum, Robyn Mineko Willams, Meredith Dincolo, Jackie Nowicki, and many more. Blake had the honor of being cast in New Dances 2023 in collaboration with DanceWorks Chicago. Along with dancing, Blake is passionate about writing poetry and has won a few poetry competitions.
Emily Carroccio (she/her) is a Chicago-based dancer, choreographer, and teacher originally from Cleveland, OH. She moved to Chicago to pursue a BA in dance and BS in molecular biology from Loyola University Chicago. Since graduating, Emily has had the privilege to perform with The Humphrey-Weidman Artists Collective and Kindred (THWACK), the Lucid Banter Project, and Rasa Dance Chicago. She has also had her original choreography commissioned and presented throughout the Chicago area. Emily shares her love of dance by instructing youth classes and wedding dance lessons, and she is an active member of the Chicago swing dance community! IG: @_emilycar
Madison Meade (she/her) is a modern/contemporary dancer with a BFA in dance and a minor in theatre from the University of Kansas. Her screen-dance Stasis was included in the digitally presented Kansas Screen-Dance Festival in 2021 and her most recent work Cascade Failure was shown in Echo's "Reverb III". She is currently dancing in Chicago, Illinois with Darvin Dances and Echo Modern Dance Collective. Recently, she has performed in the “Simantikos Choreo Kick Off 23”, Darvin Dances’ “Inclined to Decline”, Matter Dance Company’s “Aligned”, Echo Modern Dance Collective’s “Reverb III”, and “Common Ground” at the Rooted Space. In addition to performing and choreographing, she is a ballroom dance instructor at Duet Dance Studio.
Mandy Milligan (she/her) Mandy Milligan graduated from University of Cincinnati Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in Ballet performance. She received additional training at the Graham School for Contemporary Dance, Beijing Dance Academy, Dance Works Chicago, Interlochen Center for the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and Perry-Mansfield. She has worked with companies from all over the midwest such as Mamluft & Co., Dance Kaleidoscope, Winifred Haun & Dancers, Simantikos Dance, Cocodaco Dance Company and Kanopy Dance Company. Mandy is currently Rehearsal director and dance artist with Darvin Dances. She is also the founder/director of Mandy MIlligan Movement Project.
Since moving to Chicago in 2017 her choreographic work has been shown at the Links Hall, Pleasant Home, Dance Chance, Going Dutch Festival, First Draft, The Garage at Dovetail Studios and RADfest.
Mariah Eastman (she/her) holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Dance and Choreography and is currently a MS candidate for a degree in Leadership for Creative Enterprises at Northwestern University. In 2021 she created Café Cortado which explored caffeination culture and highlighted two local Chicago coffee shops through prerecorded interviews, dance film and livestream dance. She is the creator of the Holiday Dance Carol, an annual Chicago holiday tradition. In 2022 she presented Navigating the After, a performance exploring recovery after sexual assault using live dance and audio interviews from survivors. She started her own company “Darvin Dances” in 2023. Since January 2023 Darvin Dances has performed in multiple productions including the following; First Draft produced by Winifred Haun & Dancers, Breaking the Silence Café produced by Resilience Chicago, Common Ground produced by The Rooted Space, On the Move produced by See Chicago Dance as well as their inaugural production of “Inclined to Decline”. In 2024, Eastman produced and choreographed for “Back in the Saddle” a split bill with Alix Schillaci. She received a DCASE Individual Grant for her production of Halloween Creepy Crawlies in 2024 as well. Eastman has also toured her work in New York City, Baltimore, Marthas Vineyard, St Louis and Richmond (VA). She is the creator of the Chicago Dancer Pay Transparency Project under the Darvin Dances umbrella.
Mikaela Dalton (she/they)initially started dancing after she saw an episode of Angelina Ballerina at age 3 and subsequently begged her mom to sign her up for classes. Once in the studio, Mikaela developed a deep and enduring passion for dance as an art form. Throughout her childhood, Mikaela trained intensively in ballet, and was fortunate enough to dance alongside professional dancers in productions such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty. In 2016, she moved to Florida to attend Jacksonville University where she began training in styles such as contemporary, commercial jazz, and contact improvisation. Upon receiving her BFA in dance in 2020, Mikaela moved back home to Rhode Island to dance as a trainee with Festival Ballet Providence during the pandemic before moving to Chicago in 2022 to pursue her teaching and choreographic career.
Sidney Valdez (she/her) is a multidisciplinary dancer from Elmhurst, IL. After growing up dancing at DuPage Dance Academy in Elmhurst, Sidney furthered her interest in both dance and the mind-body connection at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA where she graduated with a BS in Neuroscience and Dance. Sidney is a current Claire Bataille Legacy Program Student at Chicago Movement Collective and Staff Writer for See Chicago Dance. She also teaches dance to students of all ages in the western Chicago suburbs and is a physical therapy tech at Midwest Orthopedics at RUSH. Sidney is so excited to continue her dance career with Darvin Dances!