MCB | Our Dancers

Our Dancers

	Lily Frazier-Ransom (Performer), 21, began her training in ballet at age 3 at The Studio, School of Classical Ballet in Santa Cruz, California with Diane Cypher and Robert Kelley. She trained pre-professionally with the Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre, a RDA-P regional ballet company, with whom she toured the state of California, as well as to Europe in countries such as Austria, Germany, and Euro-Disney in Paris with the traveling festival; "The Stars of Tomorrow." She has performed with SCBT roles such as the "Peasant Pas De Trois" and "Moyna" in Giselle, "4th Variation" in Paquita, and "Odette" in Swan Lake. She has studied on full scholarship with the RDA-based Craft of Choreography Conference in Austin, Texas, as well as summer intensives at schools such as Pacific Northwest Ballet on partial s cholarship, American Ballet Theatre in New York, and LINES Ballet on partial scholarship. Professionally, she has performed as a guest artist with the Crash, Burn, and Die dance theatre, Nashville Ballet II for one year, and the Los Angeles Ballet for one year also. This is Lily's first season with the Missouri Contemporary Ballet.
	Laura Jones (Performer) of Hamilton, Montana is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts where she performed in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Symphony in C. At NCSA she received the Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence. She has studied with the Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet and has worked as a guest artist with the Garden City Ballet. Laura performed with Cedar Lake II for two years and is a founding member of MCB. She would like to thank her parents for their continuous support. This is Laura’s second season with Missouri Contemporary Ballet.
	Megan Pulfer (Performer/Rehearsal Assistant), 21, began her training at age three in Omaha, Nebraska. She moved to Huntington Beach, CA at age eight, where she continued her training at the Huntington Academy of Dance with Marnell Himes, Fellow Imperial Teachers of Dance, the Executive Director of the US Cecchetti Society and Gary and Muriel Joyce. She was accepted to the North Carolina School of the Arts for ballet in 2002 where she later graduated from the high school program in 2004. At NCSA she trained under Melissa Hayden, Nina Danilova and Warren Conover performing Symphony 13, Stars and Stripes, The Nutcracker, Symphony in C and Swan Lake Act III. Megan previously worked as a dancer with Cedar Lake II for two years.
	Emily Spadafora (Performer), 19, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin started dancing at age 4 in jazz and tap, at 8 she began her training in ballet at Central Wisconsin School of Ballet. She went on to Allegro Dance Theatre, under the instruction of Janne Dean, where she performed principal roles in Allegros Bedtime Productions such as Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Peter and the Wolf, and Cinderella. Emily went to the Milwaukee Ballet summer program for 5 summers and American Ballet Theatre for 1 summer in the top level. She studied at Milwaukee Ballet School for 4 years in the top level, where she studied under Rolando Yanes, Mirreil Favarell, Nadia Thompson, and Robin Van Rolin.
	Molly Wagner (Performer), 22, was born and raised in Denver, Colorado where she received her training in ballet and jazz at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities under Christina Noel Adcock. After graduating high school, she moved to Kansas City to earn her B.F.A. in dance performance, on scholarship, from the Conservatory of Music and Dance at UMKC. While there she performed numerous leads including the “Mazurka” solo in Les Sylphides as well as the “Waltz Girl” in George Balanchine’s Serenade. Ms. Wagner has also attended summer programs with Jillana, Joffrey Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, and Ballet Austin; training with notable teachers such as Maria Tallchief, Elie Lazar, Gretchen Warren, and Marjorie Thompson, to name a few. Molly was the Regional first place winner for the National Society for the Arts and Letters and went to Jacksonville, Florida to compete at Nationals. She has worked with various other companies such as Kansas City Ballet and Albany Berkshire Ballet. She would like to thank her family and friends for always believing in her.
	Zach Young, (performer), 22, trained under Karen Grundy since her arrival in Missouri. In addition to Grundy, he has studied with L.J. Ballard, Gary Hubler, Dante Adela, Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center. He has worked with contemporary choreographers Benoit Swan Pouffer, Jamar Roberts, and Angel Fraser-Logan and as a guest artist with the Cuban National Ballet. Zach is also trained in Tae Kwon Do and holds a first-degree black belt. He previously danced for a year with the Cedar Lake Youth Ensemble and for two years with Cedar Lake II. He joined MCB in 2006.