Hollis Mackintosh Heid began her training with Delia Foley, A.R.A.D. in Clarks Mills, NY. She attended Butler University, graduating in 2002 with a BFA in Dance Performance and Arts Administration. She danced professionally with The Chamber Dance Project, Louisville Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Augusta Ballet and Northern Plains Ballet, dancing roles in works by Fredrick Franklin, Lars Lubovitch, Peter Powlus, Merce Cunningham, Andre Prokovsky, Val Caniparoli, Ron Cunningham, and George Balanchine. As Director of Northern Plains Dance, she has choreographed 8 original pieces for Choreographers’ Showcase and Dance+, restaged Act II of Paquita, Swan Lake, and Giselle, and directed 12 performances of The Nutcracker and 11 original full-length fairy tale productions. Her focus at NPD has been expanding the organization’s reach into the community through the development of various outreach programs, partnering with arts and service organizations, and through her artistic contributions, bringing NPD to the forefront of the state for innovative arts programming.

Rosari graduated from NYU Steinhardt with an MA for Teaching Dance in the Professions: American Ballet Theatre (ABT) Pedagogy and is the recipient of the NYU 2022 Outstanding Service in Dance Education Award. She is an ABT® Certified Teacher and was a class assistant at the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. She also completed a teacher training program at Mark Morris Dance Center. For the past year, she worked for the NYU Dance Education Program faculty serving as Program Student Assistant. She was also a teaching artist with Notes in Motion and helped administer their Outreach Program in New York public schools. Rosari focuses on ballet, modern and contemporary dance. She has performed with New York University, Martha Graham Dance School, Dance FX, and Marlupi Dance Academy. Rosari graduated with Masters of Law (LL.M) in 2019 from the University of Georgia School of Law. In her spare time, she has written for publications such as Dance Teacher Magazine, Dancegeist, New York Bar State Journal, and SustainTheMag. She is excited to start the Fall semester as Children’s Division Coordinator at Northern Plains Dance!

Taryn Johnson began her dance training at British Dancing Academy in Renton, WA studying ballet, jazz, and modern. She then continued her training at Maple Valley School of Ballet in Maple Valley, WA focusing exclusively on ballet. After graduating Taryn moved to Portland, OR for college, earning a BS in Applied Linguistics and Spanish in 2004. During her time in Portland, Taryn worked and performed with Agnieszka Laska, Esther LaPointe, Erin Zintek, and Katrina O’Brien modern dance works, performing and regionally and internationally. She continued studying modern dance at Conduit Dance Inc, while also learning social dances, East Coast Swing, Salsa, Lindy-Hop, Waltz, Foxtrot, Rumba, and Argentine Tango. In 2000 Taryn taught her first ballet class in San Miguel de Allende, GTO, Mexico as a substitute teacher at the Bellas Artes. In 2004 she found her Portland home studio and began teaching at the Center for Movement Arts. During her time in Portland, Taryn also taught at the Multnomah Athletic Club, Multnomah Arts Center, Portland Community College, various after-school programs, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and Portland Public Schools. Taryn helped develop PPS’ K-12 dance curriculum for distance learning and the 2021-2022 school year, as well as PCC’s course content for the dance department. This December, Taryn graduated with a Master’s in Exercise Science and Human Movement.

Originally from Minneapolis, MN, Nia Lighter has a B.A. in Theatre and Dance from Winona State University, where she was the recipient of the Jacque Reidleberg Performing Arts Scholarship. She has training in ballet, pointe, lyrical, jazz, modern, choreography, theater, musical theatre, directing, makeup design, and voice. Mrs. Lighter enhanced her dance education by studying at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in New York City as well as at The Edge Dance Studio in Los Angeles. Mrs.Lighter spent 12 seasons as the makeup designer for the Macomb Ballet Company in Macomb county Michigan, a non profit pre-professional company, where She spent 8th years as a guest artist, in MBC’s production of The Nutcracker portraying Mother Ginger.   This year marks Nia’s 22nd year teaching. After spending the last 12 years in Michigan, Nia’s family has just relocated to Bismarck. 

Emily Nelson is a native of Bismarck, ND. She attended Minnesota State University, Mankato, receiving a major in Dance, and minors in Psychology and Nonprofit Leadership. Emily performed and studied under artists such as Allison Doughty, Julie Kerr-Berry, Marciano Silva Dos Santos, Melisa Rosenberger, among many others. She performed and attended ACDA festivals, including the National festival in Washington, D.C.. Emily completed her Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health, Counseling from the University of Mary in 2022. Her desire is to integrate healing via the mind, body and spirit, as she continues to take courses in Dance/Movement Therapy. She is currently working as an LAPC at Anchor Christian Counseling and enjoys volunteering for Catholic parishes by serving the youth. Emily’s passion lies in teaching dancers of all ages to freely move in their own authentic way.