The Company
A diverse company of artists, NEDT is a collaborative group of creators, movers and storytellers.
Nancy Evans Doede
Artistic Director
Nancy studied with and danced for modern dance pioneer, Hanya Holm, and then danced with the Nancy Hauser Dance Company under the direction of Nancy McKnight Hauser. She also taught and choreographed while with the company, and her choreography was included in the Hauser Company repertory. She conducted the pilot program for the Minneapolis performing arts high school and directed her own dance company while in Minnesota.
Nancy was an original member of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, where she was an actress and the company’s first female director. In Los Angeles, Nancy was an assistant director at the Taper, Too, and a directing intern at the Mark Taper Forum New Works Festival. She was a producer of the Children of the World Project which received a Grammy nomination in 1985. She also was Managing Director, producer, director and actress with the Actors’ Company, as well as a founding member of Outpost Theatre Ensemble where she also wrote and produced her own plays.
Nancy has been commissioned as both a teacher and choreographer by various studios and companies nationally and international. Her choreography has been included in many festivals, including the Pasadena Dance Festival, Los Angeles Dance Invitational, Spector Dance, Adapt-Fest, Los Angeles Dance Festival, the National High School Dance Festival, and NEDT’s Friends and Family.
In addition to studying with Hanya Holm and Nancy McKnight Hauser, Nancy also worked with Murray Louis, Alwin Nikolais, Gladys Bailin, Daniel Nagrin, Billy Siegenfeld and Valda Setterfield.
Nancy has served on the faculty at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, and currently teaches at La Salle College Preparatory. She is a certified instructor of Zena Rommett Floor-Barre™ technique. See her online teaching schedule here.
Jacob Schmieder-Hacker
Company
Jacob began dancing at eight years old at Pasadena Dance Theatre. He had additional training at Marat Daukayev School of Ballet, Amirian Ballet Academy, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, International Ballet Academy, BalletRED, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Jacob values cross-training as essential to his dance journey and has trained in Pilates, Yoga, and Gyrotonics. He holds a black belt in taekwondo and is also an Eagle Scout. Jacob has performed in many Nutcrackers, dancing roles such as the Fritz, Nephew, Russian, Spanish, and the Prince. In addition, Jacob has performed in multiple classical and contemporary works by notable choreographers, including Cynthia Young, Jessamyn Vedro, Josie Walsh, Nancy Evans Doede, Gregory Dawson, and Ido Tadmor. Jacob has also choreographed both solo and group pieces, such as Pearls, Remember, Footprints in the Sand, and Island of Dreams. Jacob is currently in his second season as a dancer with Nancy Evans Dance Theatre and PDT’s studio company, as well as the teacher for their Bounding Boys program.
Ashleigh Doede
Associate Artistic Director
Ashleigh received the majority of her training from Le Studio Dance under the direction of Philip and Charles Fuller, Gilma Bustillo DeQuattro, Roberto Almaguer, Julia Ortega, Roxanne Olesijuk, Charles Maple and Nancy Evans Doede. She graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in 2006, where she studied with KaRon Brown Lehman, Don Martin, Vera Ninkovic, Beth Hirschhaut-Iguchi, Reggie Brown and Randall Graham. After graduation, Ashleigh studied with Glenn Edgerton, and joined Anaheim Ballet, under the direction of Larry and Sarma Rosenberg, where she danced various soloist roles. From 2007-2009, she was a member of the Nancy Einhorn Milwaukee Ballet II. She performed with the Milwaukee Ballet in works by Michael Pink, Marius Petipa and Anthony Tudor. She danced with Pasadena Dance Theatre from 2009-12, as well as being an original member of Nancy Evans Dance Theatre. She participated in summer programs at Boston Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Springboard in Montreal, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Northwest Professional Dance Project. Ashleigh was a trainee at Nevada Ballet Theatre in 2010-11, where she choreographed and performed for the student outreach program and also choreographed and performed in the 4th annual Choreographer’s Showcase with dancers from Cirque du Soleil at the Aria hotel/casino theatre. Ashleigh is also a yoga instructor and yoga teacher trainer with a 500 Hour Certification through YogaWorks. If you're interested in taking classes with her please visit her website at ashdoede.com.
Jadyn Corral
Company
Jadyn grew up in Southern California where she performed and studied with Encore Dance Centre. At 17, she attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) as a contemporary dance major. There, she trained in Cunningham and Limon techniques under Brenda Daniels and Sean Sullivan and performed works by Ming Lung-Yang, Ashley Lindsey, Grady Bowman, and Jose Limon. After graduating high school from UNCSA, Jadyn spent one year at NYU Tisch Dance under Pamela Pietro, Netta Yerushalmy, Giada Matteni, and Kayla Farrish. She also attended multiple intensive programs with American Ballet Theatre (ABT), UNCSA, and Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company on a full scholarship. Jadyn has been honored to be a part of works by master artists, such as Norbert De La Cruz III, Jamila Glass, Andrew Harper, and Sean Curran. This is Jadyn's first season with Nancy Evans Dance Theatre.
Nairi Tahmizyan
Trainee
Nairi grew up around dance and music, always moving. She choreographed and performed with her high school dance team mainly in the styles of contemporary, jazz, and hip hop. While studying chemical engineering at UCLA, she wanted to dive deeper and became more consistent in her expression in ballet, contemporary, and jazz. At the age of 20 she stumbled upon aerial arts and fell in love. Nairi has been a performing aerialist for 6 years, performing at the 626 Night Market, several local shows, and corporate events. She also received her Aerial Dance Teacher Training Certificate in 2019 and her Aerial Yoga Teacher Training Certificate in 2020.
Jenn Logan
Executive Director
Jenn started formal training in Houston, Texas performing in various productions before getting sidetracked by a design career. She graduated from Woodbury University with a BS in Graphic Design and shortly thereafter founded Studio Fuse, Inc. to service nonprofit and performing arts organizations. Seeking some much needed balance, she headed back to dance. Jenn has had the pleasure of working with choreographers Eryn Schon, Rebecca Levy, André Megerdichian, Janet Roston, Frit & Frat Fuller, Tiffany Santiero and now Nancy Evans Doede, NEDT company members and guest choreographers. She has contributed to NEDT repertory with Coupling, Alter Ego, Apartment 6D: The Joneses, Lucy, Automata, Yield and What Not and continues to lend a hand on the visual side of things assisting with set and costume design as well as marketing needs. In addition to dancing on the ground Jenn performs and creates work in the air for hammock, lyra, silks, and her true passion dance trapeze. She has been an NEDT company member since 2010.
Sophia Bernardo
Company
Sophia Bernardo is from Huntington Beach, California. She has trained in many styles of dance including Ballet, Modern, and Contemporary. She has most recently trained at California State University, Fullerton where she is working on receiving two degrees, one being a BA in Dance as well as a BA in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations. While at California State University, Fullerton she was able to learn about many new styles of modern including Graham, Limón, Horton, and Dunham.
In previous years Sophia Bernardo trained at Huntington Academy of Dance where she focused on Cecchetti Ballet and Contemporary movement. She has been to many summer intensives and workshops including a 3-week long workshop at SUNY Purchase in New York for the Doug Varone and Dancers summer workshop. She has also taken the Backhaus summer intensive, two summers in a row, as well as the Cecchetti summer intensive two summers in a row.
She has performed works from Doug Varone, Jamila Glass, Brad Beakes, Yoshito Sakaruba, Michael-Nickerson Rossi, Clarence Brookes, Stephanie Liapis, and Meg Mandorin. She has had the opportunity to perform at the American College Dance Association, Palm Springs International Dance Festival, SoCal Dance and Choreography Festival, Reborn Dance Festival, and the Elder Star Art Gallery.
She has also had the opportunity of co-choreographing a piece titled “Lavanertia” which has been performed at California State University, Fullerton’s Fall Dance Concert, the American College Dance Association, the California Dance Educators Association, and DUMBO Dance Festival in Brooklyn, New York.
Jackie Pierce
Company
Jackie is a dancer originally from Orange County, CA. She recently graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles's Department of World Arts and Culture/Dance. Before UCLA, Jackie trained at the Maple Conservatory of Dance and the Professional Division of The Ailey School. Her training has been supplemented by time spent at Cincinnati Ballet, the National Choreography Intensive, and Regional Dance America festivals. She also crafted multiple works during her time at UCLA, choreographing for the WACsmash and Dance Senior Projects programs, the latter of which she also co-produced. Her choreography was presented at the inaugural Ballet Alliance Festival in Spokane, Washington.
Katrina Amerine
Company
Katrina, a southern California native, trained at and was graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in 2005. After several years of various local productions, she stumbled into the world of aerial dance. Since then she has been working as a freelance aerial performer and has been a guest artist with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet for several seasons. When not onstage she teaches aerial classes in Los Angeles and has choreographed for many student aerial performances. Katrina is NEDT’s company manager, a guest choreographer and has created many of the costumes for our productions. She has been an NEDT company member since 2010.
Tara Aghaian
Company
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tara began dancing at the age of three at the Djanbazian Dance Academy, where she trained in ballet, modern, and Armenian dance. She went on to attend the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), where she was also exposed to jazz and contemporary. There, she performed repertoire by José Limón, Hans Van Manen, and Yirí Kylián. She has also completed summer intensives with LINES Ballet, Paul Taylor, Juilliard, Martha Graham, and Arts Umbrella. She is currently a second-year undergraduate student at UCLA, planning to double-major in dance and psychology.
Alice Lousen
Trainee
Alice is a dance artist and environmental enthusiast, hailing from Pasdena, CA. While studying ballet, tap, character, jazz, and modern at Pasadena Civic Ballet, Alice’s love of movement flourished. Pursuing her passion, she later received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2022. While at UCSB, Alice discovered her love of movement creation and composition, choreographing main stage works and receiving the “Emerging Choreographer Award” upon graduating. Currently, Alice is living and working in LA, striving to create and involve herself in innovative and authentic dance art.