Donna L. Jacobs, Full Circle Dance Company's Artistic Director and Director of Morton Street Dance Center, is an honors graduate of the New York School for the Performing Arts, Wesleyan University, and Georgetown University Law Center. As a young dancer, Ms. Jacobs studied with Bernice Johnson, Michael Peters, Chuck Davis, Frank Hatchett, Gertrude Sher of the original Graham company, and master Graham teacher Penny Frank. While attending Wesleyan University, Ms. Jacobs was asked to join the dance faculty and taught advanced modern, ballet, jazz, and African on campus and as a freelance artist. Since coming to Baltimore, she has performed with several local companies. Ms. Jacobs is the director of the Morton Street Dance Center, Inc., and has over 40 years of teaching, choreography, and production experience. Under her direction, Full Circle has received numerous grants and awards. Her choreography has been featured in the Broadway Dance Center's "Best of" Choreographer's Showcase and performed by invitation around the country. Ms. Jacobs has personally received numerous awards including the Mark Ryder Choreography Award from the Howard County Arts Council, Dream Bridge from the Dream 4 IT Foundation and a Baker Artists Award. Her artistic work has been displayed throughout the state and mid-Atlantic region. She has been inducted into The Daily Record's Maryland "Circle of Excellence" for her professional accomplishments, and named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women three times. Ms. Jacobs is a Senior Vice President at the University of Maryland Medical System.

Artistic Director

Liz Pelton, Associate Artistic Director, has performed with Full Circle since 2001. Her early training was at North River Arts Ballet and Boston Ballet in Massachusetts. Before coming to Baltimore, she performed with Mary Barnett/In Good Company in New Haven, Connecticut, and as a freelance artist in Chicago. She is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she was student director of the Georgetown Dance Company. She teaches ballet and modern dance at Morton Street Dance Center.

Associate Artistic Director

Theresa DeAngelo received her B.A. in dance and a B.S. in Biology from University of Maryland Baltimore County. She trained with the Towson University Children's Dance Division, Joffrey Ballet School, Broadway Dance Center in NY and with several choreographers in MD.  While in college, Theresa performed with Towson University's Dance Company, The Moving Company, and UMBC's Dance Company.  Theresa has also performed with Kimberly Mackin Dance Company, Movement/ Addiction, The Alternative Dance Project, and Howard County Ballet.  Theresa has choreographed for The Alternative Dance Project as well as Full Circle Dance Company.  She has taught dance technique throughout MD and spent several years as a freelance dancer in NY.

Rehearsal Director/Choreographer/Dancer

Misty began dancing as a toddler in Myrtle Beach, SC and was accepted to the Ballet Summer Intensive at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities. She was a member of the University of South Carolina Dance Company and spent most of her college dance career performing with the USC West African Drum and Dance Ensemble as well as the independent company, Djoliba Don. From 2006-2009 she danced and choreographed with Full Circle Dance Company. After a long dance hiatus, she is back and very happy to be dancing with Full Circle once again.

Dancer/Choreographer

Hope B. Byers studied at several dance institutions in her native Louisiana. She has been a member of Full Circle since 2006, and her choreography is a staple of the company’s repertoire. She has performed with Floyd Project Dance Company and Rafiki Dance Theatre. Hope’s choreography has been selected for presentation by Maryland Council for Dance and Baltimore Dance Invitational. Her work has been performed at Atlas Performing Arts Center, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore Theatre Project, Chesapeake Arts Center, Dogtown Dance Theatre, Gordon Center for Performing Arts, Kraushaar Auditorium, Lyric Opera House, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Slayton House Theatre and Strand Theater.

Dancer/Choreographer

Stephanie is a Baltimore native, having started her dance training at the Baltimore County Youth Ballet, Baltimore School for the Arts, and the Dance Theater of Harlem Residency Program. Stephanie has studied at Ballet Austin, Dance Theater of Harlem, Dallas Black Dance Theater, and Alonzo Kings Lines Ballet. Stephanie was selected to perform with the Dance Theater of Harlem at the White House and Library of Congress for the dedication and recognition of Arthur Mitchell. She studied under Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Vincent Thomas, Catherine Horta-Hayden, Runqiao Du, Erin Du, and Sandra Perez at Towson Univeristy, where she graduated with a B.A. in Dance Performance, Choreography, and Education. She was nominated to be undergraduate speaker for the College of Fine Arts and Communication upon graduation.

Dancer

Shaela received her BFA in Dance Performance with a K-12 Teaching Certification from Towson University. She performed with the Towson University Dance Company as well as choreographed/performed for the 2013 American College Dance Festival in VA. She also trained, on scholarship, at the American Dance Festival where she performed with Footprints and in repertory by Abby Zbikowski. Shaela has taught for Towson University Community Dance and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore. She is a current member of Abby Z and the New Utility based in NY.

Dancer

Gabrielle Edgerson received her certificate in Dance Artistry along with the Presidential Honors and Milly & George Denegre Award in Dance from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. She attended Spring Hill College and earned her B.A. in Integrated Communication. While in school she upheld the college’s dance team and mentored young dancers. Gabrielle has been an artist-in-residence with Young Audiences of Louisiana and a Ballet, Jazz, and Modern instructor at Dance Place and Joy of Motion in Washington, D.C. She has performed professionally with Good Dance Since 1984, Marginy Opera Ballet, Coyaba Dance Theatre, Dance Institute of Washington, Trajectory Dance Project, and on NBA Dance Teams. She was invited to perform in a collaborative piece with the Smithsonian Museum of African Art and Howard University, and has also performed in feature films, music videos, and musical theater productions across the country.

Dancer

Amanda Fair is a graduate of The Baltimore School for the Arts and The University of The Arts in Philadelphia where she received her B.F.A. in Ballet Performance. She received studied at The Dance Theatre of Harlem School in their professional program. Amanda has performed with a number of companies including The Washington Reflections Dance Company, Nazu and Company (an African Dance company) and she is Founder/Director of Poetic Xpressions. Her choreography has been performed at the Baltimore Museum of Art, The Hippodrome, and The Kennedy Center. Amanda is a 2010 recipient of The Baker Artist Award. She has taught in numerous dance programs and schools including The Dance Theatre of Harlem's Community Outreach Program, The University of the Arts, Morgan State University, Baltimore Ballet, Howard County Ballet, The Ballet Theatre of Maryland, The Dance Institute of Washington, and Morton Street Dance Center.

Affiliated Artist

Elizabeth's early dance training began at Wheaton Studio of Dance in Maryland, and after a family move, continued at the Dance Academy and Berkeley Ballet Theater in California. While attending University of Virginia, Elizabeth danced and choreographed for the Virginia Dance Company and danced for Mahogany Dance Troupe. Following graduation, Elizabeth spent a summer at The Ailey Summer Intensive in New York and continued training in the DMV area. Thereafter, she danced with Crossroads Dance Project as well as Poetic Xpressions. When she's not dancing, Elizabeth works as an attorney at Miles & Stockbridge.

Dancer

Abby Hammer has been dancing since the age six and spent her youth intensely training in classical ballet with acclaimed intuitions including Maryland Youth Ballet, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Pittsburgh Ballet.  She began her training in modern dance as a student at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD, where she recently graduated with a double BA in Psychology and Sociology.  She has had the opportunity to work with a multitude of celebrated artists including Gabriel Masson, Roger C. Jeffery, Janis Garrett, Heather McArdle, Adrienne Clancy and Ed Taylor.

Dancer

Kakuti Davis Lin has enjoyed performing professionally for many years, including with Honolulu Dance Theatre and Diamond Head Theatre in Hawaii, Palindrome Inter-media Performance Group in Germany, and Erica Essner Performance Co-op, California Contemporary Dancers, Nguyen Dance Company, Dance Elixir, and punkkiCo in San Francisco.  Her choreography has been seen in Germany and San Francisco, and she taught ballroom and Latin dance for more than a decade.  She received a BA in Dance from Barnard College, Columbia University, and a JD from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Dancer/Choreographer

Allison Powell received her BFA in contemporary dance from Radford University in 2006. As an undergraduate with honors, Allison honed her skills across several dance disciplines and a wide range of techniques, choreographing and performing in various pieces for the University, including work presented at ACDF in West Virginia. She oversaw the university's dance department student organization, Harmony in Motion, serving as President while also overseeing department operations under the chair Margaret Devaney. Allison danced for d a n a h b e l l a DanceWorks for three seasons at Radford and for three additional seasons after graduating and moving to Baltimore, Maryland, where she worked alongside Carol Bartlett at the Peabody Preparatory Dance Department. Allison has taught young students of Baltimore's influential Morton Street Dance Center along with other various Maryland programs.  Currently, she has been dancing and choreographing with Full Circle Dance Company in Baltimore, MD since the spring of 2006.  

Dancer/Choreographer

Elizabeth's passion for dance spawned from her training at Cab Calloway School of the Arts in Wilmington, DE. She began studying musical theater at a young age, and started dancing during her teenage years at a local dance studio. She graduated from University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a B.A. in dance and a certificate in K-12 education. Since graduation, Liz has been teaching dance in Anne Arundel County Public Schools and focuses a large portion of her time on her own dance company. She has enjoyed performing and choreographing freelance work in the Baltimore/DC area.

Dancer

Amanda Rosenbaum is a 2004 graduate of Slippery Rock University with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and is originally from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. She has danced as a principal for Ballet Lafayette in Uniontown under the direction of Kelly Jenkins for the past three years. She traveled internationally to Chennai, India to study Bharatanatyam (Classical Indian dance) in 2004 and to Ladek Zdroj, Poland to participate in the Ladek Zdroj International Dance Festival in 2006.

Dancer

Jennifer graduated cum laude from Towson University with a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Dance Education. She has danced with The Collective, Stephanie Powell Dance Ensemble, VT Dance, and Scott Rink, and performed works by David Parsons, Peter Puccii, Troy Powell, Dan Wagoner, David Parker and the Bang Group, Misnomer Dance Theater, and ClancyWorks. Jennifer choreographed and performed as a soloist in the Dance for the Camera film "Yesmyth" by Phil Sibly which won a Telly Award in 2004. Her choreography was also showcased in ?True Colors: The 80?s Musical? at the 2007 Columbia Festival of the Arts and Richmond University in Yes! Dance Virginia. Jennifer received her M.A. in Dance at California State University Long Beach in July 2011. 

Dancer/Choreographer

Nicole Tucker-Smith began her early dance training at the Manassas School of Dance where she studied ballet, jazz, tap, and modern. At the age of twelve, she joined the Manassas Dance Company and performed in Coppelia, Les Sylphides, The Nutcracker, and in Sleeping Beauty as the Lilac Fairy. While attending the University of Virginia, she danced and choreographed for the Virginia Dance Company and the Mahogany Dance Troupe. Since moving to Baltimore, Nicole has also been a member of Shange Dance Productions and Moving Spirit Dance Collective. She also leads the Guidance – God U and I Dance – Ministry at Douglas Memorial Community Church. 

Dancer/Choreographer