MEET PENN DANCE
THE 2021 BOARD
President: Olivia Wang
Vice President: Eloise Yang
Treasurer: Camryn Fetzer
Publicists: Emily Warden & Ella Siefken
Fall Social Chair: Serena Martinez
Spring Social Chair: Grace Bancroft
Artistic Director: Rachel Kantra Beal
Artistic Director Emeritus: Nancy Kantra
Lighting Specialist: Kobie Xavier
Photo Credit: Isabella Cuan
COMPANY MEMBERS
Kassidy Houston
2021 (she/her)
Kassidy is a Senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and is a Benjamin Franklin Scholar. Her major is likely psychology, but she hasn't declared it yet. She moved to Penn from Huntersville, North Carolina and has been practicing various styles of dance such as ballet, modern, contemperary, hip hop, and tap since age 3. She loves to express herself through performing and is delighted to continue to be a part of the Penn Dance Company!
Greta Kandel
2021
Greta is a Senior in the College of Arts and Sciences studying Health and Societies with a concentration in Healthcare Markets and Finance and a minor in Creative Writing. She started dancing at age four with Ballet Academy East, and continued to study ballet, jazz, tap, and modern at American Youth Dance Theater and Steps on Broadway. She is excited to keep dancing with Penn Dance Company for the next year!
Lani Matsumiya
2021
Lani is a Senior in the Huntsman International Business program, double majoring in International Studies and Economics with a target language in Japanese. She is born and raised in Hawaii, and has been training in dance since age 4 at Dance Movement Academy and Dance Spectrum Hawaii. Although classical ballet is her forte, she has also trained in tap, jazz, and contemporary. Penn Dance is the first classical and modern fusion company she has ever been a part of, and she is looking forward to another amazing year with PD!
Zoe Osborne
2021 (she/her)
Zoe is a Senior in the College majoring in earth science and anthropology. A Philly girl, she danced from first through twelfth grade with Philadelphia Dance Theater, training in ballet, modern, and contemporary, as well as doing summer programs at the Rock School, Joffrey Ballet School, and Next Generation Ballet, among others. Outside of dance, Zoe enjoys snacking and petting dogs. She loves the people in PD with her whole heart and is beyond grateful to be a part of this company.
Sydney Schwartz
2021 (she/her)
Sydney is a Senior studying Cinema Studies and History in the College. She began dancing at 6 years old in her hometown Chicago, Illinois. She started in ballet, modern and hip-hop, but joined a modern dance company in high school called Guys and Dolls, where she served as the captain and explored choreographing in all different styles. She is excited to continue to choreograph both big and small numbers for Penn Dance and is so proud of where her college career in dance has taken her.
Cindy Wang
2021
Cindy is a Senior studying Finance in Wharton. She has been dancing since she was four years old, continuing training to this present day in classical ballet. She was a vocational and scholar student at the Jean M Wong School of Ballet in Hong Kong, and was able to perform professionally with the Hong Kong Ballet in productions of Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. While she was trained religiously in classical technique, she has loved exploring more modern and contemporary style of dance with PD.
Olivia Wang
2022 - President (she/her)
Olivia is a Junior in the College studying Cognitive Science. She fell in love with ballet when she was 5 years old and has been dancing ever since! She has loved her time at PD exploring modern/contemporary/ whatever her choreographers throw at her and is beyond happy she found this spectacular group of people.
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Eloise Yang
2022- Vice President (she/her)
Eloise Yang is a Junior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Philosophy with a minor in Computer Science. She began dancing ballet at the age of 9. Later, she trained at the Fabrice Herrault Studio for four years, attending summer intensives at the Miami CIty Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, and Paris Opera Ballet School. In her last two years of high school, Eloise danced in the pre-professional program at the JKO school of American Ballet Theatre, where she took her first modern classes. As a member of Penn Dance Company, she is so excited to grow as a modern dancer!
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Rachel Gu
2022
Rachel Gu is a Junior in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences majoring in Bioengineering. She began training in ballet and traditional Chinese dance at the age of five in her hometown of Newton, MA. Her technical background is largely from her 10 competitive years as a Rhythmic Gymnast, with weekly classes in ballet, modern, or contemporary dance. She is thrilled to continue to explore her more artistic side with Penn Dance Company!
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Kara Li
2022 (she/her)
Kara Li is a Junior in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences planning on studying Computer and Information Science. She has training in ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and tap. She is excited to be outside her comfort zone as she continues to explore modern dance with Penn Dance!
Serena Martinez
2022 - Social Chair, fall semester
(they/them)
Serena Martinez is a Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences. They have studied primarily modern, ballet, and jazz but the style matters less as long as they get to do some floor work. Serena loves to choreograph and is eager to continue to dance and set pieces with Penn Dance.
Dallas Ryan
2022
Dallas is a Sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences intending to major in Sociology and minor in Chemistry. She started her dance career when she was three years old at the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts and has loved it ever since. She is also a tapper in Soundworks Tap Factory and is excited to continue dancing at Penn with her PD fam!
Lauren Chua
2022 (she/her)
Lauren is a Junior in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences majoring in Materials Science and Engineering with a concentration in Energy and Sustainability and a minor in French and Mathematics. She started dancing when she was five in Wilmington, DE and began her pre-professional training in ballet with the School of First State Ballet Theatre in 2013. Lauren has also studied contemporary, modern, jazz, and musical theater and has competed in the Youth American Grand Prix and World Ballet Competition.
Skyler Cordrey
2022 (she/her)
Skyler is a Junior in the College studying Psychology along with her premed studies. She was born and raised in Huntington Beach, CA and trained in ballet at Southland Ballet Academy for 13 years. Along with primarily focusing on ballet, Skyler learned and practiced modern, contemporary, jazz, and character. She attended summer intensives at The School of American Ballet, Ballet West, The Washington Ballet, and The Rock School. Skyler is thrilled to continue dancing with Penn Dance and developing more modern technique!
Camryn Fetzer
2023 - Treasurer (she/her)
Camryn is a Sophomore in the School of Nursing. She has been studying at Rockwell Dance Center, previously Performing Arts Center of CT, since she was 9 years old in modern, ballet, pointe, and more. She was a member of the Pre-Professional Modern Company there for 5 years and has performed in various venues including Youth American Grand Prix. She is very excited to continue her passion for modern dance and gain more choreography experience in Penn Dance this year!
Suzanne Liu
2023
Suzanne Liu is a Sophomore at Wharton studying Finance and Legal Studies. She has been dancing for more than 10 years and has experience in Ballet, Jazz, Modern, and Contemporary. Before coming to Penn, she was a student in the Youth Program at the Joffrey Ballet School and has choreographed five pieces for the Nightingale-Bamford School's Dance Collective. She is very excited to dance with PD for the rest of her time at Penn!
Victoria de la Rosa
2023 (she/her)
Vicki is a Sophomore in the College of Arts Sciences. She began dancing in school programs throughout middle school and high school. Her love for performing comes from her background in competitive gymnastics. She is thrilled to keep exploring the creative aspect of Dance with the rest of the company!
Cherie Sio
2023
Cherie is a Sophomore in the College and Wharton studying Business Analytics and Cinema & Media Studies. Since she was 4, she had been trained in traditional Chinese dance and ballet back in China. In high school, she became experienced in Modern, Lyrical, Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, and Hip Hop and choreographed 12+ dances for the concerts. She loves the PD family and can't wait to dance with its talented dancers!
Lauryn Reynolds
2024 (she/her)
Lauryn is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences studying PPE. She started dancing at the age of three in Philadelphia in the styles of ballet, modern, tap, hip hop, and jazz. She also danced in musicals at her high school. Lauryn is excited to continue her dancing with Penn Dance!
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Ella Siefken
2024 - Co-Publicist (she/her)
Ella Siefken is a Freshman from Pittsburgh, PA studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in SEAS. She has been studying ballet since age 4, focusing in modern and jazz at the Dance Conservatory of Pittsburgh for the last 7 years. She is thrilled to be part of Penn Dance and looks forward to dancing and choreographing for the next 4 years!
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Emily Warden
2024 - Co-publicist (she/her)
Emily is a Freshman in the College studying Health and Societies. She grew up outside of Philly and began ballet when she was 4 years old. She has participated in multiple summer intensives, including ABT and Atlanta Ballet, and competed in Youth America Grand Prix. While Emily has primarily done ballet in the past, she looks forward to exploring more modern styles with Penn Dance.
Taylor Buie
2024 (she/her)
Taylor is a Freshman in the College, planning on majoring in Biology on the Pre-Med track. She's danced ballet/pointe, lyrical, jazz, contemporary, and hip hop for eight years at her studio in Philly. She can't wait to share her passion with everyone in PD!
Angela Rodriguez
2024 (she/her)
Angela is a Freshman currently Curriculum Deferred in the School of Engineering. She first started tap dancing when she was three, and then started trying out other styles over the years. By the end of her senior year, she was doing tap, jazz, ballet, and lyrical/contemporary. She is so excited to spend the next four years with Penn Dance!