TDC Members

Artistic Director: Robin (Jennings) Jaecklein

 

Robin Jennings Jaecklein received her BS degree from Kent Sate University and her MFA from Ohio State University. She moved to Washington to dance with the Pat Graney Dance Company where she was the acting rehearsal director as well as the technique and reperatory instructor for the company. She has taught at universities around the U.S. and abroad as well as at Cornish College of the Arts and Bellevue Community College.  She began teaching dance for Tacoma Public Schools in 1997, creating an Arts Integrated elementary curriculum and performing Dance Company at Grant Center for the Expressive Arts. Robin is one of the founding teachers for the Tacoma School of the Arts, where she currently teaches dance full time and is the head of the dance department. She also has served on the ARTS/WASL task force, creating test questions and piloting on her own students. Robin began the Tacoma Dance collective in the summer of 2005 and currently serves as its Artistic Director. Her works for TDC include a piece commissioned by the Museum of Glass entitled, Dresses, which premered in December of 2005, and Table and Couch, which are selections of a larger body of work, known as the "Furniture Series". She is on the board for DEAW (Dance Educators Association of WA) and is the mother of three beautiful children with another on the way.

 

Members

Trina Doss

Trina Doss is the mother of three children. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and began studying dance at Istrouma magna in 1980 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with focus in Modern Jazz, competing in many conventions throughout the Southern United States. Trina became involved in Hip-Hop in 1983, and at that time began performing in concerrts held at Southern University. Trina moved to Tacoma in 1985 where she went to Lincoln High School, participating in cheerleading and dance. After graduation Trina began a career in nursing and later began performing in Divine Dance team opening doors to perform in a music video and various shows in the years Trina acquired a group fitness certification and taught fitness to pregnant soldiers at Fort Lewis and senior citizens involved in a senior falls research study. Trina has volunteered at many community centers and schools teaching dance and fitness. Trina is currently going to school to acquire her PA (BA) in nursing and teaching hip-hop at SOTA and Metro Parks. Trina is also the artistic director for Xclusive dance team and is currently performing with TDC.

Mary Mabry

Mary Mabry is originally from outside Houston, Texas. She is a dance performer, choreographer, educator, and promoter who has been exposed to a wide variety of dance techniques during her career. Mary’s primary training is in Ballet and Modern dance. Her collegiate years were spent at the Universiy of South Florida, where her degree track emphasised further technical training, Choreography, Kinesiology, Dance History, and in Pedagogy, K-12. From 2001-2003 Mary taught for Towson University's Moving America Maryland program, whose focus was integrating dance into the regular classroom. Upon moving to Tacoma, Mary began teaching Creative Movemet, Modern Dance, Ballet and Pointe Classes at the Morgan Family YMCA. She also continued with her love of integrated dance from 2003- 2006, where she taught at Grant Center for the Expressive Arts. Beginning in the 2006 school year, Mary joined the Tacoma School of the Arts as an Artist-in-Residence in Ballet. Mary works full time helping to promote South Sound Arts Education as the Artistic Dance Director and Dance Program Coordinator for Metro Parks Tacoma, where in March 2007 she presented an original adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Mary’s recent choreography and performances for TDC include Nightflight and Pendulum, which both premiered in the MOVE! concert series. Mary has also choregraphed and performed jointly with Kate Monthy exploring space constriction on an elevated 4X4 stage at the Tacoma Free Artist's "Eye Full" show and at Jazzbones for the "Ten Tiny Dances" works. In her spare time, Mary enjoys gardening with her dog, Simba, training and participating in triathlons, reading, playing the guitar, and serving on the Board of Directors for DEAW (Dance Ed Assoc of WA).

 

• Erin Josse
• Laura Miltner
• Melissa Paz