Ian Carney (Co-Director, Co-Creator, Co-Choreographer) Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was raised in New Orleans, LA, where he began his training with Harvey Hysell and Diane Carney. He continued his studies as a scholarship student with David Howard in New York and Devon Carney of the Boston Ballet. Mr. Carney graduated from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature while continuing to perform with Ballet Hysell in New Orleans. He then joined Montgomery Ballet with his wife Eleanor in 1996. He has danced principal roles in Coppelia, the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Scheherazade, Petrouchka, and Les Sylphides to name a few. He danced the lead roll on Broadway in Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp’s musical Movin’ Out for three years and was also the dance captain. Mr. Carney is currently a guest artist with Youth America Grand Pris and performs across the United States as dancer, teacher and choreographer. He is the co creator of Darwin, a children’s show that recently premiered at the Detroit Music Hall.
Corbin Popp
CORBIN POPP(Co-Director, Co-Creator, Co-Choreographer) From Lincoln, Nebraska, Corbin sparked interest in dance at the Lincoln Midwest Ballet Company pausing to persue academics, graduating with a BS in Biochemistry, minor in math and physics, from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL)1999. In 2000, he was a Fulbright scholar located in Germany. He began his professional dance training during his final years at UNL, and has since continued on dancing professionally with Twyla Tharp, The Sacramento Ballet, Complexions, Billy Joel’s Movin’Out on Broadway and most recently The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Corbin is a proud parent and husband to twins Addyson and Zoe and wife Whitney Popp.
Eleanor Carney
Eleanor B. Carney Originally from New Orleans, LA, Ms Carney began her dance training with, Harvey Hysell and Joseph Giaccobbe. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BFA in Dance and a BA in Anthropology. She has danced professionally with Indianapolis Ballet Theater, the Lexington Ballet, Ballet Arkansas, Delta Festival Ballet and Montgomery Ballet. Some of Ms Carney's principal roles include Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, the Moor's Pavane, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Sugarplum Fairy in the Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Swanhilda. Ms Carney is currently guesting and teaching throughout the United States as well as performing with her husband Ian in their new show, DARWIN
WHITNEY POPP began her training in her
hometown in eastern Washington at the Tri-Cities Academy of Ballet. She
trained with the Mid-Colombia Ballet under the direction of Debra Rogo.
Whitney later studied with the Pacific Northwest Ballet under the wing
of Patricia Barker, leading her to northern California where she spent
five years as a Principal dancer with the Sacramento Ballet. There she
performed many roles, such as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, and The
Cowgirl in Agnes de Milles Rodeo. After moving to New York, she was
discovered by Twyla Tharp and later received honorable reviews for
works such as “The Fugue” and “Surfer at the River Styx”. Whitney spent
three years with Movin’Out dancing the lead roles of Judy and Brenda. Recently she has enjoyed dancing works by CORBiAN LLC and Twyla Tharp both locally and internationally with her Husband Corbin.
Stephan Charles Nicholson
STEPHEN CHARLES NICHOLSON (Ensemble) has appeared in many off-Broadway stage productions as well as independent films and is pleased to be joining the cast of Darwin. Education: B.A. from Colgate University in Religion with an Asian Studies minor, MFA in Acting from The Actors Studio Drama School at The New School. He also has many graduate hours in Elementary Education acquired during his two years teaching grades 2 and 3 with Teach for America in the Louisiana public schools.
Michael Quintana
MICHAEL QUINTANA(Ensemble) is a native of Oxnard, California and currently studies dance through the Tulane School of Continuing Studies. He hopes to receive his bachelor of arts in May of 2009. In 2007, he received the Ambie Award for sexiest body on stage. He has performed in New Orleans for two years with the Anne Burr Dance Company, the Newcomb Dance Company and recently gave his debut performance with D-Project at the Contemporary Art Center. He would like to thank all those who opened doors that would have blocked his way.
Anna Morris
ANNA MORRIS(Ensemble) trained and performed with the acclaimed Tumbuka Dance Company. She staged several projects with Dance People and the Stillwater Collaboration before creating a series of solo performances. Education: B.A. in Drama and Human Kinetics, Rhodes University. She has taught and performed for The First Physical Theater Company and the Grahamstown Township Dance Project, which provides free dance classes for under-privileged girls.Currently performs with Tsunami Dance Company, the John/Allen Project and CORBiAN.
Tierney St John
Tierney
St. JohnBorn and raised
right outside of New York City, were she took interest in performing arts and
dance at a young age. She received a BA in Dance and Sociology from Tulane
University in New Orleans, and immediately began to immerse herself in the
dance community and culture. She was a member and choreographer in both the
Newcomb Dance Company and Tsunami Dance Company, and also collaborated with the
Patrik-Widrig Dance Theatre, John/Allen Project and First Physical Theatre
Company. In 2006, Tierney performed "Katrina, Katrina: Love Letters to New
Orleans" at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and in 2007 was invited
back for an Amtrak tour of the show that culminated with a Main Stage
performance. In 2008, she taught, choreographed, and performed for the National
Arts Festival of South Africa. Tierney joined CORBiAN in 2008 and is extremely
grateful to her family and the amazing cast of the show for their unmatched
talent and support!
MEG PAUL (Ensemble). As a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, Meg has performed such leading roles as The Sugar Plum Fairy, Italian Suite, Valentine, Les Patineurs, Light Rain and Les Presages. On Broadway, Meg worked as Dance Captain with Twyla Tharp on the Tony Award-winning Movin’ Out, and performed asBrenda and Judy. She is currently Director of Dance at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.
