Meet the TeACHERS & ARTISTS
Mary Lynn Lewark: Artistic Director, Contemporary Modern Ballet, Student Ensemble, Moovment Classes, Creative Movement, Bounce, Ilan Lev Practitioner
Mary Lynn Lewark performs, directs, produces and teaches throughout the Denver area. She has BA in education, teacher certification in yoga and pilates, and longstanding practice of the Feldenkrais method. As Artistic Director of the contemporary dance studio Between the Bones Studio Collective, she cultivates an atmosphere of imagination and training and has choreographed over 16 dance theater performances. Mary Lynn travels to Tel Aviv/NY/LA/Barcelona for intensive study of Gaga Movement Language with members of world renowned Batsheva Dance Company and creator Ohad Naharin. Collaborations with Projekt Move, her professional dance and production company, bring together artists, musicians, actors and dancers. Mary Lynn performs her own professional works along with performing with Maedée Duprès, Tara Rynders, KC Chun Manning, and Leslie Merrill.
I have always been a dancer
Even before I studied dance, I was making wild dance performances with costumes jumping out of trees as the neighbors watched or off the coffee table in our living room
I have a passion to know and to learn
This has led me through countless stories and histories, fabrics and paints, trainings and travels across the world and back
I enjoy the process and the chase
My mind and my heart are always trying to put together well crafted moments
I love going to too much trouble and time creating a performance and the magical moment when it all comes to life
I am most inspired by the laughter and play in children, their fearless belief that anything is possible and their adaptability to change
I am grateful to those that come to dream, to train, to contribute
who help me make this alive space of dance
Leslie Merrill: Choreographer, Collaborator, Dramaturg
Leslie holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Colorado, with secondary emphases in Interdisciplinary Performance and Dance for the Camera. She has been teaching a variety of dance forms to students of all ages for 18 years, teaching master classes, serving as an artist in residence, presenting her dance scholarship at conferences, and sharing her choreographic and video work regionally, nationally, and internationally. Leslie works as Faculty and a Dance Major Co-Coordinator at Metro State University, where she and her colleague developed a new dance major in partnership with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. She has performed with several dance companies in Colorado and has created multiple evening-length performance works.
I am a dancer, choreographer, video artist, and scholar
I am a collector of stories, images, sounds, dreams, movements, lists, and kindness
I am a giver of flowers, games, dances, lectures, and compliments
I am a teacher and a forever student of many dance forms, and of improvisation, theatre, poetry, history, music, art, literature, film, and humanity
I delight in the delicate balance between form and flow, between tradition and experimentation
I honor the historical legacy of creative traditions, while engaging in interdisciplinary exploration in the present
I am challenged and enlivened by collaboration. I play and trust. I guide and allow myself to be led.
I travel and share my creative work here and abroad
I am forever in awe of the body moving exquisitely through space, time being stretched, condensed, suspended, and made real through the majesty of the senses
I love the ritual of dance and the community that it has the power to create
I am a bridge builder
Shea Kluender: Photographer, Storyteller, Marketing
Shea is a photographer, teacher and mother. A career-educator with a passion for family advocacy and student equity, she has been a classroom teacher and school leader in a variety of roles over the last fifteen years. She has studied special and gifted education, math pedagogy and school leadership systems. Five years ago, she left the classroom role and launched her photography business focused on in-home documentary storytelling, inspired by the unseen work of early motherhood. The work has grown to tell the stories of female-founded businesses, from creative entrepreneurs to nation-wide organizations. Shea leads groups of women to make and share honest self-portraits as a form of care and renewal. Her work has been featured in a variety of blogs and magazines, including Dear Photographer, The Kindred Voice and LoHi Magazine.
Shea's home is a happy hum of her three little girls reading stacks of books and making beautiful messes. There are many treasures from the backyard garden, and often warm smells rising from the stove. She is inspired by spending time in the company of strong women and laughing with her husband as they plan their next outdoor adventure.
I am a maker
I appreciate and create beauty
I am calm and quiet, I am an observer, a reader, a thinker
I come from farmers who love the land
I am a grateful giver
Sharon Wahfield: Gentle Yoga
Clearing stress and worry through breath, movement and sweat – that’s how I fell in love with the practice of yoga! While working as a kitchen designer in the 1990s, my type-A personality, desire to be perfect, and perceived need to exceed every client’s expectations every time kept me pretty high strung. When I discovered hot yoga, I was hooked. Without fail, at the end of class my body was completely relaxed and my mind was clear! It was exactly what I needed at that time of my life. Years of hot yoga practice led to my first yoga teacher training at the Denver Institute of Yoga in 2007. Since 2008 I have been teaching group classes as well as individual yoga sessions. On the path of yoga and continuous learning I have completed certified trainings in Vital Roots through Vital Yoga, Relax and Renew Restorative Yoga L1 & L2 with Judith Lasater, Yoga Nidra L1 with Jeremy Wolf, and Yin Yoga L1/L2 with Kari Kwinn. My relationship to yoga, my students, and myself significantly shifted through my study of Yoga Therapy with Hansa at Prana Yoga and Ayurveda Mandala in Denver, CO. Hansa helped me understand that we are all on a journey of self-discovery, increasing our awareness and understanding of our True Self. I am honored to be a Teacher’s Assistant for Prana Yoga’s 265 hour Contemplative Yoga Teacher Training.
I am abundantly grateful for the practice of yoga and the opportunity to teach. I hope you will join me to experience for yourself the many benefits of yoga!
See you “on the mat”.
Mondays at 10-11:15
Devon Sweeney is a student and teacher of inner ritual and energetic movement. A dedicated student of Shiva Rea since 2008, she is an intuitive somatic practitioner, and a nurturing and passionate community builder and teacher educator. Her asana classes are delicately balanced experiences of rhythm and flow, subtle cueing and unique somatic patterning. In Devon’s teaching style, asanas are dynamic containers to explore the healing effect of breath and remember our essential intelligence. She guides her students through the process of learning how to cultivate a felt sense of their unique energetic alignment.
Since 2009, Devon has shared her teaching at a variety of festivals, trainings, retreats, and studio settings, and polished her unique ability to lead group practices with graceful clarity.
She is an E-RYT 500, with a background in Eastern Religious Studies, social & behavioral psychology, and integrative massage therapy - certified at the Berkana School of Massage Therapy in 2014.
Rose Silberman: Feldenkrais
Rose Silberman is passionate about helping people of all ages improve the way they move. A Feldenkrais® Practioner for almost 20 years, she works with movers of all ages on their coordination, refining their athletic abilities and artistic performance. She teaches dancers, musicians, runners, swimmers, golfers, hikers, skiers, gardeners, walkers etc… Whatever meaningful action a person does in their life, she can help them to do it better.Rose also enjoys teaching tap dance. She has studied and taught tap dance since she was in high school.
I am a mover
I swim, run and tap dance, play the piano, sing, I am a mother
I love the mountains and water
I love cooking and family, my husband and my always dancing daughter
I guide, I teach, I watch, I listen
To myself and others in small and big actions
I passionately explore possibilities in athletes, artists and movers of all kinds
I am a forever student
I am now
I am making the impossible possible
Audery Nash: Yoga Teacher, Creative, Mover, Alumni to Wintering 2024
With over twelve years of active practice, Audrey has sustained a connection to Ashtanga Yoga for most of her life. The practice of yoga has taught her not only how to cultivate greater peace but also the ability to remain discerning and disciplined. She is trained in Vinyasa, Restorative, and Yin Yoga, with a 500-hour certificate from Karma Yoga Center.
She enjoys weaving vulnerability and sacred space to deepen the capacity for healing. Her teaching repertoire includes large events such Summer Yoga Levitt Pavilion and Sonic Bloom. Incorporating Reiki with other healing modalities, she enjoys creating opportunities for self-exploration and intuitive awareness.
Leah Marcus: Registration & Community Life
A graduate of the University of Colorado at Denver in Biology, Leah has been doing bookkeeping and business management for over 15 years for several non-profit organizations. A native of Colorado, she enjoyed taking tap and jazz dance classes as a child. She always knew she wanted her children to have a dance education. She is thrilled to be able to help organize the beautiful artistry in motion that happens within the studio. Leah has been married for over 20 years to her husband Sam and they have two children, Daniel and Lexi.
I am a mother and business manager in three places, BTB is one of my homes
My daughter Lexi grew up dancing here
I have a degree in Biology and I am fascinated by how the body works
I love dogs- big ones and littles ones, but I will never tell you how many I have
I am adventurous and have travelled to Tel Aviv three times, and Barcelona once in the last four years
I enjoy art galleries, trying new food, comic-con, zombie parades, creating event performances and riding on the back of my husband’s motorcycle
I dream of being fluent in Hebrew one day
I enjoy taking classes of all kinds- yoga, dance, Feldenkrais and am always open for more.
I am a great listener and accountant and enjoy making the dollars and sense of the Between the Bones Studio Collective
I am a keeper