David Sun, Director/Founder, began SundanceX to explore original classically based choreography. He studied with the late Richard Thomas and Barbara Fallis at the New York School of Ballet after attending Boston Conservatory of Music. He performed as a dancer with the Houston Grand Opera, and danced with numerous regional groups in New York and New England. He has taught ballet extensively throughout the Northeast region, including at Boston Ballet under Bruce Marks' and AnnMarie Holmes' administration, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, and local studios in Massachusetts and New Hampshire including now at Edra Toth’s Northeastern Ballet Theatre. He continues to work as a photographer (www.davidsunpictures.com) with a focus on dance, after a brief career in the fashion industry.
Photo by Molly McGivern
Deanna Pearson came to SundanceX in late summer of 2023. She premiered in David Sun’s Wings of Water (Rachmaninoff), performing as SundanceX’s special guest artist with Tony Williams’ City Ballet of Boston performance, at his Tony Williams Dance Studio in Boston MA, Oct. 21, 2023.
Deanna performs with Boston Ballet as an artist of the Company in 2024. She graduated from the Akhmedova Ballet Academy in Washington D.C. in 2013 and joined the Staatsballett Berlin under the direction of Vladimir Malakhov the same year. In 2014, Pearson won the Silver Medal in the Senior Classical Category at the Istanbul International Ballet Competition. She then accepted a position with Houston Ballet, where she performed on tours to Detroit and Canada. Pearson joined Florida’s Sarasota Ballet for two seasons before returning to Europe to join the Teatrul de Balet Sibiu, Romania in 2017. Pearson danced a variety of corps de ballet, soloist and principal roles and toured with the company through Romania and to South Korea, Italy, and Luxembourg.
Pearson’s repertoire includes Sir Frederick Ashton’s Two Pigeons, George Balanchine’s Jewels and Stars and Stripes, Patrice Bart’s Swan Lake, Martin Chaix’s Parlez Moi Mon Amour, John Cranko’s Onegin and The Taming of the Shrew, Aleisha Gardner’s Four Seasons, Ricardo Graziano’s En Las Calles de Murcia, Harald Lander’s Etudes, Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto, Marius Petipa’s Giselle, La Bayadère, The Sleeping Beauty, The Talisman, Le Corsaire, and The Nutcracker, and Stanton Welch’s La Bayadère.
Photo by Dex Honea
Deanna Pearson & Chun Wai Chan(陈镇威) (he is now principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Both dancers were dancing with Houston Ballet at the time of this photo.)
Rehearsal.
Photos by David Sun
Aiva Berrigan is currently a trainee at Cleveland Ballet, after graduating from high school and studying at Southern New Hampshire Dance Theater for two years including with David Sun.
She performed with SundanceX in Sun’s Solaris in 2021, and his Bach Cello Suite 4 in 2022, both at the Jose Mateo's Ballet Theatre of Boston's Dance for the World Community Festival.
Photos by David Sun
Performance at José Mateo's Ballet Theatre of Boston's 13th Dance for the World Community Festival 2022
Soojin Kang, is originally from South Korea. She began performing for SundanceX in 2014, playing Alban Berg's Piano Sonata, Op. 1 for In Blue Orchids, and J. S. Bach's Partita 2 for Bach to Bach.
She is now an Eastman School of Music assistant professor of collaborative piano, after earning a doctoral degree from Michigan State University.
She won her first piano competition at age 8, sparking a passionate interest in studying music. She graduated from Kyung Nam Arts High School as a top honors student, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.2 with the Kyung Nam Arts High School’s Orchestra, in her junior year, the first student to perform the work.
Soojin received an invitation to then perform with the Jinju Philharmonic Orchestra. She received her undergraduate degree from Hanyang University, where her teachers included Hyungkyu-Kim, and studied with Alexander Korsantia and Daniel Epstein when she came to the States.
She received a Masters of Music degree at The Boston Conservatory after studying with Jungja-Kim. Her honors include: 1st Prize at the Boston Conservatory Honors Competition 2013; Grand Prix in Gaecheon Arts Festival, the Jinhae Gunhang Festival, and the Kimhae Music Association’s Competition; 1st Prize in Baejae University's Competition, the Haneol Competition, and the Masan Music Association’s Competition; 2nd Prize at the Wooin Art Hall Competition; 3rd Prize at West Virginia Competition 2014; 2nd prize at the Daesin University competition, Changsin University competition, and Wooin Art Hall Competition.
Photo by Soojin Kang
Photo by David Sun
Molly currently dances with the Chicago Repertory Ballet. She is originally from Iowa.
Molly joined SundanceX during the summer of 2015, and performed in David Sun’s Images, Torsades des Pointes, Etudes, Tango de Caprice, Caprice, and Passagio Serenata.
She received her BFA in 2016 from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music under Director Jiang Qi, after an independent study period. Previously she was at Interlochen Arts Academy, and North Carolina School of the Arts. Molly began her training at Illinois Ballet Theater under the direction of Susan Snider. At 16 she attended The University of North Carolina School of the Arts under Dean Ethan Stiefel and Interlochen Arts Academy under Director Cameron Basden.
In her senior year she moved to Boston as a trainee for BoSoma Dance Company, and upon graduating, was promoted to company dancer by director Katherine Hooper. While in Boston, McGivern was also a company dancer for Tony Williams Dance Company (City Ballet Boston) under Tony Williams and SundanceX under David Sun. Additionally she taught for Tony Williams Dance Center and Boston College. In the summer of 2018 McGivern returned to the MidWest - landing in Chicago. She performed with Joel Hall Dancers under Jacki Sinclair and Esoteric Dance Project under Brenna and Christopher Tucker before joining Chicago Repertory Ballet.
Photos by David Sun
at Island Moving Company's 2016 Great Friends Festival, Newport RI, to perform "Etudes".
Rehearsal.
Photos by David Sun
Round Table Dance Festival 2016. New York City. Photography by Rachel Neville. Courtesy of BBBallet/The Round Table. New York.
Emily McGuire, originally from Pennsylvania, graduated from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2018, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance Performance, with an emphasis in Ballet.
Emily joined SundanceX in the fall of 2016 and performed in David Sun’s Tango de Caprice, Caprice, and Passagio Serenata.
Emily received her early dance education from Contempro Dance Theatre studying classical and contemporary techniques under Jennifer Lentz and Autumn Dziegrenuk. She studied with John White and Margarita de Saa of Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet; and with Bojan Spassoff, Stephanie Wolf Spassoff of The Rock School.
Emily is currently on faculty at both The Los Angeles Ballet Academy and The School of Dance and Music. She is also performing as a company member of Los Angeles Choreographers and Dancers under director Louise Reichlin performing across the country from The San Pedro Festival of the Arts to Jazz at Lincoln Center. She has recently joined international dance company Sahlala Dancers under director Jill Collins.
Photos by David Sun
Caprice.
Melissa Reed originally from Amherst, New Hampshire, began training at Bedford Dance Center, then attended Southern New Hampshire Dance Theater, where she studied including with David Sun.
Melissa joined SundanceX in the summer of 2016, and performed in Sun’s Images and Tango de Caprice in Feb. 2017.
She studied at Florida’s Harid Conservatory by invitation and on full scholarship, studying with Svetlana Osiyeva, Victoria Schneider, and Olivier Pardina.
Melissa performed at Charlotte Ballet and Richmond Ballet following her education at Harid. She taught ballet in Austin TX, after teaching for the Boston Ballet School for some years. Melissa performed for 5 consecutive seasons as a member of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, including its final season in 2017.
Photos by David Sun
Round Table Dance Festival. 2016. NYC
Round Table Dance Festival. 2016. NYC, NY.
Photos by David Sun
Taryn is from New Hampshire, where she received her ballet training at the Londonderry Dance Academy under Barbara Mullen. She attended intensives at the American Academy of Ballet, Yorkshire Seminar, & Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She was also a recipient of the Pittsburgh Ballet Guild scholarship. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Point Park University's Conservatory of Performing Arts in Pittsburgh, PA, and a M. A. in Movement and Dance Therapy from Lesley University in Cambridge MA.
Taryn joined SundanceX in 2013, and has performed in David Sun’s Meditation, Solscape, Viatore, Bach to Bach, Bach to Bach II, In Blue Orchids, Elephant Walk, Images, Torsades des Pointes, Etudes, Tango de Caprice, Caprice, and Passagio Serenata, most recently at the 2019 Dance for the World Festival by José Mateo’s Ballet Theatre in June, and in Integrarte’s 2019 Winter Showcase II in March 2019. Excerpts of the work were performed in City Ballet Boston’s fundraisers in March and April 2019.
Taryn has performed various classical & contemporary works. She has performed works by Gianni DiMarco and Tony Williams, and performed in Tony Williams' Urban Nutcracker in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018. She joined his City Ballet of Boston in its inaugural season Sept. 2018, and performed with it through the spring of 2019.
She was a faculty member of Koltun Ballet Boston for two years, amongst other local studios. For the past 17 years she has taught yoga in the States, Kenya, Tanzania, & Germany. She now resides in Berlin, Germany, where she is performing and teaching.
Photos by David Sun
Passagio Serenata. Music by Joseph Suk
At Carlos Molina & Erica Cornejo’s Integrarte 2019 Winter II Showcase, Boston MA. Costume by Freda Bromberg.
*Inactive
SundanceX is a member of Boston Dance Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit tax-exempt organization. Contributions in support of SundanceX are greatly appreciated, and may be made to Boston Dance Alliance, Inc. (click link), earmarked for "BDA artist approved project named SundanceX". All contributions are fully deductible to the extent of the law.