Christine Harris has been the director of Moving Light Dance School and Company since 2000. Moving Light Dance Company is a collaboration between local artists and students of the school. The company presents the original Green Mountain Nutcracker, a traditional Nutcracker story with a made in Vermont twist, as well as a new spring work annually at the Barre Opera House. The Moving Light Dance Summer Performance Intensive has presented original works including the Velveteen Rabbit, Wisdom of the Herbs and an original interpretation of Giselle.

Christine has choreographed and/or performed for many local community events such as Traces, All Species Day, Celebrate the Winooski, Enchanted Forest, Ice on Fire, First Night, 350 Vermont Climate Change Cabaret and the Celebration of the Earth Charter at Shelburne Farms. She danced the role of the Farmer and other farm animals and vegetables in Ballet Vermont’s Farm to Ballet. She has presented work at the Winter Dance Gala with the Vermont Dance Alliance and collaborated with duo pianist Mary Jane Austin and vocalist Erik Kroncke to present “La Belle Vie” at the Plainfield Opera House.

Christine teaches creative movement, ballet and modern classes. Her students have gone on to attend programs at schools such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Joffrey Ballet, ABT, Nutmeg Conservatory, Burklyn, Chicago Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and Boston Ballet.

She grew up dancing in NYC at the Staten Island Ballet and Martha Graham School. She earned a BFA from SUNY Purchase Dance Conservatory. During her studies at Purchase Christine came to Vermont one March with her composition teacher Tarin Chaplin for a weekend of outdoor site specific choreography. She created a dance on a clear cut hillside on a farm in Worcester. This experience was by far one of the most inspiring as well as healing. Eventually Christine, by following her heart, ended up in Vermont where she founded Moving Light Dance School and Company in 2000 in Plainfield.

Brandy Ann Perez received her Bachelor of Arts in dance from Point Park College in Pittsburgh, PA. Before that, she studied at the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, with the Chartiers Valley Arts Council Dance Company (later, The Carnegie Performing Arts Center), and Pat’s Dance Studio. Her dance education has focused on ballet, but also includes jazz, tap, modern, folk, and historical dance.

After college, Brandy performed, taught dance, and choreographed for shows at Frontiertown Western Theme Park in Maryland. Since moving to Vermont, she has been a member of the Vermont Dance Collective, taught at Johnson State College and dance studios around the state, and has collaborated with many local choreographers, teachers, and arts organizations to bring dance to various communities, creating original choreography for performances and community events as well as ballets and musicals.

An Artistic Director until 2019, Brandy helped to found Ballet Wolcott, ran dance/performance programs, taught (ballet, pointe, lyrical, tap, Broadway jazz) classes, choreographed, and directed the Ballet Wolcott Youth Company and the annual Nutcracker.

Currently, in addition to teaching at Moving Light School of Dance, Brandy is Associate Managing Director at Lost Nation Theater and on the development committee for Vermont Dance Alliance.

Brandy cherishes her work with Moving Light's excellent teaching artists and supportive dance community: "I feel at home in this wonderful studio where dancers of all ages and abilities can explore dance in a safe, encouraging, and inclusive environment under the guidance of experienced and caring dance instructors."

Bridget Wheeler has been dancing and improvising her entire life. After many hours of early childhood spent whirling around the living room to Dvorák and The Beatles, she took her first ballet class at Moving Light Dance when she was seven years old. She spent ten years training rigorously in ballet and modern including a transformative summer with the Joffrey Ballet School. Shortly thereafter she sustained an injury which derailed her from continuing her dance pursuits. She turned to music and spent several years studying music, especially improvisatory music, as a bassist and vocalist.

As she healed from her injury, she reconnected with dance. She continued to return to Moving Light to perform and teach. She began collaborating and performing with many Vermont dancers, including Willow Wonder and Isadora Snapp. When she danced in Hannah Dennison’s Threads and Thresholds, Bridget gained a deeper understanding of how to be her authentic self while performing. Next she worked with Clare Byrne, who at the time was a professor of dance at UVM and an important teacher of improvisation for Bridget. Together they created a series of workshops and performances combining improvisatory dance and improvised music which continue to inspire Bridget’s approach to art-making.

Bridget is passionate about movement as a whole and strives to expand the styles and training she is exposed to. While living in New York she became a certified yoga teacher through the Yoga Works School. She connected with the field of functional movement and mobility training, took gymnastics classes, performed her solo work, and spent many hours improvising with fellow dancers and musicians.

Since 2020, Bridget has been teaching consistently at Moving Light and growing as an artist and teacher. She is thrilled for the opportunity to share the knowledge gained from her varied background with her students and deeply grateful to be an integral part of the school which feels like home to her.