Momentum Dance Theatre

Playing Through: Jazz Dance—Legacy to Future, an evening of jazz dance, showcases its history, its current manifestations, and intriguing places it is headed in the future. It reflects the influences and artistic sensibilities of the collaborators: Roberta Rothstein, Margaux Lieser, and Shayla Watkins, combining their different generations, cultures, and backgrounds.

Roberta Rothstein has over 50 years of experience as a dancer, choreographer and director. She was born and raised in New York City where she trained with Vaganova Russian ballet teacher Seda Suny. She went on to train with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She studied with Master Teachers and Legends: Jazz with Pepsi Bethel, Nat Horne, Luigi, Lynn Simonson, Joel Hall, Danny Buracezski and Lou Conte, Graham technique with  Bertram Ross and Mary Hinkson, Horton with Milton Myers and Marjorie Perces, Limon with Lenore Lattimore and Anna Czajun, and African with Charles Moore. In Chicago, she was a member of the Joel Hall Dancers for 6 years where she worked with Paul Sanasardo and Talley Beatty.  She studied Ballet with Larry Long and Modern with Nan Solbrig. Upon moving to Washington, DC, she performed with several companies before founding her own, Momentum Dance Theatre, in 1986.  She is Momentum Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director, the owner of Momentum Dance & Fitness Studio, and the Founding Director of its Jazz Hip Hop Academy.  Momentum has performed at Dance Place, Joe’s Movement Emporium, has toured twice to New York City, and has developed groundbreaking social change dance theater works such as Collard Greens, Gefilte Fish, and THIN.

Margaux Lieser began her dance training in Chicago, IL at the Joel Hall Dance Center She later attended Vassar College, where she was a member of the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre, served as the Artistic Director of a student-run dance company, and choreographed 7 original dance pieces. She was also commissioned to choreograph as a Guest Artist for the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre’s 2018-2019 season. Since relocating to DC in 2018, Margaux joined Capitol Movement Dance Company, where she has had the opportunity to work with Cat Cogliandro, Mike Esperanza, and Tiffanie Carson. Margaux has also presented 4 original works for the National Choreography Month DC showcases. Her choreography, while jazz-based, aims to fuse together the styles she has learned over the years, with a strong emphasis on rhythm and musicality.

Shayla Watkins began her training at Junior Mode Shoe and Dance, Oxford Academy and Joy of Motion, and discovered her love of hip hop. She served as a singer/dancer at the Friends of Carter Barron Foundation for the Performing Arts. There she discovered her love for jazz dance. She has studied with Dwayne Murray and had the pleasure of working under Mike Malone, the co-founder of Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Shayla joined Phyre Arts and Entertainment, where she was a hip hop and jazz dancer and model. She performed for several years with Momentum Dance Theatre in its Jazz Hip Hop Nutcracker; she has choreographed for its current holiday show, the NutcracKer’s Guide to Getting UnPlugged. At Phyre Arts she discovered her desire to teach.  She taught hip hop at Expressions Dance Studio, later becoming Artistic Director at  Studio Boombox alongside Lionell Keit. Since 2017, she has been teaching hip hop at Momentum Dance Theatre’s studio, momentum dance & fitness.