COMPANY

Junichi Fukuda holds a BFA in Dance from the Boston Conservatory and has been a member of Ballet Tech/NY, Oakland Ballet, Smuin Ballet/SF, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, the New York Baroque Dance Company, Nejla Yatkin’s NY2 Dance, Buglisi Dance Theatre and Peridance Contemporary Dance Company where he was featured in numerous principal roles. Back in New England, Junichi became a member of Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre while he maintains his choreographic journey.

Junichi was the recipient of the 2012 S&R Washington Award and the Dance Place’s 2012 New Releases Choreographer Commission. His choreography has been presented at 18MASDANZA in Spain, Dance St. Louis’ The Spring to Dance Festival, DanceNow at Joe’s Pub Festival, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival. Junichi has been commissioned to create new works for Christopher K. Morgan & Artists (Trinitus, April 2013), for Bowen McCauley Dance (Segments, March 2014), and general staging/choreography for Opera (Jeanne: a story of the woman, September 2015, named as best in dance of 2015 by the Arts Fuse). At its premiere, dance critic Sarah Kaufman of the Washington Post called Segments “the evening’s chief pleasure” and went on to say “Fukuda knew exactly what he was doing here: creating a work of easeful harmony...bringing to mind freedom and flight…The real credit was due to Fukuda’s modest, tasteful proposal.”  Junichi is a recipient of 2016 Bates Dance Festival’s Emerging Choreographer Residency, Dance Complex’s 2016 CATALYSTS Artist Residency, Somerville Arts Council’s Professional Development, New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, Boston Cultural Council's Opportunity Fund, and a winner of the 2017 Boston Dance Alliance Rehearsal and Retreat Fellowship.

Sharon Wehner is originally from San Jose, California, and had her fundamental ballet training with San Jose Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre Seven, and San Francisco Ballet.  A former Principal Dancer with the Colorado Ballet, Sharon has also danced with Amy Seiwart’s Imagery, the Oakland Ballet, the Washington Ballet, Zikr Dance Ensemble, Engage Movement arts and Briah Danse.  She has performed as a guest artist in the Tokyo Aoyama Ballet Festival, the National Ballet of Japan’s Golden Ballet Co-Star, and the Vail International Dance Festival’s “International Evening of Dance.”  As a Principal Dancer, Sharon has performed numerous leading roles in classical and Neo-classical ballets, including the principal roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Coppelia, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Rodeo, The Leaves are Fading, Dracula, Rubies,Theme and Variations, and Stars and Stripes.  She has had the honor to be featured in new works by Christopher Wheeldon, Val Caniparoli, Amy Seiwart, Edward Liaang, Jessica Lang, Dwight Rhodan, and Graham Lustig.  In addition to her career as a dancer, Sharon is a Certified Yoga Instructor and GYROKINESIS(R) trainer, Reiki Master, Ballet teacher, and Instructor for Dance for Parkinson’s Disease.  After recently retiring from her 22-year career with the Colorado Ballet, Sharon is spreading her wings as a freelance artist, exploring new territory in classical and contemporary choreography that speaks to her and to audiences in a fresh and stimulating way.  Most recently, she has performed with Briah Danse in “Legends and Legacies”, Engage Movement Arts in “Shoes,” and Alya Howe in “Walls.”