ABOUT
Who We Are
JOAN LIPKIN
Artistic Director, That Uppity Theatre Company
Internationally recognized as a groundbreaking theatre artist and social activist, Joan Lipkin uses performance and civic engagement, creating events and dialogues about the most pressing issues of our time including racial justice, LGBTQIA experience, gun sense, climate change, reproductive choice, and immigration reform.
Many of her projects focus on health and wellness initiatives in community and campus settings. She has worked with diverse populations including LGBTQIA youth, adults, and their families, cancer survivors, people in recovery, communities of faith, women who have been sexually trafficked, adults with dementia, and inner-city youth. She also founded numerous projects such as the DisAbility Project, Playback Now St. Louis, We ❤️ Immigrants, Climate Change Theatre Action St. Louis, The AC/DC Series, and Dance The Vote.
She is an expert on rapid response theatre and has contributed to or produced several national projects including Every 28 Hours, After Orlando and Climate Change Theatre Action. Some of her awards include the Bravely Award, ATHE Award for Leadership in Community-based Theatre and Civic Engagement, Ethical Humanist of the Year, Visionary Award, Arts Innovator of the Year, and Women of Achievement.
Joan founded Dance the Vote in 2016 in the belief that voting is our most precious right and the cornerstone of democracy and that the arts are a pivotal way to engage the community. She is thrilled to be working with her many partners and to see how DTV is exciting artists and audiences alike.
ASHLEY TATE
Artistic Director, Ashleyliane Dance Company
Ashley L. Tate is the founder, artistic director, and lead choreographer of Ashleyliane Dance Company (ADC), a full service dance organization based in the Greater St. Louis area. Ashley has studied dance for over 30 years. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Science from Texas Christian University, where she served two consecutive years as captain during her four-year stint as a member of the TCU Showgirls Dance Team. She has been an instructor for National Dance Alliance, a cast member in a Sony Dreamworks motion picture, and a bodily-kinesthetic intelligence presenter for St. Louis Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS).
Ms. Tate is an adjunct instructor of dance at Washington University in St. Louis and Webster University and the former chair of the dance department at Grand Center Arts Academy. She was invited to a private audition for Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour and is a recipient of Grand Center’s Emerging Artist Visionary Award. She has served as a judge for the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation’s Teen Talent Showcase for several years. She is also a winner of the Pulse On Tour Dance Convention Protégé Scholarship, a Monsters of Hip Hop Scholarship (and a former Monsters Show Nominee), and is signed as a dancer and dance educator with Clear Talent Group in Los Angeles, California. Her work has chosen to be featured in choreographer’s showcases at the Peridance Capezio Center, TADA! Theater, and Baruch Performing Arts Center, all in New York City, as well as the Choreographer’s Carnival in Chicago, Illinois and Versatility Dance Festival in Boulder, Colorado and Santa Monica, California.
Ms. Tate is a 2018 recipient of the Spencer T & Ann W. Olin Fellowship for Women in Graduate Study. She is a graduate student in the Performing Arts Department at Washington University in St. Louis, pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance.
JENNIFER MEDINA
Dance Faculty, Washington University
Jennifer Medina holds a BFA in Dance from UMKC & an MFA in Dance from the University of Iowa.
She has held numerous faculty positions and is currently a faculty member teaching Ballet at Washington University in St Louis. She is the director of her own school, SkyStone Conservatory of the Arts, and continues to choreograph and teach throughout the U. S.
BECKY GALAMBOS
Assistant Administrative Director, That Uppity Theatre Company
Becky Galambos is the assistant administrative director for TUTC. She handles the day-to-day operations, logistics, and assists the producing artistic director.
A graduate of William Jewell college, she has varied theatrical experience in a variety of artistic and technical theatre that are put to use at Uppity on a daily basis.
SABRINA TYUSE
Founder, St. Louis Voter Registration Group
Dr. Sabrina Tyuse is the founder of St. Louis Voter Registration Group, and has registered over three thousand people to vote in Missouri.
When not registering voters, she is an associate professor of social work in the College for Public Health and Social Justice at St. Louis University and the director of their undergraduate program in social work. She holds a Ph. D in sociology and social work from the University of Michigan.
ANNE TAUSSIG
Artist and Graphic Designer
Anne Taussig is an artist, graphic designer & social activist. She is the designer of all of the graphics for Dance the Vote, from the logo and tee-shirts to the signs for the selfie booth.
Anne shares her talents with several organizations in town as a public service. She co-founded DTV with Joan Lipkin and Ashley Tate in 2016.
CARMEN GARCIA
Web Designer and Writer, Heart-Centered Marketing and Business Solutions
Carmen is one half of the dynamic duo that is Heart-Centered Marketing and Business Solutions.
Carmen is active in the Latino community. A first-generation Mexican-American and native St. Louisan, Carmen has seen first hand the growth and impact of the Latino community on the region. Ensuring that everyone has a voice at each election, Dance the Vote was a movement that Carmen found compelled to join.
You may have also seen Carmen on stage in the St. Louis area. She is an actress and vocalist. You can find out more at carmenunscripted.com
JULIE "JULZ" GEORGE
Solution Business and SEO Expert, Heart-Centered Marketing and Business Solutions
Julz is the other half of Heart-Centered Marketing and Business Solutions. Julz is a solution-builder and business process optimizer.
Plagued by the difficulties she’s seen in people’s understanding of the election, voting, and registration processes, she knew this movement was something she had to be a part of.
Julz is proud to bring with her a wealth of knowledge of the IT industry and web development techniques to the movement.
Julz is an avid theatre-goer and support who also serves on the board that builds community in the Carondelet area.
DAN KELLY
Videographer and Editor
Daniel John Kelly has over 30 years of experience in professional theatre. He has been in several Briefs Festivals and sings with the Black Tulip Chorale.
He is thrilled to help Dance the Vote and That Uppity Theatre Company with many of their video and other special projects.
He is also a director, actor and teaching artist. For many years, his was the head videographer for Two on the Aisle the theatre review show on HECTV.