MEET THE COMPANY
Sacramento, CA Team
KATIE KILBOURN
Artistic Director
Katie Kilbourn was born in Sacramento, California and trained all over the West Coast before she moved and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Jazz Dance Performance at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. After relocating to New York, Katie had the privilege to dance with several companies including Balasole, J/D Dansfolk, and IKADA. From a young age Katie realized there is a generic pressure within the dance community to maintain a specific body type and she realized that many people, herself included, engage in unhealthy behaviors to achieve a certain look. In 2015 she co founded Borne Dance Company with Kianna Moye and together they created a company dedicated to mental health and eating disorder awareness. As someone who has dealt with mental health concerns her entire life, Katie strived to create a company that would inspire body positivity, self appreciation, and the idea of recovery through art. She was a volunteer at the National Eating Disorders Association for over four years and has personal history with mental health and recovery. She has closely worked with therapists and specialists in the mental health field to create content and workshops that are therapeutic, inspiring, and compassionate for the community. She has a strong passion for eating disorder awareness and strives to continue creating work that sparks compassion and understanding of the eating disorder community. In addition to Borne, Katie also loves teaching dance to members in the community and she currently teaches at Dance 10 and the School a the Sacramento Ballet. To learn more about her work within the company please read our “about us” page.
Kristin Marshall
Kristin Marshall is a performer, instructor, and choreographer who fell in love with movement for its ability to express what words cannot. When an individual's emotions and story resonate witha viewer, no matter the form of media, it is powerful. In 2018 she obtained her B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and a Minor in Dance. Her major in marketing gave her the chance to work with local businesses to improve their visibility in Sacramento as well as work on special projects for the Department of Theater and Dance at CSUS. Her minor provided her with the opportunity to study and perform under the direction of professors such as Diavolo Alumni Philip Flickinger, New York City Ballet Soloist Nolan T'Sani, and Sacramento Black Art of Dance founder Dr. Linda Goodrich. Currently she is teaching her “littles” at FancyFeet Dance Academy, producing ideas of her own with KNMotion, and performing with the bi-coastal Borne Dance Company. Kristin values the impact the arts make in our community and is excited to tell stories that connect individuals.
Monica Padilla
Monica is a multidisciplinary artist that specializes in aerial acrobatics and dance. She fuses together aerial and decades of classical ballet training, making her known for her grace and poise in the air.While ballet is her forte, on the ground Monica is also trained in jazz, contemporary and modern dance. She has most recently collaborated with SacDanceLab, Hip Service and Borne Dance Company in the Sacramento area. In the air, she specializes in aerial silks, hammock, lyra and she enjoys the silver kisses of aerial chain. She captivates audiences with rich storytelling through the use of musicality and dynamic movements, leaving them in awe at her acrobatics. Her performances have enchanted audiences across a variety of venues, from the Crocker Art Museum and Napa Language Academy, to the Rancho Victoria Vineyard, backyard get togethers and corporate retreats. Monica has an insatiable thirst to continue growing as an artist and coach. She currently lives in Sacramento, CA and when not performing you can catch her teaching in the community.Her experience with movement artists across disciplines has brought to light the immense amounts of pressure that individuals put on themselves to fit the mold of what they think their bodies should look like. As a member of Borne Dance Company Monica is excited to use performance art to raise awareness on mental health and eating disorders to transpire change in the community.
Alexis Boseman
Alexis Boseman was accepted into Natomas Charter School's Performing and Fine Arts Academy where she discovered that she wanted to pursue dance seriously. During her sophomore year, she began competing with River City Dance Academy in multiple styles including jazz, contemporary, tap, and hip hop. After graduating, Alexis continued to pursue dance through latin dance festivals, local showcases, and was even able to travel to Cebu, Philippines to host master classes and performances. Alexis has also been able to teach dance to young children and teens. She currently co-directs the competition team at Fancy Feet Dance Academy and loves to see her dancers grow. She also attends UC Davis as a psychology major with minors in sociology and dance, which she plans to integrate into how she teaches in order to increase diversity in the studio as well as work with students to cope with situations in their lives through dance.
Ari Pulido
Born and raised in Sacramento, Ari has taught, performed, and choreographed in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. She graduated from San Francisco State University with her BA in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography and Performance where she studied under Wendy Diamond, Ray Tadio, Cathleen McCarthy, and Susan Whip. After living in the Bay area, Ari moved to Los Angeles where she attended Santa Monica College to take dance classes and perform in their contemporary dance company known as Synapse. While attending SMC, Ari studied under the direction of Caleb Mitchel, Mark Tomasic, Jae Lee, Vanessa Van Wormer, and Seda Aybay. SMC gave Ari opportunities including traveling to New York City for the NYC dance experience, and dancing in Florence, Italy where she trained and performed internationally. Ari has performed works by Laura Berg, Sheron Wray, and Bill Evans. She has attended summer intensives including Joffrey Ballet SF, CSU Summer Arts Trisha Brown, CSU Summer Arts Diavolo performing a restaged version of “AWOL” and CSU Summer Arts Alvin Ailey where she performed repertoire including “Escapades” and “Revelations”. Ari has performed professionally on dance companies including Qinmin Arts and Sacramento Contemporary Dance Theater. She loves choreographing and has recently started co directing her own performance company known as “Cat Language Dance”. She currently teaches ballet, tap, conditioning, and contemporary at Galaxy Dance Arts in Elk Grove, CA. Ari is excited to be dancing with Borne Dance Company spreading mental health and eating disorder awareness in the community.
Samantha Chizek
Samantha Chizek, a dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She completed her B.A. in Dance at California State University, Sacramento in 2021. Has been dancing in the Yuba-Sutter and Sacramento area for 20 years and has the pleasure of dancing in pieces by Keri LaGrand, G. Madison IV, Mike Esperanza, Melecio Estrella of Bandalooping and Darrius Strong of STRONGmovement. She has worked with professors from both San Diego State University and Sacramento State University including; Leslie Seiters, Joe Alter, Bernard Brown, Lorelei Bayne, Megan Brunsvold-Mercedes, and Philip Flickinger.Samantha works at Transitions Dance Center and Jacque’s Dance Expressions, both dance studios in Yuba City, where she instructs dance classes in a variety of styles. She has choreographed various styles for competitive dance teams, who have competed and participated in workshops/conventions all over California and Nevada. She enjoys sharing her passion for dance and being able to share such an art form with the students.
Jasen Fong
Jasen Fong is a dancer, actor, and choreographer currently working in the Sacramento area. He is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento,earning a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a minor in Dance and Deaf Studies. Jasen is currently dancing as an apprentice for Borne Dance Company and as a company member for Nhan Ho Project. He has previously danced as a company member for Elevate Dance Project and as an apprentice for twopointfour. When creating movement Jasen choreographs for his side project Mochi Powder. Jasen’s theatre career has allowed him to perform in various productions including Gold Hill Samurai, Stories to be Told, and The Producers. His notable accomplishments comprise of earning a scholarship for PUSH Dance Companies, PUSHLAB workshop,placing in the semi-finals for the UC Davis Picnic Day 3v3 bboy competition alongside Whatever Man Crew, and being the lead male dancer in A Foreign Affair’s music video “Patience”
Aleena Palumbo
Aleena Palumbo was born in Folsom, California and started dance at the age of 2. She attended Hawkins School of Performing Arts for 17 years and graduated from Folsom High School in 2019. In those years of training, Palumbo traveled nearly monthly for competitions with Jacob Gutiérrez-Montoya on Hawkins Contemporary Jazz Company Elite, with a total of 200+ competitions. In the summer of 2018, she traveled to New York City for a week to train in dance and singing at Peridance Capezio Center and Broadway Dance Center. At the age of 14, Palumbo danced in a show called Sign of Life, directed by Gutiérrez-Montoya, where she danced and translated the song lyrics to American Sign Language. This inspired Palumbo in a career for Deaf Studies with dance. One of Palumbo’s biggest accomplishments is winning national awards with the Hawkins Contemporary Jazz Company in Palm Desert, California for the dances Juliet and Glory. Palumbo recently graduated Folsom Lake College in May 2021 with a 4.0 GPA and an AA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities. Palumbo got accepted into Sacramento State University, Sacramento and California State University, Northridge where she will receive her BA in Deaf Studies, and may go into nursing! Her ultimate goal is to create dance workshops for the Deaf to teach them dance using floors with better vibrations to feel the music. She is ecstatic to be working with Borne to do her part in helping the community she was raised in.
New York City, NY Team
COURTNEY MURRAy
Executive director
Courtney Murray is originally from Colorado, where she danced professionally with the Schiff Dance Collective, Blue Moon Dance Company, and Rogue Co. Dance. After moving to New York, she was accepted into Broadway Dance Center's Professional Semester Program where she won the Choreography Award. Courtney has danced with Alma NYC, Guilty Pleasures Cabaret, and Atomic Entertainment. She is also a teaching artist with TDF, Steffi Nossen School of Dance, and Kinderdance. Recently, she was featured in Heather Mae’s “Be not Afraid” music video and “Drop the Beat”, a new dance movie. She has been a dancer with Borne Dance Company since its inception in 2015, she was promoted to assistant director in 2018 and executive director in 2019.
Kara Rose Hauenstein
Kara Rose Hauenstein is originally from Blacksburg, Virginia. She was awarded the Board of Trustees Talent Scholarship from Adelphi University in 2011. At Adelphi University, Kara had the opportunity to perform excerpts from Bella Figura choreographed by Jiří Kylián as well as works by Orion Duckstein, Maurice Brandon-Curry, Melissa Riker, and many others. She graduated from Adelphi University with honors in 2015.
Kara danced with the Bronx-based company MAD About Dance under the direction of Michiyo Tanaka for two years. Kara also performed with the Herbert H. Lehman Dance Company last season under the direction of Loli Santiago. Additionally, Kara was a dancer and rehearsal mistress in a grant project called SteLi, which received funding from the B. Wilson Producing Scholars.
Julia Kathryn
Julia is a dancer and teacher currently based in NJ. In 2017, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgian Court University with a double major in dance performance and psychology, with a minor in dance/movement therapy. While studying, she was selected to work with choreographers such as Sidra Bell, Randy James, Silvana Cardell, Beau Hancock, and Charles Anderson. Since graduation, Julia has performed work by choreographers Melissa Padham-Maas, Shawn Rawls, Vanessa Long, Joe Monteleone, and Sonia James Pennington, and is a company member with Warwick Dance Collective. Currently, she teaches dance at studios in NJ and NY, and is a certified Pure Barre teacher at Pure Barre Livingston. Julia is grateful for her opportunity to join Borne Dance Company, and excited she can fuse her passion for mental health awareness with performance.