Faculty

Dance Coordinator and Lecturer

Sarah Carey is passionate about dance, movement and people. Her belief in the transformative power of the arts is shaped by both her personal journey and professional experience. Originally from Rochester, New York, her multifaceted career in dance has encompassed roles as a performer, educator, director, choreographer and collaborator across the U.S. and abroad. In New York, she trained with distinguished companies and artists, including the Limón Dance Company, Alan Danielson, Risa Steinberg, Carla Maxwell, Sue Bernhard, Doug Varone and Dancers, PUSH Physical Theatre, Garth Fagan Dance and Bill Evans. Sarah holds a B.F.A. in Dance from Belhaven University and an M.Ed. from Cleveland State University.

In Ohio, Sarah has worked with Tri-C, Cleveland State University, Verb Ballets (now Ohio Contemporary Ballet), DANCECleveland, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD), American College Dance Festival, Beck Center for the Arts and others. She first joined Tri-C as an adjunct dance faculty member and has advanced to her current role as a full-time lecturer and coordinator of the college-level dance program. Sarah is committed to creating opportunities for students to develop both as dancers and individuals, emphasizing hands-on experiences, skill development and professional networking. Notable projects include co-directing and choreographing an award-winning dance film featuring Tri-C students, faculty and local professionals, as well as directing The Mix, a live concert integrating dance and recording arts students with guest artists B-Boy Tony Fresh and DJ Young Guru. Sarah has also facilitated partnerships with DANCECleveland and Tri-C Performing Arts to bring guest artists, master classes and workshops to Tri-C from leading companies, such as Pilobolus, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, PHILADANCO!, and Camille A. Brown.

At Cleveland State University, Sarah served as the assistant to the director of dance, a rehearsal director and an adjunct faculty member. As the rehearsal director for the CSU Dance Company, she was instrumental in bringing works by Antonio Brown, Teena Marie Custer, Amy Miller, Annie Morgan and others to the stage for annual performances at Playhouse Square. Sarah also thrives behind the scenes in dance production roles, having served as an assistant stage manager and a backstage crew member for CSU Dance Concerts at Playhouse Square.

Sarah is deeply grateful for Cleveland's vibrant dance community and enjoys supporting fellow dance artists. She taught company classes for the dancers of Verb Ballets and served as a teaching artist with DANCECleveland's Read to Learn...Dance to Move program, leading in-school sessions throughout the CMSD to promote both dance and literacy.

Her professional performance credits span a range of works by notable choreographers, including José Limón, Alan Danielson, Doug Varone, Amy Miller, Larry Keigwin, Nicole Wolcott, Lynn Deering, Bill Wade, Sara Whale and more. As a young performer, she performed in the national Broadway tour production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, starring Sam Harris. Local performance highlights include TEDx@CSU, Playhouse Square's Dance Showcase, Opera Cleveland, Cleveland Public Theatre's DanceWorks, and Beck Center for the Arts.

Sarah is also a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant (and graduate of Tri-C's Physical Therapist Assistant program!). She integrates her knowledge of anatomy and movement science into her teaching, offering a holistic approach to dance training that fosters students' physical and artistic development. Through her own experience with injury and the challenges of recovery, she recognizes the importance of educating others to prevent/recover from injury and prioritizes overall health (physical, mental and spiritual).

Sarah is dedicated to furthering the lives of others through dance. She views movement as a precious gift and aims to inspire people to move, be curious, learn, create and connect!

Chelsi "Cho" Knight is a professional dancer, choreographer, actor, and educator based in Cleveland, Ohio. With professional training and teaching experience in Cleveland and New York City, Cho specializes in hip-hop foundations, freestyle, musicality, and performance. Passionate about creating inclusive learning environments, Cho helps students build confidence, develop their artistic voice and deepen their connection to movement. In addition to teaching at Baldwin Wallace University and Cuyahoga Community College, Cho continues to work professionally in film, live performance and community arts, bringing industry experience into every class.

Madalyn Lucier is a practitioner of multiple hip-hop and street dance genres, specializing in house dance. After training in New York City for five years, she returned to Cleveland to build with the community of her hometown. Maddy serves as a teacher, 10K Elite performance team member, and the associate director of 10K Movement, a local platform for hip-hop and street dance, providing education, performances and events for the local and larger street dance community. Maddy is also a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers Scream Team. Prior to dancing, she fell in love with hip-hop for its playfulness, social justice imperatives and storytelling power.

Maddy teaches hip-hop and street dance classes at Tri-C in addition to her work with 10k Movement. In the classroom, she challenges students to develop their technical skills, groove, musicality, body awareness and creativity. She also stresses the importance of the historical and cultural context behind the dance to allow for more authentic musical and individual expression to come forward.

Lieneke Matte grew up in the Bronx, New York, and began her dance training at the School of American Ballet, where she also performed with New York City Ballet as a young dancer. She later attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts (the Fame school) before continuing her studies at SUNY Purchase's Conservatory of Dance. There, she performed works by influential choreographers including George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Nicolo Fonte, Lar Lubovitch, and Nicholas Villeneuve. Her studies also took her abroad for a semester at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

In 2013, Lieneke graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance and received the President's Award for the Conservatory of Dance. Following graduation, she joined Verb Ballets, now Ohio Contemporary Ballet, where she performed for 10 years. During her tenure, she danced works by Adam Hougland, Anthony Krutzkamp, Heinz Poll, Richard Dickinson, Charles Anderson, Lauren Edson, Antonio Brown, Tommy-Waheed Evans, Stephanie Martinez, and many others. Lieneke also appeared as a dancer in the documentary No Dominion: The Ian Horvath Story, created by Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist Margaret Mullin.

After concluding her tenure with Ohio Contemporary Ballet in 2023, Lieneke has continued to perform both classical and contemporary dance works and remains active in the Northeast Ohio dance community.

Alyssa Wilmot, a dance professor and choreographer, has been dancing her entire life. The Cleveland native has trained in a wide variety of dance forms, music, theater and fitness and has been teaching for more than 20 years at the college level. Alyssa holds a B.A. in Philosophy, Dance and Political Science from the College of Wooster and an MFA in Dance Choreography and Performance from Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California. She holds numerous Pilates and fitness certifications and has danced professionally in California, Philadelphia and New York, and, the highlight of her career, Jacob's Pillow. Alyssa has been an adjunct dance professor at Tri-C since 2011 and an adjunct faculty member/visiting artist in dance at numerous colleges and universities in Ohio and California. She loves sharing her passion for dance with the Tri-C community.