She has also performed at Ann Arbor’s Edgefest with Lars Hollmer’s Global Home Project, Guy Kluscevic, Mark Kirschenmann, E3Q, Andrew Bishop and Ed Sarath. Katri studied cello with Erling Blöndal Bengtsson and Marc Johnson in the US, and chamber music with the Amadeus, Borodin and Vermeer Quartets, among others. She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan. Katri is a founding member and past president of the Brave New Works new music ensemble, the Muse Ensemble and E3Q, an improvisation-based genre-defying trio of cello, trumpet and percussion, as well as the newly founded Järnefelt Piano Trio. She appears on Envoy Recordings, Block M Records, and AMP Records labels. Most recently, she spearheaded and appeared in the documentary ”Mestiza Music”, produced by WFYI-Indinapolis, on 60 PBS stations nationwide, and the Brave New Works record ”The Outer Bar”, released in 2019. In addition to her lively performance career, Dr.Ervamaa is on faculty at the University of Michigan’s Residential College, where she is the Head of the Music Program and teaches chamber music and musicianship. She has also been on the cello faculty at the Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green State Universities. She plays on a 1868 HC Silvestre cello.

As a composer and writer, Kirschenmann explores the confluence of composition and improvisation. He has published articles on Messiaen’s use of improvisation as a compositional technique, and on new approaches to melodic jazz improvisation. He is on the faculty at the University of Michigan, where he shares his time between the School of Music (Jazz) and the Residential College, a liberal arts living-learning community. He also directs U-M’s Creative Arts Orchestra, an innovative, creative improvisation ensemble, and the Michigan Youth Jazz Ensemble. Kirschenmann holds PhD degrees in composition and music theory from the University of Michigan and lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his wife and their three children.

Through her years at Oakland University, she was a member of Oakland Dance Theatre Repertory Company under the direction of Laurie Eisenhower and Gregory Patterson. While at Oakland, she was chosen to perform ‘The Hundreds’ with Twyla Tharpe.

She has received numerous scholarships to Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio in Los Angeles, California. She received the honor of being a forever guest choreographer for Cathy Roes Dance Spectacular. She was invited to be a part of Jayson Michaels Energy Source Dance Association in 2011 at his National Company Performance as a choreographer and teacher and quickly became a full time staff member and Energy Source Kids Director teaching all genres of dance in studios all around the country.​ She has taught at Tecumseh Dance Workshop, The Dance Centre, Metropolitan Dance Centre and was the Executive Director of Tecumseh Dance Theatre Company. She is well versed in all forms of dance and has taught for over 20 years. Through those years, her dances have won numerous choreography and technique awards.

In 2017, Mr. Jayson Michaels passed away and left the company to Deena and Associate Director, Angela Harris. They renamed the company Energy Source Dance Experience and Deena is currently the co director/co owner. Deena is very proud to be the owner/director of illuminaTe Dance and Arts Center. In addition to being the owner/director and teaching at illuminaTe, Deena is also an Adjunct Professor at Adrian College.

Deena believes in the art of dance, the integrity and discipline of the art and also the creativity and expression of the person. Through her unique choreography and connection with her students, she is able to convey her passion and inspire new generations of artists and performers.

When he’s not performing, Joey is an award-winning freelance choreographer/instructor for multiple schools and studios in the midwest, and is a guest artist with the Energy Source Dance Experience intensive, where he teaches a seminar called Acting for Dancers, which acts as an Introduction to Theatre class that focuses on the importance of acting in the dance world. National Tour credit; Monty Python’s Spamalot. Regional Theatre credits; Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde (Mason Street Warehouse), Something Rotten! (Phoenix Theatre Company), Newsies (The Fireside Theatre), Shrek: The Musical, La Cage Aux Folles, The Producers, White Christmas (Barter Theatre), Anything Goes, Oklahoma! (Porthouse Theatre), A Chorus Line, & Little shop of Horrors (The Huron Playhouse). Choreography credits; Assassins, The Theory of Relativity, The Scarlet Pimpernel (Oakland University).