February's Featured Artists

JESS ADAMS (Mixologist) is a former bartender and life-long cocktail enthusiast based in Brooklyn, NY. She is very happy to be returning once again to the salon as your mixologist! In her cocktail life, Jess is exploring infusions and hopes to one day successfully make some freaky bitters. She has been known to throw a good soiree. Jess is also a theatre artist and mask and props artisan. You can check out her theatre work at www.jessadamstheatre.com.
PJ ADZIMA (Actor) is currently working towards his BFA in Acting with a minor in Musical Theater at Marymount Manhattan College. New York:Last Kiss, Bespoke Musicals (York Theatre). Regional Credits: The Wizard of Oz, Annie, The Sound of Music & Snow White (Surflight Theatre), the titular role in Hamlet  (Hampshire Shakespeare Company). University: Far Away, Trifles, Discredited, and a member of both the Nutz & Boltz Improv Troupe and Comedy Schmomedy Sketch Comedy. 
COLLIN BAJA (Actor) is a tall Midwest guy who hates clowns and mean people but loves 2 ply Charmin and any kind of Art. He's been performing since he was a kid which resulted in him attending the Interlochen Arts Academy and The Juilliard School. He's danced around the world, been on Broadway twice, done some films and television, and thanks his mom and dad cause he also happens to model. Overall he's a pretty nice guy who wants to travel the world and stay inspired no matter what. He really loves meeting new people. So go say hi.
KRISTEN BARNEY (Singer) is originally from Richmond, Virginia and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she majored in vocal performance. She has been singing and performing all her life, and is equally passionate about both opera and musical theatre. Some of her past favorite roles include Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Marian Paroo in The Music Man, and the narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.
LOUIS CHAVEZ (Music Video Choreographer) Originally from Los Angeles, Louis Chavez is a choreographer for both film and stage work. He is currently based in Manhattan earning his BFA in commercial dance at Pace University with a choreography concentration. Most recently, Louis assisted Chase Brock in choreographing the 200 person production of “A Winter’s Tale” by the newest Public Theatre program, Public Works. In his free time, he enjoys creating dances for children, experimenting with dance on film and collaborating with his L.A. based theatre company. Louis believes in creating movement that is inclusive, theatrical, emotional, and character driven. For more information please email louisrchavez@gmail.com
Picture
AUSTIN COATS (Choreographer) is a Junior BFA Commercial Dance Major at Pace University. He started dancing at age 15, but his biggest passion is Choreography. He will be performing in Pace University’s annual Dance Concert, Dance Out Loud, this spring in pieces set by Jessica Hendricks, Scott Jovovich, Jonathon Reidel and an aerial piece by Joshua Dean. Originally from North Carolina, he choreographed and performed for the theatre group, The Talent Company, of which he is a founding member.
JORDI COATS (Producer) Previously, Jordi has worked with Binder Casting, Tara Rubin Casting, and Telsey + Company casting. Recently she was an associate producer of the award-winning "Mother Jones and the Children's Crusade" at this years NY Musical Theatre Festival. Previously, Jordi asst. directed and associate produced "Volleygirls" at NYMF in 2013 (Best of Fest), IAMA Theatre Co's "Shiner" (asst. director), and has been collaborating on many film projects in the area. Jordi continues to work with "Volleygirls", producing cabarets and other fund-raising campaigns for organizations such as "It Gets Better" around NYC. She is a graduate of the Univeristy of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While in NC, she founded The Talent Company, a theatre company for middle and high school students in the Uwharrie region that is currently in its 7th season. Jabali. 
JONATHAN DeYOUNG aka MADic (Rapper) MADic is an emcee and producer born and raised in Minneapolis and currently based in Brooklyn. As a kid, MADic developed a passion for music and practiced on as many instruments as he could get his hands on. He started rapping and making beats in 8th grade, spending countless hours throughout high school in his basement writing to beats he composed himself on his keyboard. Since moving to New York in 2008, MADic has been studying the art and refining his craft. He released his debut EP in October 2014. and is currently working on a full length project.
ASHLEY GUNSTEENS (Producer) is a Brooklyn-based actor and director with a penchant for movement and ensemble-based work. Her favorite recent projects include What Every Girl Should Know  ("Best Ensemble" NY Fringe Festival 2013), Volleygirls The Musical  (“Best of Fest” NYMF 2013), All My Children, Julius Caesar,  and How I Learned to Drive. She is also the creator of the NYC fashion & lifestyle blog, SOUTHbySOHO.com, which you are more than welcome to read HERE and then tell all your friends about. www.ashleygunsteens.com
JORDAN MARIE HAYES (Dancer) grew up in Neptune, New Jersey.  She lived there for eighteen years until she moved out of the small beach town to study Commercial Dance at Pace University for the past three years. Post graduation she plans to use her knowledge and training to a degree of  professionalism that will expand her mind and her resume in all aspects of the art form. She has had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Dee Caspary, Jason Samuel Smith, Liana Blackburn, Martha Nichols and Al Blackstone.
SCOTT KLOPFENSTEIN (Singer/Musician) is an brooklyn musician and a former member of the band Reel Big Fish. He sings and plays trumpet, guitar, and keyboard. In 2008, he played trumpet on the Less Than Jake album GNV FLA. Once, in an interview, he summed himself up in 5 words: Good, Funky, Sexy, Chicken Fingers.
JULIA KNITEL (Actor) is an actress who made her Broadway debut in Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Bye Bye Birdie at the age of 16. Since then, she has been a part of numerous new (and old) works in and around Manhattan and was most recently seen as Nora in Brighton Beach Memoirs at Portland Stage in Maine. Some favorite roles include; Terry Randall (Stage Door), Ingrid Hansson Tutland (Volleygirls), Millie Dillmount (Thoroughly Modern Millie), and Laura (Long Ago and Far Away). 
BRIANNA KOHN (Dancer) is a Junior at Pace University where she is studying to receive her BFA in Commercial Dance. She has been dancing since the age of 3. Brianna has performed in professional shows such as “Dancing Queen” and “Motown In Motion” among others. On top of dancing she also has a love for acting on film. You can catch her on the Starz Network TV Series “The Wannabes.”
MADISYN SLOANE MANIFF (Choreographer) is finishing her final semester at Pace University where she will receive a BFA in Commercial Dance. Madisyn has worked and performed with Riedel Dance Theater at the Alvin Ailey dance theater. Madisyn choreographed "power of youth" for Emergence at Pace University. She looks forward to sharing choreography and her first short film, "Slow Love" tonight.
ADRIELLE MUNGER (Artist/Activist),  like so many others, is a recent transplant to New York City. Armed with a degree in English Literature from Arizona State, she came here to pursue publishing (because, seriously, what do you do with a BA in English?). However, after providing hours upon hours of free labor and dry cappuccinos for the managing staff, Adrielle abandoned the stifling publishing industry in favor of activist organizing and seeing/doing art in her spare time. She currently works for the feminist thinktank Redstockings and organizes with National Women's Liberation, and the Intern Worker Alliance. She reads and writes mostly creative (feminist) nonfiction, and paints whatever she wants. She is very glad that she decided not to go to graduate school right now, and is enjoying freedom outside of the academy very much.
BRIANNA PAVON (Dancer) is from New Orleans, Louisiana.  She began her dance training at the age of fifteen and since then has had multiple professional jobs including a Gucci Short Film directed by James Franco and the 2013 Beyoncé Superbowl halftime performance. Brianna has assisted choreographers including Victor Smalley, Erica Sobol, Jason Gorman, Morgan Burke, and currently works on the assistant faulty for Top Ten Dance Challenge and Premeditated Dance Projects. Brianna is now pursuing a BFA in commercial dance at Pace University in New York City.
SIA (Writer) is about to graduate with a double masters in psychoanalytic counseling psychology and women and gender studies from Columbia University. She has done work as an activist for LGBTQ communities, particularly with the LGBT asylum-seeking community in NYC. She is the co-creator of a recent women's liberation blog/zine called "Misandry and Porridge" where she writes alongside others about the experience of having to live a life as a woman and not being sorry about it. Sia cares about poetry and continues to explore the ways in which words are radical, borrowing what her favorite writer Toni Morrison says that, "narrative is radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created." Sia also enjoys playing with her cello, her cats, and photography.
CASSIDY STONER (Actor) is in her third year of the BFA Musical Theatre Program at Pace University where she was last seen in Jacob Brent's production of Lysistrata Jones and Rhonda Miller's Dance Out Loud. Cassidy was also a member of the 2013 Resident Company at the Forestburgh Playhouse.
SCOTT VICARI (Actor) is an actor, writer, and improviser currently residing in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studied at the Gaiety School of Acting, the National Theater School of Ireland, and is currently honing his comedy skills at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Some of Scott's favorite past roles include Peck in How I Learned to Drive, Macduff in Macbeth, and most recently Leandre in Scapin. www.scottvicari.com