Pam England, Choreographer, is a co-founder of GZDC. Prior to this, she was co-producer of Cooper/England Dance Works. She holds a BFA in Dance from VCU and an MFA in Dance from Arizona State University. While living in Phoenix, she danced and presented her own work as a member of Center Dance Ensemble and performed with the University Repertory Company. Pam has also taught classes at ASU, VCU, and many private studios. She is currently a personal trainer certified in the Pilates Method, and owner of The Pilates Fitness Studio.

Kathleen Legault, Artistic Associate and Rehearsal Mistress, holds a degree in History and Education from the State University of New York at Potsdam where she began dancing under Diane Defries and Don Borsh. Her training includes Klein Technique, Elements of Body Alignment and Graduate studies at SUNY Purchase in dance and choreography where she trained under Kazuko Hirabiashi, Megan Williams, Ted Kivitt, Kevin Winn and Neil Greenberg among others; taught Modern Dance; and received The President's Award for Excellence. Ms. Legault has performed with Richmond Performing Arts Collective, Steve's House Dance Collective, Starr Foster Dance Project, Lane Gifford, Sidra Bell, Victoria Skinner, JoAnna Mendl Shaw, Pam England, Dim Sum Dance, Nouvelle Burlesque and with Ground Zero Dance Company. In addition Kat is currently working as the Administrative Director for VCU Department of Theatre and teaches dance.

Lea Marshall is co-founder and Executive Director of GZDC, and Producer/Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Dance & Choreography. Lea also serves as afreelance dance writer/critic for Style Weekly, Dance Magazine, and occasionally C-ville Weekly, RVA Magazine, Ballet-Dance Magazine and Dance International. Her writing has also appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition, in the web-zine Delicate Monster, 64 Magazine, No Shame Theater, The Hook, and in Sacred Bearings: A Journal About Surviving. Lea received a BA in English from the University of Virginia in 1994, and began studying dance in college under Juanita Wilson, Mary Marshall, and Robert Cook. She has performed in various productions with Live Arts Theater Ensemble (Charlottesville, VA) since 1993, and from 1998-2000 she danced with Steve's House Dance Collective before helping to found GZDC. Working with Ground Zero Dance Company, Lea has produced the work of local, regional and national choreographers in a range of venues. For two years she worked as Administrative Coordinator for the Live Arts Technical Team, American High School Theater Festival at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and she has also covered the Fringe as a dance critic from 2004-2006. She is also a member of the Dance Critics Association. 

Rob Petres, Choreographer, is a co-founder of Ground Zero Dance Company. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 1992 with a BA in dance and choreography. In 1993 he co-founded the Richmond-based Steve's House Dance Collective with Ray Schwartz, where he worked as a choreographer, dancer, technical director, and lighting designer. He has served as a technical coordinator for Dance Theater Workshop, and as Technical Director and Lighting Designer for Live Arts Theater Ensemble in Charlottesville, VA. Rob has performed with the Zen Monkey Project, Cooper/England Dance Works, Chris Burnside and Dancers, and has choreographed for Live Arts Theater Ensemble, including Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Batboy, Floyd Collins, and Urinetown. His work has been presented by VCU, Yes, Virginia Dance! and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. From 2004-2005 Rob served as Technical Coordinator for the American High School Theatre Festival at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Rob was awarded a 2004 Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship in Choreography to assist in the creation of Moment of Flight, a groundbreaking dance theater work that premiered at Live Arts Theater in Charlottesville, VA in 2005 and in Richmond, VA in 2006 to rave reviews. He is currently working with Dogtown Dance, LLC to create a new dance venue in Richmond which, in addition to housing the work of Ground Zero Dance Company, will present the work of local, national, and international dance artists. 

Tommy Parlon, Artistic Associate, received his MFA in Dance from Arizona State University and his BFA in Dance and Choreography from VCU. While living in New York City, he danced with J. Fregalette Janson Dance, Centaur Dance Theatre, Beyondance Inc! and the Paris-based multimedia performance art company FIASCO. His repertory includes pieces by Doug Varone, Stephen Petronio, Laura Dean and Elizabeth Streb. His choreography has been produced throughout the U.S. by Cooper/England Dance Works, Dance Arizona Repertory Theatre, Concert Ballet of Virginia, Steve's House Dance Collective, and the Transient Group, of which he was a founding member. From 1998-2002 he was Assistant Professor of Dance at Kent State University. Tommy currently resides in Maryland.

Ray Eliot Schwartz, Artistic Associate, is a movement artist and bodyworker who has spent the last 20 years developing a unique synthesis of somatic movement studies and the performing arts. His training includes high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, a BFA in dance from Virginia Commonwealth University, certification as Practitioner of Body-Mind Centering, trainings in Zero-Balancing, Cranio Sacral Therapy, Traditional Thai Massage, and the Feldenkrais Method. He has co-founded three contemporary dance projects in the Southeastern United States: The Zen Monkey Project, Steve's House Dance Collective, and THEM. He has taught at The Mimar Sinan Universitesi in Istanbul, Turkey, and many universities in the U.S. He has served on the faculty of both the American Dance Festival in Durham, N.C., and the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine. He has recently joined the faculty of MELT, the Movement Research educational intensive located in NYC. Ray travels extensively in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, teaching, researching, and performing. He is currently pursuing his M.F.A. at the University of Texas at Austin.

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