Next Reflex Dance Collective

Next Reflex Dance Collective is a modern dance company based in Northern Virginia. Artistic Directors, Roxann Morgan Rowley and Erika Surma, center the organization around collaboration providing a venue for more artistic voices in the Metro DC dance community.  Since 2006, NRDC has been presented throughout the region by multiple venues and festivals including The DC Dance Festival, The Charlotte Dance Festival, The DUMBO Dance Festival, The Goose Route Dance Festival, The DC Improvisation Festival, Jane Franklin’s “Dance Sampler”, Mason/Rhynes Productions “Late Night Series”, The American Dance Institute, and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  NRDC has received support from the Puffin Foundation, Arts Council of the Valley, DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities, and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.  Roxann Morgan Rowley and Erika Surma both hold a MFA in dance from George Mason University.  And have served on the faculty at George Mason University, James Madison University, Marymount University, and Northern Virginia Community College.

Meet the Artists

Roxann Morgan Rowley (Artistic Director) completed her MFA at George Mason University and her BA in Dance at George Washington University. An artist and performer in the DC Metro area, she has worked with local artists and companies including Sharon Mansur Adrienne Clancy, Steven Mazolla (American Century Theater), Daniel Burkholder and The Playground, Daniel Pheonix Singh/Dakshina Dance Company, Anomosmotion, Jane Franklin Dance, and Jane Jerardi. She has choreographed for The American Century Theater, contributing to productions such as The Picnic, A Flag is Born, and In the Summer House. Her choreography has also been performed at George Mason University in The George Mason University Dance Concerts and The Vagina Monologues. She has also presented work at James Madison University in their Virginia Repertory Dance Company concert, JMU Student Dance Concerts, and New Dance Festival (2006.) Her work has been showcased in productions at Dance Place and Joy of Motion in Washington, DC, Dancing Across the Virginias at the Court Square Theatre in Harrisonburg, VA, the Charlotte Dance Festival in NC, Arts for Change, Mount Rainer, MD, Dance Sampler, presented by Jane Franklin in Arlington, VA and The Goose Route Dance Festival in Sheperdstown, WV. Roxann was on part-time dance faculty at James Madison University for the last two years teaching a variety of classes to majors and minors in the dance program. She has also taught for Fairfax County Public Schools Institute for the Arts, George Mason University dance department and helped contribute movement workshops to INOVA Hospital's Life with Cancer program.

Erika Surma (Artistic Director) received her MFA in dance from George Mason University and a BA in Dance from The University of Maryland, College Park as a Creative and Performing Arts full scholarship recipient. She has also trained in New York City at the Merce Cunningham Studio as part of the Professional Training Program, as well as at the José Limón Institute, Steps on Broadway, and Dance Space Center. Erika has performed professionally with DC based companies Jeslyn Dance Gallery, Tommy Parlon Dance Projects, and Jane Franklin Dance, and toured nationally and internationally with NY based circus-act company Cirque Le Masque. Her performing has taken her all over the U.S. and abroad to Cergy-Pontoise, France and Athens and Volos, Greece. Her choreography has been presented throughout New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, and West Virginia. Most notable are Washington, DC based venues such as Dance Place, Joy of Motion, The DC Improvisation Festival, and The DC Dance Festival; The Goose Route Dance Festival in Shepherdstown, WV; and NY based One Arm Red’s Red Shoes Performance Series, and the 2007 DUMBO Dance Festival. Her choreography has been commissioned by The Morton Street Dance Center in Baltimore, DC based CrossCurrents Dance Company, Jeslyn Dance Gallery, and James Madison University’s resident company, The Virginia Repertory Dance Company. In addition to directing Next Reflex Dance Collective, Erika is also an adjunct professor at Marymount University, Northern Virginia Community College and teaches Pilates at the Body College in Washington, DC.

Kursten Anderson graduated cum laude from Goucher College with a BA in Dance with concentrations in Arts Administration and Choreography. While at Goucher, Kursten not only was in the works of the dance faculty and fellow students but had the opportunity to perform in the works of numerous guest artists including Adrienne Clancy, Ed Tyler, Tiffany Mills, Heather McArdle, Roger C. Jeffery, and Gabe Masson, as well as perform in the reconstructions of Doris Humphrey's Libation Bearers and Sarabande and Vaslay Nijinsky's L'Apres-midi d'un Faun. Kursten has also attended the American Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival to study with artists such as Lisa Race, Shani Collins, Ishmael Houston Jones, and Angie Hauser. While at the Bates Dance Festival, Kursten performed in Jane Comfort's company repertoire work. Presently, she is teaching Pilates at the Goucher College as a Romanas Pilates certified instructor and teaching dance in the Baltimore area.

Sandra C. Atkinson holds a BA in Dance from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a MA in Dance (Education) from American University. Sandra is an adjunct professor at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD and at Northern Virginia Community College- Alexandria Campus, Alexandria, VA. At both institutions, she instructs Ballet, Modern, and Jazz technique. This semester, she is the Artistic Director of the Montgomery College Spring Dance Company.  In addition to being a company member on Next Reflex Dance Collective, she is also a company member with Jane Franklin Dance, Carla & Company at Dance Place, and is an adjunct company member with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

Tina Fratello is a performer, choreographer, and educator in the Metro DC area and beyond. She had the wonderful opportunity to train at the Virginia Ballet Theatre, Ballet Magnificat, and Shenandoah Conservatory as a scholarship student. Tina has toured nationally and abroad including Moscow and Ulyonovsk, Russia where she performed the acclaimed solo "Ophelia" choreographed by Sharon Butcher. Since receiving her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Shenandoah Conservatory, Tina has continued to spread her passion to those she teaches and performs for. Most recently, Tina was the assistant choreographer on HGTV's national commercial campaign for "Sleep on It." She is currently the Artistic Director for the Allegro Performing Arts Company and Dance Academy, as well as a guest choreographer for both Superne Dance Theatre and Suwanee Performing Arts Academy.