Flight feathers Instructors and staff 2023 - 2024 season
Mija Trimble (nee Bishop) - Founder / Ballet Director
Mija started dancing at the age of six in Hiroshima, Japan. It was not long until she fell in love with ballet and went on to perform title roles in Cinderella, Firebird, Giselle, Paquita, and more. Teaching has been her passion for the last 12 years and she has taught and directed shows in various dance schools throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as Tokyo and Kanagawa, Japan. In May of 2021, she decided to create her own company and opened Flight Feathers Ballet. While directing and teaching is her main focus, Mija still enjoys performing by collaborating with local musicians and artists and has been featured in numerous shows and music videos.
Photo Credit: Christine Takamura
Robbi A. Moore - Contemporary Instructor
Robbi A. Moore, from Hamden, CT, began dancing at New England Ballet and continued at Dee Dee’s Dance Center and New Haven Ballet. They are an alumnus of Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, the Ailey Summer Intensive, the Merce Cunningham Trust Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow’s Commercial Dance Program, and the Complexions Intensive. Robbi graduated magna cum laude from The Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and has danced with Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre, AATMA Performing Arts, Karin Stevens Dance, Kinesis Project Dance Theatre, The Gray, Coriolis Dance, Khambatta Dance Company, VCBynum Arts and Education, Spectrum Dance Theater, and Whidbey Island Dance Theatre. Robbi has also danced and choreographed for The Steps Repertory Ensemble, The Guild Dance Company, PRICEarts, Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, and Trial and Error Productions. Robbi was Village Theatre’s Associate Choreographer for “Little Shop of Horrors” (2022), Ballyhoo Theatre's "Shapeshifters" (2023), and Westside Drama’s “Mean Girls: The Musical” (2024). Robbi has also choreographed for Creative Dance Center's Kaleidoscope Dance Company.
Photo Credit: Michelle Smith-Lewis
Eli Ruane - Contemporary/Jazz Instructor
Eli Ruane grew up in Spokane, Washington where he began dancing at the age of 8. With a gymnastics background prior to dance training, he was quickly drawn to contemporary and ballet. He competed all over the Pacific Northwest at dance competitions with his home studio Dance Arts Academy. Eli has been choreographing for himself and others since the age of 14, showing works all over the country. After graduating high school, Eli started training at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. He then went on to complete the Certificate Program at Millennium Dance Complex. Professionally, Eli has toured as a resident and guest dancer for several dance companies such as Firewall Dance Theatre and Artistry in Motion Dance Collective. His passion is providing tools for his students to nurture and develop their artistic skills and choreographic voices.
Emily Mickelson - Jazz Funk/Hip- Hop Instructor
Emily Mickelson has been a part of the dance world for the last eleven years. Emily grew up a competitive dancer, and has been on teams in all genres such as hip hop, contemporary, jazz funk, musical theater, tap, jazz, and lyrical! Within the last three years, she’s been drawn teaching. She values an encouraging fun environment for students to feel safe to reach past their creative potential! Emily finds the creative process very important, and loves to prioritize individual growth, while also having fun!
McKenna Partman - Hip-Hop Instructor
Hello Everyone!
My name is Mckenna. I am 24 years old and a Seattle native born and raised. I started my dance journey around the age of 12 and have been in love with it ever since!
I specialize in Hip-Hop styles and I am involved in my own dance group named M26 where a group of my friends perform and compete at many different dance events. In my free time I love to watch movies, eat foods from different cultures, and travel.
I am so excited to start teaching at Flight Feathers and can't wait to get to know everyone!
Andrea Freed - Adult Ballet Instructor
Andrea Freed, born and raised in the greater Seattle area in Washington state, started dancing ballet at the age of four and soon fell in love with it and dancing. In 2017, Andrea earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree, magna cum laude from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she studied primarily ballet and modern dance. While at Cornish, Andrea performed in works by Kyle Abraham, Iyun Harrison, Pat Hon, Veronica Lee-Baik, and Gerard Theoret. Andrea has been teaching ballet since 2012 to all ages and enjoys sharing her passion for ballet with all her students. In addition to teaching, she also has an interest in dance administration and started working with Seattle Theatre Group (STG) in 2017. She now works with STG on their DANCE This program and more recently their Dance for Parkinson’s program. She believes that dance is for everyone and enjoys sharing that message in these programs and in the classes she teaches.
Andrea is excited to join Flight Feathers Ballet on this new journey!
Mya Smith - Beginning~Pre-Teen Hip-Hop Instructor
Mya began dancing in California at the age of 3, building a foundation in tap and ballet. After moving to Washington, she expanded her repertoire to include jazz, contemporary, hip hop, and pointe at Woodinville Dance Academy. Mya was involved in their traveling company performing all over Seattle and in Disneyland! She has been a student at Flight Feathers Ballet since it opened in 2021. She has performed featured roles throughout the years, including Clara and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker, and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. Recently, Mya has developed a passion for nurturing young students' love for dance. She is dedicated to helping them build strong foundations in both technique and self-confidence. Inspired by the older dancers she admired as a child, Mya strives to create a supportive and fun learning environment where dancers can flourish. Her classes engage young learners, fostering creativity and personal growth through a playful and structured class. Mya is committed to helping each child discover their potential and develop a lifelong love of dance.
Robin Lynn White - Creative Assistant & Lead Creative Writer
Robin began dancing at the age of five in ballet and jazz. After moving out west at thirteen, dance fell off her radar, but she embraced acting and stage production all throughout high school and fell in love with performing. In high school, she won awards in drama, particularly for her roles in Shakespearean plays and for state competition one-act plays. It wasn't until college when she took up Irish step dancing that she realized how much she had missed dance. With her career focus in science, time went on and suddenly on the brink of turning 40 in 2017, she discovered Woodinville Dance Academy (WDA) when her five-year-old daughter asked to try ballet. Seeing that WDA had adult dance classes too she knew it was time to get back into the fold. Since then, Robin has been dancing in adult hip hop and ballet and has taken part in “The Nutcracker” in memorable roles such as Mother Ginger and narrating as Old Clara. Discovering dance again with her daughter and having the opportunity to perform alongside her has been the greatest treasure.
Since 2021, when Flight Feathers Ballet came into being, Robin has embraced volunteering for script writing, design input, prop/set making, and reprising her role of Old Clara. She currently takes four dance classes a week in hip hop, ballet, and contemporary to keep dance as her outlet and challenge herself. She loves creative writing (self- published author), putting on a show and volunteers her time to help the studio director with storytelling, writing and design for upcoming Flight Feathers productions. She also provides charity to students with her “Mother Ginger Magic” fund so that no student is left behind and can still perform. When not dancing, Robin works as a Project Manager in Oncology Biopharma Marketing Operations.